One of the old banking cases that the third-party doctrine is built on held that, because there was a law compelling both mandatory record-keeping and disclosure upon request, you were could not reasonably expect that the contents of the records were or would remain private. In short, if you know that the government is spying on you, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. A cute little bit of circular reasoning that would justify anything if you tried hard enough.
I know that if you want to contract for a fact-based research & analysis job, you can always call us the CRS or hire a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP). I assume that if you're paying them, they come with somewhat less baggage than a lobbyist paid to press a particular point of view. Is there a similar market for freelance policy advisors on subjects like this, where congressional staff for non-committee members simply can't become instant experts but want someone who works for them (rather than being a lobbyist for an outside force, even one "for good")?
I share when it delivers information that I think I can use to engage my friends. I comment when I believe I may have something unique to contribute (and I generally at least run a word search to see if anyone else has mentioned it).
I'm sympathetic to the family here, but this is more akin to a privacy violation and I don't know that they have a case under current law. (If there were a privacy law applicable, it would need a broad public interest exemption that would allow such photos to be broadly obtainable and usable for many purposes but not as commercial entertainment with no informational/educational value.)
I will be happy to get my court decision news a bit slower if it means having it be written by an expert who actually understands it. I will not forfeit accuracy for a few minutes or hours of lead time; the internet makes me want things fast, but it also makes me realize that 90% of everything is crap and the good stuff is worth the time.
M. Alan Thomas II (profile), 24 Jun 2014 @ 11:02am
Obviously the only reasonable things to report on are the (bad) things that have been leaked or suspected, including the secrecy surrounding the process. I fully support:
(1) making a documentary showing how it's impossible to find out anything and how uninformed even lawmakers involved are,
(2) any opportunity to let Twitter express its outrage on this idiocy to conference-goers, and
(3) having a live-streamed conference with actual stakeholders rather than hand-picked industry lobbyists.
I'll help as best I can with any of those. And if we don't win a government grant, well, there's always nonprofits and crowdfunding.
I also got the impression that they were groping their way towards distinguishing general and non-general computing. But they might also be trying to allow for the patenting of truly innovative processes regardless of whether performed on a computer or not.
The quoted statement also alleges that fair use only exists pursuant to a court finding, whereas fair use exists even if the use has not been adjudicated in a court of law.
I'm only kinda technical; what's the risk with unsecure ads in this context? What information does that expose? (I'm not terribly worried about someone knowing what ads the ad vendors serve me; what information they have on me already is more important.)
M. Alan Thomas II (profile), 17 May 2014 @ 12:22am
Re: Re: Unlawful assembly
The politics behind where the various European political centers are is long and complex, but Belgium is a typical choice. Some of it has to do with choosing little countries that aren't seen as being able to leverage their position as host to gain an unnatural advantage. Some of it is undoubtedly to do with many of these smaller countries making a great deal of their money off of tourism and thus being quite pleasant places to book a luxury hotel. I wouldn't be surprised if the protest law is as much about maintaining a pleasant façade for vacationers as anything else.
What part of communicating with someone else and possibly being spied on by a foreign government is exclusive to communications with foreign persons? It seems to me that this argument works just as well applied to any form of communication.
Yeah, I made the suggestion when I submitted the link to this story. Any live benchslap would be good, but I particularly want to see Prenda looking like arrogant asses in the NYT.
This video went viral among all my law friends; I'd love to get an awareness-raising one in there.
M. Alan Thomas II (profile), 29 Apr 2014 @ 12:53am
I assume that errors are made at a much higher rate than is reported, but because most plates don't belong to wanted/stolen cars, most errors result in no action and thus are never noticed.
On the post: Cell Phones Need A Warrant, But Cell Site Location Info Doesn't? Appellants Challenge Government's Assertions
On the post: If You Want To Know How Supporting Techdirt Can Help Shift The Debate In Washington DC, Read This
Re: Re: Re: Lobbyists are necessary
I'm doing a terrible job of typing tonight.
On the post: If You Want To Know How Supporting Techdirt Can Help Shift The Debate In Washington DC, Read This
Re: Re: Lobbyists are necessary
On the post: What Makes You Tell Others About Techdirt?
On the post: If You Want To Know How Supporting Techdirt Can Help Shift The Debate In Washington DC, Read This
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On the post: Government Continues To Pretend People Use Cell Phones Simply To Create A Wealth Of Data For Law Enforcement To Access Without A Warrant
Wait, is the government arguing that the Fourth Amendment applies to all forms of information but doesn't require warrants?
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(1) making a documentary showing how it's impossible to find out anything and how uninformed even lawmakers involved are,
(2) any opportunity to let Twitter express its outrage on this idiocy to conference-goers, and
(3) having a live-streamed conference with actual stakeholders rather than hand-picked industry lobbyists.
I'll help as best I can with any of those. And if we don't win a government grant, well, there's always nonprofits and crowdfunding.
On the post: Supreme Court Rejects Software Patents On Performing Generic Functions; Pretends That Lots Of Other Software Must Be Patentable
Re: Generic...
On the post: US Chamber Of Commerce Guest Post On Fair Use Fails Copyright Law 101
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On the post: Techdirt Is Now 100% SSL
Re: Not 100% yet
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Re: Re: Unlawful assembly
On the post: DOJ Says Americans Have No 4th Amendment Protections At All When They Communicate With Foreigners
On the post: Brilliant Reporting: NYT Recreates Wacky Deposition Over Definition Of A Photocopier
Re:
This video went viral among all my law friends; I'd love to get an awareness-raising one in there.
On the post: Driver Finds Himself Surrounded By Cops With Guns Out After Automatic License Plate Reader Misreads His Plate
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