I would love to be the official in charge of investigating how these machines were bought, installed and put into operation before these tests were carried out, and whose signature was at the bottom of all the documents.
"...Given those three opening paragraphs, it's hard not to read the rest of the ruling without thinking that Judge Evans would prefer to be dealing with pretty much any other case rather than one about a dispute on quilted diamonds on toilet paper."
I beg to differ; it looks to me as if the judge is enjoying himself quite a lot, taking this rare opportunity to exercise some wit in his ruling.
If this acoustic cloak pans out, maybe we could look at insects and fish (the prey of bats and dolphins/porpoises) to see if they've evolved this kind of sonic camouflage.
You trick the police, so that they arrest someone as you but it's really
A random stranger........................... 1 point
A troll.......................................... 2 points
A pensioner who doesn't use internet... 30 points
A police officer.............................. 50 points (+5 for every level of rank above Inspector, +100 if undercover trying to infiltrate LulzSec)
An anti-tech government official........ 100 points (UK House of Commons, Scottish Parliament, clueless judge, etc.)
A serial killer................................ 400 points
All scores increased by 10% for each day police fail to realize the mistake, up to 30 days. Scores doubled if prisoner is brought to trial as you, tripled if convicted, quadrupled if killed trying to escape.
[The Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence must] explain "the problems posed by the reliance of government agencies and departments on interpretations of domestic surveillance authorities that are inconsistent with the understanding of such authorities by the public."
Who could possibly vote against that?
I actually have a problem with giving undue recognition to this "interpretation" talk. As I recall, Bush Jr. was the one who first signed something into law while saying sotto voce "...we might interpret this a certain way...", and the response was all a power-hungry president could wish: "What? Wait, what's your interpretation? You have to tell us your interpretation. Please?..."
In my opinion the best response would have been from a judge or two (sotto voce): "In my court it's my interpretation of the law that counts, not the defendant's."
Suppose I have been given full permission to examine the genome of your spouse and children, but not yours. With this information and some simple calculation I can deduce most of your genome-- and suddenly I am in violation of the law! Note that I haven't communicated your genome to anyone, nor used it for any purpose, but I am in possession of your "property".
A law that I can break by an act of thought is a very bad law.
And you relate that to "violent death" (your phrase, and a much larger category) how exactly? And how do these numbers support your assertion of a "net result of more Americans carrying guns"?
It's your methodology I'm criticizing, not the numbers. You are abusing statistics.
"Unfortunately the statistics are against you here. The net result of more Americans carrying guns is more violent death."
You are abusing statistics. 1) you are confusing violent death with gun death and throwing in homicide at the end (think about that one for a minute), 2) you are asserting a causal conclusion without supporting statistics, and 3) you are cherry-picking shamelessly.
Is that an assertion? An axiom? An article of faith? You're very quick to give credit for the low rate of "gun-related tragedies" (not tragedies in general?) to Norwegian gun laws. Then you ask about "gun-related deaths" (not violent death? not gun-related tragedy?) in the U.S., a much larger nation on another continent. Not Sweden? Not Switzerland?
There are many shootings here in the U.S., most frequently in the places where the gun laws are the strongest. What's your point?
'[The letter] gives Exetel seven days to indicate whether it will "attend a meeting with AFACT" to discuss a system of graduated responses to online piracy.'
Dear AFACT,
Will it be within walking distance of our offices, and will there be snacks?
Don't forget the tetrachromats (if they exist). And Oliver Sacks writes about Tourette's patients with preternaturally fast reflexes, and agnosiacs who can always tell when you're lying. Then there's the astonishing physical strength that comes with Hansen's disease, and that genetic disease that thickens your bones until you can make an appearance in Icelandic legends...
"Yes, your honor, my encrypted file is actually two volumes with different keys, it takes no special skill to see that. Here's my encryption tool, complete with source code: whenever I encrypt something it offers me a chance to put a second message in the second volume, and if I decline it just encrypts some random junk with a random key which it doesn't retain. In this file the first volume is some vacation photos, and I didn't put anything in the second. Honest, cross my heart."
(There was a tool that did this years ago, I forget the name. It was briefly popular until someone discovered that the implementation was flawed and could be broken.)
If only they had started with the theatrical release version-- and Lucas had stopped them after 121 minutes. A new generation of fans could have seen what we saw so long ago, and been spared the sight of whatever the hell it was that happened to Lucas later.
"It is the sense of Congress that records retained pursuant to section 2703(h) of title 18, United States Code, should be stored securely to protect customer privacy and prevent against breaches of the records."
So... since the greatest threat to the security of these records is a subpoena, I guess they should be stored encrypted, with the key destroyed. I doubt that the people who wrote this mess are smart enough to specify cleartext, and if they try to claim that retention of ciphertext doesn't count as real retention, well then that opens up a big door for those who possess forbidden material in encrypted form.
And even if they did manage to get the law "right" in this regard, there's always "retention" on 5-1/4" floppy, or microfiche, or my personal favorite: hardcopy with user names and the corresponding data on different unnumbered pages, kept in separate stacks (mind the order, officer!).
On the post: German Police Admit That Full Body Naked Airport Scanners Suck; 35% False Alarm Rate
dream job
On the post: What's In A Name: The Importance Of Pseudonymity & The Dangers Of Requiring 'Real Names'
the place where there is no darkness
I shudder to think of a world in which I could not say whatever I wanted behind closed doors.
On the post: Judge Waxes Comedic On Whether You Can Trademark Quilted Diamonds On Toilet Paper
an oasis in the desert
I beg to differ; it looks to me as if the judge is enjoying himself quite a lot, taking this rare opportunity to exercise some wit in his ruling.
On the post: DailyDirt: Cool Sound Effects
Did insects invent it first?
On the post: Potential Lulz: Security Experts Think UK Police Tricked Into Arresting The Wrong Person Over LulzSec Hacks
Re: Re: counting coup
On the post: Potential Lulz: Security Experts Think UK Police Tricked Into Arresting The Wrong Person Over LulzSec Hacks
counting coup
You trick the police, so that they arrest someone as you but it's really
A random stranger........................... 1 point
A troll.......................................... 2 points
A pensioner who doesn't use internet... 30 points
A police officer.............................. 50 points (+5 for every level of rank above Inspector, +100 if undercover trying to infiltrate LulzSec)
An anti-tech government official........ 100 points (UK House of Commons, Scottish Parliament, clueless judge, etc.)
A serial killer................................ 400 points
All scores increased by 10% for each day police fail to realize the mistake, up to 30 days. Scores doubled if prisoner is brought to trial as you, tripled if convicted, quadrupled if killed trying to escape.
On the post: Is Your Senator Using The Distraction Of The Debt Ceiling To Support The Feds Secret Interpretation Of Spying Laws?
how not to take the bait
Who could possibly vote against that?
I actually have a problem with giving undue recognition to this "interpretation" talk. As I recall, Bush Jr. was the one who first signed something into law while saying sotto voce "...we might interpret this a certain way...", and the response was all a power-hungry president could wish: "What? Wait, what's your interpretation? You have to tell us your interpretation. Please?..."
In my opinion the best response would have been from a judge or two (sotto voce): "In my court it's my interpretation of the law that counts, not the defendant's."
On the post: Do You Have Property Rights Over Your DNA?
gedanken sind frei
A law that I can break by an act of thought is a very bad law.
On the post: UK: Sex Offenders More Deserving Of Internet Access Than Infringers
Re: I propose a new law
On the post: Looking At Security Theater Through The Lens Of The Utøya Massacre
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
It's your methodology I'm criticizing, not the numbers. You are abusing statistics.
On the post: Looking At Security Theater Through The Lens Of The Utøya Massacre
Re: Re: Re:
You are abusing statistics. 1) you are confusing violent death with gun death and throwing in homicide at the end (think about that one for a minute), 2) you are asserting a causal conclusion without supporting statistics, and 3) you are cherry-picking shamelessly.
On the post: Looking At Security Theater Through The Lens Of The Utøya Massacre
Re: Re: Re:
Is that an assertion? An axiom? An article of faith? You're very quick to give credit for the low rate of "gun-related tragedies" (not tragedies in general?) to Norwegian gun laws. Then you ask about "gun-related deaths" (not violent death? not gun-related tragedy?) in the U.S., a much larger nation on another continent. Not Sweden? Not Switzerland?
There are many shootings here in the U.S., most frequently in the places where the gun laws are the strongest. What's your point?
On the post: Righthaven Accused Of Avoiding Paying Legal Fees Owed
I do not think it means what you think it means
Is "disgorge" really a legal or financial term? Isn't that what they want Righthaven to do?
On the post: Australian Anti-Piracy Group Threatening ISPs With Legal Action... Even Though Court Already Ruled Against Them
RSVP
Dear AFACT,
Will it be within walking distance of our offices, and will there be snacks?
Sincerely, etc., etc.
On the post: DailyDirt: X-Men Among Us?
Re: Humans Are Weaklings
On the post: DailyDirt: X-Men Among Us?
enough for a team, and then some
On the post: Justice Department Says It Should Be Able To Require People To Decrypt Their Computers
Re: Re:
(There was a tool that did this years ago, I forget the name. It was briefly popular until someone discovered that the implementation was flawed and could be broken.)
On the post: Monkeys Don't Do Fair Use; News Agency Tells Techdirt To Remove Photos
I do not think it means what you think it means
It appears to me that Caters is guilty of terminological barretry, logic manslaughter, courtesy arson and linguistic animal husbandry.
On the post: The Dark Side Wins: Lucasfilm Shuts Down Star Wars Fan Movie Marathon
Han shot first
On the post: Congress Tries To Hide Massive Data Retention Law By Pretending It's An Anti-Child Porn Law
protect them against all enemies
So... since the greatest threat to the security of these records is a subpoena, I guess they should be stored encrypted, with the key destroyed. I doubt that the people who wrote this mess are smart enough to specify cleartext, and if they try to claim that retention of ciphertext doesn't count as real retention, well then that opens up a big door for those who possess forbidden material in encrypted form.
And even if they did manage to get the law "right" in this regard, there's always "retention" on 5-1/4" floppy, or microfiche, or my personal favorite: hardcopy with user names and the corresponding data on different unnumbered pages, kept in separate stacks (mind the order, officer!).
Next >>