Lance’s Techdirt Profile

brtdad

About Lance




Lance’s Comments comment rss

  • May 27th, 2020 @ 9:17am

    Schiff

    I think the question near the end about Schiff is actually very simple. He knows that everything associated with the Trump campaign surveillance was political and not about crime or protecting American citizens. He believes that the surveillance in the bill at issue is necessary to thwart terror and protect citizens. So, the two issues are completely disconnected in his mind. He would never consider the abuses toward the executive branch to be relevant in deciding what to do about actual crime.

  • Jul 10th, 2019 @ 12:26pm

    (untitled comment)

    It's probably impossible to "walk things back" at this point, but things should never have been allowed to get this far. We needed Congress to pass a law a long time ago (most appropriately in 1978 after the "third party doctrine" came into being) banning the divulging (for profit or not) of your information without an individualized waiver for every instance. Then, when the web came around, the selling of private info and tracking people around the web would have been non-starters. By now, huge companies are making a lot of money off of our info, and many smaller companies only exist to do so. Pretty hard to fix anything with all of them lined up against it.

  • Oct 16th, 2018 @ 11:51am

    Re: Kavanaugh

    Just a reminder...In Bush V. Gore the Equal Protection Clause argument was 7-2. That's what ended things. The 5-4 part was whether there was an available alternative that could be used prior to the deadline. Also, 3 judges concurred that the Fla SC had erred, essentially making that part of the case 8-1. It wasn't actually a close case at all. The close part (5-4) was basically the liberal wing hoping a continued recount would de-legitimize Bush. It wouldn't have worked anyway, as nearly all who have studied the issue agree Bush would have held on.
  • Jul 12th, 2016 @ 8:04pm

    Re: police detention

    They may only detain you for a very short period of time (during which you may end the encounter when you wish) unless they can articulate a specific, reasonable belief that you may have committed a prosecutable offense. They can't accost you on the street and decide to talk to you (or make you sit in a car) for hours. They can't extend a traffic stop by more than a few minutes, because traffic violations are not crimes. Having access (we assume) to the video that was recorded in the store is clearly not a crime. Even refusing to hand it over would not be actionable. The only way they could legally detain him is if they caught him trying to alter or delete the video after they identified it as potential evidence. There is no way they had reason to believe he had committed a crime. What they did is at least false imprisonment. If they were concerned about destruction of evidence, they can hang around and make sure he doesn't delete anything while they get a warrant. They can't interfere with him otherwise. it is a clear violation of his civil rights, which is a crime by the police. We all know charges won't be filed, but that doesn't change the facts.
  • Aug 9th, 2014 @ 4:39pm

    (untitled comment)

    The article is incorrect in saying that his objections are based upon the recent Riley/Wurie cases. Those cases ruled that the police can't search through your data, upon arrest, without getting a warrant. In this case, the police DID get warrants. He is arguing that the warrants did not, as required by 4th amendment jurisprudence, list EXACTLY what they were looking for and how it tied into the specific crime being investigated. The defense is arguing that the warrants were simply to seize and examine the electronics without restriction, hoping to find something incriminating. That would arguably make it a "general" warrant, which is unconstitutional.
  • Jun 18th, 2013 @ 2:11pm

    (untitled comment)

    I reject his premise. Greenwald didn't violate 18USC798. The information release was not "prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States" because WE are the United States, and WE need to know our gov't. is doing this crap. Neither was it "for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States".
    So no law has been violated. I do agree that it is a first amm. violation to prosecute the publisher if he did not personally break a law in obtaining the information.
  • Apr 22nd, 2013 @ 10:29am

    tsarnaev-and-miranda

    This is pertinent:

    http://www.volokh.com/2013/04/20/tsarnaev-and-miranda-rights/

    The anon in comment 17 is, while being an ass about it, quite correct.
    It is not a violation of anyone's rights to skip Miranda, it simply means those statements cannot be admitted into a court proceeding unless they are later repeated after the warning.
    While it has no reason to be publicized, the police do this on a smaller scale every single day. It is common to talk to a suspect before the Miranda caution trying to elicit important information about criminal activity.
  • Aug 3rd, 2011 @ 11:08am

    (untitled comment)

    The law doesn't do what's being discussed here. It says written policies must be implemented regarding social networking sites. There are no restrictions in the law regarding them. Perhaps those policies will attempt to restrict friending somehow, but there's no indication of that in this law.
    It says a teacher can't have his/her own "work-related" site that is not accessible by admins and parents. Further, it says a teacher's personal website (non-work related) must be available to all, or zero current/former students. No exclusive access for any particular student.
    That's all it says.
  • Jul 12th, 2011 @ 1:09pm

    Re: Re:

    I'm not prepared to declare it failed, but it needs to be pared back to the original creation. "Useful arts" was a term used to reference artisans, not artists. It was for craftmanship and manufacture. Science included things like philosophy and Literature (which I find highly questionable, but there you have it). There was never any basis for covering paintings, advertising, or photography among most other things. I don't really believe a good argument can be made that society needed to provide copyright protection to pictures.
  • Jul 12th, 2011 @ 12:44pm

    Re:

    I don't see the trip-wire argument working for Caters. In that case, the photographer has set up all the elements (field, depth, light, etc.) and has a near 100% expectation of getting the shot when an animal appears. He is taking the picture using remote control. In this case, he did not take the picture, either remotely or physically. Had the animal not pushed the button, there is no picture. The only way to claim any ownership here is by saying "It's my camera, my picture.", which probably everyone in this forum already knows does not actually confer copyright ownership.

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it