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melevittfl

88 karma · joined October 25, 2012

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/marklevitt; my proof: https://keybase.io/marklevitt/sigs/3_f76cPZhK1J0PmR6D8QIax2YZwNpZb72ZCSmxeMwqw ]
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melevittfl··on Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For
Of course they could have negotiated that. They didn’t just forget. They choose to not pay whatever additional cost Studio Canal would have wanted for a perpetual license.

Knowing that, they turned around and deceived people into buying something by false representation. Sony are crooks and have been crooks for a long time.

melevittfl··on Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For
Same for me. I have boycotted Sony since the rootkit fiasco.

I’m also still angry that, even though intentionally hacking a computer system is a criminal offence, not a single Sony employee was prosecuted or even arrested. Sony committed a crime on a massive scale that any individual would have been convicted of and spent years in jail for. They did it knowingly and for financial gain. They should be behind bars.

melevittfl··on My son pleasured himself on Gemini Live. Entire family's Google accounts banned
The mods of LegalAdviceUK are pretty strict about keeping the discussion to only actual legal advice, rather than moral or other topics.
melevittfl··on Code has always been the easy part
I think what the author is saying is akin to that old joke about a broken machine that nobody at the company can fix.

They bring in a high priced consultant who spends a few minutes looking at the machine, reaches in and pushes a switch and suddenly the machine starts working.

When the manager gets the invoice, he calls the consultant demanding an explanation for why it cost so much. After all, the consultant only spent a few minutes looking and then flipped one switch.

The consultant offered to send a more detailed invoice and the manager received one that said:

- Flipping a switch: $1 - Knowing which switch to flip: $999

In other words, the writing of the code is like flipping the switch. It’s the rest of “coding” that’s difficult.

melevittfl··on UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs
By VPS, I mean a generic compute instance that can run whatever you want. Like a Linux instance. I'm not sure what you mean by "VPN providers offer VPS as a substitute" in that context.

Paying by card isn't enough to verify age. They'd have to specifically verify via passport or other ID.

melevittfl··on UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs
I don't understand what "VPN providers move onto VPS to avoid" means? Can you clarify?

I can't see how they could apply it to VPS providers without meaning AWS, GCP, Digital Ocean, etc would all start having to do age verification checks. Can't imagine here would not be a massive push back against that.

melevittfl··on UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs
The definition section of the amendment defines a "relevant VPN service":

>“relevant VPN service” means a service of providing, in the course of a business, to a consumer, a virtual private network for accessing the internet;

I think it would be a significant stretch to say that a provider that provisions a VPS instance is a "business providing a virtual private network".

Just because you could run a VPN, it's not the VPS provider that is offering a VPN service.

melevittfl··on Copyright winter is coming (to Wikipedia?)
No, it’s more fundamental than fair use. Fair use is a defence to a copyright infringement. It’s an argument that, yes, I did violate the copyright of the creator, but my violation should be allowed.

The issue here is, what are creators allowed to own and control. It’s about the fundamental question of what copyright gives the creators control over.

Does creating a picture mean you own the right to its description? And you have the right to prevent anyone else from describing your picture?

melevittfl··on Mexican Navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge leaving two people dead
Sailboats, except for the smallest ones, usually have a motor and propeller to move without relying on wind.
melevittfl··on Ask HN: How did the internet discover my subdomain?
But there's no evidence in the OP's post that they have, in fact, discovered the domain. The only thing posted is that there is a GET request to a listening web server.

The OP and all the people talking about certificates are making the same assumption. Namely that the scanning company discovered the DNS name for the server and tried to connect. When, if fact, they simply iterate through IP address blocks and make get requests to any listening web servers they find.

melevittfl··on Ask HN: How did the internet discover my subdomain?
The OP is misunderstanding what's happened, based on what's been posted. The OP has a server with an IP address. They're seeing GET requests in the server's logs and is assuming people have found the server's DNS name.

In fact, the scanners are simply searching the IP address space and simply sending GET requests to any IP address they find. No DNS discovery needed.

melevittfl··on Scrum's "Product Owner" Problem
This is a pretty naive take on both product delivery and restaurants.
melevittfl··on Fiber optic drone control beats any RF jammer
I’m guessing the strain on the spooled end is less and you want the end most likely to detach close to the ground where you might be able to reattach it, vs in the drone where it would fall to the ground and be unfixible.
melevittfl··on Canadian government banning Flipper Zero to combat auto theft
Yeah, but we can freely buy and eat chocolate Kinder eggs.
melevittfl··on Car insurance in America is too cheap
I have two teens. It doesn’t go away.
melevittfl··on Cloudflare lays off new hires
That unusual. He’d only be obliged to continuing his job during his notice period. Not a different job. Sounds like he didn’t know his rights.

Most UK contracts will also include a clause allowing the company to end the employment immediately as long as they still pay out what the employee would have earned during their notice period.

Having been through a few roles in the uk myself, the obligation on the company to give me adequate notice (and pay) has always benefited me.

melevittfl··on The biggest leap forward in HTTP clients for Python in years
How does this compare to httpx?
melevittfl··on Kodak sues Tesla for using stolen technology for Autopilot
Patents are already limited to 15-20 years.
melevittfl··on Missing windows discovered on U.S.-bound plane after departing London
Airplanes are not airtight, so the system is designed to continue to pressurise the cabin as the air escapes.

As they didn’t go above 14,000 feet, I’m guessing it could keep up with the pressure loss from the windows.

melevittfl··on The product manager role is a mistake
Customers are rarely able to express their underlying issue. They usually communicate what they think the solution is.

A good product person is able to drill down to the fundamental problem the customer really has and articulate that to engineers.

Also, good product people should be evaluating the customers problem in terms of the whole market.

After all, engineering is a limited resource. So you need to solve the problems that exist for your target market, not just a single customer.

Of course, I’ve seen good engineers who can do this, but it takes time and effort to sift through all of the customers issues and work out which ones to solve. So product managers are focused on this to free up the good engineers to design solutions to those problems.

melevittfl··on I Will Fucking Haymaker You If You Mention Agile Again
> I am practically drowning in stressed-out managers trying to figure out how they can do Agile better.

I think this highlights a big problem with Agile in many dysfunctional organisations. Management and execs think that “agile” means speed. That adopting agile will shorten the time needed to ship.

The author’s contention that a backlog growing at a faster rate then work getting done also belays a misunderstanding of the purpose of agile.

The author would be correct if everything on the backlog needed to be done. But that’s not the point. A backlog should consist of stories that express a unit of business value. So, that value can change and not everything on the backlog should be seen as having to get done.

melevittfl··on I Will Fucking Haymaker You If You Mention Agile Again
Hmm. I’m a product manager. I never speak at stand ups. It’s not my meeting, it’s the team’s.

If something needs further discussion, then a follow up discussion with one or two people is enough.

melevittfl··on Anti-Anti-Adblocker uBlock filter to get rid of the annoying YouTube message
Yup, this is exactly why I don’t subscribe. I already pay for Spotify so I don’t need another music service.

I’d happily pay for just no ads.

melevittfl··on Private jet came ‘within 100 feet’ of colliding with Southwest plane, NTSB says
If the Citation pilot had the southwest plane in sight when they reached the decision height and kept going, rather than go around, wouldn’t that be an error on their part?
melevittfl··on Jira can’t stop people from using it incorrectly
Jira reflects the disfunction of the organization.
melevittfl··on Apple Vision Pro Is Apple's New VR Headset
Or when the original iPod was released.
melevittfl··on How we secure Monzo's banking platform
I’m sure you know this, but it’s not just regulator’s ire. It is a criminal act in and of itself to disclose that someone is a target of an investigation.

And it’s not just a criminal act for the organisation, but the individual customer service agent can be held personally criminally liable for disclosing, even accidentally.

So yeah, they have a really strong incentive not to tell you anything.

melevittfl··on Amazon Argues Users Don't Own Purchased Prime Video Content
I 100% agree this would be a big step forward.
melevittfl··on Uber stops upfront ride pricing in response to California worker law
True, although unlike a taxi, I can see during the trip the route the driver should be taking and, after the trip, I can see the route the driver actuall took.

And, if the route taken is unreasonably different from the optimal route, I can complain to Uber and get a refund.

So yes, while drivers may be incentivised to take longer routes, they can’t do it without being exposed.

melevittfl··on Activision forced Al Lowe to cancel his Leisure Suit Larry source code auctions
If he owns a legally made copy of the source code, and I accept that’s a big if, then he is perfectly within his rights to sell that single copy under the first sale doctrine.

It’s a shame that this bit of history will likely end up lost.

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