These municipalities are missing an opportunity here. Rather than waste time, money, and breath fighting Verizon, they should instead pour those resources into a municipal broadband offering and cut Verizon out of the loop entirely.
The problem with this strategy in this case is that the folks to whom they are lying have dealt with Comcast, Time Warner, et al., for far too long. Everyone is so used to their ISP lying to them that even if the ISP told the truth (hey, it could happen!) no one would believe them anyway.
I refer the court to the case of "Finders-Keepers v. Losers-Weepers."
Seriously though, isn't this analogous to someone losing control of their car and having it wind up on your lawn? You don't get to take possession of the vehicle (although that would be sweet). Although I do wonder if you can bar someone from trespassing on your property to reclaim it. Any lawyer-folk want to weigh in on that question?
If you were right, I could share your car whether you liked it or not.
Leaving aside the physical-vs-imaginary property issue, the closer analogy in this instance is that if I want to share my car with you I can do so whether Volkswagon likes it or not.
I think one key difference is that many astronomers have had a life-long love of astronomy. They were studying the heavens long before any thought of doing so professionally even occurred to them. If they lost their jobs, they would still study astronomy. So perhaps they see a certain kindred spirit with the amateurs.
Professional journalism seems to be more focused on the "professional" then the "journalism." Why that's the case I can't say, but the effect is to set up an antagonism between the "professionals" and the "amateurs."
The whole hearing is of course pointless grandstanding as only Congress can do it. But we also need to remember that lay people understand the concept of "duplicating the problem" a lot differently than those in the engineering fields. This congressperson is not the only one who was thinking that, I can assure you.
His choice of words was not suitable for his audience. Sadly, there ARE people who are not scientists or engineers, and these things need to be explained to them.
The word "privacy" may not appear, but the concept most certainly does. The Fourth Amendment is pretty clear: "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." If you want to argue that "secure" is not synonymous with "privacy" in this context, you'll need a mighty sharp blade to split that hair.
Moreover, you even contradict your own point: "ven legal wiretappers MUST discontinue listening if the conversation does not pertain to the reason for the wire tap." Why must they? Because there is a right to privacy.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by paul.
These municipalities are missing an opportunity here. Rather than waste time, money, and breath fighting Verizon, they should instead pour those resources into a municipal broadband offering and cut Verizon out of the loop entirely.
What's the opposite of astute?
This kind of keen analysis of the internet ecosystem shows pretty well the reason for her track record at HP.
WOLF!
The problem with this strategy in this case is that the folks to whom they are lying have dealt with Comcast, Time Warner, et al., for far too long. Everyone is so used to their ISP lying to them that even if the ISP told the truth (hey, it could happen!) no one would believe them anyway.
One thing we know it's not
The MPAA and their ilk must be truly out of touch if they think that anyone in this country can switch ISPs.
Brilliant but evil
If only they employed this level of creativity in devising new business models, or, heaven forbid, their movies...
Lost Property
I refer the court to the case of "Finders-Keepers v. Losers-Weepers."
Seriously though, isn't this analogous to someone losing control of their car and having it wind up on your lawn? You don't get to take possession of the vehicle (although that would be sweet). Although I do wonder if you can bar someone from trespassing on your property to reclaim it. Any lawyer-folk want to weigh in on that question?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Blame Game
If you were right, I could share your car whether you liked it or not.
Leaving aside the physical-vs-imaginary property issue, the closer analogy in this instance is that if I want to share my car with you I can do so whether Volkswagon likes it or not.
They were once amateurs too
I think one key difference is that many astronomers have had a life-long love of astronomy. They were studying the heavens long before any thought of doing so professionally even occurred to them. If they lost their jobs, they would still study astronomy. So perhaps they see a certain kindred spirit with the amateurs.
Professional journalism seems to be more focused on the "professional" then the "journalism." Why that's the case I can't say, but the effect is to set up an antagonism between the "professionals" and the "amateurs."
It's Libel
Given the UK's very strict libel laws, should Facebook be suing them?
It's a language barrier
The whole hearing is of course pointless grandstanding as only Congress can do it. But we also need to remember that lay people understand the concept of "duplicating the problem" a lot differently than those in the engineering fields. This congressperson is not the only one who was thinking that, I can assure you.
His choice of words was not suitable for his audience. Sadly, there ARE people who are not scientists or engineers, and these things need to be explained to them.
Re: Timebomb waiting to fail
To be fair, who could have predicted that a server might crash?
Re: Constitutionality?????
The word "privacy" may not appear, but the concept most certainly does. The Fourth Amendment is pretty clear: "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." If you want to argue that "secure" is not synonymous with "privacy" in this context, you'll need a mighty sharp blade to split that hair.
Moreover, you even contradict your own point: "ven legal wiretappers MUST discontinue listening if the conversation does not pertain to the reason for the wire tap." Why must they? Because there is a right to privacy.