DB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Dominion Sues Rudy Giuliani For $1.3 Billion Over False Statements About Its Voting Systems

    DB ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2021 @ 08:57am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Personally, I think election fraud _is_

    Those are unsubstantiated innuendo, not facts. "In 2010, the Obama administration confiscated electronic voting systems assets (software, intellectual property, manufacturing tools, customer base, etc.) from two established American companies, and gave them to Dominion. At the same time, Dominion got some employees and assets from a foreign EVS company, tied to Hugo Chavez." Which employees? Which assets?
    Playing six degrees of separation between companies, where you don't even specify the intermediate companies, is not evidence.

  • On the post: Content Moderation Case Study: Social Media Upstart Parler Struggles To Moderate Pornography (2020)

    DB ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2021 @ 04:37pm

    This story starts out by sliding a false premise -- that Parler wouldn't be censoring speech.

    Parler quite clearly banned accounts that were left-leaning, sometimes after only a single post. It was run as a right-wing echo chamber, a case study in how you can get volunteer moderators to continuously reinforce a move to radical extremes. Perhaps that is even the default behavior.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Denies Immunity To Cop Who Broke A Truck Driver's Jaw During A 'Routine Accident Investigation'

    DB ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2020 @ 10:10am

    Without knowing if there is a pattern of turning off the camera it's difficult to guess at the intent.

    Perhaps the police officer knew the putative "victim" and wanted to pressure the driver into accepting false blame for a previous accident, so that the trucking company insurance would pay off a damage claim.

  • On the post: Billy Mitchell's Defamation Case Against Twin Galaxies Over 'Donkey Kong' High Score Can Go Forward

    DB ( profile ), 31 Oct, 2020 @ 09:56am

    This is an expensive loss for Twin Galaxies.

    A SLAPP win would have immediately shut down the case and resulted in the likelihood of some of their legal fees being paid.

    Winning after a trial is an empty victory. They will likely have huge expenses, with little chance of fee recovery.

  • On the post: DOJ Says Trump's Tweets Declassifying All Russia Investigation Docs Doesn't Mean Anything; Judge Says They Better Go Ask Him

    DB ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2020 @ 10:56am

    Isn't this an example of the "Deep State" at work?

    The president ordered something to happen. The apparatus of government is refusing to act as if those statement have legal force and effect.

    Deep State

  • On the post: Nikola's Plan To Combat Its No Good, Very Bad Month Appears To Be Using Copyright To Silence Critics

    DB ( profile ), 06 Oct, 2020 @ 01:31pm

    A bit of a clarification about the report claiming that the video was faked.

    The report claimed, with extensive evidence, that almost everything having to do with the company was faked. They didn't develop any of the technology that they claimed. The components shown were purchased off the shelf, with the origin not acknowledged. With visible components the company names were covered with a decal or simply taped over. The vehicles that they showed were "pushers", a term for a non-functional mock-up, despite being repeatedly described as fully functional.

    The report also savaged the supposed expertise of the management team, pointing out that that none of them had relevant expertise. https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/

  • On the post: Jim Jordan Releases Yet ANOTHER Anti-230 Bill (Yes Another One)

    DB ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2020 @ 11:43am

    Can't the Senate simply spend the next month arguing about these bills on the floor rather than screwing the other parts of our future?

  • On the post: Report Notes Musk's Starlink Won't Have The Capacity To Truly Disrupt U.S. Telecom

    DB ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2020 @ 09:34am

    100 Mbps as the typical subscriber use?

    100 Mbps is an absurd assumption to calculate market size.

    Most streaming services are averaging 3-5Mbps, which provides quite good quality. Netflix recommends at least 5Mbps for high quality, but that builds in other internet usage and ISP variability.

    Yes, the data rate goes up dramatically for high quality 4K streaming. But most people that don't have reasonable internet now aren't going to reject a service that does drops their streams down to merely HQ during peak times.

    A better estimate is that people will accept an average of 1 Mbps, as long as that supports a typical 4 hours a day of 3-5Mbps video plus other usage.

  • On the post: TikTok And The DOJ Still Fighting It Out In Court Despite Oracle 'Deal'

    DB ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2020 @ 08:29am

    Re: Re: Oh if only...

    Oh come on, that's a scurrilous accusation. Just like on the golf course, mini-strokes don't count against Trump if no one is watching. You can't prove anything, especially not using those lying traitors who he fired because they were no good. OK, back to my morring covfefe.

  • On the post: Alan Dershowitz Files SLAPP Suit Against CNN; Says Not Airing More Of What He Said Is Defamation

    DB ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2020 @ 12:06pm

    Re: More context isn't helping you there...

    The Dershowitz argument is even more extreme than you are suggesting. He was arguing that the president was entirely above the law.
    Impeachment is the sole recourse.
    Yet the president can't be impeached because it's not a prosecutable crime for the president to break the law. It was a redux of the Nixon "When the President does it..." that was roundly rejected by the public a half century ago. Nixon resigned and was pardoned before that theory could be tested in court. Dershowitz basically argued that the president could break any law if he believed that it was in his/her best interest. (With a few intermediate steps e.g. that they believed they were the best president for the country.) And, since the president controlled the Department of Justice, that the president could legitimately stop any investigation or prosecution related to breaking the law in the prior election. While not stated, that implies that an incumbent president can do absolutely anything to stay in office.

  • On the post: DOJ Tries To Step In To Trump Defamation Case To Get It Dismissed; Claims His Statements About Alleged Rape Were Part Of His Presidential Duties

    DB ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2020 @ 11:36am

    I'm guessing that the attorneys already know the answer to the DNA match.

    There are several close relatives that wouldn't mind providing a private limited-use sample, and there are plenty of ways to surreptitiously get other samples (albeit without those results being admissible as evidence).

    This case is transparently a way to litigate something well past the statute of limitations. But Trump jumped into the obvious trap with both feet, creating a fresh issue. Now Barr is down in the mud, trying to pry open that trap.

  • On the post: DOJ Tries To Step In To Trump Defamation Case To Get It Dismissed; Claims His Statements About Alleged Rape Were Part Of His Presidential Duties

    DB ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2020 @ 09:54am

    Even if this isn't a procedural slam-dunk (and I think that it might be good for at least extended delays), it leads to an interesting question.

    Since the US Government is substituting as the defendant, how will it be providing the DNA sample?

  • On the post: New York State Leaders Finally Realize U.S. Broadband Availability Data Is Hot Garbage

    DB ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2020 @ 09:37am

    There could easily have been a census question...

  • On the post: Focals 'Smart' Glasses Become Dumb As A Brick After Google Acquisition

    DB ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2020 @ 10:08am

    Re:

    A deal like is often a payday for the investors and the specific executives negotiating the deal, and a token amount for the founders, employees and redundant executives.

  • On the post: Georgia School District Inadvertently Begins Teaching Lessons In First Amendment Protections After Viral Photo

    DB ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2020 @ 08:47pm

    Wearing masks "can't" be enforced?

    The school district has remarkably strict rules limiting how students must dress.

    https://www.paulding.k12.ga.us/Page/1091

    Some of the terms are actually absurd, such as "(clothing) may not be altered from their original form".

    Adding masks to the rules is hardly a stretch. The rules already cover what you can wear on your head, and actually seem to prohibit wearing masks.

    Not Approved for School Wear

    Pants with holes, appearance of a hole, frays, rips, or tears ... Headgear is prohibited and must be kept out of sight on the school campus during the school day. This includes, but is not limited to, caps, hats, hoods, bandanas, wave caps, sweatbands, sunglasses, or any other head covering. No headphones, combs, rakes, curlers, or picks can be worn in the hair.

    Some of the terms are actually absurd, such as "(clothing) may not be altered from their original form".

  • On the post: Portland Journalists Ask For Sanctions As Federal Agents Continue To Assault Reporters And Legal Observers

    DB ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2020 @ 02:43pm

    Re: Journalists

    That sounds remarkably as if you, and only you, gets to decide who is qualified to be a "journalist". That's not even a half step away from an official news agency. It's a thinly veiled version of "de-certifying" news organization, a common tactic of totalitarian regimes.

  • On the post: ProPublica Releases NYPD Discipline Records Its Union Thought It Had Talked A Court Into Keeping Secret

    DB ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2020 @ 08:27pm

    Re: Maybe NYPD would benefit...

    Jack Welch's approach got a lot of attention at the time. One of his ideas was forcing out the bottom 10% of managers every year, and that policy was often propagated downward. During his first five years GE employment dropped by 112,000. He said, near the end of his time as CEO, “My success will be determined by how well my successor grows [G.E.] in the next 20 years.” But he had left his successor a disfunctional organization. Managers were extremely risk-averse, especially when it came to internal growth. Many of the successful legacy businesses had been sold off. Others were on the cusp of rapid decline because of the lack of long-term R&D investment. Only the financial side was growing, and that only because every loan, lease and sale could be factored to see the next quarter's gain.

  • On the post: 2nd Circuit Refuses To Stop Sanctions Order On Troll Richard Liebowitz, So He Files Required Notices With Petulant Note Attached

    DB ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2020 @ 01:48pm

    Re:

    I think that his chances of reducing the penalty on appeal are modest, but not zero. The justice system is generally unforgiving, until it comes to one of its own. Note that he hasn't even been temporarily suspended from the bar. How bad must your behavior be in order to be disbarred in a timely manner?

  • On the post: Estate Of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Alleges Copyright Infringement Over Sherlock's Emotional Awakening

    DB ( profile ), 09 Jul, 2020 @ 02:09pm

    Only in my final story did I include a mention of pants, when I noted that they were green corduroy. Therefore any depiction of the character wearing pants of any type violates that still-valid copyright.

  • On the post: That Was Quick: Appellate Court Says Simon & Schuster Not Subject To Prior Restraint Order Over Mary Trump's Book; But Fight's Not Over Yet

    DB ( profile ), 03 Jul, 2020 @ 12:13pm

    Re:

    "I'm dying to know what's in this book that has the Orange in Chief so scared."
    My guess is that you wouldn't recognize it when you read it. But some agency that has been following Fred Trump's "tax-optimized" business dealings would immediately spot the fraud. I can't see any other reason for fighting so hard to keep the book from being published. It's not directly about the election. Most people have already concluded that the stories about Trump's past are true. His supporters have ignored them before, and aren't likely to be swayed by a retelling or confirmation. For influencing the few undecided voters, a July release is better than an October release.

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