The value of the stolen hardware - and "stolen" is the correct word - is probably well down in 'misdemeanor' territory. However, the value of the recording might well be in the six figure range, which is felony-level theft. And it's time-sensitive property; if the police give it back after a year, they've stolen the present value of that property.
The guy should start soliciting bidders now in order to establish the present value.
I'm still good with PJ O'Rourke's proposal to add some modern style competition. He proposed driving a TSD rally through Los Angeles during rush hour. I'm more in favor of "no-wing sprint cars on methanol."
The Olympics ceased to be about sports a long time ago. It's just a giant money machine using athletes to generate profit. And don't forget, the taxpayers of the host cities usually wind up taking it right in the wallet, too.
In the end, it comes down to that, I think. They're declaring that testimony from a paid informant trumps chain of evidence.
What boggles my mind is how much effort various PDs and DAs put into these questionable cases when they're also claiming they're too shorthanded to do their jobs to start with. Looks to me like some serious budget reductions might be needed to get rid of all this spare time.
20-odd years ago, it was sending kiddie porn to people's work email accounts, then alerting their employers.
That kind of thing is too simple to ever go away. It's probably not as common as it used to be since even Average Employer has finally realized anyone can send anything to any email account, so it's not all that effective any more... though, in many places, they're still liable for receiving it.
Re: Re: This may also raise whether UPS, as a business values...
Yes. But it's UPS' sign hanging in their window, just like the giant "FEDEX" painted on the side of the "independent contractor"'s truck.
It may be an accepted legal arrangement, but when they're wearing your uniform and are displaying your logo, they're your representatives. And when something turns stinky, who are their customers going to be mad at? Not the "independent contractor" fiction.
> We send him the meth so when he got it, > we could burst in and arrest him for having meth.
That's not entirely unknown, you know. That used to be the next step up from doxxing; buy a package of "pharmaceutical" from Silk Road, have it shipped to your victim, then drop an anonymous tip with their local PD. If the cops didn't have anything better to do that day, they might send the narc squad out in force.
"We'll use the court to bankrupt you and ruin your life, then make all the filings unhappen and we'll not only be completely innocent of that, there won't even be a paper trail connecting us to it.
Fortunarely courts are bastions of integrity and there's *no way* such a thing could happen in real life...
Canada's CBSA border goons already demand people unlock their phones, log into any email accounts, and let them paw through their mail, tweets, instant messages, and texts.
Apparently a lot of people are dumb enough to have incriminating information on their phone...
They'd probably freak out when confronted with my ancient dumb phone. There are a number of reasons why I don't carry a smartphone...
It's not like there's any hard evidence to judge on, here. In absence of any legal standards you're asking a jury to go with "sounds too close to." It's an entirely subjective verdict, because that's all the jury has to go on.
Most PDs claim to be undermanned and overworked, and many freely admit they will ignore small crimes to have manpower available to work larger ones.
Yet I keep reading about this sort of thing, often complicit with the prosecutors, who also claim to be undermanned and overworked. And do they not only go beyond reasonable allocation of resources, they go beyond the limits of the law in order to pursue a case that is, at best, trivial.
That, or crime is so low in their jurisdictions they're going to ridiculous lengths to look busy enough to justify their budgets...
That was basically the profit model for TV and radio. You paid for your "free" entertainment by being exposed to their ads.
In the early days of cable TV you paid by writing a check each month and then got to watch programs ad-free. That didn't last too long in my area. The ads came back despite paying not to see them.
TV/radio could operate that way due to scarcity - most places only had two or three channels and a handful of stations; it wasn't like you could click off and watch something else. But the web has changed that...
How about the "blow-in cards" that infested magazines?
The rock bottom for those was PC Magazine, which included scented cards. They contaminated the whole magazine with a stench that would probably have worked as an insecticide.
I used to have my wife shake all the cards out and put the magazines in a plastic bag with a spoonful of bleach. After that the magazine mostly smelled like bleach, but you didn't need a gas mask to read it.
> Whenever you change a channel, a video will > play in the upper corner, drowning out the > show you want to watch.
Uh, some markets, they've been doing that for a long time.
While visiting my brother in Florida circa 2005?, I observed that his local broadcaster had a fat marquee scrolling on the bottom, a narrower one on the top, one on each side, and a big station ID icon that occasionally animated. The sidebars weren't wide enough for readable text, so they showed video ads.
The viewable area in the middle was a porthole of less than half the total screen area. He was used to it, and didn't realize that the rest of the country hadn't sunk that low. Yet.
Vacuum isn't cheap, and it's hard to maintain. You'd be pumping all the time, which is a continuous expense, and if the vacuum was breached it would take a *long* time to lower the pressure to something practical.
The vehicle part is trivial; the vacuum tunnel... it's *possible*, but I'd be very surprised if they could deliver passengers for the same price the Concorde used to charge.
"Sure, I'd be happy to meet with you. At my convenience, with my lawyer present. Oh, and I hope you won't mind, but I'll be live-streaming our meeting and the video will go up on YouTube."
I'm not face-blind, but I'm horrible enough at recognizing faces to understand it. More than once I've been through the "You remember who I am, do you?" routine. "Nope, I have no clue." It seems to distress other people a lot more than me...
On the post: Store Owner Sues Baton Rouge Police For Seizing His CCTV Recording Of Alton Sterling Shooting
The guy should start soliciting bidders now in order to establish the present value.
On the post: USOC Demands That Company Take Down Twitter Posts Of Olympic Athlete It Sponsors
Re:
The Olympics ceased to be about sports a long time ago. It's just a giant money machine using athletes to generate profit. And don't forget, the taxpayers of the host cities usually wind up taking it right in the wallet, too.
On the post: Judge Upholds UPS Employee/Paid Informant's Search Of An Intercepted Package
Re:
What boggles my mind is how much effort various PDs and DAs put into these questionable cases when they're also claiming they're too shorthanded to do their jobs to start with. Looks to me like some serious budget reductions might be needed to get rid of all this spare time.
On the post: Judge Upholds UPS Employee/Paid Informant's Search Of An Intercepted Package
Re: author pen name or trademarked or registered business name
Heck, I know several women who are known by names unrelated to their current legal name, and always have been...
On the post: Judge Upholds UPS Employee/Paid Informant's Search Of An Intercepted Package
Re: Re:
That kind of thing is too simple to ever go away. It's probably not as common as it used to be since even Average Employer has finally realized anyone can send anything to any email account, so it's not all that effective any more... though, in many places, they're still liable for receiving it.
On the post: Judge Upholds UPS Employee/Paid Informant's Search Of An Intercepted Package
Re: Re: This may also raise whether UPS, as a business values...
It may be an accepted legal arrangement, but when they're wearing your uniform and are displaying your logo, they're your representatives. And when something turns stinky, who are their customers going to be mad at? Not the "independent contractor" fiction.
On the post: Judge Upholds UPS Employee/Paid Informant's Search Of An Intercepted Package
Re:
> we could burst in and arrest him for having meth.
That's not entirely unknown, you know. That used to be the next step up from doxxing; buy a package of "pharmaceutical" from Silk Road, have it shipped to your victim, then drop an anonymous tip with their local PD. If the cops didn't have anything better to do that day, they might send the narc squad out in force.
On the post: Verizon Tries To 'Debunk' News Reports Pointing Out Its New Wireless Plans Stink
A) dropped calls
B) s m ch p ck t l ss c nv rs t n w s n nt ll g bl
C) dropped ca...
On the post: Should A Court Allow A Case To Disappear Entirely Because The Person Regrets Filing It?
"We'll use the court to bankrupt you and ruin your life, then make all the filings unhappen and we'll not only be completely innocent of that, there won't even be a paper trail connecting us to it.
Fortunarely courts are bastions of integrity and there's *no way* such a thing could happen in real life...
On the post: DHS Wants Travelers Entering The US To Include Their Social Media Handles... Just Because
Apparently a lot of people are dumb enough to have incriminating information on their phone...
They'd probably freak out when confronted with my ancient dumb phone. There are a number of reasons why I don't carry a smartphone...
On the post: Led Zeppelin Wins Copyright Case Over Stairway To Heaven
It's not like there's any hard evidence to judge on, here. In absence of any legal standards you're asking a jury to go with "sounds too close to." It's an entirely subjective verdict, because that's all the jury has to go on.
On the post: Court Tells Cops They Can't Seize Luggage And Send It Hundreds Of Miles Away In Hopes Of Generating Probable Cause
Yet I keep reading about this sort of thing, often complicit with the prosecutors, who also claim to be undermanned and overworked. And do they not only go beyond reasonable allocation of resources, they go beyond the limits of the law in order to pursue a case that is, at best, trivial.
That, or crime is so low in their jurisdictions they're going to ridiculous lengths to look busy enough to justify their budgets...
On the post: Newspaper Association Thinks FTC Should Force Readers To Be Subject To Godawful Ads And Invasive Trackers
Re:
In the early days of cable TV you paid by writing a check each month and then got to watch programs ad-free. That didn't last too long in my area. The ads came back despite paying not to see them.
TV/radio could operate that way due to scarcity - most places only had two or three channels and a handful of stations; it wasn't like you could click off and watch something else. But the web has changed that...
On the post: Newspaper Association Thinks FTC Should Force Readers To Be Subject To Godawful Ads And Invasive Trackers
Re: History repeating itself
The rock bottom for those was PC Magazine, which included scented cards. They contaminated the whole magazine with a stench that would probably have worked as an insecticide.
I used to have my wife shake all the cards out and put the magazines in a plastic bag with a spoonful of bleach. After that the magazine mostly smelled like bleach, but you didn't need a gas mask to read it.
On the post: Newspaper Association Thinks FTC Should Force Readers To Be Subject To Godawful Ads And Invasive Trackers
Re: Re: Our unchanging business models need you!
> play in the upper corner, drowning out the
> show you want to watch.
Uh, some markets, they've been doing that for a long time.
While visiting my brother in Florida circa 2005?, I observed that his local broadcaster had a fat marquee scrolling on the bottom, a narrower one on the top, one on each side, and a big station ID icon that occasionally animated. The sidebars weren't wide enough for readable text, so they showed video ads.
The viewable area in the middle was a porthole of less than half the total screen area. He was used to it, and didn't realize that the rest of the country hadn't sunk that low. Yet.
On the post: Gawker Files For Bankruptcy, Begins Process Of Auctioning Itself Off
> coverage targets a publication you do like?
What if the billionaire just buys the publication outright and operates it as his own personal sock puppet?
On the post: DailyDirt: Faster Than A Locomotive...
The vehicle part is trivial; the vacuum tunnel... it's *possible*, but I'd be very surprised if they could deliver passengers for the same price the Concorde used to charge.
On the post: Oregon DOJ Encourages Surveillance Of First Amendment Activities; Acts Surprised When Agents Do Exactly That
On the post: FBI Harassing Core Tor Developer, Demanding She Meet With Them, But Refusing To Explain Why
On the post: DailyDirt: Everyone Has Blindspots
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