Posts by Turtle

@Mark 85 Re: Swift Justice...

"the courts are backed up with all the copyright infringement cases, drug-related cases, and assorted class-actions suits for just about everything under the sun."

Apparently you are unaware that there are quite a number of different courts in the US. There are local, state, and federal courts, and there are civil and criminal courts of each species. All these courts (except possibly certain local courts) are further divided into various kinds with various remits. Small claims courts, juvenile courts, surrogate courts, appeals courts, trade courts, traffic courts, maritime courts, administrative courts, and many many more.

Additionally, since the people in the story were in federal criminal court, I'm wondering where you get the idea that their prosecution was delayed because the courts are jammed with criminal copyright infringement cases. How many criminal copyright infringement cases are currently ongoing? Care to enumerate them for us?

And there are NO federal criminal prosecutions of kids caught smoking marijuana in local parks - whatever drug cases there are would be for large-scale trafficking and similar. What percentage of Federal cases involve such?

Moreover, class-action suits are civil suits. How that would cause criminal prosecutions such as this one to be delayed is not altogether clear to me. Care to explain this too?

As for your Symantec class-action lawsuit: how much court time did it actually require? If you got a "settlement" as opposed to an award by a jury, then it probably took very little court resources. Perhaps you think that class-action suits ought to be outlawed - I'm sure every corporation and business in the US would be more than happy to support you in that.

And, of course, how much of that 3 years was due to the defense asking for continuances, as opposed to the prosecution requesting them, or a court calendar crowded with petty drug crimes and criminal copyright infringement prosecutions, as you seem to think?

A reasonably typical post from you, though.

@Charles Manning Re: Not pointless

"It makes money out of dumbshits. No more pointless than a Rolex."

From the buyer's perspective, showing off the fact that you have $200 to waste on light-bulbs is one thing, but showing off the fact that you have $10,000 to waste on a wristwatch is in another league entirely.

@Jason 24 Re: Wouldn't be worth it...

"Except for THC (incidentally good for fighting cancer)..."

Bullshit. Let's see your proof.

And that's the same problem with this anti-red meat agitation: these people have an agenda and it ain't about people's health.

@Keef Re: > or <

"Volkswagen has warned that the figure of 11 million cars that cheated in air-pollution tests may be larger than first thought."

I also giggled when I read that.

The intention was probably to write something along the lines of "Volkswagen has warned that the figure of cars that cheated in air-pollution tests may be larger than the 11 million first thought."

And we only needed to add one word, and move two. So, not exact, but very, very close.

Re: How to stop ICANN becoming FIFA of the internet

You mean it hasn't already?

Re: Pwn attack by unknown group = We haven't a clue what is going on here.

"This could be an attack by a pro-Russian group or it could be an attempt by some western power to make it look like the Russians are trying to muck up the investigation. We simply cannot tell (or rather I cannot tell) what is really going on from what is described in this Reg article. The bottom line is that the lives of 298 innocent people are still being used like pawns (pun intended) in a rather ugly power-struggle."

Oh? Only you can do that, then?

Or perhaps you think that you can remove the politics from it by repeating and enlarging the allegations - no matter how stupid your additions are.

@MJI Re: A strange one

Do not buy the myth of the clean hands of the Wehrmacht. Barbarity was officially encouraged in all German units - the war was officially and very publicly termed a "war of annihilation" and all German troops were expected to comport themselves accordingly.

@Mark 85 Re: The US goverment is slitting its country's own throat

"Wyden is one of the few who still believe in the Constitution and citizen's rights."

You could not be more wrong. Wyden, far from being on the side of "citizen's rights" is actually a Google hireling. And lemme know when Google reveals how much they've cooperated with, and profited from, the NSA.

Occasionally, Wyden might support something that benefits real human in addition to his masters at Google, in the same way that even a broken clock tell the correct time twice a day.

If Google decided that they could make big money in child porn, Wyden would be the first to explain why it should be legalized.

@ Vira Re: Satisfied Customer

"Whereas before we would each buy our own music every month - an album here, a few single tracks there - it would soon add up to far more than the Apple Music subscription cost."

"We all have the freedom to explore new music, revisit our favourite bands and get the latest releases."

Note that not only have you greatly diminished the amount of money that you spend on music but you have also managed to greatly diminish the income that your "favourite bands" earn for their music.

Of course, I not sure if you either 1) recognize that fact, or 2) care.

"Just my 2p."

Or less, if you can find a way.

@ Jagged Re: Hows the saying go?

"Any kid that can get through life with a name like that must have something their parents lacked."

"A Boy Named Sue".

@Primus Secundus Tertius Re: Coloured intuition

"Is Mr Butler non-white? Was the policemen's intuition guided by that?"

Want to see a racist? Look in a mirror.

@Fitz_ Re: I don't think the vast majority of people would even notice

I think that he meant to write "I see an (sic) mix of Android, Apple, Blackberry, and even Windows phones in the hands of my coworkers and fellow passengers. "

@Steve Davies 3

That's all very fine but keep the topic in mind. This woman lived to 116 years eating American bacon. Not UK bacon, not Canadian bacon.

I have no issue with people preferring any kind of bacon over any other kind of bacon, but if you want to live longer, the medically- and nutritionally-correct approach is: eat American bacon.

Or die young. Your choice.

Re: "Popularity"

"...when the 'smart' things replace the 'norma' things so you no longer have a choice, what do you do?"

Well the first thing you do, is wait 'till that happens. And it won't happen for a long, long time - assuming that it ever happens at all, which it might not.

What I find more likely is that manufacturers will eventually made legally liable for the security of their devices, and be forced to guarantee a device's initial security and provide for ongoing security maintenance. Expect that to greatly diminish the hare-brained "IoT" enthusiasm now on display - and guarantee the continued availability of "non-IoT" appliances.

@codejunky Re: Hmm

"Paying tax damages the business..." that has to both pay tax, and compete with businesses that don't.

Re: "It has taken many years, but governments are starting to enforce social laws in cyberspace."

"I don't really think we want sociopaths in responsible positions... oh.... wait..."

We generally don't. But for reasons too tedious to recite here, that's where many of them end up.

@Tim Worstal Re: Money Is...

"Nice analogy, might well steal it."

Makes me burst with pride!

@2+2=5 Re: Sometimes I wish I'd studied psychology...

No doubt this kind of behaviour has a name - perhaps someone can enlighten me?

"Malignant Narcissism". ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malignant_Narcissism )

He's a small-scale version of Levi Bellfield, if you follow the annals of crime in the UK.

(Don't fret about not having studied psychology; there's nothing wrong with having decided to be a mathematician.)

Dead.

"Isn't the main worry that dead South Korean's are still getting drugs?"

Don't worry about it. The dead can take all the drugs they want and it won't hurt them at all.

@Arnaut the less re: "Laugh-At-A-Cripple.com"

"laugh-at-a-cripple.com"

Maybe I'm naive, but I actually tried to log on to that site. Turns out, very surprisingly, that it doesn't exist. Color me gobsmacked.

Well here's the cripples - emotional cripples, at any rate - that I'm laughing at: McCullough and Cordray. I hope this follows them around for the rest of their lives. Because it really says something about them as people, or as they might prefer to have it, peeple.

Re: Can I start someone else's profile?

If I really had it in for someone, I could buy a throwaway prepaid phone at let's say $20 for prepaid minutes that will last a year from activation, and use that as the phone number of my intended victim.

Let the victim prove that it's not their phone number!