velox 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (149)

• On the post: Another Mod War: Jagex Demands Shutdown Of HD RuneScape Mod, Retracts After Public Backlash

  

  velox ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 04:26am

  Re:

  Instigating, promoting, or prolonging controversy increases the number and size of paydays for lawyers. This is true, even if it’s your lawyer, even if you like your lawyer, and even if your lawyer is “just looking out for your best interest”.

• On the post: Court Calls Bullshit On Cop Who Claimed He Could Smell Weed In Sealed Bags In A Moving Car From His Own Moving Cruiser

  

  velox ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2021 @ 01:29am

  So what really happened here? An unanswered question is why the officer targeted the Stratus in the first place.
  Likely this was a laughably inept attempt at parallel construction.

• On the post: Facebook's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Privacy Week

  

  velox ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2019 @ 06:16pm

  Re:

  I completely agree with mephistophocles. Accepting Facebook's explanation for the password incident as an 'oopsie' is unnecessarily generous. Facebook has lied on multiple occasions during the past couple of years about what it, and others, have been doing with the data they have collected from us. Given that, why would anyone be willing to believe their explanations and excuses now. If you are willing to believe them, does it make you feel any better to be saying that you think their motives are true, but they are just incompetent? Either way Facebook is simply not a trustworthy company.

• On the post: @DevinCow Now Has More Twitter Followers Than Devin Nunes

  

  velox ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2019 @ 02:49pm

  @DevinCow Now Has More Twitter Followers Than Devin Nunes... and now more followers than @BarbaraStreisand.

• On the post: Samsung SmartThings Platform Latest To Highlight Internet Of Things Security Is A Joke

  

  velox ( profile ), 03 May, 2016 @ 10:59am

  Re:

  There would be a major difference between IoT associated theft and smashing windows. Broken windows attract the neighbors' attention, and when you get home you immediately know there was a break-in.
  Consider if you have IoT devices which may or may not have a backdoor accessible to thieves. If something goes missing in your home, and let's say it's jewelry or a watch, and not something obvious like your TV, are you going to first suspect you misplaced it, or would you suspect a break-in. Are you now going to start checking your surveillance cameras every time you can't find something. If you don't trust your front door lock, are you going to trust your surveillance camera? There have been back doors reported in those as well.

• On the post: Samsung SmartThings Platform Latest To Highlight Internet Of Things Security Is A Joke

  

  velox ( profile ), 03 May, 2016 @ 08:30am

  Re:

  *** THIS ***

• On the post: Some Thoughts On What, Exactly, The DOJ's 'Inaccurate Assertion' Might Be Concerning Secret Legal Opinion

  

  velox ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2016 @ 12:06pm

  ISOO

  "Here's what former ISOO head Bill Leonard had to say about John Yoo's March 14, 2003 torture memo..."

  For those who are not familiar with the acronym ISOO, it Information Security Oversight Office. ISOO is responsible for the US government's security classification system, and is a division of the National Archives.

• On the post: A Weave Is Not A Toy: Toys R Us Opposes Hair Extension Company Trademark

  

  velox ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2015 @ 11:27pm

  As long as lawyers continue to get paid for being disingenuous, this stuff will go on.
  Hell, even in-house counsel has to look busy if they expect to keep collecting salary.

• On the post: ICANN's War On Whois Privacy

  

  velox ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2015 @ 09:02am

  Open Public Comment period for WHOIS at ICANN

  The Whois Accuracy Program Specification Review remains open for public comment on the ICANN website through the 3rd of July 2015. This topic, and other topics open for comment can be found here. In order to leave a comment with ICANN, you will need to register with their site.
  
  A summary of the review process ICANN is conducting with respect to their Whois Accuracy Program can be found here. Note that this is actually a review of the program that was proposed in 2013.

• On the post: President Obama Rolls Back Some Police Militarization… Police Flip Out

  

  velox ( profile ), 19 May, 2015 @ 03:28pm

  Of course there is squealing when the spigot of taxpayer funded free stuff is turned off.
  Meet the new welfare queen -- your local police chief.

• On the post: Whistleblower Claims Cybersecurity Company Generated Fake Data Breaches To Sell Protective Services

  

  velox ( profile ), 14 May, 2015 @ 01:52pm

  Re: Re:

  Yes, and the best way to 'sell the problem' is to put out some version of 'Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid'.

• On the post: Whistleblower Claims Cybersecurity Company Generated Fake Data Breaches To Sell Protective Services

  

  velox ( profile ), 14 May, 2015 @ 06:29am

  As always, the first law of consulting is:
  "First sell the problem, then sell the solution."
  
  
  And now, Ethics for Consultants - concisely:
  1. The problem must exist.
  2. The solution must work.
  
  Some disclosure here. I, uh... Well let's just say that I am familiar with how this works
  : )

• On the post: DEA Takes $16,000 From Train Passenger Because It Can

  

  velox ( profile ), 12 May, 2015 @ 08:02am

  Re: Targeting was probably fully automated

  The "random search" was probably just eyewash to conceal parallel construction.

  
  The only thing I doubt about your comment is the word "probably".

• On the post: DEA Takes $16,000 From Train Passenger Because It Can

  

  velox ( profile ), 12 May, 2015 @ 07:43am

  Re: Re: Just how "lucky" was the DEA agent who found this cash?

  "Was the money ever in a bank?"

  You apparently didn't read the linked story. Yes, the money had been in a bank, and it was still in the Michigan bank envelope when seized.
  The original news report by Joline Gutierrez Krueger in the Albuquerque Journal can be read here.

• On the post: DEA Takes $16,000 From Train Passenger Because It Can

  

  velox ( profile ), 12 May, 2015 @ 08:48am

  "Foreign-born Oriental-Americans often carry big wads of cash on them, especially business owners."

  You are correct; it's very common. This is even more true of Asian small business owners who live in Asia.
  
  The fact that our good friend kenichi tanaka doesn't seem to know this makes me question if he is even Asian.

• On the post: DEA Takes $16,000 From Train Passenger Because It Can

  

  velox ( profile ), 11 May, 2015 @ 07:50pm

  Re:

  Oh that's right, we all forgot Kenichi's law
  "total morons have no rights"

• On the post: DEA Takes $16,000 From Train Passenger Because It Can

  

  velox ( profile ), 11 May, 2015 @ 06:38pm

  Just how "lucky" was the DEA agent who found this cash?

  1) This traveller’s bank was required to submit a record of his cash withdrawal.
  2) He was required to produce valid photo ID when he purchased his Amtrak ticket.
  3) DHS believes any large cash transaction is potentially evidence of drug-money laundering and/or tax-evasion until proven otherwise.
  
  In view of the above, there is no reason I can think of to discount the possibility that the bank and travel information might have been pulled together by DHS software, and an alert triggered to send the DEA to investigate.
  If you think that is paranoia, consider that "monitoring of suspicious activity" is exactly what the government has been saying they are trying to do when they spend millions of our tax dollars on 'big data' tracking programs like Palantir.
  
  The possibility for unethical and unconstitutional targeted abuse is exactly why I get concerned when government, and in particular law enforcement, starts talking about the benefits of big data.

• On the post: The DOJ Isn't Interested In Protecting FBI Whistleblowers From Retaliation

  

  velox ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2015 @ 09:43am

  Hoover's legacy

  The institutional ethos at the FBI was established by J. Edgar Hoover, and it carries on to this very day.

• On the post: Verizon Agrees To Pay Up For 'Inadequately Disclosed' Fees For Broadband Customers

  

  velox ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2014 @ 04:08pm

  Only 49 states to go.

• On the post: Cop Who Obtained Warrant To Take Photo Of Teen's Erect Penis For Sexting Case Sues Teen's Lawyer For Defamation

  

  velox ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2014 @ 12:31pm

  What about the Judge?

  It's a given that the detective and the district attorney may be unfit for their jobs given such behaviour, but where is the judge's name and conduct in this discussion?
  Doesn't the willingness to sign such a warrant call into question one's fitness to be a judge? Isn't the reason we call them judge is because they are expected to be able to exercise good judgement?

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