Internet Zen Master (profile), 27 Jun 2013 @ 10:38am
Re: Re: Going back to this, eh? On unsupported word of a lawyer.
"His assets are frozen. He hasn't been able to pay because he can't access his money.
Bolded for relevance.
While it's true that Dotcom did have access to some funds, the NZ court only gave him enough for living expenses while he's being dragged through what's amounted to a modern-day witch hunt. The rest of it is STILL frozen, so he couldn't use it to pay the rent on those servers to begin with.
Sure, he could've used some of the money provided to him by the court for the payments, but I figure Dotcom was assuming that Leaseweb would hold onto that 40% of MU's data while this whole thing got sorted out.
The evidence is part of a criminal investigation, which means the hosting company is required to keep that data (or submit it to the court/parties of said case)."
Oddly enough, this is exactly what MegaUpload did when asked (indirectly mind you) by the DOJ not to touch 38-39 copyrighted movies which had been uploaded to MegaUpload's Megavideo by the tv show/movies/documentaries streaming website NinjaVideo, and were used as part of the evidence against them by the prosecution.
That trial happened in late September of 2011 with most of NinjaVideo's staff pleading guilty to criminal copyright infringement (though apparently an active uploader for the group remains at large). Megaupload didn't touch those files due to the possibility of getting charged with tampering of evidence (one of the co-founders of NinjaVideo was sentenced sometime in February 2012, AFTER the MU takedown).
I can understand why Dotcom is so irritated. Why the hell does his business get shut down for following protocol (the sentencing for one of the co-founders of NinjaVideo occurred in February 2012, AFTER the MegaUpload takedown), and LeaseWeb gets a free pass to delete 40 PB of data that is possible "exculpatory evidence"? I'd be pissed too if something like that happened to me.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jun 2013 @ 11:51am
Re: Re: Re: We might not have to worry about that problem
Wikileaks = Dumping a full 36"x12"x12" tub full of random Legos on the floor and then saying "Have fun finding brick X".
Snowden & Greenwald with Leakfest = Handing you a Lego kit with all the pieces already sorted for you and going "Have fun!"
Of course, apparently Julian is now Snowden's unofficial spokesperson/advocate [what with Ed being assisted by Wikileaks and all], but since Assange is a natural for attracting media attention, he is the perfect diversion. Go figure.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jun 2013 @ 11:10am
Re: Re: We might not have to worry about that problem
Possible. But I kinda find it hard to believe that Obama wouldn't use a holiday like Earth Day to push forward a new agenda on climate change (symbolism and all that jazz). The big thing that makes any claim about climate change by the President ring hollow is the fact that he's supporting the Keystone Pipeline and "clean coal", neither of which are exactly environment friendly.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jun 2013 @ 10:24am
We might not have to worry about that problem
If Greenwald has enough data to leak over the whole summer, and does it on a weekly basis, it should (in theory) be able to draw the focus back to how messed up the US government is.
On a related note: Obama's apparently going to "release a plan for dealing with climate change" tomorrow. Am I the only one who thought he's trying to pull the "look over there!" distraction technique on the media by trying to change the subject to something completely different?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jun 2013 @ 10:18am
Ah Dr. Strangelove
"I can no longer sit back and allow terrorist infiltration, terrorist indoctrination, terrorist subversion, and the international terrorism conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!"
Seriously, is this Sherwin Smith fellow related to a General Jack D. Ripper by any chance?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jun 2013 @ 9:06am
As for why China was in such a hurry to get him out of HK
Let's face it, Snowden's a political hot potato, and relations between the US and China aren't exactly sunshine, gumdrops and unicorns right now.
Honestly, if the Chinese government has anything to be pissed about over the scandals coming from the NSA, it's that the NSA probably does a better job spying on it's China's own citizens than China does itself.
They can't exactly claim any moral high ground over the US either, considering their little 'volunteer' hacker army which has been committing "cyber-espionage" (lack of a better term comes to mind at the moment) like crazy against the US in both government and private sectors, and the Chinese know the US knows they're responsible (albeit indirectly) for the attacks. So it's pretty much a tit-for-tat thing there.
Will Snowden really go to Ecuador, a South American nation that might decide to hand him over to the US depending on the current administration, or will he end up in Iceland instead?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 3:30pm
Re:
Uh, last I checked PS4 didn't have backwards compatibility either, so I'm kinda lost as to how you'll be able to play PS3 games on the PS4.
As for the 360, notice that they'll be continuing support for the system for sometime after the Xbox One comes out. You don't need to ditch your 360 when you get the One (and in fact, I'd highly advise against even considering such a foolish idea).
Internet Zen Master (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 10:53am
Macklemore says hi
Just think. If Macklemore had been forced to sign with a label, do you think we'd ever hear songs like "Same Love" coming from him? I mean, this is the rap genre we're talking about here. Hating on homosexuals is part of "rap culture" (at least that's how the labels are pushing it). Thanks in part to YouTube, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis never had to sign with a record label, and we got all those awesome songs on The Heist album.
Side note: Seattle's hip-hop radio station has started playing other tracks from the Heist that aren't considered part of its officially listed singles (They've started playing "White Walls" after playing "Same Love" for awhile).
Internet Zen Master (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 8:50am
Forget about Dotcom and the case for a moment
Think about all the idi-I mean, poor souls who uploaded their child's baby pictures/wedding photos/personal files/etc to MegaUpload without backing them up locally! They just lost all of that because of LeaseWeb.
...Actually, hold on for a second.
Since LeaseWeb's deleted all the content from the servers, does that mean that the data on Carpathia is gone as well?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 8:44am
Re: Re:
And as I recall, the only reason that the DOJ was able to identify several infringing files (39ish? Can't remember for certain) and claim "HEY! MegaUpload's hosting infringing content! Send in ze marines!" was because those files were movies that had been submitted by the NinjaVideo group, which the DOJ was using as evidence.
MU would've deleted the infringing files if the DOJ gave them the go-ahead (they were told all this through Carpathia), because the DOJ said "Don't do this or we'll charge you with tampering of evidence." So they kept them active and untouched, even after the NinjaVideo case ended, waiting for the green light from the DOJ to delete them. Instead, Megaupload gets taken down using those exact same files.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 14 Jun 2013 @ 3:15pm
Re: Re:
That's a bit extreme. Copyright law does have its uses.
However, copyright law has become so perverted by those who use it just to make a free buck off other people's hard work (Hi RIAA!), that it's impossible to tell what it was supposed to be used for.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 14 Jun 2013 @ 3:12pm
Re:
No kidding.
Sure, it is possible for someone to get tossed in jail for several years for a certain amount level of "criminal" copyright infringement. However, it is not, nor should it ever be equated/confused with, theft.
No matter how badly the MPAA et al want to call it stealing in order to confuse Joe Public...
Internet Zen Master (profile), 14 Jun 2013 @ 2:25pm
Just thinking out loud here
But assuming that the US government's computer systems are mostly Windows, it's not exactly that surprising that Microsoft would warn the Feds about the zero-day exploits and not the general public.
I mean, considering that the US Government's new boogeyman meme is "CYBERTERRORISM! OH TEH NOES!", allow me to point out something that's being overlooked in the quoted text:
That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes.
Considering that China's been so brazenly hack-happy lately against the U.S.' private sector, it's not surprising that Microsoft's tipping off it's home government and not anyone else. While it may not exactly trust the U.S. government (depending on your viewpoint) they certainly favor the government who's more likely to protect their intellectual property (trade secrets/copyright infringement) than the government who's more likely to actively steal their trade secrets, reverse engineer it, and then claim they built it on their own[China].
As for not telling the general public, well, I'm betting that that Microsoft thinks malicious state-sponsored hacker groups don't really care what John Q. Public has on his computer.
Now could groups like the NSA use these zero-day exploits for nefarious purposes? Yes they could.
Would they?
I'd say the chance of that (percentage-wise) is about the same percentage they use for determining a subject's "foreignness". 'Course, I'm being a little optimistic on that.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 14 Jun 2013 @ 9:45am
Re: Dear Congress
Seriously, Congress' approval rating is down to 10%. That's the lowest it's been... well... ever. (That said, Congress has never had an approval rating of over 50%).
Gallup's poll has a 3% margin of error, so yeah... American really does not like Congress right now.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 9:13am
You that saying
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear"?
Well guess what General, that's a two-way street. And boy does the NSA LOVE to hide (especially considering that before 2001, the rest of the US Government denied it even existed).
National Security reasons? Yeah, we get it. But the excuse of "trust us, we're the good guys" just doesn't fly anymore.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 9:00am
Here's the sad part.
I was having a chat with some of my associates yesterday. Both of them fall into the older demographic surveyed by the Pew research center, and both agreed that the NSA should be able to monitor phone metadata. When I pointed out that based on the poll results, the younger demographic was more in favor having the government keeping its nose out of their business national security or not, one of them looked at me and said, "And how old were they when 9/11 happened?"
Ugh...
National security reasons or not, I'd like a little more oversight in my government, especially when it concerns the NSA, who before 9/11 were known as "No Such Agency". The other agencies constantly denied the existence of the NSA's giant Maryland facility, even though it had a road sign on the high way pointed to where it was located, with the added bit of "NSA Employees Only".
They wonder why people are so suspicious about what the NSA does. That whole "you've nothing to fear if you've got nothing to hide" thing is a two-way street.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 10 Jun 2013 @ 9:16pm
Re: Re: Re: Predictable
...And what 'real crime' has Kim committed again?
Last I checked, running a site like MegaUpload was not a crime. In fact, the 38 files DOJ keep holding up as examples of his guilt are the ones that they told MegaUpload not to mess with until further notice (they were related to NinjaVideo case) or get charged with tampering of evidence.
So... what was Dotcom guilty of again (Other than having an ego the size of the Sun)?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 10 Jun 2013 @ 8:11pm
Re: Predictable
Considering the questionable "evidence" against him, and the fact that if he came to the US he'd be walking into an "if he floats he's guilty, if he drowns he's innocent" scenario, I can understand why he's fighting extradition.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 9 Jun 2013 @ 1:26pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Also, it's finals/graduation week, so a lot of people are going to be posting about that as well.
The leak at the NSA should've waited until the week of the 4th of July to send this data to the Guardian. Would've had a a little more staying power in terms of getting sheeple's attention.
That being said, didn't the Guardian say they had a lot more intel to expose? I doubt this whole affair is anywhere close to being finished.
On the post: Kim Dotcom's Lawyer Says DOJ 'Blessed' Destruction Of Evidence In Megaupload Case
Re: Re: Going back to this, eh? On unsupported word of a lawyer.
Bolded for relevance.
While it's true that Dotcom did have access to some funds, the NZ court only gave him enough for living expenses while he's being dragged through what's amounted to a modern-day witch hunt. The rest of it is STILL frozen, so he couldn't use it to pay the rent on those servers to begin with.
Sure, he could've used some of the money provided to him by the court for the payments, but I figure Dotcom was assuming that Leaseweb would hold onto that 40% of MU's data while this whole thing got sorted out.
Oddly enough, this is exactly what MegaUpload did when asked (indirectly mind you) by the DOJ not to touch 38-39 copyrighted movies which had been uploaded to MegaUpload's Megavideo by the tv show/movies/documentaries streaming website NinjaVideo, and were used as part of the evidence against them by the prosecution.
That trial happened in late September of 2011 with most of NinjaVideo's staff pleading guilty to criminal copyright infringement (though apparently an active uploader for the group remains at large). Megaupload didn't touch those files due to the possibility of getting charged with tampering of evidence (one of the co-founders of NinjaVideo was sentenced sometime in February 2012, AFTER the MU takedown).
I can understand why Dotcom is so irritated. Why the hell does his business get shut down for following protocol (the sentencing for one of the co-founders of NinjaVideo occurred in February 2012, AFTER the MegaUpload takedown), and LeaseWeb gets a free pass to delete 40 PB of data that is possible "exculpatory evidence"? I'd be pissed too if something like that happened to me.
On the post: Dear Everyone: Please Don't Turn Edward Snowden Into Julian Assange
Re: Re: Re: We might not have to worry about that problem
Snowden & Greenwald with Leakfest = Handing you a Lego kit with all the pieces already sorted for you and going "Have fun!"
Of course, apparently Julian is now Snowden's unofficial spokesperson/advocate [what with Ed being assisted by Wikileaks and all], but since Assange is a natural for attracting media attention, he is the perfect diversion. Go figure.
On the post: Only A Terrorist Would Complain About Tennessee's Water Quality
Re: Before Terrorist, there was Communist, before that...
On the post: Dear Everyone: Please Don't Turn Edward Snowden Into Julian Assange
Re: Re: We might not have to worry about that problem
On the post: Dear Everyone: Please Don't Turn Edward Snowden Into Julian Assange
We might not have to worry about that problem
On a related note: Obama's apparently going to "release a plan for dealing with climate change" tomorrow. Am I the only one who thought he's trying to pull the "look over there!" distraction technique on the media by trying to change the subject to something completely different?
On the post: Only A Terrorist Would Complain About Tennessee's Water Quality
Ah Dr. Strangelove
Seriously, is this Sherwin Smith fellow related to a General Jack D. Ripper by any chance?
On the post: Ed Snowden Leaves Hong Kong, Seeks Asylum In Ecuador, As US Officials Flip Out
As for why China was in such a hurry to get him out of HK
Honestly, if the Chinese government has anything to be pissed about over the scandals coming from the NSA, it's that the NSA probably does a better job spying on it's China's own citizens than China does itself.
They can't exactly claim any moral high ground over the US either, considering their little 'volunteer' hacker army which has been committing "cyber-espionage" (lack of a better term comes to mind at the moment) like crazy against the US in both government and private sectors, and the Chinese know the US knows they're responsible (albeit indirectly) for the attacks. So it's pretty much a tit-for-tat thing there.
Will Snowden really go to Ecuador, a South American nation that might decide to hand him over to the US depending on the current administration, or will he end up in Iceland instead?
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
On the post: Microsoft Capitulates, Removes Online DRM From Xbox One
Re:
As for the 360, notice that they'll be continuing support for the system for sometime after the Xbox One comes out. You don't need to ditch your 360 when you get the One (and in fact, I'd highly advise against even considering such a foolish idea).
On the post: Hollywood's New Talking Point: Gatekeepers Are Awesome
Macklemore says hi
Side note: Seattle's hip-hop radio station has started playing other tracks from the Heist that aren't considered part of its officially listed singles (They've started playing "White Walls" after playing "Same Love" for awhile).
On the post: LeaseWeb Deletes Megaupload's Servers Without Warning, Destroying Key Evidence
Forget about Dotcom and the case for a moment
...Actually, hold on for a second.
Since LeaseWeb's deleted all the content from the servers, does that mean that the data on Carpathia is gone as well?
On the post: LeaseWeb Deletes Megaupload's Servers Without Warning, Destroying Key Evidence
Re: Re:
MU would've deleted the infringing files if the DOJ gave them the go-ahead (they were told all this through Carpathia), because the DOJ said "Don't do this or we'll charge you with tampering of evidence." So they kept them active and untouched, even after the NinjaVideo case ended, waiting for the green light from the DOJ to delete them. Instead, Megaupload gets taken down using those exact same files.
Go figure.
On the post: California AG Pretends Copyright Infringement Is Theft; Charges Streaming Site With Grand Theft
Re: Re:
However, copyright law has become so perverted by those who use it just to make a free buck off other people's hard work (Hi RIAA!), that it's impossible to tell what it was supposed to be used for.
On the post: California AG Pretends Copyright Infringement Is Theft; Charges Streaming Site With Grand Theft
Re:
Sure, it is possible for someone to get tossed in jail for several years for a certain amount level of "criminal" copyright infringement. However, it is not, nor should it ever be equated/confused with, theft.
No matter how badly the MPAA et al want to call it stealing in order to confuse Joe Public...
On the post: Microsoft Said To Give Zero Day Exploits To US Government Before It Patches Them
Just thinking out loud here
I mean, considering that the US Government's new boogeyman meme is "CYBERTERRORISM! OH TEH NOES!", allow me to point out something that's being overlooked in the quoted text:
Considering that China's been so brazenly hack-happy lately against the U.S.' private sector, it's not surprising that Microsoft's tipping off it's home government and not anyone else. While it may not exactly trust the U.S. government (depending on your viewpoint) they certainly favor the government who's more likely to protect their intellectual property (trade secrets/copyright infringement) than the government who's more likely to actively steal their trade secrets, reverse engineer it, and then claim they built it on their own[China].
As for not telling the general public, well, I'm betting that that Microsoft thinks malicious state-sponsored hacker groups don't really care what John Q. Public has on his computer.
Now could groups like the NSA use these zero-day exploits for nefarious purposes? Yes they could.
Would they?
I'd say the chance of that (percentage-wise) is about the same percentage they use for determining a subject's "foreignness". 'Course, I'm being a little optimistic on that.
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
On the post: Congress' Response To Leaks? Stop Contractors From Access To Classified Material Rather Than Stop NSA Spying
Re: Dear Congress
Gallup's poll has a 3% margin of error, so yeah... American really does not like Congress right now.
Why do we keep voting these idiots in again?
On the post: Former NSA Boss: This Leak Teaches The World That America Can't Keep Secrets
You that saying
Well guess what General, that's a two-way street. And boy does the NSA LOVE to hide (especially considering that before 2001, the rest of the US Government denied it even existed).
National Security reasons? Yeah, we get it. But the excuse of "trust us, we're the good guys" just doesn't fly anymore.
On the post: Majority Of Americans Okay With NSA Dragnet... Or, Wait, Not Okay With It; Depending On How You Ask
Here's the sad part.
Ugh...
National security reasons or not, I'd like a little more oversight in my government, especially when it concerns the NSA, who before 9/11 were known as "No Such Agency". The other agencies constantly denied the existence of the NSA's giant Maryland facility, even though it had a road sign on the high way pointed to where it was located, with the added bit of "NSA Employees Only".
They wonder why people are so suspicious about what the NSA does. That whole "you've nothing to fear if you've got nothing to hide" thing is a two-way street.
On the post: Extradition Trial For Kim Dotcom Pushed Back Again
Re: Re: Re: Predictable
Last I checked, running a site like MegaUpload was not a crime. In fact, the 38 files DOJ keep holding up as examples of his guilt are the ones that they told MegaUpload not to mess with until further notice (they were related to NinjaVideo case) or get charged with tampering of evidence.
So... what was Dotcom guilty of again (Other than having an ego the size of the Sun)?
On the post: Extradition Trial For Kim Dotcom Pushed Back Again
Re: Predictable
On the post: More Details On PRISM Revealed; Twitter Deserves Kudos For Refusing To Give In
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
The leak at the NSA should've waited until the week of the 4th of July to send this data to the Guardian. Would've had a a little more staying power in terms of getting sheeple's attention.
That being said, didn't the Guardian say they had a lot more intel to expose? I doubt this whole affair is anywhere close to being finished.
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
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