Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the that-makes-me-angry... dept

This week, after a lab tech was caught faking drug test results, calling over 7,800 prosecutions into question, That Anonymous Coward delivered our first place winner for most insightful comment of the week, in the form of a rightfully outraged tirade:
Because to protect the image of the system outweighs the rights of the convicted.
So what if they were convicted on contrived evidence.
So what if the details were not released.
So what if anyone finally managed to get exonerated, we've limited their recourse for compensation.
So what if the system is rigged.

So few people will care because it hasn't happened to them. It has happened to a population they've been taught to fear and expect the worst of. This only happens to bad people who deserve it, not good people like me. We got the bad people locked away, so what if the lab results were fake they probably did it anyways.

Allowing the liar to retire, probably with all benefits intact & allowed to move elsewhere, shows how little the system cares about the law. They cheated the law, they violated their oaths, and when confronted with it they drag their feet and leave thousands of people screwed to protect their win rating.

"Regular" people need to wake up to the very simple truth that the system routinely does screw innocent people, and that the system does nothing to punish those who did it or compensate people who had their lives stolen. That they are paying the price for faked worked, incompetent workers, keeping innocent people in prison, and paying a pittance in oh sorry we fucked you money, and keep these cheating cogs working.

Yes Skippy it hasn't happened to you, but perhaps consider what happens when the system targets you incorrectly and magically the evidence says you did it. Imagine the rest of society discounting what you say and not giving a shit because you had to have done something wrong and need to be punished.

In second place, we've got another strong response to a terrible law enforcement situation, this time in the form of one of the worst and most violating traffic stops we've ever seen. Anomylous had a lot of support in calling it exactly what it was:

If there was no reason for the stop...

and no reason for the searches...

why aren't they pressing rape charges? Sure, they're cops, but they violated the law to essentially rape 2 people, in public.

These cops are rapists. The female officer may be an accessory if the other officers lied to her, but its still rape.

For editor's choice on the insightful side, we stay with that post for one more comment, this time from DannyB in response to the question of whether the victims had a history of criminal activity:

Suppose someone did have a history of criminal activity.

Are you suggesting that they should probably choose to remain a criminal for the rest of their life because the police have a right to treat them that way for life?

Is it a worthy goal of the police to discourage anyone from ever getting their act together and becoming a law abiding citizen?

It is probably worth extending this thinking to family relations as well. If your grandfather had any criminal activity, then you might too. Or your cousin, etc.

Next, we head to a post about the latest broadband company shenanigans, where TheResidentSkeptic scored high on both the insightful and funny sides by pointing out that we may need to adjust our nomenclature:

Incorrect classification of companies

As the FCC has now classified "broadband" as 25MB+, most of these companies no longer qualify to be called broadband providers...

Over on the funny side, we start out on our post about the absurd legal fight over one artist's painting of a nude Donald Trump, where we commented that nothing about the story makes sense. Our very own Tim Geigner aka Dark Helmet took first place for funny by correcting us on that:

Except for the idea that Trump has a tiny, infinitesimally sized dong, which actually makes every last bit of sense ever....

For second place, we head to the story of law enforcement's utter failure at social media outreach about encryption with the #unlockjustice hashtag. Jeremy Lyman proposed they continue with the excellent campaign:

Surely we can help Vance out and come up with an untainted hashtag for his crusade. Here's a few never-been-used tags to get the ball rolling... all for FREE!

#CriminalizePaperShredders
#NeverDeleteAnythingOrGoToJail
#PrivateConversationsMakeCopsCry
#SeriouslyThoughYouCanTrustUsThisTime

For editor's choice on the funny side, we've got a pair of comments in response to the Authors Guild's ongoing whining about Google Books. First, it's a second nod to DannyB for a little acerbic sarcasm:

If people can now freely read short snippets from out of print books that will never be in print ever, ever again, then how will the authors of those books get paid?

Wait, did I call that sarcasm? No, no, this is sarcasm:

If only there was a group representing authors, a guild of sorts, that would digitize the books for the benefit and profit of the authors. Too bad nothing like that exists.

That's all for this week, folks!

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  • icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 24 Apr 2016 @ 12:47pm

    *does a little dance*

    And the final pick, shows me I need to up my sarcasm game.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Paul Renault (profile), 24 Apr 2016 @ 1:23pm

      Re:

      I strongly suspect that That Anonymous Coward is actually a team. Either that or one key to consistently winning is to have a pseudonym...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        That Anonymous Coward (profile), 24 Apr 2016 @ 3:09pm

        Re: Re:

        Nope just 1 guy behind a nym.

        I typo the thoughts in my head, and sometimes there is magic. I don't think its about being a nym, sometimes its a matter or saying what others are thinking or offering up a viewpoint they hadn't considered.

        Heh, and thinking I am a team would have made more sense the few times I swept a week. But still just 1 jaded man...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Mike Masnick (profile), 24 Apr 2016 @ 9:11pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          I typo the thoughts in my head

          Tell me about it...

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Ninja (profile), 25 Apr 2016 @ 8:10am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            That would produce the funniest comment for the next week I'd guess.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            That Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 Apr 2016 @ 9:21am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Hey now, my picks of the week didn't have THAT many typos...

            Sometimes the brain goes faster than they fingers, or a stray neuron fires and swaps a word... luckily most people know what I meant.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jake, 24 Apr 2016 @ 10:42pm

    Re: Editor's Choice For Insightful

    You probably wouldn't have to look very hard to find people who believe criminal tendencies are hereditary.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      David, 25 Apr 2016 @ 3:24am

      Re: Re: Editor's Choice For Insightful

      Emotional responses and behavior patterns are hereditary and fit the standards and laws of societies to a different degree.

      The difficulty of fitting into a system depends on how well you fit to start with and how well you adapt. Humans can integrate into a lot of systems. This enables open and tolerant societies where people have a reasonable grip on their toxic impulses. It also enabled national socialism. Too much ability to adapt into running systems is not necessarily a good thing.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Jeremy Lyman (profile), 25 Apr 2016 @ 5:02am

    Spoilers

    Unfortunately all those BRAND SPANKING NEW hashtags are now associated with Techdirt pages about how much Vance sucks. Sorry dude.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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