Coyne Tibbets 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Sheriff And Deputy Somehow Manage To Screw Up Forfeiture Badly Enough To Be Indicted On Extortion Charges

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2016 @ 06:28am

    Re: Call me cynical but...

    I think you're right: this will probably get bargained down to misdemeanor thumb-wrestling or similar.

    But I bet that's not the only thing: it looks to me like the motorist is open to a charge of making a bribe. Betcha that doesn't get bargained down...

  • On the post: The FCC Is Pushing A 'Nutrition Label' For Broadband Connections

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2016 @ 08:11am

    Re:

    Let's say you do your independent audit, and they know you're going to.

    All they will do is spin off the expansion of network capacity into a subsidiary. The provider's books will then show that they spent 100% of that on network expansion (paid that subsidiary)...and since the subsidiary is entitled to profit, half the money the subsidiary takes in will still go to the stockholders.

    In the end, after the accounting magic, your audit will accomplish nothing.

  • On the post: The FCC Is Pushing A 'Nutrition Label' For Broadband Connections

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2016 @ 07:32am

    Miniscule accomplishment

    So let me get this straight: I now get to compare "labels" for 48 different providers...47 of which do not serve my area.

    I am just so wowed!

  • On the post: 71% Want The Dark Net Shut Down, Showing Most Have No Idea What The Dark Net Is

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2016 @ 02:08am

    The Title is Wrong

    "71% Want The Dark Net Shut Down, Showing Most Have No Idea What The Dark Net Is"

    That title is exactly wrong. Most people know full well that the Dark Net is a den of scum and villainy; full of murderers, drug dealers, thieves, loan sharks, blackmailers, prostitutes and child pornographers. Not to mention the copyright pirates.

    They learned that from propaganda written by the government and published by guileless lap-dog media. Why wouldn't the people want to shut a place like that down?

  • On the post: Denver Police Officers Improperly Access Sensitive Crime Database Because Department Has No Interest In Stopping Them

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2016 @ 10:19am

    Police review board terror

    But we've got to check the police review board members: we're positive they're terrorists! They worry us all the time!

  • On the post: FBI Won't Tell Apple How It Got Into iPhone… But Is Apparently Eager To Help Others Break Into iPhones

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2016 @ 10:22pm

    FBI helping others

    Yep, they'll be helping NYPD and CPD and BPD and SFPD and LAPD and ... (much later) ... and the Wahoo Junction, FL, patrol officer and ....

  • On the post: Chase Freezes Guy's Bank Account For Paying His Dogwalker For Walking Dash The Dog

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2016 @ 10:02pm

    Security agency special

    This article is written as if the author thinks Chase made up. Magically got the idea over its Wheaties one morning, to start searching for the word "Dash" in payments.

    Bullshit. The word "Dash" was provided to Chase on a government list, and Chase was told to report any matches.

  • On the post: ODNI Lawyer Bob Litt Says There's No NSA Data Sharing With Law Enforcement… If You Don't Count The FBI, DEA, Etc.

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2016 @ 09:57pm

    Citizen-facing

    The intelligence agencies are not "foreign-facing." Their pretensions otherwise are necessary to achieve their domestic aims.

    It is obvious that the exemptions written in law, all those "re-interpretations" of the law, all the NSLs, and the FISC interception orders aren't about foreigner nationals or foreign lands, because neither are subject to Constitutional protections: seeking exemptions is a waste of time and effort.

    When intelligence agencies expend time and effort to seek an exemption from the law or Constitution, it is to accomplish surveillance of citizens who are (were) protected.

  • On the post: New Analysis Shows 'Frivolous' Corporate Sovereignty Suits Increasingly Used To Deter Regulation Rather Than Win Compensation

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2016 @ 07:55am

    Companies: Devastating Storms

    Large companies no longer seek to compete in traditional ways. They are not only "too big to fail" but big enough to steamroller whatever gets in their way.

    Those companies no longer compete for customers by traditional means: providing a better product or better service. They sue, for patent infringement, for trademark violation, for copyright infringement, or for industrial espionage. They create unilateral and oppressive contracts--offer products and services--that the customer can take or leave.

    Why struggle to have a better product or service when your legal Borg minions will ruin your competitor with $10 million in legal fees--or the individual customer for $150,000?

    They punish, cheat, rob, ruin, poison, or kill their customers with impunity; destroy their property. Even if they are prosecuted, the penalties imposed are usually pocket change. But how about a serious fine? BP, responsible for the Gulf oil spill (which did probably $100's of billion in economic and ecologic losses) was fined the largest fine ever: $34 billion. But with their income of $230 billion plus per year, the stockholders didn't get paid for all of eight weeks--boy was that lesson learned (must do a better job of steamrolling government next time).

    Should it surprise anyone those companies are using their weight to bully nations? It's only natural they would.

    The large corporations are like hurricanes, big devastating storms which neither know nor care what they crush and destroy. Today, all the victims (individuals or nations) of a large company can do is hope or pray the company doesn't crush them.

  • On the post: DMCA's Notice And Takedown Procedure Is A Total Mess, And It's Mainly Because Of Bogus Automated Takedowns

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2016 @ 12:03am

    Makes no sense to us

    Article: Many platforms make it clear (correctly) that filing a counternotice can lead to you being sued in federal court, where you may face statutory damages awards up to $150,000 per work infringed. But the folks at ITIF are apparently so out of touch that they don't even realize that this might scare off the vast, vast, vast majority of people who are the receiving end of bogus takedown notices.

    "But, but, but, that threat wouldn't scare our $50 billion corporate clients and their 500-member Ivy League law firms. Why should it scare anyone else?"

  • On the post: Chicago's New Era Of Transparency Looks Pretty Much Identical To Its Old Era Of Opacity

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2016 @ 11:42pm

    Russian Openness

    It's easy to say openness. Repeat after me: "Openness! Openness!" Wasn't that easy?

    Just as easy as when the Russians did it: "Glasnost! Glasnost!"

    Turns out the results are about the same, too.

  • On the post: Surprise: Court Allows Lindsay Lohan's Suit Against Take-Two Interactive To Go Forward

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2016 @ 08:01am

    Not suprising

    Sorry, not surprised: it was no-brain that this would happen.

    Did they publish it within the "statute of limitations"? Yep. The law says "published" and no matter how much the defendant would like "re-published" to not actually be considered "published", well the law doesn't distinguish.

    Is there a question that needs to be decided by a jury? Well, I might think the question of whether the image is of Lohan is stupid, but even I can see it is something that needs to be decided by a jury.

    That is, after all, why we have a right to jury trials in this country (Seventh Amendment, "In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved,...") The bottom line on this is that there are things the judge is not permitted to decide--that a jury must decide--if the plaintiff or defendant (it takes only one) wants a jury trial.

  • On the post: Comcast Fails To Connect SmartCar's Silicon Valley Office For 10 Months, Wants $60,000 Anyway

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2016 @ 05:48am

    Re:

    Sure, but I don't get why it was so hard for SmartCar to resolve this bill. I would have thought a lawsuit for breach of contract and fraud would have done the job.

  • On the post: In the Wake Of The Latest Terrorist Attacks, Here's A Rational Approach To Saving Lives

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2016 @ 09:59am

    Horse head

    It's all a matter of profit and loss.

    It's profitable to sell security theater.
    It's profitable to sell people things that make them sick (cigarettes, junk food).
    It's profitable to sell dying people things to extend their life (drugs, healthcare, insurance).
    It's profitable to sell war.
    It's loss to build greater safety into consumer products.
    It's loss to keep soldiers alive with armor.

    So this is a great idea, and please don't take me as unkind, but I think you can expect to receive a gift from entrenched power interests tonight--a horse head in your bed.

  • On the post: iPhone Forensics Experts Demonstrate Basic Proof Of Concept That The iPhone Hack The FBI Says 'Doesn't Work' Actually Does Work

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2016 @ 10:29am

    Re:

    Well, Mr. Anonymous Coward, I hate to disillusion you, but if you think Mike is exposing some big secret, I have a revelation for you.

    I just did a search on Google main for "Syed Farook" and got 445,000 hits. The same search on Google News yields 54,700 hits.

    A few examples, taken just from the first page of the Google News search:

    CBS News: "... to help the FBI gain access to the phone used by Syed Farook, one of the two attackers in the December 2 shootings that killed 14 people."

    Counterpunch: "A college graduate, “quiet, polite” Chicago-born Syed Farook who masterminded the San Bernardino massacre, was religiously devout and ..."

    New York Daily News: "Slain California gunman Syed Farook grew up a home so tense that his mother divorced his father whom she accused of being an abusive ..."

    Forbes: "... is fighting a court order requiring them to assist the FBI in opening the encrypted iPhone belonging to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook."


    Next time, you might want to check your opinions against reality before telling others how to do their jobs.

  • On the post: Rep. Speier Wants To Register Every Prepaid Phone Purchase, In Case Someone Bad Uses One As A Burner Phone

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2016 @ 10:37am

    Sauce for the gander

    Well, I think Rep. Speier should record every meeting he has with anyone whatsoever, in case he uses one of those meetings to commit a bribe.

  • On the post: Ignorant Bigot Arrested In UK For Tweeting About Being An Obnoxious Ignorant Bigot

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2016 @ 12:19am

    Bigotry, intolerance, dehumanization, war

    It has been observed that one of the tools that are used by government in promoting war is dehumanization of the enemy, because by making the enemy less than human a government makes inhumane treatment of the enemy acceptable. We can kill the enemy, because they are not human; we can torture the enemy, use inhumane weapons against the enemy, commit genocide. Because they are not human.

    Bigotry is a term we apply to a form of dehumanization. By its very nature, bigotry makes the victim less than human; for example ascribing animal intelligence or animal motives. The resulting effects are broad: in the case of blacks, n****rs were not only viewed as non-humans on a personal basis, but in many respects by law.

    The person who asserts that he is "entitled to his bigoted beliefs", is the problem. The same problem as war, only on a smaller scale.

    There is a problem in our society; we have competing requirements. On the one hand, there is the First Amendment; on the other a definite need to eliminate bigotry and its ilk at all scales. How shall these be reconciled? Because until we can eliminate bigotry, intolerance (a broader form), and dehumanization (their bastard stepchild) we cannot solve the problems of humanity.

    Shall humanity continue in this form, forever, because there is a First Amendment? The hard answer to that question is that, if humanity is to improve, to some extent bigotry, intolerance, dehumanization and war must be removed from the domain of protected speech.

  • On the post: French Politicians Want To Create Ancillary Copyright In Thumbnail Images

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2016 @ 07:41am

    Real reason

    "There got to be some way to make that super-rich ****** Google give us some of that money!"

  • On the post: Congressional Reps Tell NSA To Cease Sharing Unminimized Data With Domestic Law Enforcement Agencies

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2016 @ 05:29pm

    Boy that'll scare NSA and FBI

    "Come on, NSA, hold off on sharing data with the FBI until we can discuss it, or else...or else...or else...we swear to you, we will get very choked up. Honestly, there could be tears."

  • On the post: Former DHS Secretary Says We Can Make Airports Safer From Terrorists By Rearranging Security Checkpoints

    Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2016 @ 05:00pm

    Can push it quite a ways...

    So… move the target. Instead of being deep inside the airport, it will be closer to the entrance. As Gawker's Alex Pareene notes, at some point you can't push the envelope back any further.

    True, strictly speaking. But you can push it back quite a ways from where it is right now. For example, TSA could send a team of 20 jackbooted and trigger happy agents to your house at 4 AM before your flight. Inspect your car, inspect your bags, inspect your house...and then they could push the proctoscopes they brought along, quite a ways up your a$$ just ensure you're really, truly not hiding anything. Then they could load you and your family into straight-jackets and then into a paddy wagon for your trip to the airport.

    That would probably keep everyone safe.

    I think we can all be sure this is what Michael Chertoff has in mind as he enthuses about pushing back the boundaries.

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