This Week In Techdirt History: March 29th – April 4th
from the that-rings-a-bell dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2015, in what was not an April Fool’s joke, President Obama signed a silly cybersecurity executive order that amounted to little more than an empty threat, while raising some concerning questions. Meanwhile, in the TV world, analysts were still happily pretending cord-cutting doesn’t exist and doing their part for an entire industry in denial (to the point cable companies would throw tantrums when forced to offer a la carte channels). We also took a look at how the TPP could be used to undermine free speech, and a ridiculous ruling in Ireland that required ISPs to kick accused filesharers off the internet.
Ten Years Ago
There were a couple of huge rulings this week in 2010. In one, the district court in the Myriad Genetics case ruled that patents on isolated genes are invalid, in a decision that would have a widespread impact. In another unrelated but equally monumental ruling, a court said the Bush administration broke the law with warrantless wiretaps.
Meanwhile, a huge wave of automated copyright shakedown lawsuits hit the US, the EU was putting the pressure on Canada to change its IP laws, the Olympic Committee was already hard at work securing its sweeping powers in Vancouver for 2012, and Sony made a lot of people very angry and ruined a lot of cool projects by removing the ability to install other operating systems on the PS3.
Fifteen Years Ago
Five years earlier in 2005, Sony was on the receiving end of a sudden disruption when a judge ruled that the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 infringed on patents and could not be sold in the US, while over on the Sony Music side, the boss was asking the Supreme Court to step in and stop piracy (the very real chilling effects of the entertainment industry’s stance on Grokster weren’t getting it done). Librarians and hobbyists were stepping up to oppose the broadcast flag, ISPs were practically begging to be regulated by blocking VoIP usage, and Verizon was blaming the entertainment industry for its decision to cripple Bluetooth on phones.
Comments on “This Week In Techdirt History: March 29th – April 4th”
The cyber national emergency is at least a step forward from just calling them WMD’s under Bush.
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This week in America history, Donald J. Trump was proven right, again, in front of the whole world, again. What’s the name of that malaria medicine? Good stuff, right? Just like he said, right? Good for everyone, everywhere, right? Even you highly political activists have to agree with that, right? RIGHT?!
Re: Re:
Can’t tell if you’re serious, emphatically don’t care if you’re serious.
Re: Good stuff, right?
Please take an extra dose and let us know how that works out. Alternatively, you could take extra doses to make up for all those doses not taken by other people.
Of course the potential upside is that if enough Trump supporters take this unproven medicine in enough quantities it will clean the gene pool and reduce the Trump voter base.
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Re: Re: Good stuff, right?
I hear you can find the stuff at aquarium shops.
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Re: Re: Re: Good stuff, right?
Can’t tell if you’re serious, but I’m guessing you are. You sound like you worship the devil, and celebrate in other’s misery. Trump will save millions of lives all around the world while you snark. Trump is literally the savior to millions of suffering. He’s like Christ. I think next year we will celebrate Trumpmas.
Re: Re: Re:2 Good stuff, right?
Trump is literally the savior of nothing. He can’t even keep his own business afloat. It’s no surprise he’s fucking up the US so badly. And the idiot can’t tell the truth to save his life. Every time he opens his mouth it’s verbal diarrhea everywhere.
Re: Re: Re:2
Thousands of lives might have been saved if Trump and his GOP asskissers had listened to people with actual expertise in pandemics and disease control instead of freezing all hiring at the CDC on the literal second day of Trump being president, disbanding teams of such experts almost two years ago, and ignoring warnings raised as far back as at least a year ago from the last of any such experts still left in the government. (Citations for those claims can be found in an earlier comment of mine.) Trump sits in the metaphorical (and I’m sure he’d like to make it a literal) throne; at what point does he, the so-called leader of the free world, take responsibility for the failings of his administration — for the thousands of dead Americans whose lives might have been saved but for the indifference/hatred towards science and outside expertise that is part and parcel of both the GOP in general and the administration of Donald Trump?
Yeah, sure, what the government is doing now could save thousands upon thousands of lives. But the government could’ve been doing what it’s doing far earlier than now. And that doesn’t even get into how the federal government is literally stealing PPE from the states (citations in the thread itself). So let’s not act like Trump is doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He’s doing it because he wants to be reëlected and dead people can’t vote for him.
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Good point. Hadn’t thought of that. Dead people can’t vote. Sure?
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Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
Dead democrats vote all the time, as well as their brethren, illegal alien democrats. Lot of ‘em.
Only dead Republicans can’t vote, because Republicans are honorable and truthful, even in death. I know this for certain, done seen it with my own eyes. Honorable and truthful, even in death. Yup. Except for John McCain, of course. But he’s an outlier. He’ll never stop being a lying cheating scumbag asshole. His daughter is cute , though. A little on the chubby side, but still rather fetching.
What was I saying? Trump 2020! Yeah, that’s it. Trump 2020! We faithfully honorable and truthful Americans LOVE YOU Donald J. Trump, the magnificent!
Re: Re: Re:4
If you know voter fraud happens, and you can offer incontrovertible evidence that such fraud happens at a large scale in national elections (which I’m sure you will provide in your next comment~), why couldn’t Trump and his administration do it?
Sure they are~.
Someone’s upset that McCain cast the vote that prevented the Republicans from rewinding the healthcare system to pre-Obamacare days, kicking thousands (if not millions) of people off their healthcare plans, and generally letting people die for the sake of profit. I wonder: Do you have a relative that works at Blue Cross Blue Shield?
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Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Wait – are you Hillary Clinton in drag?
Re: Re: Re:6
I wish I could pull off a drag act, but I don’t have the skin for it.
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
"Dead democrats vote all the time, as well as their brethren, illegal alien democrats. Lot of ‘em."
So, are you saying that you can prove this, in which case most Republicans would be glad to finally see evidence for these claims? Or, are you saying that your voting system is so fundamentally broken that you don’t even confirm the living status of those who vote?
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
"Or, are you saying that your voting system is so fundamentally broken that you don’t even confirm the living status of those who vote?"
Assuming it’s a bona fide republican and not just a troll who thinks he’s being funny (and by now who could tell the difference?) he’d never admit to that. But that part is true – the US voting system is indeed fundamentally broken.
And multiple statements of republican politicians has suggested their steadfast refusal to improve on voter rates is because they know every time voter participation shoots up, their support goes down.
They’d vastly prefer it if the vast majority of the US remained too apathetic to give a damn about who runs the country.
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"But that part is true – the US voting system is indeed fundamentally broken."
Well, clearly. It’s just fun to get some of these guys to admit that the system that installed Cheetolini is broken. If we were talking about some South American or African country these guys would be demanding they be invaded to install a proper democracy, but they’re fine with an undemocratic system so long as their guy wins.
"And multiple statements of republican politicians has suggested their steadfast refusal to improve on voter rates is because they know every time voter participation shoots up, their support goes down."
Trump himself is on record as saying that this is the case – proper voter participation means lost seats for Republicans. If it weren’t for gerrymandering and the electoral college they’d barely have seats at all.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
Not just the states, but the rest of the world.
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Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
Trump has single handedly cured the pandemic, for the entire world, for free, and this is what you want to focus on? Against all odds, he has prevailed against all the naysayers. You should send him money. He deserves it more than you. For sure. He’s such a HERO!
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Nobody’s going to put on the Fran Drescher mask for you, Hamilton.
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Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
Stephen would. He loves me, but don’t spread it around. It’s our special secret.
Re: Re: Re:7
I’d rather fellate a loaded shotgun than have anything to do with you, Hamilton.
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You know, just because Shiva Ayyadurai makes you wear the mask, that doesn’t mean what you have with the guy who didn’t invent email can be considered a healthy relationship.
Re: Re: Re:5
How many Americans died of COVID-19 yesterday? Because people shouldn’t be dying of the coronavirus if it’s been “cured”.
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Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
Well, if assholes like you would shut up and listen to our leader , closely, we would all be better off.
These deaths are on you, and leftists like you. Trump made his case long ago. Time has come for you and your ilk to STFU.
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We listened. Your leader literally said he was not going to wear a mask while greeting important people.
Trump couldn’t make a case if it wasn’t already made for him, and he’ll still fuck it up. Seriously, it took you guys three years and Hilary still isn’t in jail, and your Mexican wall still hasn’t got past the vanity project stage. Your leader is a joke.
If time is coming it’s coming for those who refuse to observe distancing advice and happen to be among the old, especially those who happen to also have various underlying medical conditions. Of which plenty happen to be a part of Trump’s voter base. Nice going, whackjob.
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"Trump made his case long ago."
Yes, he told everybody it was a hoax and to do nothing to stop it. How did that work out again? Oh, 311,637 infected (nearly 3 times more than any other country) and 8,454 dead (3rd highest in the world) as of the current figures, at a rate that’s quickly growing.
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To be fair those numbers do present a pretty strong case, just probably not for what they thought it was.
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What’s particularly sad is understanding what the numbers mean. By the time all of this is over, the number of confirmed dead will absolutely outweigh the dead in any other country. These guys will try to pretend that’s just because everyone else is not telling the truth, but the numbers are there. What’s particularly sad is that these will often be the same people who demanded extreme restrictions on rights and extreme military action in the face of 9/11, yet here we are approaching 3 times the number of dead and many more to come, and they’re defending the guy who caused them to die.
Re: Re: Re:10 Re:
To be fair, there’s absolutely no way China having far fewer cases and deaths than New York alone is a credible story. Other dictatorial countries have similarly unbelievable numbers.
But the USA numbers are just insane. The deaths vs. recovered rates are piss poor compared to countries like Germany. On the flip side, the US rates are fantastic compared to UK and Netherlands so far. Those numbers might be partially or even fully explained by the number of tests performed per capita (Germany has done twice as many tests per million as the USA, UK about half as many and Netherlands about 80% as many).
Whatever the case, the USA hasn’t fared any better than anyone else and, by many measures, is doing much worse. Our worthless "leader" waited far too long to do anything and then did far too little. There is an awful lot of blood on his hands already and this is far from over. Trumpsuckers should be keeping their cock holsters shut right about now.
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It’s too bad that Leigh Beadon has already named the funniest and most insightful of the week, because your comment sure is a strong contender!
Re: Re: Re:7
Yes, he did, all the way back in the long-ago age of the 26th of February:
According to the Worldometer for U.S. coronavirus cases, on the day Donald Trump made those statements, the U.S. had around 60 confirmed cases of people with COVID-19, with no deaths. As of yesterday, the U.S. has over 310,000 confirmed cases (a 5,100% increase) and over 8,400 deaths. 38 days with over 300,000 new cases and over 8,400 deaths is not a joke, and neither is promising some sort of miracle cure/treatment when no such thing exists. Donald Trump touting a specific drug as a “miracle” will not create a miracle — it will create a shortage of that drug for people who might actually need it when it isn’t proven to be effective (in any meaningful, scientifically provable sense) as a treatment for COVID-19.
I have no idea whether your bullshit is an act designed specifically for trolling or a genuine delusional belief that Donald Trump is a living demigod. Either way, you’re making jokes and being glib about actual people dying of an actual virus that has no known cure or vaccine. You’re not helping yourself look like anything more than a heartless bastard who would rather see people sacrificed to the altar of capitalism than think for even a microsecond that Donald Trump is what he has proven himself to be time and time again.
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Then why is the NYC health care system near the point of collapse?
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Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
Because they didn’t listen earlier! Cuomo won’t let people get the miracle medication! The malaria medic! Whatz it called?
Re: Re: Re:7 Re:
It’s called "in the early stages of testing against this specific virus and irresponsible for anyone in power to call a cure".
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"Cuomo won’t let people get the miracle medication! The malaria medic! Whatz it called?"
Chloroquine. The medicine which, in the doses shown to have effect, kills people at a similar rate as Covid does, outside of intensive care and doctors standing by?
I’m not sure what hypothetical scenario here is worse – that you are a genuine pro-trumper blindly repeating the ever-changing lies Trump keeps spewing at record speed…or that you are a troll who thinks making jokes about a fucking bona fide plague is somehow funny.
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
"Trump has single handedly cured the pandemic, for the entire world, for free"
Then why are so many Americans dropping dead from it, at a rate higher than any place in the world?
I know this act is fun for you, but you’re just mocking the people Trump has killed.
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Given their posting history I have no doubt that they are more than disturbed and reprehensible enough to mock the dead so long as they think it’ll get a rise out of someone, so their doing so is entirely within character.
Re: Re: Re:7 Re:
Yes, I just want to keep reminding people that this is how sick he is. Americans are dying, at least partly due to Trump’s actions in valuing the stock market over the health and safety of his citizens. I think people need to remember that in this important year, and ensure that there’s no continuation of his administration.
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I certainly hope that ‘botched the response to global pandemic, resulting in thousands dead’ is enough to convince enough people come voting time that Trump doesn’t have any business given any sort of power, though at the same time I’m fairly convinced that at this point literally nothing will shift his die-hard supporters, as they’ll always find something or someone else to blame rather than admit that they’ve been backing a terrible, terrible person(in many ways).
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"I’m fairly convinced that at this point literally nothing will shift his die-hard supporters"
Oh, they’re a lost cause, no doubt. The key here is to remind other people that he is the reason there’s so much suffering and the answer to that is at the ballot box. As much as some like to pretend otherwise, Trump did not win a popular vote in the last election, he has no mandate, and the way to repair this is for those people not installed in his cult to make their voices heard in November.
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…To be fair, they’re called "die"-hard supporters for a reason.
Re: Re: Re:9 Re:
"…I’m fairly convinced that at this point literally nothing will shift his die-hard supporters, as they’ll always find something or someone else to blame…"
That may, sadly, be the case. Quite a lot of Trump supporters – including governors, senators and congressmen – have been using rhetoric which makes you think they were advocating for a death cult. It’s one thing for the CiC to encourage soldiers to risk laying down their lives for their country – but right now he’s been encouraging the elderly to risk laying down their lives for the market. And no few republican pundits are all on board with that.
It’s as if the entire GOP has devolved into a cadre of 4chan trolls.
Re: Re: Re:10
Given the current GOP’s strong ties to Christian evangelicals/nationalists and their beliefs in Heaven and the Rapture and the U.S. government needing to help kickstart the Rapture (hence the Trump administration’s current policy towards Israel), “death cult” is completely appropriate. The GOP doesn’t generally care if people die — they only care if those people dying can affect their ability to retain the power necessary for helping achieve the goals of Christian nationalism/Dominionism.
Re: Re: Re:10 Re:
The Republican/Libertarian ideal:
A government small enough to drown your grandparents in the bathtub.
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
Because nothing says ‘I want the US to come out of this with an international image just as bad as it’s body-count’ like blocking the flow of medical supplies during a pandemic.
Re: Re: Re:2 Good stuff, right?
I know you love to play the idiot on here, but I don’t think the families of the people he’s directly or indirectly caused to die through his incompetence on this issue would agree with your assessment.
A quick reminder: just a few weeks ago, he was claiming the whole thing was a Chinese hoax because he’d pinned his reelection hopes on a strong stock market and gambled that the US would not be hit. Today, the stock market has tanked despite his efforts, there are currently 8,500 confirmed dead Americans with the figure growing exponentially and millions of Americans are unemployed as a result of his mismanagement, which started with him dismantling the pandemic team that Obama had set up to handle this exact scenario.
"Trump is literally the savior to millions of suffering."
No, he’s literally the CAUSE of millions suffering.
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Re: Re: Re:3 Good stuff, right?
All you genius here, and not one is willing to even name the life saving malaria drug that Donald Trump discovered could cure the worldwide pandemic.
Can’t name it, a one of you. You would presto let people die than help save them with the miracle Trump cure.
Re: Re: Re:4
No scientific proof exists that the malaria drug mentioned by Donald Trump can cure or effectively treat people infected with COVID-19. If you have such proof, by all means: Provide it.
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Generally, drugs are approved more on evidence than "proof". Evidence is lacking too.
Re: Re: Re:4 Good stuff, right?
Where is the medical expert making such claims for that drug. Hint Trumps claim do not count because he is not a qualified medical expert, and is willing to cling to any claim that him get re-election.
Re: Re: Re:4 Good stuff, right?
"not one is willing to even name the life saving malaria drug that Donald Trump discovered"
Because he did no such thing. He has repeated claims, as yet unproven, about hydroxychloroquine supposedly showing early signs of being a treatment, but you’re lying about the findings as much as he is.
"You would presto let people die than help save them with the miracle Trump cure."
Trump has already killed thousands of Americans through his actions. Your desperation to hide this fact is clear.
Re: Re: Re:4 Good stuff, right?
By simple laws of mathematics, half of this country is dumber than average. I am convinced that the dumb half are the trumpsuckers, willing to fellate the orangutan in chief every time he tweets some random idiocy.
I am also certain that the smarter half will not vote Trump this year and that some percentage of the dumber half will also not vote for him. That means there is no chance that dumbass manchild will get elected again. To anything. Ever.
You’ll have to become his personal cock holster slash assistant if you want to keep adoring him from his pelvic region. Fortunately for you, prison seems to accept that kind of behavior.
Re: Re: Re:5 Good stuff, right?
While I certainly hope that you’re right Trump was able to get in the last time on what amounts to a technicality thanks to the US’s incredibly stupid voting system so thinking that it’s impossible for him to ‘win’ again is not a safe assumption, because he wasn’t supposed to win that time and yet here we are.
Re: Re: Re:5 Good stuff, right?
"I am also certain that the smarter half will not vote Trump this year and that some percentage of the dumber half will also not vote for him."
Sadly voter apathy always favors the dumbest choice. And americans are, by now, rightly disgusted and disillusioned about their voting system.
Roughly 50% will vote at all. Of those only the blindly devoted democrats and desperate anti-trumpers will vote for Biden. The swing voters following Bernie may just decide both democrat and republican deserve whatever they get and vote Trump in protest.
Trump’s adherents will no doubt vote for him.
Republicans will vote for him because he’s the republican candidate and that’s that.
This is as clear-cut a case of voter apathy resulting in the worst of all possible choices ever since Hitler rode on a whopping 12% of the citizenry to become chancellor of the german republic.
Unless the US gets it’s shit together as a nation and comes up with a sensible proportion of voting citizenry – around 80-90% – it will remain screwed with the thin film of pond scum floating on top continually winning elections.
Re: Re: Re:6 Good stuff, right?
The problem is, Americans are being actively shown that in many places, their vote really does not count. Gerrymandering means that some districts will always run red even if every registered democrat votes. Meanwhile, 3 million Americans were shown that their vote really didn’t count because they lived in New York or California and the electoral college overrode their decision by virtue of someone living in another state having more say in the matter than they did.
Hopefully, everyone will be very much motivated by the disastrous outcome of the current administration, but apathy is not the only problem they face.
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"What’s the name of that malaria medicine? Good stuff, right? Just like he said, right? Good for everyone, everywhere, right?"
As soon as we can show the "medicine" side effects don’t kill more than covid does, sure.
Meanwhile the death rate among those who listened too closely to the president and decided to self-medicate on chloroquine or derivatives thereof are dropping like flies.
"Listened to the president" shouldn’t be the ground for a Darwin Award, but with Trump in office, that’s apparently the norm since he’ll bullshit just as much about deadly pandemics as he will about that damn wall.