Groaker 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: The Senate Is Close To Undermining The Internet By Pretending To 'Protect' The Children

    Groaker ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2017 @ 03:57pm

    Crimes against children are anathema, but the overwhelming majority of such acts are committed by family members, friends of the family, and persons in positions of authority over the child.

    Those who lie about the numbers of children abused by strangers, are attempting to create outrage and cover up something else. Just what is it that they are hiding?

  • On the post: Yet Another Report Says The Rate Of TV Cord Cutting Is Worse Than Anybody Thought

    Groaker ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2017 @ 07:11am

    New charges

    Unfortunately we are playing whack-a-mole, and the ever so imaginative cable industry can dream up new charges and scams faster than the populace can identify and work around them.

    That is no excuse for failing to participate in the game. The new wrinkle of course, is that the "cut the cord" industry is acting more and more like the cable industry. Even to the point of reusing tired and bedraggled content from the Cable Industry.

  • On the post: Comcast Sues Vermont, Insists Having To Expand Broadband Violates Its First Amendment Rights

    Groaker ( profile ), 11 Sep, 2017 @ 09:01am

    The State has created a fertile ground for monopolistic practices for many companies. Those companies have used legal (or sometimes not), but from most people's views, unethical methods in abusing those laws and regulations.

    The electorate continues to vote these officials into power because they really don't care. The attitude is I am a (C).(D),(I),(R), (S) or whatever, and I won't even bother to look at how that party is screwing me. So nothing changes, and nothing will change. People will just continue to whine.

  • On the post: Equifax Security Breach Is A Complete Disaster… And Will Almost Certainly Get Worse

    Groaker ( profile ), 09 Sep, 2017 @ 02:37pm

    Re: Re: Fail. (On your part)

    Having been a paid programmer in '65, I believe that degrees in computer science were a rarity back then, if they existed at all. I can recall a bull session laughing at some University that was offering the start of a degree program. and we all laughed about the ridiculousness of it.

    Oh how things have changed.

  • On the post: Russia Piracy Blocking: Four Thousand 'Pirate' Sites Blocked… Along With Forty Thousand Sites Worth Of Collateral Damage

    Groaker ( profile ), 08 Sep, 2017 @ 04:28am

    Re: Yes, let's

    The host is a common carrier, no more responsible for what it transmits than UPS, FEDEX or the USPS. Anything else in the way of speech, would be prior restraint.

  • On the post: De-Escalation Works, But US Law Enforcement Hasn't Show Much Interest In Trying It

    Groaker ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2017 @ 06:24am

    Re:

    The police took an oath to protect and serve, and to preserve the Constitution. No matter what the behavior, unless there is a real threat to life and limb, there is no justification for beatings and shootings. There is no justification for hiding or destroying evidence.

    There is not just a lack of respect on the part of the public, but fear. As an elderly white upper class male, I am more afraid of the police than I am of criminals. During a recent interaction with a state trooper, I was clearly not armed. The matter was over a strayed farm animal (an emu) of significant monetary value. It was not in sight at the time. The cop kept his hand within two inches of his side arm. At all times I was polite to this man, but he was rather verbally obnoxious to me without cause or reason.

  • On the post: De-Escalation Works, But US Law Enforcement Hasn't Show Much Interest In Trying It

    Groaker ( profile ), 17 Jul, 2017 @ 08:33pm

    In 1968 a draftee had a right to fear for his life, with an anticipated death rate of the order of 75 times upon the death rate of a policeman. Yet individuals could not claim that they were being placed in fear of their lives to avoid conscription. If they did so, they were rewarded with five years in a Federal Prison, and a felony record for life.

    OTOH, a policeman who claims being placed in fear for his life, kills an innocent who is perhaps in possession of a book , pen or has his hands in the air, the murderer is rewarded with a commendation and likely a promotion.

    It is time for the police to be reminded that they have voluntarily signed up to be protectors for the population. And should they have to place their lives at risk to meet their oath, that was the agreement they freely made -- unlike the draftee.

  • On the post: Court Orders Small Ohio Speed Trap Town To Refund $3 Million In Unconstitutional Speeding Tickets

    Groaker ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2017 @ 11:58am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: RLC

    You have the right to argue that the camera is deficient. That it calculated the speed improperly, read the license place incorrectly. Many such mistakes have been made. That the reputed purpose of the cameras, which is to reduce accidents, actually increases them.

    That there may be footage of someone that looks like you robbing a store, but that it was not you.

    Maybe it wasn't you.

    To hold that you can't face your accuser is to say that an accusation is proof of guilt.

  • On the post: Vizio Fined $2.2 Million For Not Telling Customers Their TVs Were Spying On Them

    Groaker ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2017 @ 11:01am

    Re: This is not a fix, but...

    That is probably a felony, while this behavior remains a mere violation punishable by fine only.

  • On the post: Policing For Dummies: DOJ/Baltimore PD Edition

    Groaker ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2017 @ 06:24am

    What does this all have to do with tech? Perhaps you might go back and read some history. Regimes that permit free exploration of ideas are those in which tech flourishes.

    A better question is how will tech grow in a despotic regime? As an example, how long did Lysenkoism hold back Soviet genetics?

    How long did Christianity hold back the development of the sciences because they were believed to be Satanistic and based on the supernatural?

    I can truly understand not wanting to pay $1K a credit for liberal arts courses, but at least read. The library (physical or electronic) is free.

  • On the post: Policing For Dummies: DOJ/Baltimore PD Edition

    Groaker ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2017 @ 04:39am

    It is just going to get worse under the Apple Dumpling gang. We have a President who has no concept of the purpose of a jury trial, justice

  • On the post: Surprise: President Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning's Sentence

    Groaker ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2017 @ 05:39am

    It is not just office workers, but highly trained individuals like research attorneys, infection control doctors, doctors specializing in diagnosis, quite likely your internist, and of course Jeopardy players.

    Any job which requires winnowing through massive amounts of data to come to a couple of possibilities is up for replacement.

    Humans will go back to the creative crafts, arts, minstrels and similar such work

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Groaker ( profile ), 15 Jan, 2017 @ 01:00pm

    Cops are moving their misbehavior up the social scale. An emu wandered onto my property. Some claim they are social, others vicious and murderous. I was unable to reach anyone else, so I called the police (bad mistake.) Even though I am white, in old age, obviously well off, and identified as the owner of the property by my part time gardeners, the cop was rather less than pleasant, kept his hand about two inches from his firearm, and would not allow me to get a word in edgewise while continuing to berate me about the legal behavior that my neighbors were committing more than 3/8ths of a mile away.

    The State starts with immigrants that have no legal basis for being in the nation. Moves on to those with visas or green cards, then blacks and Latinos, then the poor and middle class, then those who are not part of the political cult.

    If you think you are safe, and not a contributing or elected official, think again.

  • On the post: Yet Another Lawsuit Hopes A Court Will Hold Twitter Responsible For Terrorists' Actions

    Groaker ( profile ), 13 Jan, 2017 @ 05:35pm

    Re: death to white supremacists

    And just how many of these terrorists groups have been spawned by the US and it's allies?

  • On the post: Yet Another Lawsuit Hopes A Court Will Hold Twitter Responsible For Terrorists' Actions

    Groaker ( profile ), 13 Jan, 2017 @ 12:22pm

    Re:

    Better yet, sue the atmosphere. Without any oxygen containing gas mixture to breathe, there could be no terrorism.

  • On the post: Court Says Tossing A Flashbang Grenade Into A Room With A Toddler Is 'Unreasonable' Police Behavior

    Groaker ( profile ), 13 Jan, 2017 @ 06:32pm

    Whinny winging cops

    Cops are basically a bunch of weenies. they claim that their jobs are tremendously dangerous, that they are constantly in fear if their lives, and that they are set up and slaughtered left and right. Yet their fears, if they are dumb enough to have them, are self-induced.

    But cops hold their jobs voluntarily. They have a roughly one chance 0.00014 of being killed on the job in 2014 -- a spiking year for police deaths. Yet compare that to Vietnam veterans, many who were drafted, had their educations ruined, suffered more severe injuries both physical and mental, and were forced into the battle field either directly by the draft or as an alternative to the draft. They faced a death rate of 0.00666, roughly 47 times that of that of a peace officer.

    Cops really have to worry about going home at night after a full day of throwing flashbang grenades at babies. The cops are in battle armor, while the children have the full strength and protection of a paper diaper.

    The cops are in full fear of their lives -- the infant might reach into the waistband of the diaper, pull out a handfull of fecal matter, and throw it at the cop.

  • On the post: Court Documents Appear To Confirm The FBI Is Using Best Buy Techs To Perform Warrantless Searches For It

    Groaker ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2017 @ 09:08am

    Re: Re: When do pc techs become mandated reporters?

    This of course gives every MD the right to strip search a child to see if they are being sexually abused. It further allows them to sexually abuse any child, and claim that the parents, teacher, pastor or some other third part committed the act.

    Once a drive is out of the possession of its owner, any information can be planted on it, and made to look like it was planted at any most any time since the the invention of the PC, or at just about anytime in the life of the universe depending upon the software.

    What is to stop anyone who has access to a computer
    and has a grudge against another, from planting such porn? Or perhaps just for LOLS -- not unlike the Salem Witch Trials. Or wants to make a few extra bucks? For a more recent examples see:


    Especially of interest is:

    "McMartin Preschool[edit]
    Main article: McMartin preschool trial
    The McMartin Preschool trial started in August 1983 when Judy Johnson, the mother of a  2 1⁄2-year-old boy, reported to the police that her son was abused by Raymond Buckey at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California.[1] After seven years of criminal trials, no convictions were obtained, and all charges were dropped in 1990. As of 2006, it is the longest and most expensive criminal trial in the history of the United States.[1] The accusations involved hidden tunnels, killing animals, Satan worship, and orgies.[4] Judy Johnson was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia[5][6] and in 1986 was found dead in her home from complications of chronic alcoholism.[7] Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin, were eventually released without any charges. In 2005 one of the testifying children retracted his testimony and said he lied, to protect his younger siblings and to please his parents.[8][9]

    In The Devil in the Nursery in 2001, Margaret Talbot for The New York Times summarized the case:

    When you once believed something that now strikes you as absurd, even unhinged, it can be almost impossible to summon that feeling of credulity again. Maybe that is why it is easier for most of us to forget, rather than to try and explain, the Satanic-abuse scare that gripped this country in the early 80s – the myth that Devil-worshipers had set up shop in our day-care centers, where their clever adepts were raping and sodomizing children, practicing ritual sacrifice, shedding their clothes, drinking blood and eating feces, all unnoticed by parents, neighbors and the authorities.[10]

    Also claimed were murders of infants, though none were reported missing, slaughters of elephants and giraffes. Children claimed they had knives and forks inserted into their rectums, though no parent ever found blood on the children's clothes, or checked their nether regions. Yet all this and more was believed no matter how inane.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria


    https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2012/05/21/11756575-researchers-more-than-2000-false-convictions-in-past-23-years?lite


    Without a forensic chain of custody, how can anyone believe such evidence. People who believe that computers are magic boxes I suppose, and those willing to burn and hang witches.

  • On the post: Court Documents Appear To Confirm The FBI Is Using Best Buy Techs To Perform Warrantless Searches For It

    Groaker ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2017 @ 07:31am

    While the production of photographic child pornography is anathema, far more dangerous to the nation are the spies embedded in the the FBI which go undetected when they have red flags spouting from their ears -- Robert Hansen for one.

    It is easy to convict a reputed pedophile, guilty or not, because of the atrocity of the crime. But it seems that few are willing to believe that alphabet agency members are spies, or that police routinely murder and violate the rights of citizens.

  • On the post: Here's The Truth: Shiva Ayyadurai Didn't Invent Email

    Groaker ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2017 @ 04:00pm

    I first used email ca 1980 with an Apple ][ and a Hayes modem going through a server in a federal park in NYC. Email as a concept and a practice was old (in computer years) at that time.

    Asking me to prove when I first used it, is like asking me to prove the first milisecond when I started to breathe. The year is known, but whether it was spontaneous or assisted is not, and not likely to be provable.

    To my great fortune, I am in Hospice, and will not live to much longer to watch of the degradation of this civilization

  • On the post: Verizon Insists Higher Phone Upgrades Are Being Used To Enhance The Network Instead Of Make Up Revenue Decline

    Groaker ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2017 @ 03:46pm

    Why would Verizon even bother to make such a statement. It is like a business saying our purpose is to make money. It is after all their fiduciary responsibility to their owners.

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