Not an Electronic Rodent 's BestNetTech Comments

Latest Comments (786) comment rss

  • On the post: Boris Johnson, UK's Answer To Trump, Offers A Masterclass In How To Use The Dead Cat Strategy Combined With A Google Bomb

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2019 @ 11:08am

    Re: Boris Johnson

    Is Boris Johnson a domestic abuser?
    Yep. Also adulterer, racist, misogynist, entitled dick, megalomaniacal and liar - and those are his good qualities. Nice try getting the story back on google... Be lovely if it worked - or if people simply noticed what an utter sh*t-show of a human being he is. Grant you that last one is less likely since he hardly stands out ahead of the pack for UK politicians, and barely makes a dent globally (I'm looking at you, US!) Should have mentioned the bus, too, though, just for laughs - far as I can tell, there's still a significant portion of the UK population that thinks it was true despite it being the biggest self-evident whopper since the last time the US president opened his mouth.

  • On the post: The Streaming TV Sector Still Doesn't Realize Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2019 @ 10:32am

    Re: Re: Re:

    I prefer something they can not simply take away.
    Which brings us to another top reason why people infringe, also mentioned lots here; naughty download = no pointless DRM = the stuff can't be "simply taken away" Thus, ironically, infringing content is actually more valuable than paid-for content.

  • On the post: The Streaming TV Sector Still Doesn't Realize Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2019 @ 10:28am

    Re: Re: 1 show per service

    And.. yes I know, I've clearly been smoking too many unicorns and rainbows. Chances of happening the real world.... sigh

  • On the post: The Streaming TV Sector Still Doesn't Realize Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2019 @ 10:26am

    Re: 1 show per service

    The way things are going, your going to end up with each show being it's own $3.99 / mo service, with episodes released once per week. When shows are no longer popular then the Hulu's of the world will get them. This is like the dream of most studios so they can double dip on exclusive content and then farm out to syndication.
    Know what? I'd actually be fine with that... If you substituted "within a predictable limited time" for "when no longer popular" and made sure all the "Hulu's of the world" get the same deal on the old stuff. Me, I'm prepared to wait a bit, but hey, a lot of people aren't so maybe there is a market for "exclusive silos" for all the new, shiny stuff for 6 months, maybe a year or so, as long as eventually it ends up a bit like music mechanical licenses that anyone can pick up and show older content so the "Hulu's of the world" can all compete on price and service instead of grubbing round after unrealistic rates for content not everyone wants to watch... Just a thought...

  • On the post: The Paywall Conundrum: Even Those Who Like Paying For News Don't Pay For Much News

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2019 @ 12:43am

    Re: Re: Java Cript

    We want news, ethically presented and backstopped with facts.
    Sadly, "we" mostly don't appear to want that - at least not enough to demand it. If that were what sells, more places would be selling it. What appears to sell is sensationalism and playing into your chosen niche of prejudice and confirmation bias. Would be nice, though, wouldn't it?

  • On the post: New Study Says The Removal Of Craigslist Erotic Services Pages May Be Linked To An Increase In Murdered Females

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2019 @ 07:39am

    Re: Re: Re:

    We've traded privacy for safety.
    "We've traded actual privacy for imaginary safety. FTFY
    Without privacy, no one could commit crimes very easily.
    I can think of at least one person who has very publicly admitted to or committed several crimes and seems to be OK with it... Not sure that reasoning is sound.

  • On the post: A Nesting Doll Of Stupidity: Rudy Giuliani's Twitter Typo Leads To Bogus Trademark Threat Letter

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2019 @ 03:09am

    Should they?

    but the company should know better than to (a) hire a law firm known for abusing trademark law in such a manner, and (2) approve the original sending of the threat letter.

    But why should they? Is there any useful disincentive beyond the occasional bullying object that fights and the occasional denied claim that would convince them otherwise?

    Or did you mean in the "reasonable human" sense?

  • On the post: Yet Another Study Shows The Internet Of Things Is A Privacy And Security Dumpster Fire

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2018 @ 09:47am

    Re: This is a most difficult issue

    The argument that the market will not solve this problem is probably correct, which leaves regulation, and that will incense some folks.
    Sure will, if for no other reason than the legislation will inevitably suck and be a 1/2-measure at best. If such a thing happens I imagine it would be started by well-meaning "nerds" and a handful of the more tech-savvy politicians, but get waylaid by excessive lobbying from large corporations who really don't want to pay to fix the problem they caused and actually kinda like the data they're gathering.. The result will be a watered-down, toothless version of whatever got proposed in the first place. It's still better than the even more scary alternative mentioned above, though:
    Folks like Schneier have been warning for a while that it's likely going to take a mass casualty event (caused by hacked infrastructure) to finally motivate some changes in the internet of broken things space.
    Can you imagine the kind of headless-chicken, knee-jerk, politician-must-DO-something-NOW abortion-of-a-law that would result from that? I'll take the weedy and ineffectual half-measure any day!

  • On the post: MUSO, Of All Groups, Tells Copyright Holders To Get Their Shit Together And Treat Pirates Like The Customers They Are

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2018 @ 05:11am

    Re: Re: Re: If facts mattered, sure

    I am amazed that shareholders have not demanded they start waking up to the future as shareholders are the ones that are loosing trillions in income.
    Because, despite the putative losses, the companies keep posting record profits year-on-year and presumably paying big, fat dividends almost as large as the amount spent buying lawmakers?

  • On the post: MUSO, Of All Groups, Tells Copyright Holders To Get Their Shit Together And Treat Pirates Like The Customers They Are

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2018 @ 04:57am

    Re: Re: Careful what you wish for.

    How is that different from what they already provide, with the exception of "access to all content"?
    That was kinda my point, they'd role out such a service, trumpet it as the answer to all consumer needs, when anyone challenges the premise or the price will say something like, "Well that's what you said customers wanted but they're still pirating", or, "Well that's what [we arbitrarily decide] it costs to provide" and when it fails hard, use it to push for more law. Once I wondered if they were really that dumb, but repetition suggests it's actually a genius business plan that allows them to reap massive profits for minimal actual work. Laws are cheaper to buy than a platform that works it seems and far easier to run than providing an actual service.

  • On the post: MUSO, Of All Groups, Tells Copyright Holders To Get Their Shit Together And Treat Pirates Like The Customers They Are

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2018 @ 12:49am

    Careful what you wish for.

    Next up: Industry creates ad-laden, DRM-ridden, slow, badly built platform that enables access to all content "for your region" for only £500 a month if you can find it in the appalling, proprietary search engine.

    Industry later quoted as saying, "We gave you exactly what you said you wanted and you're all STILL criminals! We need new, harsher laws!"

  • On the post: Companies Respond To The GDPR By Blocking All EU Users

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 11 May, 2018 @ 06:41am

    Re: Re: Re: They have to start somewhere

    I have no idea what you are going on about.
    In political parlance, that would be, "Everyone else who can't give me political favours or donations with at least 6 zeros attached". It's only 99% of the country; I wouldn't worry about it too much.

  • On the post: EU Commission Asks Public To Weigh In On Survey About Just How Much They Want The Internet To Be Censored

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 05 May, 2018 @ 01:44am

    Re:

    To paraphrase the immortal Mr Adams; Statistics don't show anything you didn't already know - except that everyone in the galaxy has 2.4 legs and own a Hyena.

  • On the post: State Trooper Facing Murder Charges After Tasing A Teen Riding An ATV

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2018 @ 06:43am

    Re: Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'

    Unfortunately, this would only work if the police gave a damn about that relationship
    Well, arguably they do sort of give a damn about it... Isn't the general antipathy of the public towards police usually the reason given for needing to get even more Rambo'd up with military-grade weapons and use them at the slightest provocation?

  • On the post: MPAA Apparently Silently Shut Down Its Legal Movies Search Engine

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2018 @ 10:45am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Large sites are evil

    I count 7 post referencing an alleged site without a link so far. Again I'm going to assume this is purely trolling, 'cos no-one is that bad at "adverticing" [sic]

  • On the post: MPAA Apparently Silently Shut Down Its Legal Movies Search Engine

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2018 @ 09:23am

    Re: Re: Re: ==true ?

    function checkDMCA (file){
    return isFileAFile(file);
    }


    Think you forgot to include the standard **AA technique of "Scream infringement no matter what until someone explicitly proves it isn't"

  • On the post: MPAA Apparently Silently Shut Down Its Legal Movies Search Engine

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2018 @ 09:14am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Giving all our posts a funny vote as I can only assume this level of obliviousness to reality is deliberate trolling. Well played.

  • On the post: MPAA Apparently Silently Shut Down Its Legal Movies Search Engine

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2018 @ 09:17am

    A good start

    "There are more than 140 lawful online platforms in the United States for accessing film and television content, and more than 460 around the world,”

    Wow! And you only need to subscribe to 713 of them to be able to access all the lawful content!

  • On the post: The Rise In Streaming Video Exclusives Could Annoy Consumers, Driving Them Back To Piracy

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2018 @ 01:21pm

    Re: Re: Yep, it's a problem

    If the Duffer Brothers won't agree to exclusivity, Netflix says no, and so does every other streaming service. You don't see CBS shows on ABC and vice versa, do you? Same idea.
    Yes, that's exactly the point. That is indeed exactly how it is right now. But do you seriously think there's no market for a slew of "we have every damn series and film you've ever heard of and many you haven't - including all the biggies except from the last 6 months"-service? And that similar services wouldn't be inevitable if they were possible and cost-effective to run because of fixed licensing fees?

  • On the post: The Rise In Streaming Video Exclusives Could Annoy Consumers, Driving Them Back To Piracy

    Not an Electronic Rodent ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2018 @ 10:44am

    Re: Re: Yep, it's a problem

    It's not like cable tv is a necessary utility.
    No, this is true, though for many people the line rather blurs. Leisure-time activities in general pretty much are a necessity in the modern world.
    In a way the market is self regulating, people dump a crap service and they may or may not look for a replacement.
    If it were a level playing field or actually a "free" market, you might be right. However, with a highly limited number of players able to demand monopoly rent through legally-backed artificial scarcity, and also the quasi-legal ability to basically strangle any competition, self regulation seems unlikely. Sure, people might dump a crap service, but your legal options to a crap service are either a marginally less-crap service or nothing. Unless the rent-seeking gets so over-the-top that people literally cannot afford it, it seems unlikely enough people will opt for the nothing to make a difference.

Next >>