So, after... like... 5 IA investigations, no one was like, "yeah... maybe we should put him on desk duty..."?
This is a failure of the department as a whole. I really would like to see what the Sheriff says about this guy and why he was kept on the street so long.
These are the same guys that have no problem using domestic NSA data for parallel construction, hosting child porn on darkweb sites, and thinks encryption is a tool only used by terrorists and should be banned... How bad does TV security have to be that even the FBI says 'yeah... that is even too much for us...'?!
I really hope that CNN take the opportunity to force Nunes into turning over his trip details by asking the judge not to drop the case. The lawsuit costs them nothing if they get some good dirt out of it!
Regardless, I really hope all this ass-hattery costs him his seat in congress, but alas... with our cult-like followings of our two political tribes, that seems like too much to ask.
But it would be fun to have a PAC run some ads about it!
So, here's an interesting idea that the big tech firms could employ should this ridiculous law be put into effect. Make it a standing order that any individual that is being sued on their platform, a second suit is immediately opened against them by Facebook/Google/Twitter, etc. and hold that user liable for the lawsuit fees that are being incurred by whoever the litigious party is at the time.
This of course would generate a HUGE BACKLASH and people would be angry as hell about these 'big corporate overlords attacking little old grandma just for being a little bit racist'. Then, they could arguably state that they are just following the law and attempting to recoup fees imposed on them by the Australian government's asinine defamation lawsuit.
This obviously would be a pain for the Australian politicians as they would be blamed for setting up this mass litigation machine. Because these litigants want an easy payday from big tech, they might get it. But when the 'little man' has to start paying out, the Australian politicians might actually take notice.
The justice system is not a place to rant about the fact you don't like facts... Use Twitter and save everyone a lot of time and money...
Judges need to grow some balls and start dismissing these cases with huge penalties, potentially even submitting these shady lawyers to the Bar for wasting everyone's time with these low quality suits. That would severely limit the number of lawyers that would be willing to file these types of ridiculous cases.
But these violations come out of AT&T's great and caring concern for the 'little guy'... middle America that works real hard doing work stuff with their... hands... They are giving you a 'benefit' of more data by not using those other sub-par services by greedy corporate tech companies. How dare you question AT&Ts sincerity and charity! Think of the children! /s
Just complain to the FCC, they'll get right on it! Oh wait... they just forward the complaint to your carrier and don't follow up...
Ok, another idea. Complain to the FTC and they'll get right on it! Daddy Pai said so! Oh wait... they are underfunded and have much bigger industries that are doing a lot of shady things... so scratch that.
Ok, another idea. Complain to your state and local officials! They will definitely help you! Oh wait... their top donors were telecom and cable industry, and they just passed a law to restrict access to help that poor, struggling internet company in your area.
Ok, another idea. Just use your 4G data plan! I mean you can't watch movies, play video games, do much of anything other than facebook and email... up until your ridiculous 'unlimited' data cap is hit, but hey, we've solved it guys! We can say the digital divide has been conquered! High Fives all around!
This makes people safer as much as they believe it makes them safer... So for the GAO to ask for hard numbers must be really appalling to the directors of the play!
All the world's a stage, and all the TSA men and women merely players: they scan the luggage and the liquids; and one man in his time frisks many parts, his actions lawful and lauded.
So what gets me is, a different 'class' of people are protected in every decade depending on what the national conversation is at the moment. For example, running around calling black people the 'N' word in the 60s would never have been prosecuted as hate speech had there been such a law.
Being derogatory towards gay people in the 80s was just the sad fact of history that the government wouldn't have done anything about.
Dunking on various religions is just a national pastime that would be selectively enforced...
The problem with 'hate speech' is who is doing the prosecution. Bully a gay kid to death; that just happens. Burn the American flag? Throw that communist terrorist scum in prison!
Selective enforcement is the crux of regulating speech in a fair and impartial way. You can't outlaw being an asshole. You would just regulate 'some' assholes you didn't like more than others.
Our First Amendment right is protection against unpopular speech; Like that time when those 'uppity' women wanted the right to vote. Or black people demanded to be treated as equal. Or when the LGBT community had the audacity to request to be married. (/s) I'm sure some people wished that the First Amendment wasn't around so they could have shut that speech down!
Man... If you can't dismiss a copyright lawsuit, might as well start trolling people in the 9th circuit with all kinds of bogus lawsuits and seeing how many people will settle!
Too bad Prenda isn't still around; they'd have a field day! /s
I've had several of these and my philosophy has been make them work for it. Just because they send you a ticket in the mail, YOU DON"T HAVE TO PAY IT. They have to physically serve you (which adds another $30 or so to the price). They only have 90 days and if you can dodge them for that long, you win.
If they DO serve you, go to court and deny deny deny. They will schedule you a hearing in front of a judge to fight your case.
Then, if you are lucky, the attorney won't even show up (my experience). They'll just dismiss everyone and you win.
If you lose... you've made them work really hard for that $125.00. So you still win!
Facebook and Google Ad Dollars are not all stolen fro Newspapers
The other issue I have with this argument is that Google, Facebook are only making ads ON NEWSPAPER ARTICLES! The amount of money Facebook and Google make has nothing to do with how many newspaper articles people read. It isn't 1:1... or even 1:10,000,000 in terms of revenues that are brought in by the newspapers that are complaining. Google News is not that profitable... it isn't like they are losing a large percentage of their revenue by shutting that one tiny portion of their conglomerate down. Guess what... even if they did... THEY WOULD STILL SELL ADS ON EVERYTHING ELSE.
This is an apples and oranges comparison with a hokey 'but because they are doing good and we aren't, then they are the problem' argument.
The biggest issue with the 'reasonable' standard is, you can't TRY NEW THINGS! If it isn't one of the 3 'approved' (by caselaw) ways, then you are sticking your head out. Because the 'new' thing MIGHT FAIL, you can't even attempt it because it is too legally risky. You kill it before it even has a chance to succeed, or God forbid, you have to replace it because your first attempt failed (think of the juicy troll lawsuits over that one...)
Plus, I dislike the idea that we enshrine 3rd party liability into our laws... That just seems like a terrible idea...
Just as an experiment, it would be interesting to see if these cops would feel the same way if 100% of the proceeds of this program were instead sent to the office that employs public defenders. I would bet that the program would stop immediately because not only are they not getting to 'keep' the cash. It would be a good way of funding the already underfunded staff at any public defender's office.
Allbirds has even gone OUT OF THEIR WAY to make other companies copy them. They even open sourced parts of their product to help other companies be more sustainable. It kind of fits with their brand and their goal: make a shoe that is better for the environment.
Ways to combat password sharing without being a dick
1) Limit number of simultaneous streams (tier service for more $$$ - aka Netflix)
2) Limit physical number of devices or computers that can be active at any given time - (I had seen this somewhere but I forgot)
3) Deactivate devices after x months and have the user required to put in an e-mailed 2FA code (HBO does this to us every few months)
These are things that can 'urge' people to buy their own account without taking a hard line and looking like a jerk. It cracks down on 'rampant' abuse by making the buyer only want to share with a few people as to not be inconvenienced themselves.
The nerds have already solved this one... Legacy CEO blowhards are just too lazy to implement these pretty simple features and would rather litigate the hell out of their customers... can't see that one backfiring at all...
On the post: Tennessee Deputy Who Baptised An Arrestee And Strip Searched A Minor Now Dealing With 44 Criminal Charges And Five Lawsuits
How many Investigations before you are benched?
So, after... like... 5 IA investigations, no one was like, "yeah... maybe we should put him on desk duty..."?
This is a failure of the department as a whole. I really would like to see what the Sheriff says about this guy and why he was kept on the street so long.
On the post: The FBI Says Your TV Is Probably Spying On You
FBI Not Using This???
These are the same guys that have no problem using domestic NSA data for parallel construction, hosting child porn on darkweb sites, and thinks encryption is a tool only used by terrorists and should be banned... How bad does TV security have to be that even the FBI says 'yeah... that is even too much for us...'?!
On the post: As Devin Nunes Threatens More SLAPP Suits, He May Have To Explain Why Cows Can Type In His First SLAPP Suit
Discovery will be fun
I really hope that CNN take the opportunity to force Nunes into turning over his trip details by asking the judge not to drop the case. The lawsuit costs them nothing if they get some good dirt out of it!
Regardless, I really hope all this ass-hattery costs him his seat in congress, but alas... with our cult-like followings of our two political tribes, that seems like too much to ask.
But it would be fun to have a PAC run some ads about it!
On the post: Australian Attorney General Wants To Make The Country's Defamation Law Even Worse
Time for pass-through lawsuits...
So, here's an interesting idea that the big tech firms could employ should this ridiculous law be put into effect. Make it a standing order that any individual that is being sued on their platform, a second suit is immediately opened against them by Facebook/Google/Twitter, etc. and hold that user liable for the lawsuit fees that are being incurred by whoever the litigious party is at the time.
This of course would generate a HUGE BACKLASH and people would be angry as hell about these 'big corporate overlords attacking little old grandma just for being a little bit racist'. Then, they could arguably state that they are just following the law and attempting to recoup fees imposed on them by the Australian government's asinine defamation lawsuit.
This obviously would be a pain for the Australian politicians as they would be blamed for setting up this mass litigation machine. Because these litigants want an easy payday from big tech, they might get it. But when the 'little man' has to start paying out, the Australian politicians might actually take notice.
On the post: This Week In Free Speech Hypocrites: 'Free Speech' Supporter Sheila Gunn Reid Gleefully Sues Someone For Calling Her A Neo-Nazi
Re:
Someone should start @rebelcow on twitter and just go ham. I can't wait to see more lawsuits about fictional bovine
On the post: Former Devin Nunes' Aide Uses Nunes' Lawyer To File SLAPP Suit Against Politico
Snowflake of snowflakes
The justice system is not a place to rant about the fact you don't like facts... Use Twitter and save everyone a lot of time and money...
Judges need to grow some balls and start dismissing these cases with huge penalties, potentially even submitting these shady lawyers to the Bar for wasting everyone's time with these low quality suits. That would severely limit the number of lawyers that would be willing to file these types of ridiculous cases.
On the post: AT&T Exec Insists That No Broadband Company Is Violating Net Neutrality Even Though AT&T Is Absolutely Violating Net Neutrality
But how can a 'benefit' be a violation?!
But these violations come out of AT&T's great and caring concern for the 'little guy'... middle America that works real hard doing work stuff with their... hands... They are giving you a 'benefit' of more data by not using those other sub-par services by greedy corporate tech companies. How dare you question AT&Ts sincerity and charity! Think of the children! /s
On the post: Apathy Isn't A Business Model: Major US Telcos Teeter Toward Bankruptcy
Re: Out of service... again...
Just complain to the FCC, they'll get right on it! Oh wait... they just forward the complaint to your carrier and don't follow up...
Ok, another idea. Complain to the FTC and they'll get right on it! Daddy Pai said so! Oh wait... they are underfunded and have much bigger industries that are doing a lot of shady things... so scratch that.
Ok, another idea. Complain to your state and local officials! They will definitely help you! Oh wait... their top donors were telecom and cable industry, and they just passed a law to restrict access to help that poor, struggling internet company in your area.
Ok, another idea. Just use your 4G data plan! I mean you can't watch movies, play video games, do much of anything other than facebook and email... up until your ridiculous 'unlimited' data cap is hit, but hey, we've solved it guys! We can say the digital divide has been conquered! High Fives all around!
On the post: Will Google's Stadia Game Streaming Platform Be A Dud?
16GB per hour for 4k -- right?
The Vice article says 16GB per hours, not 1TB, right?
On the post: Devin Nunes Demands Satirical Internet Cow Stop Making Fun Of Him... Or Else
Where Can I Buy A Devin Moonez T-Shirt?
Dear Internet,
I need a DevinCow T-Shirt ASAP.
Sincerely,
Never Nunes Fan Club
On the post: GAO Report: TSA Has No Idea How Effective Its Suspicionless Surveillance Program Is
Security Theater is subjective by nature
This makes people safer as much as they believe it makes them safer... So for the GAO to ask for hard numbers must be really appalling to the directors of the play!
All the world's a stage, and all the TSA men and women merely players: they scan the luggage and the liquids; and one man in his time frisks many parts, his actions lawful and lauded.
On the post: Former Journalist Decides There's Too Much Free Speech These Days
When does 'being mean' become 'hate speech'?
So what gets me is, a different 'class' of people are protected in every decade depending on what the national conversation is at the moment. For example, running around calling black people the 'N' word in the 60s would never have been prosecuted as hate speech had there been such a law.
Being derogatory towards gay people in the 80s was just the sad fact of history that the government wouldn't have done anything about.
Dunking on various religions is just a national pastime that would be selectively enforced...
The problem with 'hate speech' is who is doing the prosecution. Bully a gay kid to death; that just happens. Burn the American flag? Throw that communist terrorist scum in prison!
Selective enforcement is the crux of regulating speech in a fair and impartial way. You can't outlaw being an asshole. You would just regulate 'some' assholes you didn't like more than others.
Our First Amendment right is protection against unpopular speech; Like that time when those 'uppity' women wanted the right to vote. Or black people demanded to be treated as equal. Or when the LGBT community had the audacity to request to be married. (/s) I'm sure some people wished that the First Amendment wasn't around so they could have shut that speech down!
On the post: 9th Circuit Revives Ridiculous 'Shake It Off' Copyright Lawsuit, Because The 9th Circuit Loves To Mess Up Copyright Law
Trolls wet dream
Man... If you can't dismiss a copyright lawsuit, might as well start trolling people in the 9th circuit with all kinds of bogus lawsuits and seeing how many people will settle!
Too bad Prenda isn't still around; they'd have a field day! /s
On the post: The Guy The State Of Oregon Said Wasn't A Real Engineer Just Helped Convince The Government To Extend Yellow Light Intervals
fight... every... ticket...
I've had several of these and my philosophy has been make them work for it. Just because they send you a ticket in the mail, YOU DON"T HAVE TO PAY IT. They have to physically serve you (which adds another $30 or so to the price). They only have 90 days and if you can dodge them for that long, you win.
If they DO serve you, go to court and deny deny deny. They will schedule you a hearing in front of a judge to fight your case.
Then, if you are lucky, the attorney won't even show up (my experience). They'll just dismiss everyone and you win.
If you lose... you've made them work really hard for that $125.00. So you still win!
On the post: Google And Facebook Didn't Kill Newspapers: The Internet Did
Facebook and Google Ad Dollars are not all stolen fro Newspapers
The other issue I have with this argument is that Google, Facebook are only making ads ON NEWSPAPER ARTICLES! The amount of money Facebook and Google make has nothing to do with how many newspaper articles people read. It isn't 1:1... or even 1:10,000,000 in terms of revenues that are brought in by the newspapers that are complaining. Google News is not that profitable... it isn't like they are losing a large percentage of their revenue by shutting that one tiny portion of their conglomerate down. Guess what... even if they did... THEY WOULD STILL SELL ADS ON EVERYTHING ELSE.
This is an apples and oranges comparison with a hokey 'but because they are doing good and we aren't, then they are the problem' argument.
On the post: Google And Facebook Didn't Kill Newspapers: The Internet Did
Newspapers aren't the only form of journalism...
Journalism is important, but it being 'in a newspaper' is not. Investigative reporting can be done by radio, television, docuseries, websites, etc.
On the post: No, Internet Companies Do Not Get A 'Free Pass' Thanks To CDA 230
"reasonable" is only applicable in hindsight
The biggest issue with the 'reasonable' standard is, you can't TRY NEW THINGS! If it isn't one of the 3 'approved' (by caselaw) ways, then you are sticking your head out. Because the 'new' thing MIGHT FAIL, you can't even attempt it because it is too legally risky. You kill it before it even has a chance to succeed, or God forbid, you have to replace it because your first attempt failed (think of the juicy troll lawsuits over that one...)
Plus, I dislike the idea that we enshrine 3rd party liability into our laws... That just seems like a terrible idea...
On the post: Your Money Or Your Life: Louisville Cops, Prosecutors Dropping Hefty Trafficking Charges In Exchange For Seized Cash
All seized assets should go to public defenders
Just as an experiment, it would be interesting to see if these cops would feel the same way if 100% of the proceeds of this program were instead sent to the office that employs public defenders. I would bet that the program would stop immediately because not only are they not getting to 'keep' the cash. It would be a good way of funding the already underfunded staff at any public defender's office.
On the post: People Freaking Out About Amazon Copying A Shoe Are Totally Missing The Point
Allbirds wants people to copy them...
Allbirds has even gone OUT OF THEIR WAY to make other companies copy them. They even open sourced parts of their product to help other companies be more sustainable. It kind of fits with their brand and their goal: make a shoe that is better for the environment.
Note: I heard about their open source soles on NPR, but here's another article about them open sourcing their materials: https://thecurrentdaily.com/2018/08/02/allbirds-sustainable-material-open-source/
On the post: Cable Giant Spectrum On Quest To Outlaw 'Insane' Streaming Password Sharing
Ways to combat password sharing without being a dick
1) Limit number of simultaneous streams (tier service for more $$$ - aka Netflix)
2) Limit physical number of devices or computers that can be active at any given time - (I had seen this somewhere but I forgot)
3) Deactivate devices after x months and have the user required to put in an e-mailed 2FA code (HBO does this to us every few months)
These are things that can 'urge' people to buy their own account without taking a hard line and looking like a jerk. It cracks down on 'rampant' abuse by making the buyer only want to share with a few people as to not be inconvenienced themselves.
The nerds have already solved this one... Legacy CEO blowhards are just too lazy to implement these pretty simple features and would rather litigate the hell out of their customers... can't see that one backfiring at all...
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