Maximizing Profits Doesn't Mean Screwing Your Customers (8)
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A few years back, we wrote a post debunking the ridiculous notion spread by some that Craigslist was somehow "anti-capitalist" or not "maximizing profits" because it actually offered most of its services for free. As we noted, much of Craigslist's long-term success was because of these decisions -- which in all likelihood did increase overall profits for the company in the long run by building up further trust in the company. It may not have ...
Court Says Employees Have No Expectation Of Privacy For Stuff On Company Owned Computers (4)
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A court ruling in New Jersey doesn't seem all that surprising, but may lead to more legal questions in the future. The case involved an employee who was stealing from his employer. The employee was eventually found guilty of the theft, but argued that the evidence used against him was gathered illegally, in that it was in a password protected file on his company-owned laptop. It's actually a little more confusing, as the guy actually ...
Why Does Facebook Block Any Mention Of BugMeNot? (4)
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Remember back about four years ago when all sorts of online publishers relied on bogus registrations and freaked out about services like BugMeNot that required registration? Over the past few years, BugMeNot has become a lot less essential, because a lot of publications have been getting rid of registration walls or at least providing real value for registering, rather than just forcing you to input bogus info. However, apparently the folks over at Facebook are ...
Prisons Upset That Prisoners Don't Get Discounts On Digital TV Converters (4)
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As you probably have heard, the US will be shutting down analog TV broadcasts early next year, as the conversion to digital is complete. For most TV watchers, this won't matter one bit. For anyone who watches TV via cable or satellite TV, the change means nothing. It only impacts those who watch TV-over-the-air and who don't have a digitally-enabled TV or conversion box. So, as part of the effort to move the transition along ...
Scammers Copying Big Copyright Extortion Tactics (2)
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It really was only a matter of time. For a while now, the entertainment industry has been using borderline extortion tactics with "pre-settlement" letters that promise individuals they won't get sued if only they pay a fee upfront -- ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. These letters have proven to be incredibly effective in getting people to simply pay up, so it's no surprise that other scammers have started copying the ...
Heart Demanding McCain Campaign Stop Using Its Song (5)
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Last month it was singer Jackson Browne suing the McCain campaign for using his song in a commercial. As we noted at the time, since it was used in a commercial, it was most likely infringing, but if McCain wanted to use it at an event, he could as long as he paid the proper performance licensing fees. So, now we have another situation where exactly that scenario has happened. At the Republican National Convention ...
Michael Moore Embraces Free Distribution Of Latest Movie (1)
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No matter what you think of controversial film maker Michael Moore (and I'll admit that I'm not a fan -- I think he's entertaining, but plays way too loose with the facts, even on issues where I might agree with him), over the years this been this odd compulsion by pro-copyright folks to pigeonhole Moore as being against anyone sharing his films online -- despite the fact he's clearly stated he has no problem with ...
The Last Thing A Musician Wants These Days Is To Appear Anti-Fan (6)
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Last week, when we wrote about the FBI's decision to arrest a Guns N' Roses fan who leaked the band's long awaited next album, one of the common responses in the comments was that because GNR had the legal right to do this, it absolutely made sense for the band to have the FBI track down and arrest this guy. While we've pointed it out before, it's worth pointing out again that just because you ...
Comcast Appeals FCC's Wrist Slap (1)
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As was widely expected, Comcast has appealed the FCC's ruling concerning its traffic shaping practices -- even though that ruling was a total slap on the wrist that had no real punishment other than a verbal scolding. But, of course, for Comcast, it's a question of principle -- with the principle being that the FCC has no authority over it on this matter (except, of course, when it's politically convenient for Comcast to say otherwise). ...
Once More, With Feeling: The Internet Isn't At Risk Of Running Out Of Bandwidth (2)
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For years, we've been hearing telco execs, telco lobbyists and politicians screaming over the coming death of the internet due to an "exaflood" of bandwidth, as things like internet video and bittorrent totally overwhelmed the internet infrastructure. There was little proof that this was actually an issue, and plenty of evidence suggesting that ordinary infrastructure upgrades would more than handle all expected growth. And, in the last few months we've been seeing more and more ...
California: We Charge People To Read Our Laws For The Benefit Of Californians (5)
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Back in April, we wrote about how the state of Oregon was threatening Carl Malamud, an activist who has been working hard for years to get public content more widely available to people online, for daring to publish Oregon's laws online. The state claimed copyright, not over the laws, but over the presentation of the laws, which Malamud had scanned. After the public outcry over this, Oregon backed down, and Malamud has continued his efforts. ...
Citibank Had A Program To Take Money From Customers? (10)
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A few years back, that I accidentally added an extra zero to a bill I paid for phone service. The company automatically credited the account, and a quick call got them to send a check with the overpaid amount. I know others who have accidentally paid a bill twice, or simply overpaid a bill because they didn't have the exact amount of the bill handy and wasn't able to look up the specifics. In most ...
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Nick said:
america is a casino, huh?
Lars Ulrich On Metallica's Latest Album Being Leaked Online: It's Fine, We're Happy (3)
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We've noted that Metallica has basically spent nearly the last decade trying to recover from the damaged reputation the band brought on itself when drummer Lars Ulrich freaked out about Napster and started suing. While the band has been trying to become more online friendly with its latest album release, you still had to wonder how Ulrich would react to the album being leaked online before the official release date. Some might assume he'd pull ...
Russell Looney shared as favorite Can You Own The Story Of A Band? (3)
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Here's a question for you: can someone own the copyright on the history of a musical group? We may find out as a lawsuit moves forward concerning the "ownership" of the story of a famous band. As you may know, there's been a popular musical called Jersey Boys about the history of the musical group The Four Seasons -- and now there's the inevitable argument over who gets to earn money from that musical. The ...
Techdirt: Are 88% Of IT Admins Really On The Verge Of Stealing Sensitive Company Info? (3)
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You can't trust your IT admin -- or at least that's the story being pushed by a security firm that released the eye-catching study results saying that 88% of IT admins surveyed would take "sensitive company" info such as passwords, if they were fired. We've all heard stories about disgruntled tech workers, so perhaps some part of this feels true, but that 88% number just seems way too high. The security company obviously has every ...
Why Not Just Computerize Sports Refs And Umps? (2)
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Last week, Major League Baseball introduced instant replay for the first time (oddly, MLB rushed the introduction mid-season, with no real testing), which has many wondering if the rather "human" element of umpires making bad calls will be a lost element of the game. While it can suck when such wrong calls go against your team, the umpires' ability to screw up has always been a part of the appeal to many fans of the ...
GPS Device Data Increasingly Being Used By Police To Determine Where You Were (4)
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Late last years, the news broke that law enforcement officials had figured out a neat little loophole to obtain location data on you without having to seek a warrant on you using the probable cause standard. Instead, they're seeking warrants not on the individual, but on the companies that may have data on your location, which only requires a magistrate judge's approval, and no showing of probable cause. So, how is this playing out? Well, ...
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fiona said:
big brother is watching you.
Appeals Court Tells Homeland Security That Wikipedia Alone Isn't Sufficient Evidence For Refusing Asylum To A Refugee (1)
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While I tend to think that Wikipedia is a good thing overall, that's because I know it's not a source that should be relied on by itself for important decisions -- such as whether or not to grant political asylum to an individual. It can be useful as a starting point, if that information can be corroborated elsewhere. Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security felt otherwise in using Wikipedia to deny a request for asylum ...
Texas Instruments Denies Adam Savage's Story About Killing RFID Mythbusters Episode (3)
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In a followup to the story about credit card company lawyers killing an episode of Mythbusters concerning RFID vulnerabilities, Daniel Terdiman got a response from Texas Instruments, who had organized the call that Mythbusters host Adam Savage had described. TI's spokesperson tells a somewhat different story: "In June 2007, MythBusters was interested in pursuing some great myth-busting ideas for RFID. While in pursuit, they contacted Texas Instruments' RFID Systems, who is a pioneer of RFID ...
Woman Arrested For Threatening To Hold Broadband Repair Guy Hostage (3)
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Given the ridiculous run around that many of us have received from our broadband providers, you can probably understand the frustration that playwright Carol Sinclair went through after needing to talk to approximately 20 different tech support folks at her broadband provider, before they finally sent a tech out to her place to see what the deal was. That frustration apparently resulted in a bit of rudeness, which she readily admits, though she explained her ...
