I'm kind of worried about the following statement: "That's the straightforward, active perception issue, but what about what I like to call "passive perception?"
I know that a lot of players don't actually read the rules or study their character sheets since the CB does the work for them, but designers...
So? Are you seriously saying he doesn't know that passive perception exists in the game already? Because that is not what is indicated in what he is saying. He's simply saying that there is a problem with it.
I think you're missing the subtlety of his points. In fact, I think most people are which is possibly the only thing wrong with the article.