Difster 's BestNetTech Comments

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  • On the post: Company Trademarks Name Of Town, Sues Firm For Selling Souvenirs

    Difster ( profile ), 12 Jul, 2011 @ 09:57am

    I'm getting in on this action

    I'm going to start a company called The 2nd Great Depression, LLC. I'm going to set up a website and sell merchandise (or attempt to). I will of course register the trademark.

    As soon as the press and everyone else start talking about the 2nd great depression, I'm going to sue the big media companies for watering down my brand and making it possible for me to differentiate myself in the market place because they keep using my brand name generically.

  • On the post: Why Piracy Happens: Because No One In Mexico Thinks Tron Legacy Is Worth Paying $136

    Difster ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2011 @ 02:21am

    Living In Mexico

    I'm an American living in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. There is a lot of stuff here that is much cheaper than the US. Food and housing in particular come to mind. But there are things that are generally more expensive than the US. Electronics comes to mind.

    If you were to judge Mexico's poverty levels by the people that have laptops, smart phones, cable and satellite tv, broadband and big screen LCD TV's, you'd hardly think Mexico had a poverty problem at all.

    Most everyone here uses pre-paid cell phones. If I call a cell from my land-line, I get charged for it (caller pays).

    All that is to make the point that you cannot make fair comparison to goods using income levels in country X vs. United states incomes. The fact of the matter is, there's a lot of price shifting that has taken place and Mexicans have found ways of obtaining luxury items. Just about every teenager has a cell phone. I've been in some awful houses that look like they're falling down but they'll proudly display their 42" Samsung LCD television. It's amazing.

    I can buy a DVD of a movie that's still in the theaters on the street for less than $2USD ($20MXN). People still go to the movies though; go figure. Walmart and other grocery stores sell legitimate copies of movies and someone must be buying them because they keep rotating stock. People still rent DVD's even though they can buy pirated copies.

    Oh, and I would like to add that going to a movie here is about half the price of a US movie and you wouldn't know you were in Mexico by walking in to the theater (except for the Spanish stuff of course). But they have stadium seating, good sound systems etc. But the prices are lower (except for pop corn).

    Sorry if I'm rambling a bit here but I'm trying to give the full perspective. People here are perfectly capable of purchasing movies and DVD for comparable US prices and they frequently do. Just as frequently though, they'll buy a cheap knock off if it's something they're only mildly interested in.

  • On the post: Amazon Prepares For Showdown In California After Budget Includes Amazon Tax

    Difster ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2011 @ 12:36am

    Re: be fair

    Why? Because tax money in the state goes to pay for the police, fire, roads, etc. that the brick and mortar businesses utilize. Out of state retailers derive no benefit from the taxes that are supposed to fund services to those in the state. THAT is why it makes a difference.

  • On the post: Apple Goes After Open Source Startup For Daring To Use The Term 'App Store'

    Difster ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2011 @ 09:43pm

    Store Name

    How about the AppYours Store

  • On the post: Woman Charged With 'Obstructing Governmental Administration' For Filming Police From Her Front Yard

    Difster ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2011 @ 09:39pm

    Stop Resisting!

    Cops are pretty much trained to say "STOP RESISTING" to anyone they are giving a beating to because then they have some plausible deniability should there be witnesses to the beating.

    Maybe they're catching on to the camera thing. "I don't feel safe" is the new "STOP RESISTING." Notice also the cop makes some vague reference to some threat she made before she turned the camera on? That'll become SOP as well.

    What the cop should have said is, "Turn the camera off, you're endangering my job security."

  • On the post: Woman Charged With 'Obstructing Governmental Administration' For Filming Police From Her Front Yard

    Difster ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2011 @ 09:34pm

    Re: Consent laws

    They're not charging her with wiretapping so that doesn't apply in this case. But I understand the mistake, cops improperly charge people for illegal wiretapping all the time.

  • On the post: Return To The Days Of Hoover's Enemy List? FBI Raiding Activists As Terrorists

    Difster ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2011 @ 02:05am

    Terrorist Sympathizer

    Don't you know that law enforcement is NOT to be criticized? Just by stating that too many people are being investigated under the auspices of terrorism makes you a terrorist sympathizer.

    You will not go on the no-fly list just yet but you will be subject to extra groping by the TSA next time you fly.

  • On the post: Apple Says That You Can't Give Away A 'Free' iPad Or iPhone In A Contest

    Difster ( profile ), 02 Jun, 2011 @ 02:46pm

    Apple Giveaway!

    Mike,

    Have BestNetTech acquire some damaged apple products and feature them as a give away on your website. Apple's response to that should be ever so amusing.

  • On the post: Opera Reads & Responds To Oprah's Mail

    Difster ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 03:02am

    Re: Re: Off Topic But Informative

    My bad, I didn't know about that link.

  • On the post: Opera Reads & Responds To Oprah's Mail

    Difster ( profile ), 25 May, 2011 @ 07:12pm

    Off Topic But Informative

    Mike you might be interested in this video. It is for a anti-piracy technology company that very clearly equates theft of physical property with copyright violations and goes so far as to say downloading is an actual crime.

    This company is advertising on Craig's List for angel investors. Let loose the dog's of war!
    http://vimeo.com/23807339

  • On the post: US ITC Uses Ridiculous Methodology To Claim 'Piracy' In China Costs US Firms $48 Billion In 2009

    Difster ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 09:56am

    Losses

    Because I am deathly afraid of having all of my potential profits sucked up by piracy, I have been afraid to actually develop any software at all that is usable by the public. I am a php/mysql developer but that is scripting really, not the same as developing software.

    And because I am an absolutely brilliant human being I am confident that if piracy were completely eliminated I could have built a business worth billions of dollars! I am however paralyzed by the onslaught of piracy and the feeling of abuse I would suffer to see my products being copied without my express permission.

    I therefore calculate my losses conservatively at $3.8 billion dollars. This is a true and accurate representation of my losses. I'm not biased, really I'm not.

  • On the post: The End Result Of Superinjunctions: The Count The 'Can't Be Nameds' Game

    Difster ( profile ), 23 May, 2011 @ 09:26pm

    Is it just me or does the whole thing seem like a reverse version of telephone tag where everyone is repeating the correct message but the originator is denying any knowledge of it?

  • On the post: Winklevii Promise To Appeal To Supreme Court

    Difster ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 01:41pm

    I think the Supreme Court should fine them $159.9 million for filing a useless lawsuit.

  • On the post: Kevin Spacey Threatens Musician For Offering Album Called 'Kevinspacey'

    Difster ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 01:33pm

    Kay Vin Spacey

    It would have been even better if he changed it to notkevinspacey.

  • On the post: Police Claim That Allowing People To Film Them In Public Creates 'Chilling Effects'

    Difster ( profile ), 16 May, 2011 @ 03:10pm

    This Begs The Question

    Is there any evidence that a citizen videotaping police has ever actually caused a death? The answer is no. How do I know that?

    If there was, they'd be waving it around and shoving it in our faces and using it as an excuse to get anti-filming laws passed.

  • On the post: Mexican IP Official: Infringement Is A More Serious Problem Than Drug Trafficking

    Difster ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2011 @ 12:04pm

    Drugs vs. Copied DVD's

    You guys are all missing the point. I seriously doubt this guy believes what he's saying. The LIKELY scenario is that he's trying to curry favor with the cartels for some reason.

    This guys knows what every other Mexican knows. The cartels are killing hundreds of people a month and piracy killed no one.

    Also (and I know this because I live in Mexico right now) people openly sell copied DVD's & CD's on the street. I've even seen cops buy from these guys. No one cares. They don't see a problem with it (nor do I). The video rental stores still do good business, Walmart still sells the real things, etc. No one is injured by this.

  • On the post: Righthaven Demands Servers Of Website Sued, Even After Court Rejects Demands For Domain

    Difster ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2011 @ 02:38pm

    The sheer idiocy of it

    Here is another way to look at what Righthaven is doing.

    I work at home and I have a contract with some company. I breach that contract but because I work from home, the company that is suing me wants me to change my last name and take away my house.

  • On the post: If You Can't Understand The Difference Between Money And Content, You Have No Business Commenting On Business Models

    Difster ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2011 @ 10:59am

    Money, Money, Money!

    You said in the article: ...and money, by itself, doesn't create any additional value

    That is correct for everyone but the banksters who, when they get an extra dollar, can loan out that same dollar to nine different people thereby creating additional value on that one dollar (this is called fractional reserve banking) and it should be plain enough to see how bad that has screwed up our economy.

    Even so, copying something is not the same as copying money because of the 'store of value' issue in particular. A copyrighted work has no store of value. Money has value because everyone agrees that a dollar is a dollar.

    If we can get everyone to agree that a Metallica mp3 is a dollar then you're on your way to monetizing copyrighted content.

    It can also be pointed out that you will not find a copyright notice printed anywhere on US currency.

    It should also be noted that copying US currency IS PERMITTED under certain conditions.