Bonum Certa Men Certa

Yahoo VP Explains Patent Trolling (Video)

Watch the following 3-minute video.



Ogg Theora





By the way, Yahoo is no innocent party when it comes to Free software and Linux. Just to balance things a little, here are a few things which you may or may not already know about Yahoo:



A month or two ago, Richard Stallman called for a boycott that includes Yahoo, due to political censorship. And here are two recent messages from two separate incognitos from USENET:

USENET Message-ID: 1187970640.783887.100410@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com

I've got a Yahoo email address. I don't actually use it for anything except putting it on forms that demand an email address be supplied (probably so they can sell lists of email addresses to a spammer).

Anyway: I logged into Yahoo, as I periodically do, to see if anything interesting had been sent to me, and I noticed that Yahoo lets its members have a free website on Geocities. I thought I'd give it a go, I didn't have anything to do at that moment. I know very little about HTML and site building to I decided to use their Page Builder editor, a WYSIWYG HTML editor for clueless newbies like myself. I clicked on the button to use Page Builder, and that's when it started.

Firefox told me it had prevented a pop-up from appearing. I told Firefox to allow pop-ups from this site, and continued. Then Firefox told me it had stopped another pop-up from popping up. I had been taken to another page, you see. Basically, to get anywhere with this site-building, I would have to allow pop-ups from anywhere.

And now Yahoo said there was a problem: I was using a "non-Microsoft Windows operating system"! Yahoo told me that Page Builder might work for me, but they couldn't guarantee anything if I continued using "Apple or Unix".

Unix?! How many people do you suppose use Unix as a general desktop operating system, and who would be using something like Yahoo Page Builder to make a website? I think there are very few such people. Yahoo obviously meant "Apple and Linux". They're the most common non-Windows OSes I believe. So why don't Yahoo just come out and /say/ Linux?

I can remember reading somewhere - maybe it was here - that people who had been suggesting Linux-based solutions to people on Yahoo Answers had had their accounts terminated. Yahoo obviously have an issue with Linux. But why are they being so vehement and troublesome about it? Heaven's sake, I just wanted to build a little site.


USENET Message-ID: 466e0575$0$7982$4c368faf@roadrunner.com

The system troubleshooting technique taught to me since 1965, in the Air Force schools, is to find the solid parts, and eliminate the possibly faulty ones, one at a time!

So, my 'toolbox' of techniques includes a Linux or FreeBSD LiveCDrom, and a REBOOT, to run the OS from the CDrom, instead of from the Hard Drive.

I like "Frenzy" (FreeBSD), Mepis, Damn Small Linux, and PCLinuxOS, as first choices.

Yahoo must hire summer-break students, or idiots who have no village, because they have killed my accounts three times, for helping out poor windoze idiots, and mentioning that a Linux or BSD live CDrom can demonstrate that their equipment is good, or bad!

It's a real pisser, because, in my case, each account that was suspended/deleted had attained Level 6 stature. There is nothing sacred in Cyberspace.

Yahoo Corporate management is in a quandry with the idiocy! Nobody seems to be in charge, and there is no supervision over the script monkeys!

Yahoo really sucks, because I have usually got 15,800 points, which is some 6,500 questions answered, with over 15% being rated "BEST".

I do take pride in having advocated Linux and BSD as tools to solve problems, and in having saved many folks from their own ignorance! But, there are always more idiot lemmings!

Back to the salt mine, with a new disposable Yahoo identity!


All in all, Yahoo's talk about patent trolls was interesting. By no means, however, think of Yahoo as a pleasant company.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Defending Women Isn't a Crime, Everybody Can Agree on That
Their culture is unlike ours
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VI - Influx of Spaniards and Portuguese Workers (+77%) at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Led by the 'Alicante Mafia'
There is now data supporting this assertion, new and complete data in fact
Nobody is Safe at IBM (or Red Hat)
There is no job security at IBM
Bad faith: Hugo Roy knew FSFE impersonating FSF before French tribunal, colleagues deceived
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Over 1,500 EPO Workers Went on Strike Last Week
a new publication which celebrates some accomplishments of industrial actions and calls for further actions
Madame Streisand Wanted to Censor The Web, Instead She 'Created' a New Term, "Streisand Effect"
It is basically an own goal
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Failed to Detect Fraud in Law Firms... Until It Was Too Late
Earlier today we contacted some more politicians about this and received mail from them as well
Our EPO and IBM Coverage Bears Fruit
In case insiders want to get in touch with us, please ensure or at least try doing so securely
Links 03/03/2026: "Scam Altman in Damage Control" and Oil Traffic Disrupted
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/03/2026: Phones, LLMs, and Changes on the Web
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Confirms Talk in Bern Next Week
Dr. Stallman has just formally confirmed his third talk this month in Switzerland
GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Guam
there are many computers in that island
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 1 Out of 200: Claim No. KB-2024-001270 in a Nutshell
abuse of process by a law firm working for an American who was arrested for strangling women and another American whose own spouse calls a "rapist"
When EPO Team Managers (TMs) Are Harassing People Who Strictly Apply the European Patent Convention (EPC) in Patent Examination
There are two strikes planned for this month
Confirmed: Using Slop Gets You Fired
Let the story of Benj Edwards be a cautionary tale
Links 03/03/2026: "No one wants to read your AI slop" and "chatbots in the kill chain"
Links for the day
EPO and "Equivalent to More Than 100 Days of Strike"
The industrial actions continue and already have a positive effect
Streisand Effect, the Microsoft Way
Microsoft has once again proven the Streisand Effect
Keeping Track of IBM Layoffs in March 2026
IBM depends on bribery
GNU/Linux Measured at 7% in Yemen
Windows is too hostile and dangerous
Links 03/03/2026: Security Breaches, Iceland Wants EU Membership, and "Wall Street–Backed Lawmakers Want to Help Banks Gouge You"
Links for the day
Queensland Health Payroll System: IBM billion-dollar-blowout inquiry
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 02, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 02, 2026
Gemini Links 03/03/2026: GrapheneOS and Keyboard Shortcuts
Links for the day
Tomorrow should be sunny (at long last!) and a generally productive dayProductive Week Ahead
Tomorrow should be sunny (at long last!) and a generally productive day
Only One Slopfarm Seems to Have Targeted "Linux" Today
It certainly does feel like the slop hype is reaching the "late life crisis" and companies that benefited from this bubble are overdue for a day of reckoning
Microsoft Mass Layoffs: Being Sacked at 1AM in the Morning
Watch what happens to Microsoft employees who get pregnant
Links 02/03/2026: More Social Control Media Bans, Climate Change Woes, and "Journalist With Germany's Deutsche Welle Arrested in Turkey"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Small Phones, "I 3D Printed My Brain", and "Managing 5 Servers at Once with tmux"
Links for the day
IBM is Trying to Hide Mass Layoffs, Not Only With NDAs and 'Scripted' LinkedIn Posts
From what we can gather (screenshot above), today many people leave IBM and Red Hat
Richard Stallman is Giving a Public Talk This Week (Friday in Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology)
His birthday is just around the corner.
Windows Falls to New Low in World's Largest Population (India)
Windows is now down to 7%
Never Miss a Good Opportunity to Shut Up and Drink Coffee
Threats come at a cost; each time you issue a threat you stigmatise yourself as a bully
Last Month Matthew Garrett Said Ridiculous Things After His Spouse Had Called Him a "Rapist", Now He's Trying to Take the Site Offline and Put My Family in Prison
The real issue of concern to him (and his alleged reputation) is the spouse and the matter is to be dealt with in America, not the UK
Machine-Generated Legal Documents, Over 2,000 Pages Sent to Us Today Alone
We now know that the papers we receive are produced using bots (algorithms)
Reporting to Our Politicians/MPs the Failure of the SRA to Stop Hired Guns Who Help Americans (Men Who Attack Women and Nowadays Also Attack British Reporters)
About a month ago my wife wrote to politicians to get the ball rolling
The Topic Many People Don't Want to Talk or Write About
"DEI" is inherently about making racial and gender patterns better reflect society's
XBox is Virtually Dead Already, What Next Will Die at Microsoft?
Now that there are mass layoffs at Microsoft datacentres it is not premature to speculate about what dies after XBox
For the First Time, statCounter Measures Internet Explorer at 0.01% "Market Share"
What Microsoft replaced it with is just a Chrome clone with extra spyware
Was a Lot of "Windows" and "Unknown" in Iran Just GNU/Linux in Disguise?
more than 1 in 10 desktop/laptop requests is estimated to be GNU/Linux
"Here in the UK, GNU/Linux rose to all-time high at Windows' expense"
Will this entail Software Freedom as well? This depends on all of us
Links 02/03/2026: Claude Code Causes a Mexican Government Cyberattack, "London Repair Week" Noted
Links for the day
2026 Microsoft Mass Layoffs in So-called 'AI' Datacentres, Why Doesn't the Mainstream Media Cover The News?
What does this tell us about the state of the media?
Don't Fall for "Top X Law Firms" in "Discipline Y", They Pay $Z to Get False Endorsement/s
It's a scheme, a scam, an elaborate fraud
More Publishers Have Turned From Slop Boosters Into Slop Sceptics and Critics
There's a "hidden cost" when one participates (for profit) in "pump and dump" schemes
TeX Live Has New Release, But Planet Debian Won't Tell You That
It 'unpersoned' the developer
LLM Slop Does Not Know People (It Knows Nothing) and Cannot Distinguish Between People. It's a Recipe for Disaster.
no way of knowing who's who
"Over 1,100 Law Firms Gone in Five Years" in the United Kingdom (UK) Alone
There are basically way too many lawyers (looking for "business", e.g. threats and lawfare) and not enough positions to fill
Microsoft FUD From Microsoft Site Helps Distract From Actual Microsoft Back Doors
Published on a Sunday
Free Software Foundation Needs to Become More Active in Europe to Avoid Impersonation by Microsoft-Sponsored Groups
So far we've hardly seen the FSF saying anything at all about the US president
Links 02/03/2026: "Not Envious of Billionaires" and Palantir SLAPPs "Swiss Magazine For Accurately Reporting That The Swiss Government Didn't Want Palantir"
Links for the day
There Has Never Been a Better Time to Quit Social Control Media
Those networks are selling something. And that something is not peace because peace does not sell "attention".
Microsoft Users Drowning in Slop, If They Complain Microsoft Censors Them
Like an authoritarian regime
IBM is Killing Red Hat's Portfolio - Including Linux - to Prop Up Ponzi Scheme ("AI")
IBM is killing Red Hat
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 01, 2026
Speed of Sites Matters
Being easily accessible all the time matters to us
Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Weird Phone Calls, Small Phones, and Exploring Racket
Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell on "Good Tech"
in the age of "rent everything" and "own nothing"
Gemini Links 01/03/2026: Simpler Software and Announcing OFFLFIRSOCH (OFFLine-FIRst SOftware CHallenge) 2026
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part V - Jobs at the EPO for Those Connected to Cocaine Addicts (Skills Not Required)
EPO management is trying to shoot the messenger
Booz Allen Hamilton, the Former Employer of Edward Snowden (NSA Contractor), is Drowning in Debt
Can Supreme Leader Cheeto bail it out like he does slop companies?
On the Concept of "Protected Class" (or Race) at IBM
It's self-harming as in practice it imperils the company and harms the reputation/brand
The Mass Layoffs at Microsoft That Nobody in the "News Industry" Wants to Talk About (and TheLayoff.com Censored, Then It Censored the Evidence of the Censorship)
They basically cover up how they censored the news about Microsoft layoffs
Richard Stallman to Give at Least Three Talks in Switzerland, Starting This Week
No mention (yet) of the Bern talk
On Who 'Speaks for' Techrights
typically a case of misrepresenting the site
'FSFE' an Imposter in Europe, Paid by GAFAM to Represent GAFAM Interests
The Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE', which violates the terms of use of its name, is causing confusion [...] formally-recognised institutions got tricked into thinking that the Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE' is the FSF
Lots of Lies From the Slop Industry
The slop industry relies on fake news to give a notion or fake demand
Links 01/03/2026: American Plutocrats Buy American Media While American Constitution Shredded
Links for the day
Teaser: The Next Series About the SRA, Which Would be Just as Effective as It Is Right Now If It Had Zero Employees
the lapdog (of the "litigation industry") that is meant to be perceived as a watchdog
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part I - Introduction
The SRA is a sham. Many people know this already, but we want to document our own experiences with it.
Live Simply, Live Better
Life isn't about "collecting" possessions; it's about doing things that matter and accumulating knowledge so as to make better choices
Now That XBox is Pretty Much Dead and There Are Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
This means our predictions about Microsoft (and XBox) are "falling into place"
Gemini Links 01/03/2026: "In the Spirit of OFFLFIRSOCH" and "Delete Patreon"
Links for the day
ACM Lowers Its Standards for Age of Autocracy
IBM is more than happy to work with autocracies
The term FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) was created to describe IBM's tactics and IBM is doing it again
Rob Thomas or "RT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, February 28, 2026