Wow, Carmen must have 500+ HN pts. I, apparently, was wrong in my assumption that she is in fact yet another political climber in a position that is famous for being a jumping off point for higher office. Obviously a democrat (appointed by Obama), her example of Aaron will surely win her points with the Hollywood/DMCA crowd. Please, downvote me again for a view that, obviously, must be sooooo far off the truth.
Maybe I'm just biased after having wasted my 20s in a cube, but hanging out with KDC & his crew of henchmen doesn't sound that bad of a gig based purely on the novelty of the idea. Like it or not (and based on your posts, I know which one it is), KDC has shown some insight into how to make cash on the ol' internets... I suppose you have an argument with his ethics? Try working on a bond trading desk for 10 years. You'll see KDC as Christ-like pretty soon thereafter.
I don't really care about the cause & effect of his suicide. Everything I read about this case, from the supposed crime to the manner in which the prosecution handled it, is disturbing, both for the fact that they did and for the fact that they do it every single day. The system won't fix itself. I also fear it will get worse before it gets better.
What I am struck with is the complete and total waste of my tax dollars. Academic journals? Funded by, overwhelmingly, public funds? The only people who read these are academics and they get them through University libraries. The whole business model behind these journals is to get money from the authors (essentially tacking on their publication fee to the grant proposal, thus more suckling at the Federal teet). These publications should be free. I don't normally like the idea of law being written from the bench, but where the hell was the judge on this?
This whole idea was bound to be a failure from the start, but still, the administration pushed it. Now they validate my original conclusions: this is a great mechanism to convince the legions of redditors that they actually matter. Whenever petitions reach the threshold, they can just claim "the project is so successful, we have to raise limits keep it manageable", when in reality it is pure window dressing for a President who has successfully manipulated to youth. Ugh, I wish we had a 3rd party!
This guy made the critical mistake of treating his customers with respect. I would have turned state's witness, installed the backdoor, and kept cashing the checks. Don Aronow would approve.
I've dealt with these jokers with going after federal grants... very, very shady and I totally empathize. Getting a DUNS number is actually free and you can get it in 24 hours, but you have to call their super secret number for federal contractors. Just tell them you're only using it to suckle on the government udder. It is the same number regardless.