It is accurate information that is most likely to attract right-to-be-forgotten suits-- from swindlers, crooked politicians, and deranged stalkers, among other lowlifes. From a business viewpoint, if Google lacks robust free-speech support from the public and US Congress, it would be easier for them to go along with hiding evildoers, to the great loss of the public.
How much would be lost if google.us were upgraded to assume the current capabilities of google.com with US First Amendment protections? Google.com could be left out there to attract all the World's censorship orders, from Canada and the EU, to China, Pakistan, and Sa'udi Arabia.
Presumably it would be more acceptable for Canadian courts to block out google.us than google.com.
Hugo S Cunningham (profile), 11 Oct 2018 @ 10:14am
Russians are not only spies caught in new surveillance age...
Israel's Mossad cultivated a legendary reputation in the 1950s against weak Arab opponents. In Dubai in 2010, their reputation took a big hit from pervasive modern surveillance:
The cargo-cult reverence for patent filings today (and adopted by some self-identified free-market conservatives who ought to know better) reminds me of Soviet planners' obsession with steel production. "We will overtake and surpass American." By the time they did in the early 1970s, nobody cared.
What Pho did caused vastly more damage than what Petraeus did.
It is made quite clear to new employees the importance of following strict procedures on safeguarding classified information. It is explained, among other things, that jury-rigged home systems are more likely to have security holes than carefully designed government workplaces.
As for Petraeus's poor judgement, I would cut him some slack on grounds of "combat fatigue." For months he had been at the center of an intense battle, saving hundreds of thousands of lives by breaking a murderous insurgency among Iraqi Sunnis. A society that cannot figure out how to protect its heroes does not deserve to be protected itself.
Hugo S Cunningham (profile), 27 Sep 2018 @ 11:47am
Re:
Only Congress or Federal Courts can "make things right"-- by drastically curbing FOSTA. As it stands now, for Paypal: erring on side of censorship-- zero losses; erring on side of free speech-- ruinous losses.
Hugo S Cunningham (profile), 21 Sep 2018 @ 10:35am
Re: By the way, Breitbart has exposed typical GAO worker:
We face a stark choice-- either the American way as exemplified by FCC commissioner Ajit Pai, or Venezuelan socialism-- users with wheelbarrows full of bolivares Fuertes lined up around the block waiting for two minutes on a rotary phone.
I don't mind having my metadata scooped up and dumped with that of hundreds of millions of others. I would like to see the search warrant requirements and exclusionary rules applied at the next stage-- searching the metadata. Because of the power of the metadata tool, requirements for warrants should be harder to get-- only for serious crimes, and certainly not for victimless offenses.
Hugo S Cunningham (profile), 14 Sep 2018 @ 11:38am
SESTA writ large...
Just as SESTA makes it harder to catch real sex traffickers (those who exploit minors and other vulnerable women) by driving legitimate sex work underground, so this EU measure will make it harder to find terrorists.
The US approach has been better-- allow jihadist sites to appear, but immediately start investigating the posters and visitors, and setting traps as necessary. (I am more tolerant of surveillance than techdirt's editors, provided the surveillance is only used against terrorists and other serious criminals.)
The 1994 Contract with America was a reasonable package of minor reforms mostly stolen from Ross Perot's 1992 Presidential campaign. But that was the end of the road for sensible right-wing reform. By 1996, when it was time for a new pre-election "contract," an addiction to new floods of special-interest money blocked good-government reforms. Holy warriors pushed an authoritarian agenda (largely ducked in 1994), but were blocked by a still-significant libertarian faction. But the small-L libertarians lacked the support to push their own ideas. Result: no new "contract" in 1996. The 1996 Republican Congressional campaign began a trend of increasing dependence on heavy spending from questionable sources, ideological confusion, resentments, and anti-intellectual radio talk-show hosts.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
The governor should not be using State-paid employees to edit his partisan page during work hours. The page can be managed by volunteers or privately paid political operatives.
Also, the Governor could spend some time on it himself. A governor's job is to appoint competent people and keep them working together harmoniously. There is no law specifying how he should do that and how he should spend his time generally. The voters will call him to account at the next election day, or the legislature can impeach him for egregious behavior.
Some cosmetic changes may be needed, eg not calling a partisan page the "official" page.
Hugo S Cunningham (profile), 10 Sep 2018 @ 11:05am
Re: Re: Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
You're wrong, you know. The unfettered right of politicians to edit their own books (like everyone else) is long settled. If they misuse public resources, they may suffer fines or other penalties, but no court is going to dictate the contents of their books.
Re: Re: Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
(1) You are right that I did not notice it was a Facebook page, not a URL. But my reasoning is the same in either case: if no public resources or official acts are involved, the individual should control his site.
(2) I used "utility" in a generic sense, challenging the idea that LePage's site was a common carrier whose editorial content was controlled by public regulators (including courts), rather than the webhost himself.
Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
Should Obama, the next time he publishes a book, have to reserve half the pages for vituperation by his opponents?
It is reasonable for courts to regulate Le Page's web site as a utility if (1) he uses maine.gov in its URL; (2) he uses State resources (including regular work time of State employees) to maintain it; (3) he issues official State notices on it (but links and commentary are exempt).
Otherwise, if he has a website paullepage.com or paullepage.org, he should have the same editorial control over it as any private citizen, including the right to exclude trolls, bullies, or anyone else who interferes with his message.
Opponents, however, (or neutral journalists) should have the right to mirror his comment pages and open the mirrored version to commenters they favor.
Exception: Forfeiture against scofflaw dangerous drivers
In general, I share the editor's libertarian opposition to forfeiture programs, especially ones that infringe the Eighth Amendment ban on "excessive fines."
I lack sympathy, however, for owners who lend their cars to drunks or others with licenses already suspended for dangerous driving. Here the punishment (car forfeiture) fits a very dangerous crime. Seize the car, to be returned if the driver is convicted of theft. If the owner does not want to prosecute (eg a relative), then keep the car but give the owner an automatic default judgement for its value against the driver. It would be the owner's decision whether to collect, and if so under what conditions.
You claim the Right is just as thuggish as the Left. I disagree, pointing out that the Right allows their thugs to be prosecuted, while the Left makes excuses for their thugs.
On the post: Canadian Privacy Commissioner Goes To Court To Determine If Canada Can Force Google To Delete History
Re: Re: De-Index
On the post: Canadian Privacy Commissioner Goes To Court To Determine If Canada Can Force Google To Delete History
replace google.com with google.us?
Presumably it would be more acceptable for Canadian courts to block out google.us than google.com.
On the post: As Everyone Knows, In The Age Of The Internet, Privacy Is Dead -- Which Is Awkward If You Are A Russian Spy
Russians are not only spies caught in new surveillance age...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mahmoud_Al-Mabhouh
On the post: Most Chinese Patents Are Being Discarded By Their Owners Because They Are Not Worth The Maintenance Fees To Keep Them
"we will overtake and surpass America..."
On the post: Analyst Who Accidentally Leaked NSA Software Given Five More Years In Prison Than General Who Handed Classified Info To His Mistress
Re: To a degree, I blame the judge here.
It is made quite clear to new employees the importance of following strict procedures on safeguarding classified information. It is explained, among other things, that jury-rigged home systems are more likely to have security holes than carefully designed government workplaces.
As for Petraeus's poor judgement, I would cut him some slack on grounds of "combat fatigue." For months he had been at the center of an intense battle, saving hundreds of thousands of lives by breaking a murderous insurgency among Iraqi Sunnis. A society that cannot figure out how to protect its heroes does not deserve to be protected itself.
On the post: Billionaire Steve Wynn, Who Once Tried To Kill Nevada's Anti-SLAPP Law, Loses Defamation Case Under That Law
Re: Re:
On the post: FOSTA Provides Another Tool For Silencing People You Dislike
Re:
On the post: GAO Again Points Out That Terrible U.S. Broadband Maps Drive (Intentionally) Terrible Broadband Policy
Re: Re: Re: By the way, Breitbart has exposed typical GAO worker:
On the post: GAO Again Points Out That Terrible U.S. Broadband Maps Drive (Intentionally) Terrible Broadband Policy
Re: By the way, Breitbart has exposed typical GAO worker:
On the post: EU Continues To Kill The Open Web: Massive Fines For Sites That Don't Censor Within An Hour
Re: Re: SESTA writ large...
On the post: EU Continues To Kill The Open Web: Massive Fines For Sites That Don't Censor Within An Hour
SESTA writ large...
The US approach has been better-- allow jihadist sites to appear, but immediately start investigating the posters and visitors, and setting traps as necessary. (I am more tolerant of surveillance than techdirt's editors, provided the surveillance is only used against terrorists and other serious criminals.)
On the post: Google Fights In EU Court Against Ability Of One Country To Censor The Global Internet
Re: Re: Re: Re: Pride vs Shame
On the post: Google Fights In EU Court Against Ability Of One Country To Censor The Global Internet
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pride vs Shame
On the post: Court Denies Politician's Attempt To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Banning Critics From His Facebook Page
Re: Re: Re: Re: Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
Also, the Governor could spend some time on it himself. A governor's job is to appoint competent people and keep them working together harmoniously. There is no law specifying how he should do that and how he should spend his time generally. The voters will call him to account at the next election day, or the legislature can impeach him for egregious behavior.
Some cosmetic changes may be needed, eg not calling a partisan page the "official" page.
On the post: Court Denies Politician's Attempt To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Banning Critics From His Facebook Page
Re: Re: Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
On the post: Court Denies Politician's Attempt To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Banning Critics From His Facebook Page
Re: Re: Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
(2) I used "utility" in a generic sense, challenging the idea that LePage's site was a common carrier whose editorial content was controlled by public regulators (including courts), rather than the webhost himself.
On the post: Court Denies Politician's Attempt To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Banning Critics From His Facebook Page
Politicians, like others, should be free to control message.
It is reasonable for courts to regulate Le Page's web site as a utility if
(1) he uses maine.gov in its URL;
(2) he uses State resources (including regular work time of State employees) to maintain it;
(3) he issues official State notices on it (but links and commentary are exempt).
Otherwise, if he has a website paullepage.com or paullepage.org, he should have the same editorial control over it as any private citizen, including the right to exclude trolls, bullies, or anyone else who interferes with his message.
Opponents, however, (or neutral journalists) should have the right to mirror his comment pages and open the mirrored version to commenters they favor.
On the post: Federal Judge Calls City's Asset Forfeiture Program Unconstitutional
Re: Re: Exception: Forfeiture against scofflaw dangerous drivers
On the post: Federal Judge Calls City's Asset Forfeiture Program Unconstitutional
Exception: Forfeiture against scofflaw dangerous drivers
I lack sympathy, however, for owners who lend their cars to drunks or others with licenses already suspended for dangerous driving. Here the punishment (car forfeiture) fits a very dangerous crime. Seize the car, to be returned if the driver is convicted of theft. If the owner does not want to prosecute (eg a relative), then keep the car but give the owner an automatic default judgement for its value against the driver. It would be the owner's decision whether to collect, and if so under what conditions.
On the post: Funneling Trump Rally Attendees Directly Into A Violent Anti-Trump Crowd Costs Officers Their Qualified Immunity
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Next >>