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User: raymorris

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  1. Yeah, we objected to the "knowingly" false. Neglig on Google Receives Takedown Request Every 8 Milliseconds · · Score: 1

    Yeah, an earlier draft was better, but since you can only recover damages for KNOWINGLY false claims, and there are no statutory damages, it allows large-scale bogus claims. Truly, though, if it allowed damages for recklessly false or negligent claims, and had statutory damages, that would pretty much fix it. The procedure outlined in the law is actually pretty good. The content goes right back up if the person who posted it says it's not infringing. It's just the lack of any penalty for reckless claims that screws up an otherwise pretty reasonable law.

  2. DMCA has a section for search engines. Full text on Google Receives Takedown Request Every 8 Milliseconds · · Score: 2

    The DMCA has a section titled "Information Location Tools" which covers linking. Here's the relevant text of the law:

            for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider referring or linking users to an online location containing infringing material or infringing activity, by using information location tools, including a directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link, if the service provider—
            (1)
                    (A) does not have actual knowledge that the material or activity is infringing;
                    (B) in the absence of such actual knowledge, is not aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent; or
                    (C) upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material;

    http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc...

    Further up, it says that once you've received a DMCA notice with all the blanks filled in, you have actual knowledge. So Under d 1 c, after receiving notice a search engine or other locator service (torrent tracker) must "acts expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material"

    The problem is that there's no statutory damages for even knowingly false claims, and no damages at at for reckless claims.
    Adding statutory damages for reckless claims would mean these big companies would stop filing all the reckless claims.

  3. perjury re identity only not accuracy. EZ fix DMCA on Google Receives Takedown Request Every 8 Milliseconds · · Score: 5, Informative

    DMCA requires a statement:

            "under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
            http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc...

    The perjury statement is just that the person sending the complaint is an authorized representative of the _alleged_ owner.
    In other words, if you or I sent a complaint that someone is violating Bill Clinton's copyright, THAT would violate that section, because we're not authorized to enforce Clinton's rights.

    As to the accuracy of the complaint, DMCA provides that you can be sued for actual damages if you KNOWINGLY file a false complaint. "Knowingly" is a special word in law, with a carefully established definition. It means more than recklessly or negligently. To sue them, you have to prove that they KNEW it was bogus. If they filed it without caring whether or not it was bogus, that's insufficient. It would be better if you could sue for reckless or negligent claims, but you can only sue for knowingly false claims. Changing that one word from "knowingly" to "negligently" or "recklessly" would go a long way toward fixing DMCA.

    Secondly, the bogus claimant can be sued only for actual damages. Suppose it costs Google $5 to process each takedown. For a knowingly false takedown notice, they can sue to get that $5 back. They're not going to pend $100K to sue someone for $5. Not going to happen. What would fix that would be the same thing that holders of registered copyrights have under the law - statutory damages. The current text of the law is:

            Any person who knowingly misrepresents ... shall be liable for any damages ... incurred

    We could just change that to:

            Any person who RECKLESSLY misrepresents ... shall be liable for the greater of $25,000 or any damages ... incurred.
            Any person who negligently misrepresents ... shall be liable for the greater of $10,000 or any damages ... incurred.

    A Google lawyer could then sue Warner Bros for 100 reckless notices and damages would be _at_least_ $2.5 million which pays the lawyer's salary for several years. They'd settle for the $1 million "negligent" amount, and Google could have a staff of lawyers suing all the assholes, hitting them for a million dollars each time until they stopped sending notices recklessly.

  4. Re:Not just microbiome studies on How To Read a Microbiome Study Like a Scientist · · Score: 1

    Pretty strong correlation:
    http://gizmodo.com/5977989/int... :)

  5. Must be one of your posts I can't see on Introducing Slashdot's New Build Section · · Score: 1

    Whatever you're talking about must be one of your posts removed by my filter.
    I'm adding a few words from this post to my filter, so I won't be able to see any replies you might make.
    Have a great day, spamming piece of shit.

  6. They'd become liable,thanks to DMCA (1998) on Google Receives Takedown Request Every 8 Milliseconds · · Score: 1

    If they asked for evidence, they'd become liable for any infringement. This is all controlled by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Under DMCA, when they receive a notice, they have to remove the content. If the other side sends them a counter-notice, they have to put it back up. If the complainant then notifies the carrier that they are filing suit in federal court, the carrier takes the content own again. If they choose not to follow this procedure, if they set themselves up to judge the evidence, they then become liable for any infringement. In other words, if they are going to judge the evidence, they better get it right 10% of the time, always coming to the same conclusion that a judge or jury does later. Otherwise, Google would be liable for any instances where the court disagreed with Google's decision. The problem is that DMCA doesn't effectively provide penalties for filing bogus notifications. You can send out completely false notifications and have things taken down all day long and nobody can do anything to stop you (almost). DMCA does one good thing in that it allows Google (or a web hosting company, or Slashdot) to operate without having their own internal court system to decide these things. The problem is that it requires Google to do the claimant's bidding without any cost or risk to the claimant.

  7. Clinton is a republican? on Google Receives Takedown Request Every 8 Milliseconds · · Score: 1

    DMCA is 1998, so Bill Clinton.

  8. That's true. Crap, you're reasonable. on Solar Plant Sets Birds On Fire As They Fly Overhead · · Score: 0
    There is that. I just clicked on your post history and saw that your last few posts seem to be quite reasonable and level-headed. I guess that means I won't have the opportunity to use this joke. If you were a goofball extremist, I'd have to reply to one of your comments by saying: What are you, stoned out of your mind?

    ganjadude said:
    Whatever blah blah

    Oh Ganjadude. Never mind.

  9. International Rivers for more information on Solar Plant Sets Birds On Fire As They Fly Overhead · · Score: 2

    Ps, International Rivers is a good place to start if you want to know more about the environmental damage done by dams, particularly large dams as used for hydroelectric power. They are advocates of course ; just as the ASPCA isn't objective about animals, International Rivers isn't objective about rivers. They advocate for what they believe is right, but each is a good source of information about their side of the side of the issue.

  10. best and worst for wildlife are on Solar Plant Sets Birds On Fire As They Fly Overhead · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't have figures for birds specifically handy, but I can tell you the best and worst for wildlife generally. Ignoring minor things like tidal power, the two best are geothermal and nuclear. It's too bad that geothermal is limited to certain geological areas, because it's pretty good on all measures. It releases some greenhouse gases and often requires fracking, but it's pretty safe for wildlife and generally a good idea. Nuclear is quite clean, except of course on the two instances of a major accident.

    The worst for wildlife are coal and hydroelectric dams. Hydro surprises some people, but in the best case a dam starts outby destroying a large swath of habitat, then permanently disrupts fish migration and the ecosystems dependant on the waterway. In the worst case, Banqiao. The Banqiao hydroelectric dam disaster was far, far worse than any nuclear accident ever has been.

  11. true. laws against competition suck. Google fiber on Comcast Training Materials Leaked · · Score: 1

    That's true, they have little reason to care about serving the customer. All that does is help them upsell to a more expensive package, voip, etc. There's no competition , due to legally enforced franchise monopolies.

        Some people correctly point out that in a perfect world, with perfectly unselfish people, and people who all have identical preferences, it would be most efficient to have only one company providing lines to each home.

    That's true of course. In a perfect world, it wouldn't make sense to have two cell towers covering the same area. It would be more efficient more Verizon to build towers in one state, Cricket to build towers in another state, and Cricket to cover a third state. Of course, people are not perfectly unselfish, and people do have preferences. Because Boost Mobile doesn't have a monopoly, because other companies have towers covering the same homes, Boost has to compete on price and service. It's not perfectly efficient, but it works much better than an "efficient" monopoly like cable.

    Come to think of it, it's pretty inefficient to have two grocery stores right next to each other, Whole Foods and Walmart. It would be more efficient for one store to serve the neighborhood, getting rid of the duplication. Rather than arbitrarily allow one company to run the store, we could have the government run the store in each neighborhood. Like the USSR. It sounds stupid when you replace "cable service" with "cell phone service" or "grocery service", but the facts are the same- avoiding duplication would be more efficient. It only works well if people are perfect, though; perfectly competent, perfectly unselfish, and if people don't have different preferences.

    I want a strong signal on my cable modem, so it is very reliable, and fast response to problems because I rely on my cable internet. For my phone, price is more important. Your preferences may be the opposite. That's fine, I can use Boost Mobile because they're cheap and in the same place you can whichever company gives you what you want.

    I can't wait until Google fiber comes to town and the cable company has to start competing on speed, price, and service.

  12. FIRST fix the problem. Happy customers buy more on Comcast Training Materials Leaked · · Score: 0

    In my business, about 90% of customers who called to cancel ended up buying more, and leaving happy.
    The difference is, we solve their problem, make them a HAPPY customer, THEN see what more we can offer that further meets their needs.

    Here's a typical call:

    Customer: I want to cancel.
    Me: Sure, no problem. While I do that, I'm curious, is there something about the product that wasn't meeting your needs?
    C: Your product doesn't do X.
    Me: Oh, yes, that is important. Our product can actually do that for you, one second ...
    [keyboard tapping]
    Me: You're now configured for X, and the cool thing about the way we do X is ...
    C: Oh, uhm, that's cool I guess.
    Me: If you ever want to do X++, we can certainly do that for you too.
    C: That's pretty cool. I never knew you could do that.
    Me: Our product has a lot of features that aren't immediately obvious, so if there's ever anything you need, just let us know and we can probably help you.
    C: Hidden features? Like what?
    Me: Y, and Z are kind of handy. Come to think of it, since you said you want to do X, you might want to do ABC with that. Last week we just released an addon that does ABC.
    C: Gee, I could really use ABC. How do I get that addon?

  13. Interesting. last year MS claimed reduced to 8.5 on New HP Laptop Would Mean Windows at Chromebook Prices · · Score: 2

    That's interesting. Last year Microsoft bragged that they'd reduced its boot time to 8.5.

  14. That would be interesting. I'd include APK remover on Introducing Slashdot's New Build Section · · Score: 2

    User-uploaded CSS would be interesting. I bet I could figure out a way to do the following in pure CSS. Right now it's a user.js file.
    It sets display: none on any posts by APK so I don't have to scroll past his spam on my phone. // ==UserScript== // @name NoAPK // @namespace http://yoursite.com/ // @include * // @version 1 // ==/UserScript==

    if(window.location.hostname.indexOf("slashdot.org") > -1)
    {
            var xpath = '//li[contains(concat(" ", normalize-space(@class), " "), " comment ") and contains(., "hosts file") and contains(., "apk") and string-length(.) > 10000]';
            apkposts = document.evaluate(xpath, document, null, XPathResult.UNORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE, null);
            for ( var i=0 ; i apkposts.snapshotLength; i++ )
            {
                    apkposts.snapshotItem(i).style.display = 'none';
            }
    }

  15. here's a pic on FarmBot: an Open Source Automated Farming Machine · · Score: 2

    To make it easy, here's a picture of the "centuries old" technology in a 2010 model John Deere 1910E.
    https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/...

  16. GPS and laser guidance systems for centuries? on FarmBot: an Open Source Automated Farming Machine · · Score: 5, Informative

    > Farming has been stuck in a bit of a rut, ... farming has been using techniques that have been handed down from centuries ago.

    Apparently this author's understanding of agriculture is based on cartoons. Self-driving cars are a brand new thing; largely self-driving agricultural equipment is not so new. Have a look at the cockpit of a modern John Deere in working trim. Better yet, come on down to Tecas A&M (agriculture and mechanical) and we'll show you some things. It's no coincidence that A&M is a leader in drone research too.

  17. $2,500 == 6 months? 1 year or $1000? on Phoenix Introduces Draft Ordinance To Criminalize Certain Drone Uses · · Score: 1

    Somewhat off-topic, TFS mentions the penalty is up to six months in jail or a $2,500 fine. I've noticed recently the fine vs jail time often seems quite out of balance. Somewhere I saw 1 year or $1000. I'd rather pay a $1000 fine than spend a WEEK in jail, much less a YEAR. Does anybody know why the fines are always so low compared to the jail time?

    I'd think it would be in the state's interest to do the opposite- collect a $5,000 fine from someone rather than housing them in jail for six months.

  18. We commenters could freshen CSS, keep functions in on Introducing Slashdot's New Build Section · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It occurs to me that we on Slashdot are a knowledgeable crowd. I was thinking about how many person-hours we've spent on saying "fuck beta". In a small fraction of that time, maybe five minutes each, we could suggest some CSS tweaks that would freshen the look (what Dice marketing department wants) without getting in the way of functionality (what we oldtimers want).

  19. will it boot in 4 seconds or less? on New HP Laptop Would Mean Windows at Chromebook Prices · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If they can make their 2015 machine cold boot in under four seconds, and come up from suspend in under one second, it'll be almost as good as a 2013-2014 Chromebook. Here's to hoping Microsoft can catch up.

  20. true, but funny you went there on Hackers Steal Data Of 4.5 Million US Hospital Patients · · Score: 1

    What you say is true, but it's funny in a way that reminds me of something I'd do.

    Ac: They shouldn't be connected to the internet.
                -> Sarten-X: They need to be connected to the internet in order to be connected to each other.
                        -> raymorris: They can be connected to each other without being connected to the internet.
                                -> dutchwhizzman: Paragraphs of unrelated commentary

  21. That's way too high. Incoming != case on The Data Dome: A Server Farm In a Geodesic Dome · · Score: 1

    You realize datacenters normally run at 23-25C, right? In the middle of the DC. The incoming air is a couple degrees cooler.
    You're thinking of the maximum allowable temperature inside the case, in a rack, and at the back of the case, by the hot aisle. The cold aisle needs to be cooler than the hot aisle. Those days when your cold aisle hits 90F are the days you're GUARANTEED to destroy hardware if you don't take action. Most of the rest of June - August you'll need cooling to stay within SAFE temps.

  22. isp "vpn". Social security numbers on Hackers Steal Data Of 4.5 Million US Hospital Patients · · Score: 1

    Their ISP would be more than happy to set up each hospital and office building with a "dedicated virtual circuit", which is basically a VPN handled and enforced by the ISP using their carrier-grade equipment. The ISP will ensure that the black network can't access the internet (and the internet can't access the black network). One thing ISPs can do pretty well is take AWAY your internet access. All systems with confidential data are connected only to tge bkack network, which interconnects the various locations.

    You do NOT need each workstation to have general internet access in order to connect them to your (virtual) WAN.

    Additionally, the various workstations shouldn't have access to social security numbers anyway, even via the local network. Unless you're the social security administration or the IRS, you probably shouldn't be storing social security numbers. If some specific legacy system really has to have social security numbers, isolate that system behind a one-way trapdoor. It shouldn't have general internet accessibility.

  23. velocity cubed, of course. Thanks. on Is Storage Necessary For Renewable Energy? · · Score: 1

    Power is actually proportional to velocity cubed. Velocity squared is the amount of energy per unit mass, times the number of units of mass that go by per second (velocity again). This makes your point even stronger...

    Thanks for that. Yeah, velocity squared would be the right thing for the energy of an object, such as a car, correct? Or for a cubic yard of air. Also, higher velocity means more cubic yards flow past each minute, so that's the multiplier I forgot. Is that right?

    So 25x25x25 = 15,625 but 10x10x10 = 1000.
    Meaning, the power at 10 MPH is just 6% of rated capability at 25 MPH.

    I actually thought the 10 MPH number in my initial post sounded a little high in comparison.

  24. Idealist == ignorant? on Is Storage Necessary For Renewable Energy? · · Score: 1

    I said proponents are often idealists. Do you not know the difference between idealist and ignorant? If not, you may in fact be ignorant.

    If you'd care to become less ignorant, here's a good overview of the physical limits of turbines:
    https://dspace.lasrworks.org/b...

    > and by implication identifying yourself as a renewable energy opponent

    Yep, THAT'S why I advocate renewable energy that works, like using the sun as a source of heat. You might have noticed, the sun is really good at making things hot.
    Were I an opponent of deploying renewable energy, I'd encourage people to focus on renewable scams that can never work on a large scale, like pretending that the sun is a source of electricity rather than a source of heat.

  25. We'd do well to stop increasing demand on Is Storage Necessary For Renewable Energy? · · Score: 1

    > If we reduce the demand for hydrocarbon energy by 30%

    For the last 2,000 years or so, the demand has just kept going up, lately at a pretty fast pace. Therefore I don't think a 30% reduction is too likely. If we did some reasonable steps, like solar HEATING rather than wasting all of our time and resources into trying to make the sun a source of electricity, we could get close stabilizing the demand, having the demand stop increasing.