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Comment Re:Hold them liable (Score 4, Insightful) 97

Strenuously disagree. This is more than a billing error here, it is an implicit threat of expensive legal action wrapped in a takedown that at the least interferes with someone's free expression. They need to take it seriously or go away.

Civilization has long understood the dangers of crying wolf and even has a number of fables about it in order to teach young children not to do it.

They are welcome to use their algorithm as a screening test, but they shouldn't be claiming ownership of things without human verification. Since their algorithm must have some 'idea' what it thinks the work is, it should only take a few seconds per filing to have a human verify that what is playing is what the algorithm thinks it is.

Perhaps the ban on the easy method of making a claim should expire after a time, but the message is fairly clear: If they prove they are unable to responsibly use a largely automated system, they will be forced to do it manually in order to force them to consider each case more carefully. It may even be acceptable to grant them 3 strikes rather than 1, but only if they issue a personal (hand written) apology from their CEO to the person they wrongly claimed against.

Submission + - FBI wants Pirate Bay logs for criminal investigation into copyright trolls. (torrentfreak.com)

the simurgh writes: It has been revealed today that In the past few months, two of the Pirate Bay co-founders have been repeatedly questioned by Swedish authorities, acting on behalf of the FBI. the internet now has clear evidence that Prenda is indeed being investigated by the US Government for uploading their own copyrighted content in torrents placed onto The Pirate Bay, for the sole purpose of creating a honeypot trap to sue over pirated downloads. the full story is included in the link below

Submission + - Noted Star Trek Actor Embroiled In Controversy Doubles Down On Racist Remarks (washingtontimes.com)

cold fjord writes: The Washington Times reports, "Gay activist and former “Star Trek” supporting actor George Takei doubled down on his “clown in blackface” attack on Supreme Court Clarence Thomas on Thursday night and implied that the jurist was a race traitor for not striking down state marriage laws last week. In a Facebook post, Mr. Takei said that blackface is not racist and/or that it is acceptable for an outsider to tell a black man that he is a racist caricature. He also used an analogy that would imply that Justice Thomas is actually white. “‘Blackface’ is a lesser known theatrical term for a white actor who blackens his face to play a black buffoon,” Mr. Takei wrote on his Facebook page Thursday evening. “In traditional theater lingo, and in my view and intent, that is not racist. It is instead part of a racist history in this country.” In addition to being used by white actors, blackface was also sometimes used by black actors on stage and film to look darker than they were and/or to play even-more-racist-than-usual caricatures. Mr. Takei also continued his criticism of Justice Thomas’s dissent in Obergefell vs. Hodges, and added another racial angle to it. In his Thursday night Facebook post, Mr. Takei said this opinion also proved Justice Thomas was no longer really black."

Submission + - Call Centre raided after DoS to UK phone network operators

product_bucket writes: The UK's Information Commissioner has (with help from Ofcom) raided [ico.org.uk] offices of a currently anonymous Manchester call centre after network operators complained of disruptions to their networks. Whilst making unsolicited marketing calls of any type has been illegal for some time, The action was only justified after approximately 7,000 reports of complaints were traced back to the call centre operator.

Nuisance calls in the the UK are once again on the rise [ico.org.uk] after government agencies have been at odds over who is responsible for what type of call is being made. With no less than three different organisations tasked with dealing with five [ico.org.uk] different forms of telemarketing, unscrupulous companies are making the most of this risky business opportunity.

Submission + - Paradoxical Crystal Baffles Physicists (quantamagazine.org)

An anonymous reader writes: In a deceptively drab black crystal, physicists have stumbled upon a baffling behavior, one that appears to blur the line between the properties of metals, in which electrons flow freely, and those of insulators, in which electrons are effectively stuck in place. The crystal exhibits hallmarks of both simultaneously.

“This is a big shock,” said Suchitra Sebastian, a condensed matter physicist at the University of Cambridge whose findings appeared today in an advance online edition of the journal Science. Insulators and metals are essentially opposites, she said. “But somehow, it’s a material that’s both. It’s contrary to everything that we know.”

Comment Re:Goodness (Score 1) 307

Unfortunately, in this case the pain spreads around. The sluggard isn't necessary the one who suffers for it.

ISPs get stuck dealing with NAT because too many servers are only reachable via v4, servers get stuck scrounging v4 addresses (possibly at great expense) because too many ISPs don't support v6, etc.

Comment This is what I do now, too. (Score 1) 184

I state up front that I work on my own terms. I have talent to offer and can solve problems that others often can't, but I place a premium on flexibility and on my own health and family. I am incredibly productive, more than many other employees, but I do not offer *maximum productivity*, i.e. "as much as I am humanly able to produce." Even if it seems that I have more to offer (i.e. I leave at 6:30 when everyone else is still working and Skyping me at 11:30 pm, I travel a only couple of times per year and decline to travel 20 times per year, etc.), I am not willing to give this "more" to the organization—it is for my family and my own personal growth.

And both of the phrases I used are things I've been told—"We have doubts about your how serious you are; we're interested in someone that's more serious about their career" and "We don't doubt that you're highly skilled and productive, your resume and recommendations are stellar, but we're in a competitive industry and we need highly competitive people, and we're not sure you've got that competitive fire in your belly—that you're really going to be one hundred percent invested in the company and its growth."

I have two friends that have been on the serial startup carousel as founders. Both burned out and moved in other directions because they felt it was impossible to actually have a life, be a human being, and get growth and operating capital support from investors. Each startup became their entire lives each time until positive exit, and at some point each said, "I'm not doing this again, I'm losing my own sense of identity and my family."

And if you take that kind of statement out into the public sphere, I'd bet that what others would say is, "Well, they weren't really made to be enterpreneurs, then; they were destined to burn out because it's not the lifestyle for them."

Which is precisely my point—and it sounds like you've seen it, too—there's a prevailing "wisdom" that "real" career builders or "real" enterpreneurs are a particular "type"—the type that gives every . last . drop . of . blood to the company. The rest? They're just not "cut out for it"—they should "do something else."

Of course, if you're not "cut out" for the job market or for enterpreneurship, it's not quite clear what "else" you ought to be doing to earn a living. There are only so many jobs at nonprofits and in government agencies.

It would be better if society were to take a step back and assume the opposite—that everyone is basically loyal, driven, and productive, but in general, a healthy person cannot exist without healthy hours, life balance, and relationships, and if someone is the "type" to be working from 4:00 am until midnight every day of the week, and double that on holidays to pick up the slack, the are probably in need of counseling or personal development, rather than a raise and a promotion. But I suppose that's not how the market works.

Comment Re:He answered the most boring questions! (Score 0) 187

Or are you simply alergic to the d,e,m,s,t and y?

You've obviously never worked on an embedded system. Sometimes in that space, you throw out absolutely anything and everything you don't absolutely positively have to include. That's why busybox exists and has a config menu that lets you choose exactly what commands to support. Likewise, dietlibc for when glibc is too big.

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