Honestly, OSX is the worst offender of the lot.

I use my computer to do work, not surf the net and look at pictures of cats.

Working with OSX is like working on your car in your garage, and you've got all the tools you need spread out within arms reach so you can quickly grab them as you need them.

Only, you have an obsessive compulsive spouse who absolutely NEEDS everything to look clean and pretty in case some third party is watching, and every time you set down a tool and pick up another one, she picks it up off the floor and puts it away.

It's not a technical problem. It's a problem of faulty design. They let a bunch of graphic designers turn my goddamned hammer into a flower, and it's very pretty, but I can't drive a nail with it, and, somehow, they convinced EVERY manufacturer of hammers to follow in their footsteps, so I'm forced to look for a brick, because ALL the tools I relied on to do my job are BROKEN.

I just want my ugly, greasy toolbox back, but no one makes them any more.

I used to have a great deal of interest in my computers, but after Windows 8, OSX, Gnome 3 and Unity, I really don't like computers any more, so I just do what's necessary to pay the bills.

"tens of times what, say, the President of the US earns"

That's probably still true but lets not pretend that government salary represents any notable portion of what the president, presidential appointees, or congress critters make. Not even when you only consider the bribes in the form of high salaries and benefits without actual duties that are paid on leaving office and offered while in office for favors.

The DoD is wasting hundreds of billions and $45m is the noteworthy issue?

If I'm the one with the communications infrastructure and I let you use it to communicate, what you say reflects on me because I built your podium.

Free speech does not entitle you to someone elses podium.

Cold weather sucks. I don't own costal property. I'm glad the world is getting warmer. I hope it continues. It will increase the carrying capacity of the planet by making food easier to grow. I see no downside.

He gave you permission to copy his stuff if you like. He just doesn't feel right selling a music stream to you because he feels it's a rip off. For you. I doubt he needs your money at this point.

I could tell that you're not a lawyer. Your total ignorance of the law was a dead giveaway.

Public transit runs on it's own slow schedule to locations that are neither where I am nor where I'm going. I live in a large city and it would still take me over an hour just to walk to a transit station and then I might have to wait 45min for the train I need. If I need more than one connection each might have up to 45min delay and at the end I still might have an hour walk to get to my destination. If you miss one, tack another 45min for it to come around again. Plus, I wouldn't be able to transport more than I can reasonably carry.

I had to use public transport for a time in Albuquerque which has a better public transit system than most. I'd never do it again voluntarily. At least not as a primary form of transportation. I do drive to the closest metro station sometimes when going to a large sporting event or concert downtown to avoid traffic and parking.

This isn't changing the rules. This is following the rules.

See my article in the ABA's Judges Journal about how judges had been bending the rules for the RIAA. "Large Recording Companies v. The Defenseless: Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigation". The Judges' Journal, Judicial Division of American Bar Association. Summer 2008 edition, Part 1 of The Judges Journals' 2-part series, "Access to Justice".

I beg to differ.

Malibu Media can't choose the venue, or the judge.

If Judge Hellerstein's decision is followed by other judges, it will be the death knell of the present wave of Malibu Media litigation.

While your argument for discovery has some logic to it, it is based on a false assumption of fact : that Malibu Media, once it obtains the name and address of the internet account subscriber, will serve a subpoena on that person in an attempt to find out the name of the person who should be named as a defendant.

Malibu Media's uniform practice, once it gets the name and address, is to immediately amend the complaint to name the subscriber as the infringer/defendant and then serve a summons and amended complaint, not a subpoena, on the subscriber.

This is in every single case .

Well said

If so, most judges have been unaware of it these past 10 years.

It's not binding on anyone. But Judge Hellerstein is a very well respected judge, so it will probably have a lot of 'persuasive authority'.

I haven't researched that question yet, and I may well be litigating that issue in the near future, since I have several cases against Malibu Media which are now in litigation mode... so all I can say is, stay tuned.

The Prenda people are a bunch of strange people who, based on reports I've read, may well wind up doing jail time. I know nothing about the Malibu Media people. If I did find out something really bad about them in would probably wind up in my court papers if relevant to the case or to their credibility.