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Re: undefined

#31

Post by mseebach »

brandoncor wrote: post #5
acangiano wrote: post #2

The sad part to me is that you need media attention (albeit new media in this case) for the police department to do their job.

If you think about it, it's no different than reporting a bug. You and your team know you should fix it, but there are always more pressing issues on your plate. You probably won't move it to the top of your list until either a large number of users complain or a one user complains very loudly.

Pretty important distinction: The people reporting bugs probably aren't paying your salary out of their taxes, nor have they granted you and your team a monopoly on wielding the tools necessary to perform an essential service.

Re: undefined

#32

Post by cletus »

bdhe wrote: post #24
iconfinder wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have sued McDonald's for serving hot coffee in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonalds_Restaurant...

Argh, this is actually a very legitimate case. It is rather unfortunate that in most people's eyes this is viewed as a textbook example of a farcical lawsuit. Some points, which are mentioned in the very wiki article you linked. * The coffee was about 45F or 20C higher than McDonald's guidelines. * The coffee caused third-degree burns that required skin grafting * Liebeck initially only asked to be compensated $18,00…

No argument that McDonald's should've settled for medical costs when they had the chance. Yes the coffee was too hot but... she put the cup between her legs while driving.

Reasonable care would've prevented this injury and that's my problem with the ridiculous payout.

The law has many failings like this. For example, if you become intoxicated, get in a vehicle and manage to kill someone then the law largely says you were not responsible... because you were intoxicated. The punishment for vehicular manslaughter is WAY lower than other unlawful killings, if it's even tried as that. It's so hard to get vehicle-related felonies convicted that often they'll be settled for lower severity crimes (reckless driving and so forth).

But who got intoxicated in the first place? Who didn't take reasonable steps to avoid getting behind the wheel?

The McDonald's case is the poster child for frivolous litigation because, in spite of the misrepresentation or misunderstanding of the facts, ultimately it boils down to rewarding people for being stupid.

Re: undefined

#33

Post by whyenot »

acangiano wrote: post #2

The sad part to me is that you need media attention (albeit new media in this case) for the police department to do their job.

Josh told papers that the PR director told him that the force has 2400 reports of theft a month and is only able to conduct 3 investigations.

(from the article on Consumerist http://consumerist.com/2011/06/laptop-thief-caught-after-vic...)

The Oakland PD no longer responds to property crimes. This is a stopgap policy they started after they lost a large number of officers (100?) recently due to budget cuts.

Re: undefined

#35

Post by bdhe »

cletus wrote: post #32
bdhe wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Argh, this is actually a very legitimate case. It is rather unfortunate that in most people's eyes this is viewed as a textbook example of a farcical lawsuit. Some points, which are mentioned in the very wiki article you linked. * The coffee was about 45F or 20C higher than McDonald's guidelines. * The coffee caused third-degree burns that required skin grafting * Liebeck initially only asked to be compensated $18,00…

No argument that McDonald's should've settled for medical costs when they had the chance. Yes the coffee was too hot but... she put the cup between her legs while driving. Reasonable care would've prevented this injury and that's my problem with the ridiculous payout. The law has many failings like this. For example, if you become intoxicated, get in a vehicle and manage to kill someone then the law largely says you…

But who got intoxicated in the first place? Who didn't take reasonable steps to avoid getting behind the wheel?

I am not a lawyer, but I believe, firstly, this is largely orthogonal to the original discussion, and secondly, my understanding behind why it is considered manslaughter is because of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea

Re: undefined

#36

Post by nhangen »

Kylekramer wrote: post #27
mponizil wrote: post #23

Anyone wonder about "Guy sleeping on the couch next to my MacBook."? Doesn't the app use the computer's camera to take pictures?

That confused me too. But the silver thing on the couch isn't the Macbook, probably a remote. The laptop is apparently still open on a table or something while he is asleep and somehow catching him perfectly in frame (yes, I am still skeptical of this).

Does this software (Hidden) work when the computer goes in to sleep mode? Because it's also odd that it's still alert even after he's taken the time to fall asleep on the couch.

Re: undefined

#38

Post by mbreese »

mseebach wrote: post #31
brandoncor wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think about it, it's no different than reporting a bug. You and your team know you should fix it, but there are always more pressing issues on your plate. You probably won't move it to the top of your list until either a large number of users complain or a one user complains very loudly.

Pretty important distinction: The people reporting bugs probably aren't paying your salary out of their taxes, nor have they granted you and your team a monopoly on wielding the tools necessary to perform an essential service.

I don't know about that...

What if I find a bug in Mac OS X* that I need fixed yesterday. I file a bug, and hope that it gets fixed eventually. Now it is up to Apple to fix it and get back to me on their schedule.

I pay Apple for their OS, and they are the only ones that can fix it. I'm at their mercy to fix it, so I fail to see how this is that different.

* Could be anything that isn't open-source

Re: undefined

#40

Post by acangiano »

brandoncor wrote: post #5
acangiano wrote: post #2

The sad part to me is that you need media attention (albeit new media in this case) for the police department to do their job.

If you think about it, it's no different than reporting a bug. You and your team know you should fix it, but there are always more pressing issues on your plate. You probably won't move it to the top of your list until either a large number of users complain or a one user complains very loudly.

> If you think about it, it's no different than reporting a bug.

It's no different than reporting a bug with a patch. If I go to the police with evidence of a crime and details to apprehend the probable culprit, I expect them to deal with it. Those are really low hanging fruits.

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