Declarations that the defendants are aware of the lawsuit does not (or should not) substitute for proper service.
Utah has a reputation, and that reputation was earned. When something sketchy happens, look for the church connection. Sure enough, we find them here.
Dee Benson has very strong ties to the LDS church, was a missionary, and has many controversial rulings that seem heavily biased in favor of church-connected people.
The owners of Purple Innovations were missionaries and continue to be heavily involved in the church.
Your comment was not sexual harassment. But they could have you arrested, and that is a substantial punishment. "You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride."
Apple (and most others) use 'water damage indicators' that turn pink. If it's pink, they deny warranty coverage.
The indicators turn pink immediately with water, but they also turn pink from just the humidity of a being carried in a pocket for a few months.
If only Apple has the information to diagnose and repair their phones, there is no legal way to challenge their "pink means no coverage" policy. You can't have a third party repair place document that a part failed with no evidence of water damage.
He is not a moron. He built large buildings in NYC in the 1980s and 1990s when 'the trades' controlled all construction, especially concrete. And by 'the trades', I mean organized crime.
Building large buildings is not easy. There is a lot of profit in it because it's very difficult to pull everything together. And once you are close to succeeding, you are shaken down by everyone that thinks they have the leverage to do it.
Why was a representative from Iowa Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy surreptitiously undermining a legal awareness group?
It's right there in their name.
National Organization for the Reform of X Laws
As long as they are doing what the name suggests, promoting the reform of specific laws, that's clearly political speech. It's exactly the kind of speech that government employees shouldn't be interfering with in their official capacity.
The Constitution is best understood using the ideas of the time.
It echo the ideas of the Declaration of Independence that people have 'inalienable' or 'natural' rights. A government is legitimate only if it respects those rights.
A simple test for arguments that claim a particular right applies only to citizens is if the logical conclusion of the argument is that non-citizens are not human.
It's easy to miss the proposal to offer tax credit or charitable contribution deductions for "donating" to support local news.
It doesn't take much imagination or foresight to predict the outcome. Wealthy people using this for taxpayer-subsidized PR. Companies doing tax-deductible advertising and lobbying for special advantages. Politicians being even more beholden to corporate-controlled media outlets.
Certainly they were not using write blockers. The whole point of the 'service' is to fix problems and remove malicious software.
The very nature of the business meant that the customer had no way to prove what was on the disk before turning it over. For instance, in this case the customer's machine wouldn't boot. The technician was tasked with modifying the disk contents so that it would boot.
Business Insider is a not a reliable journalism source either. It is mostly paid-by-the-piece, which attracts hack writers and stock price manipulators (pump/slag stories).
But in this case they have uncovered a dirty corporate structure. The employees are working for the money-losing company that will be sold for the value of its development losses. Presumably their stock options will be worth zero, and and non-connected investors will be screwed.
The designs and patents will be transferred to the offshore company, which is where all profits will end up.
This isn't actually legal, but it's really difficult to enforce fair-value transaction accounting.
I believe that his ADA lawsuits were quite successful. They resulted in a bunch of out-of-court settlements.
In fact that's what is getting him into trouble. He took the most of the quick settlements as fees, despite spending little time on each and never going to trial. The nominal plaintiffs got a fixed payment regardless of the case outcome -- basically they were paid to pose as plaintiffs. In those respects, this was a repeat of Prenda.
I believed that Hansmeier was in full control of the DSA. Perhaps he was, until his recent troubles. Once he wasn't in control, the remaining people ("bagholders") recognized the trouble they were in. The DSA wasn't really a non-profit -- Hansmeier had been using the DSA as a front for his legal extortion business. When the bagholders brought in an independent attorney, the attorney probably recommended that their only way out of the situation was to claim to have been tricked and defrauded.
Bentonville is unremarkable except for one business: it is the headquarters of Walmart, by far the largest retailer in the world. However Walmart is only second in online sales, having been out-competed by Amazon.
Anything that embarrasses Amazon is going to be perceived as good for the town.
The command interface has a long history in litigation, starting with Visicalc. (Well, not a long history by court standards, but compared to the computer industry.)
The Lotus-Visicalc lawsuits started in the early 1980s when Lotus sued competing spreadsheet programs over copying the command interface. Which, ironically, they themselves had blatantly ripped off when they cloned Visicalc. It came full circle when the company that bought Visicalc sued Lotus over the very same copying that Lotus had used to shut down competitors. But this time the court ruled that a now-standard command interface wasn't protected.
It appears that Uber may have deliberately led the press to believe that they have put early-stage driverless cars on the road, or are about to do that. But right now they have a prototype of a development system that might lead to a platform that could evolve into a pre-production evaluation of an eventual driverless taxi.
We are another year or two from a useful taxonomy of autonomous vehicle descriptions. There is a first cut of classification, but it's not that useful. It appears that Uber has a map-following, lane-centering, distance-keeping, automatic braking vehicle. But they almost certainly don't have the ability to recognize and follow the directions of construction flagmen and traffic officers, or any of the myriad other skills that human drivers do without effort.
To be fair to the electorate, the election had poor choices
Much like the presidential election, there was no good choice. Harris was running against an even worse alternative. Check out videos of the Harris-Sanchez debate for wince-inducing behavior from both candidates.
This was a false news story by a highly regarded publication
When this story was first published, it was Big News. It was widely referenced as the perfect example of deeply rooted institutional problem.
The people involved stated that it was wrong, but "of course they would say that".
Only the excellent investigation by the Washington Post revealed that the story was completely fabricated. Without the credibility of a major newspaper, the innocent people involved would have the lies follow them for the rest of their lives, with no way of proving their innocence.
The Rolling Stone did double-down by issuing only a slight correction, and stating that the core of the story was true. It took multiple articles before they acknowledged that it wasn't just one-sided reporting, but that the entire story was false.
For a narrow, literal interpretation: I could buy a replacement Galaxy S3 frame and back for under $5, including shipping from China. The front glass added another $1. The expensive parts are the display and touch sensor assembly, followed by the processor board.
I'm guessing that meant the broader view of a the additional value of a specific feature. There is some value in being mistaken for an iPhone. That value is higher for a cheap phone that is bought by status-focused people. It diminishes rapidly for a device that is equivalently featured and has status of its own, and for a product that is readily spotted as different. Both of which describe Samsung's phones.
The perspective of "more troubling" is deeply wrong.
Would you be more troubled if an innocent person wrongly spent a week in jail, or a guilty one was released early (likely to probation).
To me the choice is clear -- mistakenly jailing the innocent is morally wrong. Occasionally releasing the convicted is roughly akin to a pardon, which is generally viewed favorably.
On the post: Utah Judge Won't Let The Constitution Get In The Way Of A Little Prior Restraint
Proper service is optional?
Utah has a reputation, and that reputation was earned. When something sketchy happens, look for the church connection. Sure enough, we find them here.
Dee Benson has very strong ties to the LDS church, was a missionary, and has many controversial rulings that seem heavily biased in favor of church-connected people.
The owners of Purple Innovations were missionaries and continue to be heavily involved in the church.
Of course they all went to BYU.
On the post: TSA Now Making Its Intrusive Searches Even More Gropey & Assaulty
Re: But whatever you do do NOT speak up!
Your comment was not sexual harassment. But they could have you arrested, and that is a substantial punishment. "You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride."
So Respect Their Authority
On the post: Apple Says Nebraska Will Become A 'Mecca For Hackers' If Right To Repair Bill Passes
Tie this in with typical phone warranty coverage
The indicators turn pink immediately with water, but they also turn pink from just the humidity of a being carried in a pocket for a few months.
If only Apple has the information to diagnose and repair their phones, there is no legal way to challenge their "pink means no coverage" policy. You can't have a third party repair place document that a part failed with no evidence of water damage.
On the post: Techdirt Survival Fund: I Support Journalism
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
He is not a moron. He built large buildings in NYC in the 1980s and 1990s when 'the trades' controlled all construction, especially concrete. And by 'the trades', I mean organized crime.
Building large buildings is not easy. There is a lot of profit in it because it's very difficult to pull everything together. And once you are close to succeeding, you are shaken down by everyone that thinks they have the leverage to do it.
Such an environment can fine-tune an asshole.
On the post: Pro-Marijuana Student Organization Wins Court Case Over Using School Logos
Why were government employees lobbying?
It's right there in their name.
National Organization for the Reform of X Laws
As long as they are doing what the name suggests, promoting the reform of specific laws, that's clearly political speech. It's exactly the kind of speech that government employees shouldn't be interfering with in their official capacity.
Why aren't those employees being investigated?
On the post: Court Orders Small Ohio Speed Trap Town To Refund $3 Million In Unconstitutional Speeding Tickets
Uncollectible debt?
The funds were spent a long time ago. The company isn't going to disgorge their share, and will probably be first in line as a creditor.
And throughout the attitude will be that it was the drivers breaking the law, and the town is being picked on by the judge.
On the post: Court Unanimously Keeps Lower Court's Injunction Against Trump's Immigration Order In Place
Re: Re: Re: Good on Them
It echo the ideas of the Declaration of Independence that people have 'inalienable' or 'natural' rights. A government is legitimate only if it respects those rights.
A simple test for arguments that claim a particular right applies only to citizens is if the logical conclusion of the argument is that non-citizens are not human.
On the post: Struggling Canadian News Agencies Ask Government For A 'Google Tax'
It doesn't take much imagination or foresight to predict the outcome. Wealthy people using this for taxpayer-subsidized PR. Companies doing tax-deductible advertising and lobbying for special advantages. Politicians being even more beholden to corporate-controlled media outlets.
On the post: Court Documents Appear To Confirm The FBI Is Using Best Buy Techs To Perform Warrantless Searches For It
Re: But wait...
The very nature of the business meant that the customer had no way to prove what was on the disk before turning it over. For instance, in this case the customer's machine wouldn't boot. The technician was tasked with modifying the disk contents so that it would boot.
On the post: Tesla Gave Up Its Patents, But People Are Freaked Out That Faraday Future Put Its Own Into A Separate Company
But in this case they have uncovered a dirty corporate structure. The employees are working for the money-losing company that will be sold for the value of its development losses. Presumably their stock options will be worth zero, and and non-connected investors will be screwed.
The designs and patents will be transferred to the offshore company, which is where all profits will end up.
This isn't actually legal, but it's really difficult to enforce fair-value transaction accounting.
On the post: Prenda's Paul Hansmeier Now Under FBI Investigation For His ADA Lawsuits
"not particularly successful"?
In fact that's what is getting him into trouble. He took the most of the quick settlements as fees, despite spending little time on each and never going to trial. The nominal plaintiffs got a fixed payment regardless of the case outcome -- basically they were paid to pose as plaintiffs. In those respects, this was a repeat of Prenda.
I believed that Hansmeier was in full control of the DSA. Perhaps he was, until his recent troubles. Once he wasn't in control, the remaining people ("bagholders") recognized the trouble they were in. The DSA wasn't really a non-profit -- Hansmeier had been using the DSA as a front for his legal extortion business. When the bagholders brought in an independent attorney, the attorney probably recommended that their only way out of the situation was to claim to have been tricked and defrauded.
On the post: Amazon Refuses To Comply With Police Request For Amazon Echo Recordings In Murder Case
Anything that embarrasses Amazon is going to be perceived as good for the town.
On the post: Smart Vibrator Company Settles Lawsuit For Over-Collection Of, Uh, Personal Data
Metadata isn't a privacy violation, right
On the post: Command Line Interface Copyright Case: Not Fair Use... But Not Infringing Thanks To Scenes A Faire
The Lotus-Visicalc lawsuits started in the early 1980s when Lotus sued competing spreadsheet programs over copying the command interface. Which, ironically, they themselves had blatantly ripped off when they cloned Visicalc. It came full circle when the company that bought Visicalc sued Lotus over the very same copying that Lotus had used to shut down competitors. But this time the court ruled that a now-standard command interface wasn't protected.
On the post: Uber And California DMV Fight Over Definition Of Self-Driving Cars
Marketing, advertisement and press releases...
It appears that Uber may have deliberately led the press to believe that they have put early-stage driverless cars on the road, or are about to do that. But right now they have a prototype of a development system that might lead to a platform that could evolve into a pre-production evaluation of an eventual driverless taxi.
We are another year or two from a useful taxonomy of autonomous vehicle descriptions. There is a first cut of classification, but it's not that useful. It appears that Uber has a map-following, lane-centering, distance-keeping, automatic braking vehicle. But they almost certainly don't have the ability to recognize and follow the directions of construction flagmen and traffic officers, or any of the myriad other skills that human drivers do without effort.
On the post: Judge Tosses Charges Against Backpage Execs, Tells Kamala Harris To Take It Up With Congress
To be fair to the electorate, the election had poor choices
On the post: Media Organizations (Correctly) Worry That Rolling Stone Verdict Will Make Saying Sorry Actionable
This was a false news story by a highly regarded publication
The people involved stated that it was wrong, but "of course they would say that".
Only the excellent investigation by the Washington Post revealed that the story was completely fabricated. Without the credibility of a major newspaper, the innocent people involved would have the lies follow them for the rest of their lives, with no way of proving their innocence.
The Rolling Stone did double-down by issuing only a slight correction, and stating that the core of the story was true. It took multiple articles before they acknowledged that it wasn't just one-sided reporting, but that the entire story was false.
On the post: Supreme Court Adds Yet Another Smackdown To Patent Court, Says It Misinterpreted Patent Law In Apple/Samsung Case
What is the value of a cell phone case/body?
I'm guessing that meant the broader view of a the additional value of a specific feature. There is some value in being mistaken for an iPhone. That value is higher for a cheap phone that is bought by status-focused people. It diminishes rapidly for a device that is equivalently featured and has status of its own, and for a product that is readily spotted as different. Both of which describe Samsung's phones.
On the post: Court Case Management Software Upgrade Results In Bogus Felony Convictions, Wrongful Arrests
The perspective of "more troubling" is deeply wrong.
To me the choice is clear -- mistakenly jailing the innocent is morally wrong. Occasionally releasing the convicted is roughly akin to a pardon, which is generally viewed favorably.
On the post: Court Case Management Software Upgrade Results In Bogus Felony Convictions, Wrongful Arrests
The perspective of "more troubling" is deeply wrong.
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