sigalrm 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Rep. Devin Nunes' Hypocrisy On Display In 'Concerns' Over NSA Surveillance

    sigalrm ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2017 @ 11:37am

    Oversight - You keep using that word. I do not think our elected political heroes think that it means what you think that it means.

    o·ver·sight
    noun
    1.
    an unintentional failure to notice or do something.
    "He said the committee's failure to pay the least bit of attention to the actions of the three-letter agency was an oversight"
    synonyms: mistake, error, omission, lapse, slip, blunder;

    Vs.

    2.
    the action of overseeing something.
    "effective oversight of the financial reporting process"

  • On the post: Officers Cite Nonexistent Law In Attempt To Prevent Citizen From Filming Them During A Traffic Stop

    sigalrm ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2017 @ 03:53pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Bizarre

    That would be a reaonsable start.

    Also, removing clear-cut conflicts of interest on the governmental side (civil asset forfeiture, for-profit incarceration, re-election). If we want to throw people in prison, fine, but it's on society to pay for it, so maybe we should think about how many of our tax dollars we want going towards keeping each class of offender incarcerated.

    Something else that might be worth considering is requiring a jury trial, and disallowing plea-bargains (with an actual, funded guarantee of competent defense). Possibly throw in outright dismissal of charges with financial reparations to the defendant for certain classes of crime if the trial cannot be completed in X amount of time if the delays are on the State side.

    There are lots of things that could change, but none of them are workable in an era where an "honest politician" can be most readily defined as "one that stays bought".

  • On the post: Officers Cite Nonexistent Law In Attempt To Prevent Citizen From Filming Them During A Traffic Stop

    sigalrm ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2017 @ 03:07pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Bizarre

    The double standard should nullify it, yes, but in practice it doesn't.

    Again, assuming it's even possible to fix at this point, it won't be easy, or quick.

  • On the post: Officers Cite Nonexistent Law In Attempt To Prevent Citizen From Filming Them During A Traffic Stop

    sigalrm ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2017 @ 12:02pm

    Re: Re: Bizarre

    Also, for everyone who's going to jump on the "but citizens don't get this benefit" diatribe:

    True. Citizens don't. Reality can suck at times. Society has to figure out how to deal with this, and it's not going to be easy.

  • On the post: Officers Cite Nonexistent Law In Attempt To Prevent Citizen From Filming Them During A Traffic Stop

    sigalrm ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2017 @ 12:00pm

    Re:

    Written statements are too easy to ignore.

    Better would be to set it up so that an MP3 of this being read is played every time the officer flips the switch to turn on the lights.

  • On the post: Officers Cite Nonexistent Law In Attempt To Prevent Citizen From Filming Them During A Traffic Stop

    sigalrm ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2017 @ 11:43am

    Re: Bizarre

    "I still don't see how a court justified the idea that it's ok for cops not to know the law."

    Frankly? Because the law is too complex for any single person to understand.

    from http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/ :

    Revised Code of Washington (RCW)
    The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws now in force. It is a collection of Session Laws (enacted by the Legislature, and signed by the Governor, or enacted via the initiative process), arranged by topic, with amendments added and repealed laws removed. It does not include temporary laws such as appropriations acts. The official version of the RCW is published by the Statute Law Committee and the Code Reviser.

    The RCW Index document - just the index - as of December 2016, is a 748 page PDF. It is single-spaced, uses a small (10 point)? font, and runs 3 columns per page. There are no blank pages that I noticed flipping through it.

    Those are just the state laws. Now, add in all of the County, City, and Tribal laws that a typical local LEO is expected to enforce, and you've built a system where officers can legitimately assume that anyone they're interacting with is breaking some law.

  • On the post: DHS Secretary Says Agency Is Planning On Demanding Foreigners' Social Media Account Passwords

    sigalrm ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2017 @ 11:54am

    Re: Re: Re:

    heh. Like "space".

  • On the post: DHS Secretary Says Agency Is Planning On Demanding Foreigners' Social Media Account Passwords

    sigalrm ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2017 @ 11:51am

    Re: Re:

    I wonder if Facebook allows the use of unprintable characters (like ) in their passwords?

  • On the post: DHS Secretary Says Agency Is Planning On Demanding Foreigners' Social Media Account Passwords

    sigalrm ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2017 @ 11:45am

    Re: Two-factor authentication

    "So what is the implementation plan here? "

    ICE Agent: "Thank you sir, now please log in and authorize the USG terror-detector app to access your account, Ok, we're good to go. Thank you, and have a nice day."

  • On the post: DHS Secretary Says Agency Is Planning On Demanding Foreigners' Social Media Account Passwords

    sigalrm ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2017 @ 11:37am

    Re: Re: Dear Social Media Platforms:

    No, they shouldn't have access.

    But they're going to. So now's a good time to start planning for it to happen.

  • On the post: DHS Secretary Says Agency Is Planning On Demanding Foreigners' Social Media Account Passwords

    sigalrm ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2017 @ 11:36am

    Re: Re: Re: Travelling to the US, Tip #01: Don't.

    I don't lock my luggage anymore, for US domestic travel at least.

    "Sorry officer, no idea what that might be. I didn't put it in there, and I didn't leave it alone until I handed it to the airline agent. How many people did you say handled my bag before you found it?"

    I also don't check anything of any value, but then, I never have.

  • On the post: DHS Secretary Says Agency Is Planning On Demanding Foreigners' Social Media Account Passwords

    sigalrm ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2017 @ 09:04am

    Dear Social Media Platforms:

    Time to Implement a "Read Only" duress password, that will allow the required access _but not_ allow posting, binding of applications and services, etc to the account.

    Think of it as a Valet Key for your social media account.

  • On the post: FBI Changes FOIA Policies, Tries To Route More Requesters To Fax Machines, Mailboxes

    sigalrm ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2017 @ 02:06pm

    Re: Re: Counter-Action

    that, or "talk to my lawyer", if you happen to have/know one.

  • On the post: FBI Changes FOIA Policies, Tries To Route More Requesters To Fax Machines, Mailboxes

    sigalrm ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2017 @ 01:57pm

    Re:

    If you're going to do this via snail mail, do yourself a favor and send it registered mail, signature / proof of delivery required.

  • On the post: Congress Tries Once Again To Require Warrants To Search Emails

    sigalrm ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2017 @ 08:08am

    Re: Re:

    CongressCritters saw first hand the importance of email in the last campaign, and none of them are really sure about what the FBI will do next time around.

    The "Email Privacy Act of 2017" is going to be the new "Video Privacy Protection Act" of 1988. The politicians have too much to lose from not protecting email at this point, and they know it.

  • On the post: San Francisco Police Department Kicks FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force To The Curb

    sigalrm ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2017 @ 08:28am

    Re: Re:

    "The amount of headache CA creates for the rest of the country is not worth any net gain. There is a reason very few are trying to prevent CA from seceding. I dont live there and would gladly donate to their cause. Happy to see them go."

    Yup. Because all those shipping ports with direct access to the Pacific, including being a major shipping lane for good to and from Asia, are just a tremendous drag on the US Economy.

    Nothing bad at all would happen to the US economy if the US were to lose direct access to those ports.

  • On the post: San Francisco Police Department Kicks FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force To The Curb

    sigalrm ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2017 @ 08:10am

    Re: Re: Re:

    "It takes foreskin to prevent this kind of attack on American core values. You can't let the bad people win. Just ask the Native Americans how immigration worked out for them."

    You do realize most men in America are circumcised, yes?

    Given that circumcision is an integral part of Judeo-Christian religious dogma, where do you propose we find sufficient quantities of uncircumcised men to protect us?

  • On the post: Our Humanity

    sigalrm ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2017 @ 12:49pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Asking

    Not being involved with either the US, Russian or Chinese governments, I can only speculate, but enhanced economic and military dominance jump to mind as obvious candidates. Enhanced long-term control over natural resources, globally speaking, is another candidate.

    All 3 of which become easier for them to accomplish if the US role in world affairs is diminished.

    Again, this is all speculative and opinion, and therefore easily shredded.

  • On the post: Our Humanity

    sigalrm ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2017 @ 12:08pm

    Re: Re: Asking

    "No need for complicated analysis"

    Yeah, and this is why the US is going to get our asses handed to us in the next 20-50 years: As a society we're functionally incapable of looking more than a couple years out, strategically speaking.

    China and Russia are playing long games with the US, and the US hasn't figured that out.

    Tactically, having a "friendly" US president is moderately useful.

    Strategically speaking, the US beginning taking action to withdraw from the international community and begin the voluntary process of alienating its Allies and Neighbors is absolutely priceless to Russia and China.

  • On the post: Do You Want A Police State? Because This Is How You Get A Police State

    sigalrm ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2017 @ 10:15am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    And you're welcome to feel that way. I won't say that you're wrong to be upset about those things, but it's important to understand that fear & anger are tightly coupled emotions in the human brain, and it's pretty common for anger to be a direct response to fear.

    I'm a sucker for quotes, so I'll channel Yoda on this one: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

    There's a lot more wisdom in that than most people realize.

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