Matthew 's BestNetTech Comments

Latest Comments (148) comment rss

  • On the post: What If Tim Berners-Lee Had Patented The Web?

    Matthew ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2011 @ 12:35pm

    Re:

    As written, perhaps, but in practice, there are so many small sections of fence out there that you can barely take a step in any direction without stepping over one.

    Also, they're often practically invisible so that you don't know you've crossed someone else's fence until their lawyer is knocking on your door demanding rent.

    And they're movable fences, so...ok...analogy broken.

    Speaking of quality lulz..."If patents had prevented the web we might have had something even better. Stupid open standards produced a crappy internet!" That's an all-expenses paid vacation to Fantasy Island.

  • On the post: Disney: When We Copy, It's Inspiration; When You Copy, It's Infringement

    Matthew ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2011 @ 11:49am

    Re: In this case..

    In our Disneyfied world there is no such thing as culture. There is only content and profit.

  • On the post: TSA Takes Security Theater On The Road: Mobile Groping Teams Can Pop Up Anywhere

    Matthew ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2011 @ 12:18pm

    Re: 4th Amendment and Travel

    I suspect that they would not hesitate to stop a horseback rider, bicyclist, or hiker who happened to be near one of their operations, so remember. If you don't want to get groped, stay at home.

  • On the post: Did Universal Music Declare 50 Cent's Own Website Is A Pirate Site?

    Matthew ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2011 @ 11:00am

    What's that?

    What's that? It sounded like you said that the whole piracy kerfuffle is just a lot of posturing and playing politics whose eventual goal is to secure wealth and power for a bunch of glorified salesmen riding on the backs of artists and techies. It sounded like you said that this was just another datum of evidence that they really don't care at all about artists and will do whatever it takes to maintain control and that we shouldn't be surprised that they would turn on an artist who don't toe the line since they turned on their customers years ago.

    That's what it sounded like anyway. Maybe i misheard.

  • On the post: Judge: Not Having The Best Security Not Illegal; Defrauded Company Can't Blame Bank

    Matthew ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2011 @ 06:40am

    WoW

    My World of Warcraft account has better security than my bank account.

    W...T...F

  • On the post: Philly Police Harass, Threaten To Shoot Man Legally Carrying Gun; Then Charge Him With Disorderly Conduct For Recording Them

    Matthew ( profile ), 19 May, 2011 @ 10:23am

    Re: Re: So torn...

    I was thinking more along the lines of Great Britain, Japan, etc.

  • On the post: Philly Police Harass, Threaten To Shoot Man Legally Carrying Gun; Then Charge Him With Disorderly Conduct For Recording Them

    Matthew ( profile ), 19 May, 2011 @ 06:22am

    So torn...

    On the one hand, i think stronger gun control laws would be great and these gun nuts are just accidents waiting to happen.

    On the other hand, god complex cops who don't understand the laws they're supposed to be enforcing appear to be the bigger threat to my everyday life.

  • On the post: Zappos Uses Mechanical Turk To Correct Spelling/Grammar Errors In Reviews… And It Increases Sales

    Matthew ( profile ), 03 May, 2011 @ 02:03pm

    Re: Re:

    Copyright Hero? and Grammar Nazi? are both Registered Trademarks of Inaction Comics? and their use is not authorized in this discussion. Please cease and desist any invocation of these or any other intellectual properties of Inaction Comics? or we will be forced to seek legal remedy.

  • On the post: Lawyers For Guantanamo Detainees Not Allowed To Look At Important Leaked Evidence

    Matthew ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2011 @ 01:56pm

    The gov can suck it on this one...

    Regardless of what the DOJ says about it, it is the lawyers' ethical obligation to read those documents in order to provide the best defense possible for their clients. A (corrupt) judge could exclude the contents of those documents from being used as evidence, but the DOJ should not have the right to bar them from reading them.

    Of course, this whole subject is neck deep in the DOJ doing things they should not be doing, so...yeah.

  • On the post: White House Threatens Blog For Accurately Using White House Logo

    Matthew ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2011 @ 01:14pm

    legal advice needed:

    Is, "No. That's stupid." a valid legal rebuttal, or does it have to be more formal?

  • On the post: We've Trained The TSA To Search For Liquid Instead Of Bombs

    Matthew ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2011 @ 12:09pm

    Not to be too condescending but...

    Not to be too condescending about it because i think that really these are a bunch of people who are caught in a bad situation, but the job only requires a GED or a year of experience as a luggage screener or X-ray tech. These are not law enforcement officers. They are not adequately trained to assess real threats and deal with them. Real security would be too expensive so we get security theater instead.

    We have a situation where the people in charge really just want to cover their asses and avoid being blamed for the next bad thing that happens so they make up long lists of rules to cover every conceivable attack. That way when something inevitably happens, the people in charge can say they were prepared, but Joe TSO on the bottom rung of the ladder didn't follow the correct procedures - it's his fault, not ours.

    It's a failure of leadership that started well before 9/11 and is perpetuated by partisanship and fear.

  • On the post: SWAT Team Raids Home Because Guy Had An Open Wireless Router

    Matthew ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2011 @ 09:35am

    conflict

    I view it as my ethical (not legal) responsibility to secure my wireless, but i would also consider it to be a good deed to provide free internet access to my neighbors who can't afford their own. Unfortunately, the risk of doing so just seems too high.

    Anyone have tips for administering an open wireless connection while still being a responsible network operator and minimizing the chances of finding myself in this guy's situation?

  • On the post: New RIAA Evidence Comes To Light: Napster Killed Kerosene Too!

    Matthew ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2011 @ 09:58am

    Ridiculous!

    Are you trying to tell me that correlation does not equal causation? Ridiculous! Who ever heard of such poppycock!?!

  • On the post: Guy Who Claims He Owns 84% Of Facebook Refiles Lawsuit

    Matthew ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2011 @ 07:28am

    Well...

    Without getting into the merits of the case, i find it very plausible that Zuckerberg would make such an offer. This is not billionaire Zuckerberg we're talking about - this is poor college hacker Zuckerberg. $1000 was a lot of money to that Zuckerberg and there was no way anyone could have predicted the success of his little project. That's precisely why we have so many legal cases about it now. At the time, no one thought the details of who did and owned what mattered. They didn't even know how to make money off of it until after it was already wildly popular - it was just a big money pit for a long time.

  • On the post: Cyberlocker Responds To MPAA Lawsuit Which Tries To Give Hollywood A Veto On Tech It Doesn't Like

    Matthew ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2011 @ 02:09pm

    i think they're on to something here...

    I think they're on to something here.

    I could stick a bunch of bootleg discs in the trunk of my car and then sell them to people. My car is clearly inducing piracy. Ford should install anti-piracy measures in their cars and pay a licensing fee to the *AAs to offest the inevitable harm those groups will suffer as a direct result of cars.

  • On the post: Zen And The Art Of Patent Protecting Zen Art

    Matthew ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2011 @ 11:59am

    I wonder...

    I wonder if the old Spirograph i had as a kid was patented?

    google...
    google...
    google...

    It was! U.S. Patent No. 3230624 January 1966

    and yet, there appears to be prior art for this as well: http://www.spiroman.freewebspace.com/index.html

  • On the post: House Hearing On File Sharing Turns Into 'But Why Can't Google Magically Stop All Bad Things Online' Hearing

    Matthew ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2011 @ 02:11pm

    Re:

    BUT...BUT...PIRACY!!!

  • On the post: House Hearing On File Sharing Turns Into 'But Why Can't Google Magically Stop All Bad Things Online' Hearing

    Matthew ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2011 @ 02:09pm

    The question is not...

    The question isn't what Smith & Wesson has done to prevent armed robbery, but more about what they have left to do.

    The question isn't what AstraZeneca has done to cure cancer, but more about what they have left to do.

    The question isn't what Halliburton has done to stabilize the situation in the Middle East, but more about what they have left to do.

    The question isn't what Ford has done to prevent accident fatalities, but more about what they have left to do.

    The question isn't what Citigroup has done to prevent risky investments and outright fraud from destroying the economy, but more about what they have left to do.

    The question isn't what tuna have done to ensure the health of the shark population, but what they have left to do.

    Anyone want to guess which of these similar formulations the reps would be willing to stand behind? I'd say 1 - sharks are covered by the ABA's lobbying arm.

  • On the post: Publicity Rights After Death Are Severely Limiting Culture

    Matthew ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2011 @ 08:44am

    Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Mar 31st, 2011 @ 11:30pm

    In general, i think publicity rights cases are pretty stupid, but i don't want to see Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe teaming up on Martin Luther King Jr. We live in a world where celebrity sex tapes are pretty common, so I don't think social pressure is going to stop it from happening, so what are we left with?

  • On the post: Is The NYT Paywall Just A Ploy To Sell More Print Subscriptions?

    Matthew ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2011 @ 08:00am

    Apparently...

    Apparently the convenience of computer access is not a selling point, it's a premium feature.

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