Coyne Tibbets 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: UK Court: Guy Who Didn't Write Defamatory Tweet Needs To Pay $50,000 In Damages Because The Guy Who Did Doesn't Have Any Money

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2019 @ 12:22am

    Joint and several

    This runs completely contrary to the American way, which shifts the burden to the person actually doing the dirty, rather than the richest person remotely connected to the offender.

    Really? Apparently you've never heard of joint and several, a legal term that means (for example) that if Alice is hurt when the wheel chair she is riding in is negligently pushed in front of a car by Joe, Joe and the wheelchair ymanufacturer can be sued, and the deep-pockets wheelchair manufacturer has to pay for Joe's neglect.

    That's like the jet fuel of USA litigation. Maybe it doesn't apply to libel, but I wouldn't bet on it.

  • On the post: Atlanta Prosecutor Sues DOJ For Blocking Investigation Of Incident Where Cops Shot A Man 59 Times

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2019 @ 11:45pm

    What shape was that again?

    ...massaged into exonerative shape...

    More like into "shredded shape," probably.

  • On the post: FBI Swept Up Info About Aaron Swartz While Pursuing An Al-Qaeda Investigation

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 18 Dec, 2018 @ 09:57pm

    It's the nature of intelligence agencies

    The intelligence agencies are chronically suspicious. If an agency doesn't find something to support its suspicions of a person, that is merely proof that it doesn't have enough data on the person. There is no such thing as someone being cleared once a suspicion has been raised.

    Over and over again, the agency finds itself unable to prove its suspicions. That does not lead the agency to question its suspicions or its methodology, it merely proves its belief it is not keeping enough data. As a result it must always, always, always keep more data AND keep it all forever. The ultimate in circular reasoning and confirmation bias.

    Stop being surprised they keep everything and keep it forever. It's what all the intelligence agencies do. NYPD, FBI, or NSA, they're all cut from the same coal-tarred cloth.

  • On the post: Why Is Congress Trying To Pass An Obviously Unconstitutional Bill That Would Criminalize Boycotts Of Israel?

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2018 @ 05:35pm

    Re:

    If you have money and you didn't give it all to Israel, you're guilty. So hand over all your money, already.

  • On the post: Why Is Congress Trying To Pass An Obviously Unconstitutional Bill That Would Criminalize Boycotts Of Israel?

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2018 @ 07:34pm

    The loudest moneybags PAC

    Why Is Congress Trying To Pass An Obviously Unconstitutional Bill That Would Criminalize Boycotts Of Israel?

    Would you want to vote against it and be called "anti-Semitic"? Have the wind of their voices blow your campaign chest empty?

    (Gee, wouldn't it be nice to have a congress that represented the people instead of the loudest moneybags PAC?)

  • On the post: Kansas Supreme Court Says Cops Can Search A House Without A Warrant As Long As They Claim They Smelled Marijuana

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2018 @ 09:25pm

    It's right on the tip of my tongue...

    Why does this smelling technique remind me of Ouija boards, tea leaves, chicken entrails and seances?

  • On the post: Federal Court Says Massachusetts' Wiretap Law Can't Be Used To Arrest People For Recording Public Officials

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2018 @ 07:21am

    The memo instructs officers that “public and open recording of police officers by a civilian is not a violation” of Section 99. 

    However, the court also ruled that the right to film public officials was subject to reasonable limitations with respect to the time, place and manner in which the recording was conducted.

    I hate to disillusion anyone, but section 99 is not done yet. The new memo will just say something like, "public and open recording of police officers by a civilian is not a violation unless the officer reasonably believes the time or place or manner of recording makes it a violation."

    Still a "license to kill."

  • On the post: When Not Hiding Cameras In Traffic Barrels And Streetlights, The DEA Is Shoving Them Into… Vacuums?

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2018 @ 07:28pm

    Re: Re: Best Solution

    Or perhaps he is critical of LEOs for the same reason I am, because of their penchant for to considering...just anywhere at all...to be their Constitution-optional, Rights-free dominion.

  • On the post: When Not Hiding Cameras In Traffic Barrels And Streetlights, The DEA Is Shoving Them Into… Vacuums?

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2018 @ 02:15pm

    No problem at all

    The Shop Vac+camera is more problematic. Vacuums are typically used in areas not readily visible to the public.

    It's not problematic at all. A judicious application of parallel construction, and no one will ever guess there was a camera involved.

    Especially not those constitution-thumping judges.

  • On the post: Woman Sues Georgia Deputies After Their Field Drug Test Said Her Cotton Candy Was Meth

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2018 @ 08:03am

    Re:

    I wondered if maybe it wasn't something more evil. Think about it, these so-called false positives, maybe they're not. Maybe these are real positives triggered by evidence falsification; a meth crystal that slips from the cop's hand into the test tube along with the test substance (or gets added in advance).

  • On the post: Woman Sues Georgia Deputies After Their Field Drug Test Said Her Cotton Candy Was Meth

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2018 @ 07:52am

    Re:

    Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't know why these states and judges don't just drop the pretense and set the bail at $999,999,999,999,999,999. I mean, what good is high bail if everyone on the planet could pool all the money and pony up enough to bail one of these "druggies" out?

  • On the post: Woman Sues Georgia Deputies After Their Field Drug Test Said Her Cotton Candy Was Meth

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2018 @ 08:10am

    The biggest problem is the jail time

    The biggest problem here was the high bail combined with the long delay until the "real" test was performed.

    Maybe a solution to this abuse would be to require that a real test be performed on the substance within 48 hours, with automatic reduction of the bail by 99% if it's not.

  • On the post: Nintendo Attempts To Bottle The Leak Genie With Copyright Strikes

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2018 @ 09:28pm

    Why does anyone, other than Nintendo itself, post anything about Nintendo games? It's just a headache, an invitation to a slap. They want to promote their material? Let them pay a pro Ad Agency to promote it. Give them nothing promotional free, ever again.

    Want to spend your time promoting something? Promote one of their competitors.

  • On the post: Lawsuit: Boston PD's 'Gang Database' Says People Who Wear Nikes And Have Been Beat Up By Gang Members Are 'Gang Associates'

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2018 @ 06:26am

    Probably a coat of paint

    Yes, you read that right: Boston residents magically become "Gang Associates" if they're shot at by gang members. Or carjacked. Or mugged. If this happens twice, it appears they'll be upgraded to "Gang Member" thanks to their inability to avoid being victimized by gang members.

    No, only certain people. Note that it says "may be assessed."

    I'll give you two tries to identify a characteristic of people who are almost never assessed these points, and two more tries to find a characteristic that almost always gets the person assessed.

    So, most likely, this is just a coat of paint over the demonstrated racism of BPD.

  • On the post: Woman Sues Georgia Deputies After Their Field Drug Test Said Her Cotton Candy Was Meth

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2018 @ 09:22pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    No, the queue is three months long to allow time for the prosecutor to arm wrestle the defendant into a guilty plea.

  • On the post: Senators Continue To Point Out Our Broadband Maps Suck

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2018 @ 03:19pm

    How about actually doing something?

    I'm sure the Senators are very earnest but, as the proverb says, "Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness."

    If the maps suck, do something about it.

  • On the post: Deputy AG Claims There's No Market For Better Security While Complaining About Encryption At A Cybercrime Conference

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2018 @ 03:14pm

    Deputy AG Claims There's No Market For Better Security While Complaining About Encryption At A Cybercrime Conference

    What he meant is "no legitimate market." Since, in his view, the only people interested in protecting their privacy through encryption are pedophiles, extortionists, drug dealers, terrorists, and other "detriments to public safety."

    Note that this implicitly pigeonholes anyone who desires privacy through encryption as a "detriment to public safety." Because, as has been so often stated, everyone not in that category has "nothing to hide."

  • On the post: We Interrupt All The Hating On Technology To Remind Everyone We Just Landed On Mars

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2018 @ 12:57pm

    Re:

    That is when we carefully measure, consider style and color, select a suitable chapeau, and carefully place it upon technology.

  • On the post: To Prosecute A Single Bombing Suspect, FBI Demands Identifying Info On Thousands Of YouTube Viewers

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2018 @ 07:05am

    Re:

    Unfortunately, your connection was recorded by the VPN's, one of which is feeding NSA, the other GCHQ. These agencies share and so your connection has been correlated. The anonymizer was pwned by the NSA three years ago, so that was also coordinated. And you left holes in your to foil to see/breathe, so their scanners are already recording your brainwaves.

    Nice try.

  • On the post: New GDPR Ruling In France Could Dramatically Re-shape Online Advertising

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2018 @ 06:41am

    Spaghetti consent

    No, iet is esy for Vectuary to solve this problem. They just add a Y/N flag to their API that the partner must set to Y to use the API. The flag will be labelled the "ConsentObtainedFlag" and the partner will be required to set it to Y only if "consent has been obtained" and if the partner does not set it to Y, then the API will reject the request. Vectuary will just point to all those Y flags, which they will record, as proof that consent was confirmed.

    Now, of course the partners will also have API's and those will also have a ConsentObtainedFlag. And, of course, the contracts will all say none of these is ever supposed to be set to Y unless affirmative consent has been obtained that the citizen gave to read one article in a blog, 3 years before.

    But now CNIL gets the fun of tracing all those Y's back through shell companies and contractual relationships, across country and legal boundaries, through hundreds and hundreds of relationships, some of which will be circular, to determine its origin.

    Maybe the origin is hardcoded Y, in which case Vectuary says simply that the originator violated the terms of their API. Or not. Because maybe it leads back to a consent someone actually has on record, in which case CNIL has the fun of figuring out if the consent really covered Vectuary API.

    Good luck CNIL.

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