Considering our federal government is already glad to drive the US economy to look like those an unindustrialized nation, our officials and capitalists should remember that in most nations, the only access to western culture and big media the peons have is through piracy. Trying to actually pay for media is absurd, and laws to crack down on piracy only give the police another justification to harass, raid and kill those communities they don't like (whether or not they're committing crime).
As capitalism is working out for fewer and fewer folk, it's probably not a good idea to rekindle old scams that are obviously rent-seeking.
Here in the states, cracking down on streaming isn't going to make anyone more money. Either people will find other ways to gain access, get better at doing so quietly. And given all the streaming-service exclusives debacles, able seamen are once again abandoning their station to join at the sloops.⚓
But then a huge swatches of the public are discovering they can be better entertained by freer content like those of Youtubers and Tik Tokkers. We've even had a resurgence of sea shanties.
Again, the only thing worse than having your precious content getting pirated, is having your precious content not getting pirated.🏴☠️
judges using their position to benefit a chosen political party
This is not new. The Bush v. Gore case is essentially an indictment of the court system and the ability for mortal human beings to set all personal interests aside to favor logic and rationality. When the stakes are high enough, they can't.
And the stakes are always that high.
I don't know what to do that would be better, but I do know not to trust the courts to do what is right over what is pragmatic.
If we were interested in keeping kids out of the porn industry, the solution would be to decriminalize realistic CGI renders. Yes, there still would be child porn the same way there's still snuff, but it would be a fraction of the current market by orders of magnitude.
It would also raise awareness of non-porn ways our society sexualizes kids (e.g. beauty boutiques including a partial strip-tease, or Benetton using tween models in a state of partial undress to sell its fashions.)
But no, our society likes the thought crime. We are terrified of the notion of pervs perving out on kids and want an excuse to lock them up, hence we have laws to criminalize cartoons of child porn, or porn that looks too much like a naked kid (even when the model is registered.) Also the whole teens sexting = child porn distro thing.
We're not interested in protecting kids. We're interested in targeting people we can demonize and putting their warm bodies into private prisons.
In many counties the prior violent history of an officer cannot be considered while deciding whether or not to hire him... or any untoward history, IIRC.
So what's to stop Officer Loehmann from going to Baltimore to shoot up some more minority neighborhoods?
Considering the humanitarian crisis that is the entire US penal system, the proper solution is to set all our inmates free. Yes, even the scary ones that (allegedly) murdered people.
We won't get that. But now the cell phones are one of the few ways whistles get blown about the atrocities committed by prison staff. So I'm not at all ready to call cell phones -- or contraband -- a problem. It's certainly not one of the magnitude represented by the prisons, themselves.
_A Ranger with a divining rod and healing crystals_
The thing is, if they can convince a court to turn a divining rod or crystal reading into a conviction, the police would use it whether it detected perpetrators or not.
No one in the justice system is interested in justice. They're interested in convictions, in warm bodies they can feed to the prison industrial complex.
"Predictive policing is pretty much garbage everywhere"
This is only the latest in a long run of incidents where Garbage useless tool utilized by law enforcement to circumvent bill of rights and justify arrest / assault of innocent people. This has been going on for years. Decades even.
So at what point are the courts going to realize this only sets them up to receive a lot of police abuses and false charges, and properly start vetting new (expensive) tools that often don't actually work?
I wonder if this is going to affect the Emoji Kitchen that Google rolled out which allows emojis to combine in interesting ways. Usually each one serves as a modifying rule for the others, so an Avocado + a face will replace the pit of the avo with the face.
So far it's limited. Not all emoji are represented, but enough of them are to make interesting ideas.
I wonder if this is ultimately a solution, to fog data sources with decoy instances, so that a search within a zone is useless (whereas a search for a specific phone is not).
It seems legal solutions don't exist: even when we pass laws telling government agencies not to do things, they do them anyways and are not penalized enough to be discouraged (if at all).
Of course, if we abolished prisons, this instance might be moot. Much of these regulations seem to only serve to make inmates more miserable, or to bleed their relatives for more money.
I'm pretty sure we can safely abolish the entire justice system (that is, law enforcement departments, prosecutors, judges, courts, and prisons) and not be worse off for it.
If you want to be nice to your fellow zoomer, get an auxiliary camera and position it to the side (or if you want a boss eye view, behind your shoulder, looking at your screen.
It may require too much general empathy to make this a popular idea, but it sounds like the easiest step to help cope with Zoom anxiety.
The police lie in court so commonly (and are not charged with perjury) that this should be the common presumption, that anything a law enforcement officer says is questionable testimony until proven with additional evidence.
Press credentials shouldn't be a standard. Anyone can be press, usually shown by not protesting or engaging in protest related action, sometimes holding a camera or recording device.
Police shouldn't be gassing / shooting / arresting people at random. Prosecutors shouldn't be prosecuting them, even when police are (allegedly) commanding protesters to disperse.
This is about there being big business in SWAT raids. A lot of officers are kept busy. A lot of money is made from bullets and flash bangs and breach charges, and the DEA gets to say it's keeping the tigers away with its raids since we don't see any tigers.
Oh also (a detail that Mr. Oliver did cover) most raids happen in mostly non-white neighborhoods, so as to encourage them to go back to their own country.
If they actually find something worth a criminal bust, that's sauce. The fact that everyone had a gangbusting day and spent a lot of taxpayer dollars (and terrorized a family) is the point.
On the post: Senators Leahy And Tillis -- Both Strongly Supported By Hollywood -- Ask Merrick Garland To Target Streaming Sites
🎶Hey, ho ho! You'll cruise to foreign shores🎵...
Considering our federal government is already glad to drive the US economy to look like those an unindustrialized nation, our officials and capitalists should remember that in most nations, the only access to western culture and big media the peons have is through piracy. Trying to actually pay for media is absurd, and laws to crack down on piracy only give the police another justification to harass, raid and kill those communities they don't like (whether or not they're committing crime).
As capitalism is working out for fewer and fewer folk, it's probably not a good idea to rekindle old scams that are obviously rent-seeking.
Here in the states, cracking down on streaming isn't going to make anyone more money. Either people will find other ways to gain access, get better at doing so quietly. And given all the streaming-service exclusives debacles, able seamen are once again abandoning their station to join at the sloops.⚓
But then a huge swatches of the public are discovering they can be better entertained by freer content like those of Youtubers and Tik Tokkers. We've even had a resurgence of sea shanties.
Again, the only thing worse than having your precious content getting pirated, is having your precious content not getting pirated.🏴☠️
On the post: Appeals Court Judge Attacks Fundamental Principle Of 1st Amendment Law, Because He Thinks The Media Likes Democrats Too Much
judges using their position to benefit a chosen political party
This is not new. The Bush v. Gore case is essentially an indictment of the court system and the ability for mortal human beings to set all personal interests aside to favor logic and rationality. When the stakes are high enough, they can't.
And the stakes are always that high.
I don't know what to do that would be better, but I do know not to trust the courts to do what is right over what is pragmatic.
On the post: Man Arrested For Child Porn, Blames Google For Making It Too Easy To Find
Kids don't want to be in child porn.
If we were interested in keeping kids out of the porn industry, the solution would be to decriminalize realistic CGI renders. Yes, there still would be child porn the same way there's still snuff, but it would be a fraction of the current market by orders of magnitude.
It would also raise awareness of non-porn ways our society sexualizes kids (e.g. beauty boutiques including a partial strip-tease, or Benetton using tween models in a state of partial undress to sell its fashions.)
But no, our society likes the thought crime. We are terrified of the notion of pervs perving out on kids and want an excuse to lock them up, hence we have laws to criminalize cartoons of child porn, or porn that looks too much like a naked kid (even when the model is registered.) Also the whole teens sexting = child porn distro thing.
We're not interested in protecting kids. We're interested in targeting people we can demonize and putting their warm bodies into private prisons.
On the post: Appeals Court Decision Shows The Cleveland PD Cares More About Being Lied To Than About Officers Killing Children
Officer history cannot be consideredn in hiring.
In many counties the prior violent history of an officer cannot be considered while deciding whether or not to hire him... or any untoward history, IIRC.
So what's to stop Officer Loehmann from going to Baltimore to shoot up some more minority neighborhoods?
On the post: Florida Prisons Are Buying Up Location Data From Data Brokers
My concern knows bounds.
Considering the humanitarian crisis that is the entire US penal system, the proper solution is to set all our inmates free. Yes, even the scary ones that (allegedly) murdered people.
We won't get that. But now the cell phones are one of the few ways whistles get blown about the atrocities committed by prison staff. So I'm not at all ready to call cell phones -- or contraband -- a problem. It's certainly not one of the magnitude represented by the prisons, themselves.
On the post: Forfeiture In Theory: TAKING DOWN DRUG LORDS! Forfeiture In Practice: Taking A Guy's TV And PlayStation During A Drug Raid
A reminder: This happened before
The holy inquisition really got underway with the combination of seizing civil assets and torturing witnesses to reveal other witches and heretics.
And if I recall correctly, the whole Salem Witch Trials affair was driven by the ability of the town to seize the assets of those who confess.
It all comes back to capitalism.
On the post: After 40 Years Of Being Wrong, Texas Rangers Finally Decide Hypnosis Isn't A Viable Investigative Technique
_A Ranger with a divining rod and healing crystals_
The thing is, if they can convince a court to turn a divining rod or crystal reading into a conviction, the police would use it whether it detected perpetrators or not.
No one in the justice system is interested in justice. They're interested in convictions, in warm bodies they can feed to the prison industrial complex.
On the post: DOJ Says Encryption Is Just For Criminals As It Goes After Another Secure Phone Purveyor
"Encryption Is Just For Criminals"
Every business ever in the US and global economy would like a word...
On the post: Florida Sheriff's Office Sued For Using 'Predictive Policing' Program To Harass Residents
"Predictive policing is pretty much garbage everywhere"
This is only the latest in a long run of incidents where Garbage useless tool utilized by law enforcement to circumvent bill of rights and justify arrest / assault of innocent people. This has been going on for years. Decades even.
So at what point are the courts going to realize this only sets them up to receive a lot of police abuses and false charges, and properly start vetting new (expensive) tools that often don't actually work?
Or is this a feature, not a bug?
On the post: Apple Sued Over 'Diverse' Emojis Which Is All Idea and No Specific Expression
Google Emoji Kitchen
I wonder if this is going to affect the Emoji Kitchen that Google rolled out which allows emojis to combine in interesting ways. Usually each one serves as a modifying rule for the others, so an Avocado + a face will replace the pit of the avo with the face.
So far it's limited. Not all emoji are represented, but enough of them are to make interesting ideas.
On the post: Florida Prisons Are Buying Up Location Data From Data Brokers
Technical solutions to preserve legal rights
I wonder if this is ultimately a solution, to fog data sources with decoy instances, so that a search within a zone is useless (whereas a search for a specific phone is not).
It seems legal solutions don't exist: even when we pass laws telling government agencies not to do things, they do them anyways and are not penalized enough to be discouraged (if at all).
Of course, if we abolished prisons, this instance might be moot. Much of these regulations seem to only serve to make inmates more miserable, or to bleed their relatives for more money.
On the post: Police, Police Supporters: Ending Qualified Immunity Makes Being A Cop Too Hard, Somehow 'Defunds' The Police
Police are not good at those things either.
How police respond to criminal trespassers is not pretty.
I couldn't find any bar fight incidents, but the way they handle school matters isn't pretty.
And precincts are known to use bum field drug tests, trick pony detection dogs and crime labs that favor false positives, so I wouldn't trust them for detective work either.
I'm pretty sure we can safely abolish the entire justice system (that is, law enforcement departments, prosecutors, judges, courts, and prisons) and not be worse off for it.
On the post: Police, Police Supporters: Ending Qualified Immunity Makes Being A Cop Too Hard, Somehow 'Defunds' The Police
back to thinga they're good at
Let's get the cops away from things they suck at and back to things they're good at.
What activity in service of the public would fit into this category?
On the post: Not OK, Zoomer: Here's Why You Hate Videoconference Meetings -- And What To Do About It
Is this a stupid nerd idea?
If you want to be nice to your fellow zoomer, get an auxiliary camera and position it to the side (or if you want a boss eye view, behind your shoulder, looking at your screen.
It may require too much general empathy to make this a popular idea, but it sounds like the easiest step to help cope with Zoom anxiety.
On the post: Police, Police Supporters: Ending Qualified Immunity Makes Being A Cop Too Hard, Somehow 'Defunds' The Police
As noted regarding the Kentucky law
If they think being a law enforcement officer is too hard maybe we should look at how difficult it is to be a reseller clerk.
My choice would to improve the quality of life of cashiers (as well as increasing accountability of police officers).
Not that I expect anything to get done by anyone anymore until more precincts are razed to the ground.
On the post: John Oliver On Drug Raids: Why Are We Raiding Houses For Drug Quantities That Could Be Easily Flushed Down A Toilet?
Re: Who should be held responsible?
Ooooh, you're making those points about why we need to abolish not just the police but the entire justice system.
Diffusion of responsibility as expressed in a bureaucratic system.
Also corruption and refusal to acknowledge that suspects are human beings with human rights.
On the post: Iowa Prosecutors Move Ahead With Prosecuting A Journalist For Being Present At A Protest
the police are known liars...
The police lie in court so commonly (and are not charged with perjury) that this should be the common presumption, that anything a law enforcement officer says is questionable testimony until proven with additional evidence.
On the post: Iowa Prosecutors Move Ahead With Prosecuting A Journalist For Being Present At A Protest
Press credentials
Press credentials shouldn't be a standard. Anyone can be press, usually shown by not protesting or engaging in protest related action, sometimes holding a camera or recording device.
Police shouldn't be gassing / shooting / arresting people at random. Prosecutors shouldn't be prosecuting them, even when police are (allegedly) commanding protesters to disperse.
On the post: Kentucky Senators Pass Bill That Would Make It A Crime To Say Mean Things To Cops
Intervention creep
Recording police officers on duty (or refusing to cease doing so) will be regarded as a derisive challenge in 3... 2... 1...
On the post: John Oliver On Drug Raids: Why Are We Raiding Houses For Drug Quantities That Could Be Easily Flushed Down A Toilet?
This is not about actually finding anything.
This is about there being big business in SWAT raids. A lot of officers are kept busy. A lot of money is made from bullets and flash bangs and breach charges, and the DEA gets to say it's keeping the tigers away with its raids since we don't see any tigers.
Oh also (a detail that Mr. Oliver did cover) most raids happen in mostly non-white neighborhoods, so as to encourage them to go back to their own country.
If they actually find something worth a criminal bust, that's sauce. The fact that everyone had a gangbusting day and spent a lot of taxpayer dollars (and terrorized a family) is the point.
Next >>