Coyne Tibbets’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Germany Plans To Ban Computer Companies That Work With NSA From Sensitive Public Contracts

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 21 May, 2014 @ 11:05am

Now eating our own

Apparently, Germany is as much into useless laws as we are.

The intelligence agencies will have no problem at all ordering companies to lie in the contracts and, once leakage is discovered, leaving them to take the contract penalties without support.

The U.S. intelligence agencies will now begin destroying companies in their zeal to pursue surveillance.

On the post: If DHS Boss Has A Staffer Write Her Emails… Does It Count As Her Email Under A FOIA Request?

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 16 May, 2014 @ 10:29am

Agency

No, actually it is easy. The FOIA request needs to ask for any emails sent by Napolitano or by any person acting as her agent in the sending of emails.

If the secretary sends email on Napolitano's behalf, then the secretary is her agent. So a request of that nature would require any secretary's messages to be produced as well.

On the post: Yet Again, A Freedom Of Information Act Request Results In LESS Information Being Freed

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 15 May, 2014 @ 08:05pm

New offisial policy

"We can remove anything we want from the public domain. In fact, we are removing the letters CIA from the public domain. Hereafter, any word containing the letters CIA must be either redacted or the letters replaced by SIA.

"We realize this will result in some artifisial-looking words. It will also require some superfisial correction or redaction of existing documents.

"Be warned: This is now offisial policy, and our technisians will be search carefully for any violations to be turned over to the judisiary."

On the post: 'Notice And Staydown' The Latest Fad In Copyright Enforcement

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 15 May, 2014 @ 11:30am

Unfortunately stay down is not impossible. Just ban the individual from uploading anything for the stay-down period--easy.

"The question is: what will be the next bad idea governments adopt?"

It will be equally bad, or worse, whatever it is; there is no bottom to this hole. MCAA and RIAA won't be happy until you pay for every second of music you sing in the shower for your own enjoyment, and every scrap of dialog you repeat.

On the post: DailyDirt: Growing Brains

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 14 May, 2014 @ 08:51pm

Conscious memories

I think conscious memories require conscious attempt to organize the memory.

My earliest memory is placed by my mother, as best we can, at about 12-14 months. It is a memory of the sound of crickets at night, and I remember it (I think) because I also remember quite clearly imagining that the sound was caused by the turning of wheels; such as the wheels on my pull toy. (The toy made a chirping sound, you see.)

On the post: Florida Lawmakers Aim To Restore Childrens' Rights To Openly Carry Pop Tart 'Guns' On Campus

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 14 May, 2014 @ 10:16am

Conflicted

This is one of those mixed-feelings things. On the one hand, it is yet another NRA "we haz rights to be trigger happy" laws. But I am conflicted because anything that reigns in Zero Tolerance senselessness has got to be a plus.

On the post: The Government's Antipathy Towards Transparency Has Made FOIA Lawsuits The Default Process

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 13 May, 2014 @ 08:41am

Penalty for non-complliance

I suggest an automatic penalty for non-compliance:

If the department improperly declines to fill (including improper redaction) an FOIA request, as determined by the court, then the request must be completed at zero cost to the requestor.

Congress would have to do this, I concede.

On the post: Data Shows Homeland Security Is Lying When It Claims Intellectual Property Seizures Are About Health & Safety

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 09 May, 2014 @ 06:41pm

How to tell

A three-letter security agency lie?

Are they still breathing? Because if they are, then they're lying.

On the post: Would You Hire Former NSA Boss Keith Alexander For Cybersecurity Consulting?

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 09 May, 2014 @ 06:24pm

Best advice you could buy

Sure I'd hire him. Write down his every single recommendation.It would be the best advice you could buy: All you have to do is exactly the opposite of what he recommends...

On the post: To Succeed At EPA: Watch Tons Of Porn, (Don't) Work From Home, Or Pretend You're A Secret Agent

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 09 May, 2014 @ 10:53am

It is estimated that the manager's approval of fraudulent time-and-attendance records cost the government more than $500,000...

...but it was cheaper and easier than firing him.

she believed [...] that Mr. Beale worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. She never questioned Mr. Beale further, she said, because she believed the questioning might compromise national security...

I'm actually surprised there isn't more of this. There's so much secrecy these days that it's hard to verify anything. Take National Security Letters, for example: How do you really know that the "agent" handing you the letter is an FBI agent? You're not allowed to ask anyone else, so it seems to me it is perfect for false-flag NSL's.

And now, Mr. Beale: How would the supervisor check to see if he was a CIA agent? The CIA would deny they employ him, whether he's an agent or not. What action would comprise "due diligence" under these conditions?

On the post: US Patent Office Grants 'Photography Against A White Background' Patent To Amazon

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 May, 2014 @ 10:33am

My turn

I'm gonna patent shooting against a periwinkle background!

On the post: The Bizarro, Fact-free World Of Copyright Policymaking

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 May, 2014 @ 10:21am

Careful what you write

"Being good researchers, they did just that, looking at whether the number of works created in the United States from 1870 to 2006 increased as the government strengthened copyright law. They found that stronger copyright indeed led to more works being created."

I can't believe you used that sentence (emphasized) in an article. Now, just sit back and watch as 90,000 copyright lobbyists use that paragraph out of context as proof that copyright is desirable; as they demand more copyright restrictions. Believe me, they won't mention that you were kidding (the next paragraph) in their quote.

Please take care what you write; you are an authority.

On the post: TV Networks Sued For Hiding Who's Buying Political Ads

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 05 May, 2014 @ 10:42am

Great, we'll finally learn...NOTHING

Like this will do a lot of good: If they win, we'll all get to easily read the name of the PAC that bought that advertisement. Which we can see right now, with a DVR and a magnifying glass. (The DVR to stop motion during the half-second the message is displayed and the magnifying glass to help us read the Flyspeck 4-point font.)

Then all we'll need is a psychic to learn who financed the PAC. And since that doesn't work very well, all we'll learn is that the advertisement was paid for by "The We for Us Political Action Committee" or some other equally pithy thing.

In other words, if they win these lawsuits, we will still know NOTHING.

Might as well be Sgt. Schultz.

On the post: US Government Begins Rollout Of Its 'Driver's License For The Internet'

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 05 May, 2014 @ 10:19am

PAC or bust

Rich person: "When are you mouthy, insubordinate, insufferable little peons going to get it?! First Amendment privacy is only for people who can afford to finance a PAC!"

On the post: German Government Blocks Ed Snowden From Testifying Before Parliament So As Not To Upset The US

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 May, 2014 @ 07:59pm

We're tough

Hey guys, we're tough, we can take it.

I suppose there's a few whiners in our government that would get their feelings hurt, but who cares about them?

On the post: DailyDirt: Egyptian Pyramid Construction Techniques

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 May, 2014 @ 07:48pm

This is another method

Wally Wallington moves blocks up to 20 tons by himself. He can move a one-ton block 300 feet in an hour, by himself.

The video shows erection of 128 cubic-foot foot, 9.5 ton concrete block that looks to be about 20 feet long.

Man Moves Huge Blocks! (Youtube)

On the post: Student-Targeting Data Harvester inBloom Closes Shop, CEO Blames Parents For Their 'Misdirected Criticism'

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 May, 2014 @ 07:32pm

Listen to the euphemisms fly

"The use of technology to tailor instruction for individual students is still an emerging concept and inBloom provides a technical solution that has never been seen before. As a result, it has been the subject of mischaracterizations and a lightning rod for misdirected criticism."

use of technology - for only the best of all possible purposes

tailor instruction - determine admissibility to higher education institutions

individual students - so each student can grow to his/her potential (within their limitations, of course) by having their lives reduced to simple bureaucratic rules

emerging concept - grand new profit opportunity from a whole new area of privacy invasion

technical solution - solves "all your problems" automatically so you no longer have to think about how this all affects students for the rest of their lives

never been seen before - no one else had the nerve

subject of mischaracterization - we only meant the best, trust us, so why do they say we are evil?

lightning rod for misdirected criticism - why are they picking on us?

On the post: Larry Lessig Launches Crowdfunded SuperPAC To Try To End SuperPACs

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 May, 2014 @ 07:02pm

Fighting fire with fire?

I understand the principle of fighting fire with fire...in firefighting. Burning the fuel in advance of an approaching fire line is very effective.

I don't exactly see how that works here, though. Wouldn't we just wind up with a bigger fire?

On the post: The Supreme Court's Real Technology Problem: It Thinks Carrying 2 Phones Means You're A Drug Dealer

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 May, 2014 @ 06:59pm

"Justice Kagan suggested, correctly, that people don't always know what is stored on their device and what is stored 'in the cloud.'"

And by this, demonstrates her own issue with understanding the implications. Because whether or not the document is in the cloud or the phone is irrelevant, since the whole point of having it in the cloud is so that I can have it in my phone, in seconds, on demand.

So there isn't really a distinction between cloud and phone; not a useful one, anyway.

On the post: Obama Complains That TPP Critics Are 'Conspiracy Theorists' Who 'Lack Knowledge' About Negotiations

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 01 May, 2014 @ 06:29pm

TPP started it

Maybe the TPP crowd hasn't heard that those with little knowledge are dangerous. The less they give out, the more dangerous we become.

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