I would remind every U.S. citizen, that even though the CIA is evil, it is a necessary evil. Now if they would spend a little less time spying on U.S. citizens and U.S. allies and a little more time spying on hostile foreign governments, maybe they would actually prevent a "Nuclear North Korea" rather than just tell us about it after it happens. Of course that would require that they put down their coffee, turn off the computer, leave the office, spend time in hostile territories and develop assets there... nah, that sounds like a lot of DANGEROUS work, lets just play solitaire, then scan the dbase for keywords.
I cannot help but thinking, that the entirety of the campaigns, on both sides is an incredible waste of energy and internet space. Makes me wish html and posting on the internet was still a mystery to most like it was back in the early 90s. The internet is a morass of art, opinions, news, false news, and most of it is of no use except the sole purpose of confusing and baffling the general public into conditioned thinking. Don't get me wrong I like Arbys now and then, but I cannot image having the time or energy to follow them on twitter, or to give a flying shit about a marketing/art concept that involves nihilism and Arbys, Why not? Because I have only so many minutes on this earth. I guarantee that had this subject not been brought up on tech dirt, I would have never become aware of it, and my life would be none the less, nor better without it. Not complaining mind you, just saying that it is internet "phenomena" like "Nihilist Arbys" that make me more and more likely to dramatically curtail my internet usage when I retire. Old man rant now over.
Even if there were 650,000 emails on Wiener's laptop (which I doubt very highly), the FBI would need to narrow the scope of their search for Hillary emails to the years during which she was Secretary of State. A warrant for Wiener's emails due to a sex crime investigation, does not then automatically extrapolate to a infinitely deep and wide search for Clinton's emails. They would need to find something in Wiener's data (related to the sex search) that laid the foundation for a deeper search of emails related to Clinton as she is not implicated in any way in the sex crime(s) wiener is being investigated for. Think of it like a plain sight search of your home, once they are in your home (for whatever reason), if they see something illegal or suspicious in plain sight (not in a drawer or in a closet) that would justify further search, but barring that plain sight evidence, they are done.
But even if we narrow the scope to the full four years of Clinton's term as SOC they are asking me to believe that Wiener received 445 emails per day (650,000/1460) that directly related to Clinton. Bullshit.
But even if the numbers were accurate, I could sift through those emails with full text search and subject line and 30 other ways in a work week, without breaking a sweat.
End of the day, until someone shows me an email, even 1, that shows clear violation of the law on Clinton's part they can all suck my dick because I have been listening to their bullshit for 30 years, as they throw anything and everything at her just praying something will stick.
I remember when they investigated her for her investments in Cattle Futures. Their evidence for believing she engaged in nefarious trading? She made money. That was it. They never showed a single shred of evidence she did anything illegal, but to this day those assholes contend she did something illegal, because god forbid someone invest in cattle futures and make some money.
This scorched earth bullshit that started with Gingrich et al has to stop. Sooner or later we need to demand they stop wasting tax payer dollars on their politically driven witch hunt bullshit.
And I mean that, I am not just being a dick. It is customary when a new President takes office to clean house at the DOJ and put in new attorney generals etc... Never would that have made more sense to do than after we finally were rid of Bush/Cheney but for whatever reason, Obama kept the majority of Bush lawyers around and then in a sparkling bit of convoluted bullshit logic appointed Comey as head of the FBI. Boggles the fuckin mind. What did he expect to happen, that Comey would suddenly become of reasonable democratic human being? After working so closely with Cheney I am surprised Comey is not a reptile himself. Hell, who knows, he may be, might just have a better disguise... reptile 2.0 if you will.
Indeed that is true. However, to date they have not used the NIT with a warrant to track copyright violators all over the nation, that I am aware of anyway. I'm sure that will be on the schedule just as soon as they manipulate this though the system.
Anytime legal reasoning begins (and continues) to be convoluted, justice is bound to fail.
When have we ever in the history of jurisprudence found that justice was served by over analyzing statue, rule and practice ad nasueam until we finally arrive at allowing the government the right to defy the very laws it is meant to protect?
Never, and this case will not be the first time. If the government is allowed to continue to hide the methods they use to gather evidence, then justice is not served. Instead we have simply declared that we have no rights other than what rights law enforcement decides we should have and only under the circumstance that law enforcement deems appropriate.
There is no dilemma with this case. The only reason anyone is even considering the governments arguments regarding this issue, is the emotional nature of the alleged crime. Our revulsion at the nature of a crime is never a justification for side stepping due process. Once you start pulling those threads and allowing law enforcement "leeway", it never ends. Today it is a matter of child porn... tomorrow it is a marijuana dealer... next year it is a tax evader... and finally a copyright violator.
So I need to understand the parameters of his claim. Is he stating that no one downloaded a French film in France? Or is it Europe or the world?
I am a French Film fan and I am not saying that I have ever downloaded a pirated film from torrents or any other infringing method but I am saying that if his claim is that no one downloaded French films illegally during that time frame anywhere in the world I know to a certainty that he is wrong and suspect he is full of crap to boot.
"During the course of arguments the issue was raised as to the difficulty of effecting disclosure given that so much material is in electronic format."
Now I am no lawyer but I have had some experience with the law and trial and I do not recall disclosure as being an optional legal obligation or premise and even if it was would the excuse "that it is too difficult" be acceptable? I think not.
But then I also thought that if in fact their evidence is so hard to find then does not that undermine their argument that MU was facilitating copyright infringement on a massive scale? Because if government prosecutors with all the data analysts they have working for them cannot find the evidence quickly, how then did the average uneducated internet end user find it?
Well at the risk of agitating the rest of the world outside America I would have to say that football is rather boring without drunken riots.
And of course regarding American football well we need beer so we don't ask ourselves the obvious questions like "Why is it called football if no one uses their feet?"
I agree with the Mike's overall opinion that at the end of the day it is very likely that the DOJ will use this to justify further cyber laws that undermine privacy and freedom on the net but what else can be done?
The media reports on the Megaupload arrests verbatim from the press release for the DOJ and the media (controlled by the MPAA et al) never even question the allegations.
Megaupload is tried and convicted in the media already the actual legal process will be no more than a formality. The feds a have a very high conviction rate and so they will most likely win their case in court.
"Tell that to all the vapid, quasi-soulless rehashes that are being released this year: two variants of Snow White, another vampire fanwank and another Transformers film.
99% of the movie content is a repost of a rehash of a repost."
This is I believe a common misconception. While I am no fan of all the over the top action and remakes that are pumped out of Hollywood these days to say that terrible, over-produced, over hyped and over promoted content is 99% of what Hollywood is producing these days is not only inaccurate it is an unjust judgment that demands defense.
While the big money makers are indeed the big films that are so often terrible remakes and/or the never ending sequel cookie cutter approach, the motion picture industry (and visual media in general) has expanded so much in the last 20 years that now those big "block busters" are a very small percentage of all the media and movies that are being produced.
Simply put there are a hell of a lot more movies and shows being made every year than there was 20 years ago and even 20 years ago (and since the inception of the industry really) there were crappy movies being made with the intent of appealing to the masses and getting that big paycheck.
So while much of the great media being produced now may not be promoted that does not mean it is not being made and from what I can see more good movies are being made now than back in the "golden age" of cinema simply because they can be produced for less money than they could in the "good old days"
Used to be that most of television was crap. Now shows like Breaking Bad, Shameless, etc... are being made and I for one am thankful for it.
So while I do not support the MPAA, RIAA et al I do respect much of the hard work being done in the media industry and beyond respect, frankly I enjoy it was well.
That is to say the legislation was so overboard that when they come back to the table and "compromise" violating our rights and censoring our net will seem like they have done us a favor.
End of the day I am just pessimistic enough to see that people that propose things like SOPA never quit, they cannot. They must control and eventually they always win because they have no moral compass and no sense of decency and because they are always right and the ends always justify the means.
That said this is at least good news of a delay of the inevitable.
My understanding of the article is that she was/is a TSA security agent working at an airport not an undercover agent of the CIA, FBI, DEA etc... that would be put in grave danger by her identity being known.
Now if the victim had published her address phone number etc... in some misguided call for revenge I would agree but there is no protections afforded for rank and file law enforcement, their names are on their uniforms for a reason. We as citizens have a right to know who they are.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by slarabee.
Nobody like the CIA... Until you need them.
Re: Re:
Now that made me laugh and start my day with a smile. Than you Roger.
Energy
Also...
Even if there were 650,000 emails on Wiener's laptop (which I doubt very highly), the FBI would need to narrow the scope of their search for Hillary emails to the years during which she was Secretary of State. A warrant for Wiener's emails due to a sex crime investigation, does not then automatically extrapolate to a infinitely deep and wide search for Clinton's emails. They would need to find something in Wiener's data (related to the sex search) that laid the foundation for a deeper search of emails related to Clinton as she is not implicated in any way in the sex crime(s) wiener is being investigated for. Think of it like a plain sight search of your home, once they are in your home (for whatever reason), if they see something illegal or suspicious in plain sight (not in a drawer or in a closet) that would justify further search, but barring that plain sight evidence, they are done.
But even if we narrow the scope to the full four years of Clinton's term as SOC they are asking me to believe that Wiener received 445 emails per day (650,000/1460) that directly related to Clinton. Bullshit.
But even if the numbers were accurate, I could sift through those emails with full text search and subject line and 30 other ways in a work week, without breaking a sweat.
End of the day, until someone shows me an email, even 1, that shows clear violation of the law on Clinton's part they can all suck my dick because I have been listening to their bullshit for 30 years, as they throw anything and everything at her just praying something will stick.
I remember when they investigated her for her investments in Cattle Futures. Their evidence for believing she engaged in nefarious trading? She made money. That was it. They never showed a single shred of evidence she did anything illegal, but to this day those assholes contend she did something illegal, because god forbid someone invest in cattle futures and make some money.
This scorched earth bullshit that started with Gingrich et al has to stop. Sooner or later we need to demand they stop wasting tax payer dollars on their politically driven witch hunt bullshit.
IMHO
It's Obama's Fault
Re: Re: What a twisted web we weave...
What a twisted web we weave...
When have we ever in the history of jurisprudence found that justice was served by over analyzing statue, rule and practice ad nasueam until we finally arrive at allowing the government the right to defy the very laws it is meant to protect?
Never, and this case will not be the first time. If the government is allowed to continue to hide the methods they use to gather evidence, then justice is not served. Instead we have simply declared that we have no rights other than what rights law enforcement decides we should have and only under the circumstance that law enforcement deems appropriate.
There is no dilemma with this case. The only reason anyone is even considering the governments arguments regarding this issue, is the emotional nature of the alleged crime. Our revulsion at the nature of a crime is never a justification for side stepping due process. Once you start pulling those threads and allowing law enforcement "leeway", it never ends. Today it is a matter of child porn... tomorrow it is a marijuana dealer... next year it is a tax evader... and finally a copyright violator.
Confused By This
I am a French Film fan and I am not saying that I have ever downloaded a pirated film from torrents or any other infringing method but I am saying that if his claim is that no one downloaded French films illegally during that time frame anywhere in the world I know to a certainty that he is wrong and suspect he is full of crap to boot.
Difficulty of Disclosure
Now I am no lawyer but I have had some experience with the law and trial and I do not recall disclosure as being an optional legal obligation or premise and even if it was would the excuse "that it is too difficult" be acceptable? I think not.
But then I also thought that if in fact their evidence is so hard to find then does not that undermine their argument that MU was facilitating copyright infringement on a massive scale? Because if government prosecutors with all the data analysts they have working for them cannot find the evidence quickly, how then did the average uneducated internet end user find it?
It's a heads scratcher.
Football and Beer
And of course regarding American football well we need beer so we don't ask ourselves the obvious questions like "Why is it called football if no one uses their feet?"
I agree, so then what?
The media reports on the Megaupload arrests verbatim from the press release for the DOJ and the media (controlled by the MPAA et al) never even question the allegations.
Megaupload is tried and convicted in the media already the actual legal process will be no more than a formality. The feds a have a very high conviction rate and so they will most likely win their case in court.
So now what?
What a mess.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hey, it is almost like a discussion now
99% of the movie content is a repost of a rehash of a repost."
This is I believe a common misconception. While I am no fan of all the over the top action and remakes that are pumped out of Hollywood these days to say that terrible, over-produced, over hyped and over promoted content is 99% of what Hollywood is producing these days is not only inaccurate it is an unjust judgment that demands defense.
While the big money makers are indeed the big films that are so often terrible remakes and/or the never ending sequel cookie cutter approach, the motion picture industry (and visual media in general) has expanded so much in the last 20 years that now those big "block busters" are a very small percentage of all the media and movies that are being produced.
Simply put there are a hell of a lot more movies and shows being made every year than there was 20 years ago and even 20 years ago (and since the inception of the industry really) there were crappy movies being made with the intent of appealing to the masses and getting that big paycheck.
So while much of the great media being produced now may not be promoted that does not mean it is not being made and from what I can see more good movies are being made now than back in the "golden age" of cinema simply because they can be produced for less money than they could in the "good old days"
Used to be that most of television was crap. Now shows like Breaking Bad, Shameless, etc... are being made and I for one am thankful for it.
So while I do not support the MPAA, RIAA et al I do respect much of the hard work being done in the media industry and beyond respect, frankly I enjoy it was well.
Good news travels fast but rarely lasts
I fear this whole thing has been a classic example of political theater meant to create an Overton Window http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
That is to say the legislation was so overboard that when they come back to the table and "compromise" violating our rights and censoring our net will seem like they have done us a favor.
End of the day I am just pessimistic enough to see that people that propose things like SOPA never quit, they cannot. They must control and eventually they always win because they have no moral compass and no sense of decency and because they are always right and the ends always justify the means.
That said this is at least good news of a delay of the inevitable.
Re: Anybody see the bottom...
My understanding of the article is that she was/is a TSA security agent working at an airport not an undercover agent of the CIA, FBI, DEA etc... that would be put in grave danger by her identity being known.
Now if the victim had published her address phone number etc... in some misguided call for revenge I would agree but there is no protections afforded for rank and file law enforcement, their names are on their uniforms for a reason. We as citizens have a right to know who they are.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by slarabee.
Submit a story now.
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