Peter Dow’s Comments

• Jul 17th, 2014 @ 11:20am

  Expensive?

  on FBI Thinks Driverless Cars Could Be Criminals' New Best Friends
  "...seems like an incredibly expensive way to deliver a payload."
  
  Compared to a cheaper car driven by a human being? I suppose if you think life is cheap
  
  Or compared to a cruise missile? Then your math skills are non-existent.
• Sep 30th, 2013 @ 12:34pm

  (untitled comment)

  on Anonymous Cop Claims Anonymity Is Bad, Proposes National Email Registry For Internet Users
  "The victims of these trolls are upset the rest of the day. They are driving aggressively on the roads, yelling at their co-workers and being consumed with a way to find out who that person on the Internet was.
  
  This is not good for public safety."
  
  This is great! If this were law, most politicians could be arrested for getting people upset, like the 800,000 government employees about to be furloughed. Imagine how aggressively they're going to drive home...
• Jul 19th, 2013 @ 12:04pm

  Doesn't answer the question "Why?"

  on Telcos Refused To Sign On To 'Let Us Be Transparent About Surveillance' Letter
  The article doesn't explain why the telcos are silent. Based on other news stories on the subject, e.g. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Telcos-Vastly-Overcharge-Government-for-Snooping-124937, which in part says "AT&T, for example, imposes a $325 "activation fee" for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it. Smaller carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap. But snoop on a Verizon customer? That costs the government $775 for the first month and $500 each month after that, according to industry disclosures made last year to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass." it seems fairly obvious why they aren't saying anything. And for this article to say the telcos have "given" the NSA access isn't exactly what's going on.
• May 13th, 2013 @ 1:01pm

  Dash cams

  on Former DHS Head On Google Glass: Intrusive Surveillance Is Bad -- If It's A Corporation Doing It
  No one has mentioned dash cams in police cars. Remember the dash cam in Russia that caught the meteorite? If they legislate against Google Glass, dash cams should be on the list, as well as cell phones with video, etc.
  
  If I have the opportunity to video police (or other government agents) in action, I hope to do it with Qik video live, so if the confiscate my phone, I'll still have the video.
• Oct 17th, 2011 @ 1:23pm

  Ignorance of the law

  on What If A Court Gave An Important Ruling, But We Were Not Allowed To Know What It Was?
  "Ignorance of the law is no excuse!"
  
  So now anyone can be arrested, but because the reason is classified, they'll never know why. Seems like it paves the way for a police state...
• May 2nd, 2011 @ 3:19pm

  Wasted $ ?

  on Guess That Bull In Texas Was A Good Investment: EchoStar Agrees To Pay TiVo To Settle Patent Case
  While saying that the $500M is wasted money and does not get applied to innovation, it's probably not entirely accurate. Sure, a lot of the $ goes to the lawyers, and that's not contributing to innovation, but whatever amount gets to TiVo might actually be spent on R&D.
  
  However, I definitely agree with the overall idea -- patents these days are a hindrance to innovation.
• Apr 20th, 2011 @ 9:26am

  Re: Maybe this is good

  on Businesses In New Zealand Worry That New Copyright Law Will Kill Off Their Open WiFi
  If a simple accusation is all it takes, then find the names and get busy accusing everyone who voted for this law, and all the people who lobbied for it, etc. Get them kicked off asap.
• Jul 13th, 2009 @ 3:29pm

  Hot news copyright

  on AP Settles All Headline News Lawsuit; Forgets To Report On It?
  If your example of "hot news" is correct, then to continue the example, you'd wait until AP (or some other news organization) published a story about the worthy event, then sue them for infringement, and your lawyer can retire on the proceeds.
  
  You might get a few bucks for a t-shirt.