You are hereby informed that you have been placed on the no fly list because you [XXXXXRedactedXXXXX] and [XXXRedactedXXX] [Redacted] and because of your actions related to [XXXXXRedactedXXXXX] and [XXXRedactedXXX].
All you have to do is provide a satisfactory reason why the above does not prove beyond the slightest doubt that you are a terrorist and we'll definitely seriously consider finding additional reasons to keep you on the no fly list.
Just when drones are reaching the stage where they might be profitable, the FAA comes up with...this? I wonder just what they're fishing for Congress to pass into law?
They're sure fishing for something, and they'll get it, too. I bet the lobbyists are circling even now.
Hey, we need the FAA to regulate lobbyists! Just think:
Legal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about the weather. Illegal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about blocking NWS from publishing reports for free, thus damaging the weather reporting market.
Legal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about closely held personal beliefs. Illegal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about the closely held personal beliefs of a client.
Legal lobbying: Writing a law for the legislator about child pornography. Illegal lobbying: Writing a law for the legislator about increasing Medicare payouts to private insurers...when your client is a private insurer.
Legal lobbying: Reviewing the legislator's voting history for amusement. Illegal lobbying: Reviewing the legislator's voting history to determine if he should get campaign funding from a client.
PATRIOT Acts that are essential for our "freedom". Acts promising better healthcare that would repeal the ACA. How the world does any representative know what to vote for these days?
They probably thought, despite what it said, that it was actually increasing funding.
Let's consider a scenario: A U.S. citizen travels to...Elbonia...and joins the army, and is in the front line shooting at U.S. soldiers. Is there anyone here that would have a problem with our soldiers shooting back and killing him? But of course there is no due process to such a killing, and shouldn't have to be.
On the other hand, if the justification for killing a U.S. citizen is because, "we heard from Ackbur's best friend that citizen Joe is fighting against the U.S.,..." well, that seams a bit weak on justification and due process.
It seems to me that somewhere in between a line has to be drawn, because it seems clear to me that there is a line beyond which a "citizen" leaves the protection of due process. My first example is on the far side of that line, wherever it falls.
I've looked through this AUMF stuff, and I'm not sure the line is in the wrong place...or the right place. I know the DOJ isn't exactly trustworthy these days, but could they be right on this subject?
In this article, it was noted that, by 2015, NSA expected to be collecting 966 exabytes per year. That's about 260 times the 316.4 petabytes/month figure named above.
So, basically, they can not only store everything from this cable tap, but another 260 taps like it; and as I noted in another message to this article, each one of those cables could handle 46,000,000 (46 million) simultaneous phone calls.
Taking the figure in aggregate, in 2015, NSA expects to be able to record 12 billion phone calls simultaneously and continuously; which is quite comfortably more than every person on the planet talking on phone...at the same time, 24x7.
I looked here and it looks like most phone calls properly require 38,400 bits per second, each direction (I chose a rate around the median of the list).
Based on that, NSA is setting up to be able to record 43,000,000 phone calls simultaneously.
That should pretty much cover all overseas phone calls. Period.
I tell you, the government would lose its head, if it wasn't attached. Oh, wait...
They lose it all the time. Anytime the email/video/recording/paper is embarrassing, involves a little business quid pro quo, or wrongdoing is involved.
It's predictable as a clock: Embarrassing that we can't find $1 billion - "Oops, lost our head." Involves a little quid pro quo in the form of a massive bribe - "Oops, lost our head." Agent beat the hell out of, tased, and then executed a man in a wheel chair - "Sorry, lost our head."
There should be a law that any lost items equals an automatic $1 million reduction in budget. What a wonderful thought: That the government would wind up owing us to do their jobs.
Normally, patents are about transparency, in order to ensure that licensing occurs rather than infringment.
But the Microsoft approach has been to "extort" secrecy. Basically, "Agree to license this list of patents we will not show you until after you license it or we will haul you into court and destroy you."
A quick skim of the list shows why: A lot of the patents are in the category of "how to translate a screen touch into a browser link selection"--i.e., nuisance patents with no merit.
But it's a roll of the dice: If the company refused to agree to Microsoft's demand and dragged it to court, just one patent held to be valid would ruin them.
Their job is to make people/organizations look good and hide the bad. That won't go away, despite promises. I suspect they'll just outsource the whitewashing.
On the post: Verizon Math Strikes Again: Promises 2 Years Of Free Data Access To Chromebook Users; Delivers Just 1
Oh I see...
Too bad I'll never do business with them because they're so clever.
On the post: The NYPD Apparently Doesn't Have Any Rules Governing Its In-House Classification Of Documents
"Official" word from the commish
On the post: Court Says The Process For Getting Off The No Fly List Is Unconstitutional
No problem
All you have to do is provide a satisfactory reason why the above does not prove beyond the slightest doubt that you are a terrorist and we'll definitely seriously consider finding additional reasons to keep you on the no fly list.
Your loving government...
On the post: FAA Says Drones May Be Used For Fun... But Not For Profit
FAA regulation of orbiting lobbyists
They're sure fishing for something, and they'll get it, too. I bet the lobbyists are circling even now.
Hey, we need the FAA to regulate lobbyists! Just think:
Legal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about the weather.
Illegal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about blocking NWS from publishing reports for free, thus damaging the weather reporting market.
Legal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about closely held personal beliefs.
Illegal lobbying: Talking to the legislator about the closely held personal beliefs of a client.
Legal lobbying: Writing a law for the legislator about child pornography.
Illegal lobbying: Writing a law for the legislator about increasing Medicare payouts to private insurers...when your client is a private insurer.
Legal lobbying: Reviewing the legislator's voting history for amusement.
Illegal lobbying: Reviewing the legislator's voting history to determine if he should get campaign funding from a client.
On the post: Pro Tip: If You're Going To Break And Enter Someone's Home, Don't Log Into Your Facebook
Re: Re: Moral of the story
On the post: CIA Finishes Its Torture Report Redactions As Relations With Senate Intelligence Committee Have Become 'Strained'
Black trees
Maybe we could save time, effort, dye, and the usual tree-victims if we could find trees with black wood?
On the post: FOIA Request On Effectiveness Of License Plate Readers Greeted With A Blank Stare By Virginia Police Department
Effectiveness better left unknown
"If we tested to find out how effective the system was, we might find out it's not; and then where would we be?
"Questioning it all the time, that's where. Better to presume it's perfect, so we don't have any silly doubts about using it in court."
On the post: How The House Leadership Tried To Misrepresent Amendment That Defunded NSA Backdoor Searches
I don't see how they know what to vote for
They probably thought, despite what it said, that it was actually increasing funding.
On the post: DOJ Drone Memo: AUMF Trumps All And Rights Are Subject To Arbitrary Revocation In Times Of 'War'
Where should the line be
Let's consider a scenario: A U.S. citizen travels to...Elbonia...and joins the army, and is in the front line shooting at U.S. soldiers. Is there anyone here that would have a problem with our soldiers shooting back and killing him? But of course there is no due process to such a killing, and shouldn't have to be.
On the other hand, if the justification for killing a U.S. citizen is because, "we heard from Ackbur's best friend that citizen Joe is fighting against the U.S.,..." well, that seams a bit weak on justification and due process.
It seems to me that somewhere in between a line has to be drawn, because it seems clear to me that there is a line beyond which a "citizen" leaves the protection of due process. My first example is on the far side of that line, wherever it falls.
I've looked through this AUMF stuff, and I'm not sure the line is in the wrong place...or the right place. I know the DOJ isn't exactly trustworthy these days, but could they be right on this subject?
On the post: Four Years Is Long Enough: The DOJ Should End Its Grand Jury Investigation Into Wikileaks
Like that will happen
But they're not ending it until everyone thinks WikiLeaks is some kind of plumbing fault, and everyone associated with the site is in Guantanamo.
On the post: Keith Alexander Wants $1 Million Per Month For 'Cybersecurity' Consulting
Way overpriced
Pay him to "cybersecure" your facility and it will become an NSA facility. Might as well just move your servers into the NSA's Utah data center.
Well, that's just me; there's a sucker born every minute; I'm sure he'll find someone to pay his outrageous fee.
On the post: NSA Working With Denmark, Germany To Access 'Three Terabits Of Data Per Second' From Overseas Cables
Re: Re: Re: 3 TB of Data Per Second
So, basically, they can not only store everything from this cable tap, but another 260 taps like it; and as I noted in another message to this article, each one of those cables could handle 46,000,000 (46 million) simultaneous phone calls.
Taking the figure in aggregate, in 2015, NSA expects to be able to record 12 billion phone calls simultaneously and continuously; which is quite comfortably more than every person on the planet talking on phone...at the same time, 24x7.
On the post: That Time When People Thought Playing Chess Would Make You Violent
Talk about your violent
On the post: Why The FBI's New Interview Recording Policy Probably Won't Change Anything
Lose the tape
Accidentally, of course: It's always an accident when the government loses the tape/video/paper/email.
On the post: NSA Working With Denmark, Germany To Access 'Three Terabits Of Data Per Second' From Overseas Cables
Every word you say
Based on that, NSA is setting up to be able to record 43,000,000 phone calls simultaneously.
That should pretty much cover all overseas phone calls. Period.
On the post: IRS Now Says It Has Lost Emails From Six More Accounts Tied To The Investigation Of Its Targeting Of Tax-Exempt Groups
Losing heads
They lose it all the time. Anytime the email/video/recording/paper is embarrassing, involves a little business quid pro quo, or wrongdoing is involved.
It's predictable as a clock: Embarrassing that we can't find $1 billion - "Oops, lost our head." Involves a little quid pro quo in the form of a massive bribe - "Oops, lost our head." Agent beat the hell out of, tased, and then executed a man in a wheel chair - "Sorry, lost our head."
There should be a law that any lost items equals an automatic $1 million reduction in budget. What a wonderful thought: That the government would wind up owing us to do their jobs.
On the post: Chinese Government Publishes Secret List Of Microsoft's Anti-Android Patents
Re:
But the Microsoft approach has been to "extort" secrecy. Basically, "Agree to license this list of patents we will not show you until after you license it or we will haul you into court and destroy you."
A quick skim of the list shows why: A lot of the patents are in the category of "how to translate a screen touch into a browser link selection"--i.e., nuisance patents with no merit.
But it's a roll of the dice: If the company refused to agree to Microsoft's demand and dragged it to court, just one patent held to be valid would ruin them.
On the post: Sunlight Foundation Gives Congress Email Addresses
Response from Joe Congressperson
On the post: Group Of Major PR Firms Pledge To Play Nice On Wikipedia
Our way or...
On the post: Secret UK Policy On Surveillance Of All 'External' Communications Revealed By Counter Terrorism Boss
Same story different intelligence service
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