Dave 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: More NSA Spying Fallout: Groklaw Shutting Down

    Dave ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2013 @ 04:00am

    So it begins. I hoped that our government would buy a clue and at least throttle this stuff down. It appears they're doing the opposite. Too much money involved, I guess.

    First a couple of (minor) secure email sites shut down to avoid caving in to da gummint, and compromising their customers. That's tragic enough but not that big a deal. Groklaw is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, and I'm very saddened to see her go. Now it's getting serious. Who's next, I wonder?

  • On the post: Undownloading: Further Proof Those eBooks You Paid For Really Aren't Yours

    Dave ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2013 @ 07:42pm

    Contract Law?

    Maybe I'm just na?ve (probably), but I don't understand something. A purchase is a legal contract between the seller, who provides the item or service, and a buyer, who provides some value in return, usually money. Once that contract is executed, the seller has no further control of the item purchased; it belongs to the buyer. If the seller renegs on the contract and takes back the item, there should be compensation (plus penalties, maybe?) to the buyer for the item sold being taken back. Where have I gone wrong? How does the seller retain control? Do the words "digital" or "file" change all of the rules? Do contracts no longer mean anything?

  • On the post: UK Gov't Forces Guardian To 'Destroy' Hard Drives With Snowden Info; Guardian Says Reporting Continues From NY

    Dave ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2013 @ 07:13pm

    Follow The Money

    All of these programs, the spying, the data interception and things like the new NSA storage farm in Utah, cost a ton of money for hardware, facilities and personnel. Who pays for it? It's not just the UK and the US. It's world wide. More importantly, who gets the contracts and the money? How much are we talking about? Hundreds of Millions? Billions? Trillions? Of course they don't want this revealed. It's gonna end up costing them a bundle if it gets shut down, so a (very) small percentage of it goes back to the politicians who approve funding. Everyone has their hands out, and no one wants to lose out on the gold rush.

  • On the post: That's Not Oversight: Head Of FISC Admits He Relies On NSA's Statements To Make Sure They're Obeying The Law

    Dave ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2013 @ 12:41am

    It's Depressing

    Every time I read this blog, or a news source, I only see more unconstitutional, totally illegal, blatant malfeasance on the part of the Executive, with Congress and the Judiciary rubberstamping it. They're all in cahoots. I sure hope they're getting paid a lot by their masters, 'cause, one of these days, the general populace will have had enough and the result ain't gonna be pretty.

  • On the post: Telco Astroturfing Or Elaborate Double-Reverse Sabotage Fakeout? You Decide

    Dave ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2013 @ 03:20pm

    Re:

    Hopefully about one inch below his chin.

  • On the post: Judge Refuses To Dismiss Suit Against Feds Who Arrested Former Marine For His Controversial Facebook Posts

    Dave ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2013 @ 03:49pm

    Can He Do It??

    Obamalamadingdong Has a bit over three years to consolidate his power, destroy the opposition, and finally turn America into the dictatorship he dreams of - with him in control, of course. Can he do it? are we stupid enough or gullible enough to go along? I sincerely hope not, but it's far too possible.

  • On the post: IL County Attorney Declares He'll Selectively Enforce Wiretapping Law Found Unconstitutional By Seventh Circuit Court

    Dave ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2013 @ 03:29pm

    How Can You Expect Anything Different?

    "Bonjean seems to think higher court decisions are nothing more than vague guidelines."

    Considering what his mentors in the Justice Department are doing, how can you expect him to regard the Constitution as anything but guidelines, to be applied as you wish. Laws are there for Law Enforcement to use for revenue and to silence critics, what else could they possibly be for?

  • On the post: Awesome Stuff: Bring The Cloud Back Home

    Dave ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2013 @ 04:39pm

    So, What's new?

    Microsoft, several years ago, came up with a marvelous system called Windows Home Server. Until they destroyed it by eliminating the Drive Space expandable storage technology, in favor of RAID fer pete's sake, this system could do all of the above. One could encrypt the whole drive, get a URL assigned to the system, and access it from anywhere on the internet - ENCRYPTED. Only you had the key to unencrypt it. Wanna bet the Gummint jumped on them and caused them to kill the system because they couldn't spy on the users?

    Now that WHS is officially dead, pretty much, you still have other options. If you Google "Windows Home Server" you'll see bunches, based on XP and Linux.

  • On the post: Jennifer Hoelzer's Insider's View Of The Administration's Response To NSA Surveillance Leaks

    Dave ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2013 @ 04:08pm

    Follow the Money

    Let's face it, these programs always involve a ton of equipment and construction. If stopped, someone loses a bunch of money. They don't want that, so they push for secrecy, get funded, pass some of that back to the funders as "campaign contributions", which encourages the lawmakers to vote for the bills to fund them, and so on ad nauseum. We're being bought, as usual. One nice thing is that it illustrates that our lawmakers are at least honest politicians - when bought, they stay bought, even if it makes them sick to their collective stomachs. I don't see a good ending to this.

  • On the post: Speed Cam Contractor Responds To Challenged Tickets By Cropping Photos, Moving Cameras

    Dave ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2013 @ 09:17am

    BTW, unless Photoshop is a lot better than I think, those lines DO NOT extend across the entire street. They end at the right-side tires of the vehicle. So, they are hidden in the first photo, and revealed in the second. I agree that the camera angle is poor, and that the lines SHOULD extend across the street, but that costs money.

  • On the post: Speed Cam Contractor Responds To Challenged Tickets By Cropping Photos, Moving Cameras

    Dave ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2013 @ 09:14am

    The real problem here is the privatization of public law enforcement activity. Any good capitalist knows that profit is the end-all-be-all of business. That's the entire purpose of "business". As we have repeatedly seen, until it gets smacked down, any business will do anything it can get away with. This is just one more example. We need to remove the profit motive from ALL law enforcement, including seizures (stay outta Texas, people).

  • On the post: US Releases Redacted Document Twice… With Different Redactions

    Dave ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2013 @ 08:51am

    Hard to keep all the lies straight

    Once you start lying, it's difficult to remember what and how you lied the last few times. Also hard to remember what your team members lied about. Eventually you get caught with silliness like this. Shame!

  • On the post: Former NSA Boss Calls Snowden's Supporters Internet Shut-ins; Equates Transparency Activists With Al-Qaeda

    Dave ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2013 @ 06:21pm

    1, He's a politician
    2. He's a government spook
    3. His whole career has been about lying, cheating, psychological trickery, and conning his victims into revealing what he wants.

    You can't believe a single word that he utters, then, now, or ever. The deception is too deeply ingrained.

    "Listen, I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissin' babies I'm stealin' their lollypops. But, it also means that I keep my options open."

    National Security Advisor to Jack Ryan in "The Hunt For Red October - film"

    .

  • On the post: Rep. Mike Rogers' Staff Insists They Never Said I Defamed Him… And Then Reveal The Reporter They Apparently Never Said It To

    Dave ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2013 @ 06:10pm

    Reminds me of the Bill Cosby story of the metal shop where some student put a bullet in the furnace, which went off of course. Under later questioning the teacher said something like:

    "You know, puting a bullet in the furnace reflects badly on your mother."

    To which one student replied:

    "I didn't put that bullet in the furnace, and you keep my mother out of it!"
    .

  • On the post: The Bradley Manning Verdict Will Create Massive Chilling Effects For Whistleblowers And Journalists

    Dave ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2013 @ 05:35am

    The Real Whistleblowers

    There will come a time, in the not too far distant future, when a new class of reporters/whistleblowers will come to be. These people will be dedicated to the truth at all costs. They will release their reports and acquired Government documents, outlining government abuses of all sorts, knowing they will probably be arrested and perhaps executed for doing so. They will do this willingly in the name of the greater good.

    Sounds nice, doesn't it? Too bad it probably won't happen. No one has the guts any more.
    .

  • On the post: Georgia Claims Its Annotated Laws Are Covered By Copyright, Threatens Carl Malamud For Publishing The Law

    Dave ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2013 @ 03:12pm

    Interesting

    If one goes to the Georgia State Official Website (georgia.gov), click on "Government", and thence to "Learning about Georgia Law", and click on " Official Code of Georgia", you are taken first to a terms of service notice page outlining the copyright implications of even LOOKING at the published Law. Saying OK to that page takes you to, no, not the official Georgia Code, but rather to a LexisNexis search page.

    That plus the comment that the "Printed Volumes" are the ONLY official text, says to me that Georgia doesn't actually own their own laws but, in fact, have sold them and all rights of access to LexisNexis. It's LN, not Georgia, that are doing the objecting and demanding. Someone needs to look into this. It seems to me that it's clearly illegal.

  • On the post: All About The Money: Reps Who Voted For NSA Surveillance Received 2X As Much Money From Defense Industry

    Dave ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2013 @ 09:44am

    It's Obvious

    This story demonstrates the truth as Mark Twain and many others have stated. This is pure extortion on the part of Congress. "Pay us gobs of money or we will:
    1. write laws to put you out of business, or
    2. Vote for those laws that were written by others"

    Criminals, I tell ya!

    Maybe if we just shut up and leave them alone, Congress and Big Business will eliminate each other....Nah!!

    .

  • On the post: Feds Say It's Classified Info To Say Who We're At War With

    Dave ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2013 @ 09:27am

    Pogo said this years ago (1971):

    "We have met the enemy, and he is US."

    Problem is that this administration believes it.
    .

  • On the post: Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Trade Sanctions Against Any Country That Offers Asylum To Snowden

    Dave ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2013 @ 03:57pm

    Re: Re:

    South Africa has designed and distributes the best monetary standard around. It's called a Krugerand and contains one exact ounce of pure gold mixed with a bit of copper for mechanical strength. We need to get back to some hard standard (gold or platinum or palladium), and that one is as good or better than most. So we make the dollar to be 1/1000 of a Krugerand - forever. Yes, that drops the value of an ounce of gold somewhat(or rather raises the value of the dollar), but it's way too variable and way too high right now.

  • On the post: Intelligence Officials Can't Keep Story Straight: Snowden Both Did And Did Not Get Key NSA Secrets

    Dave ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2013 @ 01:54pm

    Dear Mr. Snowden

    The time has come, the walrus said, to tell us all you know!
    To drop the hammer on these guys and get on with the show.

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