James 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (37) comment rss

  • On the post: In 2009, NYPD Issued 'Surveillance Request' To 'Identify' Anonymous Members During Their Anti-Scientology Rally

    James ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2013 @ 10:53am

    from the "I didn't speak up because I wasn't ____________" dept.

    Ask any motorcyclist who's been riding for more than 15 years or so, and this kind of behavior will bring back (not so fond) memories.

    Any gathering of more than, say, a dozen bikes would draw the attention of the local constabulary. There were a handful of times I saw cops going down a line of bikes, taking down license plate numbers and sometimes checking VINs.

    Not for any enforcement action ... simply because there were a lot of bikes around, and that meant danger.

    Never mind that I, and the people I rode with, didn't belong to motorcycle clubs (in the gangster sense), and the most illegal thing we did was ride too fast.

    But actions taken during Occupy Wall Street show that the PD's agenda usually means treating protesters (as well as anyone with a camera) as criminals. And attempting to "unmask" participants in an Anonymous rally lumps all attendees in with the activist group, even if many of them have never actively participated in any illegal activities. It also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Anonymous' "structure," i.e., there is none. There's no "head" to capture and mount on the metaphorical wall. There's also no "tail" to drag off to HQ and sweat down in hopes of it offering up higher-ranked members.

  • On the post: Evangelist Adorns Biblical Child Rearing Book With 'Modern Family' Portrait He Found Via Google

    James ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2013 @ 07:26am

    Re: Re: I wonder if I will read articles here again

    Thank you for a cogent, passionate encapsulation of the beauty of atheism.

    As you lambast people for having faith, you display your own ignorance. Not because you're an atheist. But because you are an asshole. The two are not inextricably intertwined.

  • On the post: White House Says It Had 'No Role' In UK Detention Of David Miranda, But Did Have A 'Heads Up'

    James ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2013 @ 11:52am

    "We won't torture or Kill Eric Snowden."

    "We won't illegally detain the partner of a journalist who's engaged in acts we disagree with."

    "We won't abuse the power entrusted to us."

    SSDD

  • On the post: NSA Agents Told To Withhold Target Information From Those In Charge Of Oversight

    James ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2013 @ 08:09am

    Re: Re: Let me use this "one short sentence" approach:

    And, if you say something bad about google they can't (directly) detain you, arrest you, or incarcerate you.

    Here's a single sentence: The Constitution limits the federal government, not corporations.

    Here's another: Google doesn't have guns, jails, extraordinary rendition, or tax auditors to make your life hell.

  • On the post: The NSA Leaks Put Our 'Methods' At Risk, But Bragging About Monitoring Al Qaeda Emails Doesn't?

    James ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2013 @ 08:50am

    Re:

    Chewbacca!

  • On the post: Ed Snowden Explains To Former Senator, Who Emailed In Support, That No Foreign Gov't Can Access His Documents

    James ( profile ), 17 Jul, 2013 @ 12:44pm

    Re:

    re: wearing charges of villainy ...

    You left out the part about "doing so for those who were unwilling to do so."

    I love the way he called out his co-workers and Congress as cowards.

  • On the post: Way To Go Florida: Governor Signs Law That Accidentally Bans All Computers & Smartphones

    James ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2013 @ 05:37am

    Re: this is funny but

    what would be outrageous is police arresting and attorneys general prosecuting people using ordinary computers under the bad wording of this statute--NOT the bad wording itself. The bad wording does not necessarily or even usually produce the conceptually possible bad result based on the bad wording. This is one reason we have judges--they typically don't let cases move forward that fall outside reasonable interpretations of the law (and yes, this happened in all the criminal CFAA cases too, but let's leave those alone for now).


    Relying on prosecutorial discretion is a really, really bad idea. Just ask the kid who got bailed out on $500,000 for a stupid rant on Facebook, or Aaron, or Weev, or pretty much anybody that the government has decided holds views that are objectionable or contrary to good order and discipline within the state.

  • On the post: Yet Another Teen Making Stupid Jokes On Social Media Now Faces Years In Jail

    James ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2013 @ 10:46am

    "Why should I worry?"

    This is another data point in the argument against, "I haven't done anything wrong. Why should I care if the NSA monitors my every utterance and online post?"

    And for the Dad-haters - maybe, just maybe, the Old Man is hoping that others will learn, by the example of his son's incarceration, of the dangers of posting "casual" threats.

    Used to be, if you were in a "bad part of town," you'd keep your mouth shut about the way someone was dressed or how hot a woman looked - the local denizens might just inflict some instant justice on you for your freedom of expression.

    Now, the thugs wear suits (or uniforms) and use the courts, rather than their fists.

  • On the post: Candidate Obama Debating President Obama On Civil Liberties vs. Government Surveillance

    James ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2013 @ 10:35am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    re: AC said:

    The only way to get a representative sample of a population is to choose members randomly.


    Jury duty on steroids? So only people too committed or stupid to get out of Congress Duty will be making laws?

    Yes, that sounds good. What could possibly go wrong?

  • On the post: Steve Wozniak Speaks Out Against NSA Spying: This Is Not My America

    James ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2013 @ 08:41am

    Re:

    Who the heck are you, and what is your problem?

    I generally avoid feeding the trolls ... but I'm genuinely curious.

    What merits, exactly, do you think Mike is avoiding?
    How should they be addressed?
    Is it your contention that we should ignore the issue of governmental monitoring?

    If you don't have a coherent point to make, then go away. If you're willing to discuss the issue, or make a cogent argument as to why the issue shouldn't be discussed, say your piece.

    Or keep sniping, being the annoying gadfly that does little more than annoy the participants here.

  • On the post: Why The Tech Industry Should Be Furious About NSA's Over Surveillance

    James ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2013 @ 01:14pm

    How long till complete collase?

    Imagine how quickly the USPS would dry up and blow away if there was any question that every letter was going to be opened, and the contents recorded for posterity,before delivery.

    Secure competitors would spring up overnight.

  • On the post: 86 Companies And Groups Ask Congress To Put An End To Abusive NSA Spying

    James ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2013 @ 01:05pm

    Apparently Stop Watching Us has been hacked, as the link to their Privacy Policy is redirected to heroku.com.

    Who knows where the emails, names, and addresses of those who "Signed" the site have ended up.

    I don't mind standing up for my rights - I'll even stand up publicly. But it truly sucks when online "protests" are vulnerable to potential redirection of personal information.

    It's no-win:
    Don't use real info, and the "signatures" won't be taken seriously.

    Use real info, and Google only knows who gets copies of that info.

    Even if the SSL error I got is benign, the issue remains: just because "FightForTheFuture" says they're protesting, who's to know?

    ERROR MESSAGE FOLLOWS
    You attempted to reach www.fightforthefuture.org, but instead you actually reached a server identifying itself as *.heroku.com. This may be caused by a misconfiguration on the server or by something more serious. An attacker on your network could be trying to get you to visit a fake (and potentially harmful) version of www.fightforthefuture.org.
    eof

  • On the post: President Obama 'Welcomes' The Debate On Surveillance That He's Avoided For Years Until It Was Forced Upon Him

    James ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2013 @ 11:46am

    Politician ignores tough issue until forced to acknowledge it

    News at 11.

    Seriously ... where are the "old school" journalists who dared to ask tough questions? Of lots of people? And then report what they found out, even if it was tough to talk about?

    I'm not talking about Bill's under-the-presidential-desk un-sex, or JFK's affairs. I'm talking about Watergate, the Pentagon Papers, even Whitewater.

    Instead, the evening news is "Instant Index" "reports" of he latest viral video, and how many boobs Angelina has left.

    It's saddening. And now it's time for me to go have a beer and watch some Deadliest Catch reruns.

  • On the post: Leaked Document Shows The NSA Is Harvesting Call Data On Millions Of Verizon Subscribers

    James ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2013 @ 10:14am

    Re: Re: Re:

    "Refining," as in "making better." Not as in "never been done."

    A large American insurance company uses a HUGE database of policyholders, claims, physicians, and other data. Their fraud division routinely mines this data for connections that imply the possibility of fraud. On a simple level, it's "If a policyholder in the zip code 90210 has a claim for back injury as a result of auto accident and sees this doctor, investigate." In reality, it's far, far more complex.

    With the metadata the NSA has been collecting, at a simple level, it could be "Trace the connections involving three international calls, within 24 hours, of this bank of numbers of "known terrorists."

    So a Chechen-descended American citizen calls home, then calls his girlfriend, who calls her brother, who contacts a veterinarian, who is the same one I call for my cat's excessive hairball. The calls are each unrelated, but I am now "tagged" as being in the communication chain with the Boston Bomber.

    When it works, we get stories like this one http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/22/us-usa-explosion-florida-idUSBRE94L0J820130522 (except for the suspect dies in custody part).

    But "I have nothing to fear, so why should I care?" Well, through sheer coincidence, I'm now linked with the terrorists. And should another unlikely coincidence occur, I could well wake up to quasi-military police kicking down my door to ask some questions.

  • On the post: Leaked Document Shows The NSA Is Harvesting Call Data On Millions Of Verizon Subscribers

    James ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2013 @ 05:14am

    Re:

    The NSA has these new-fangled things called computers, that allow them to look at the data faster than humans can. Depending on what these "computers" are told to do (by people called "programmers"), the computers may be able to compare the call data and make unexpected connections.

    I wonder if there's a list of protesters' phone numbers somewhere.

  • On the post: NSA Says It Doesn't Spy On Americans As Obama Administration Defends Letting NSA Spy On Americans

    James ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2013 @ 10:18am

    What can we do about it?

    If you're an American voter ...
    You can email your senators and congressman from their officially provided web sites. You can get there via:
    http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

    and

    http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

    It only takes a couple of minutes to let your voice be heard.
    Speak up.
    Better yet, call your elected representatives' offices on your cell phone, and inform the person who answers that the call is being logged by the NSA.

  • On the post: Leaked Document Shows The NSA Is Harvesting Call Data On Millions Of Verizon Subscribers

    James ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2013 @ 05:44am

    If you haven't spoken up ...

    If you're an American voter ...
    You can email your senators and congressman from their officially provided web sites. You can get there via:
    http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

    and

    http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

    It only takes a couple of minutes to let your voice be heard.
    Speak up.