Slashdot Mirror

I just noticed this sub-thread. Some friends and I call those the "Scoreboard." And, when reasonably safe to do so, we'll usually go out and see how high we can get the numbers with safety and not getting caught being the objective. Camera based enforcement is not used near my home. I'm not even sure if it's lawful to use cameras for speed enforcement in my State.

We've got a pretty active ACLU (I donate a bunch 'cause they're that good) and some actually protective laws. They can't use the license plate readers without a warrant in Maine. That may sound a bit crazy but no... They're not allowed to do automatic license plate acquisition without a warrant and they need to store the data for something like less than thirty days. Having to have a warrant makes license plate readers kind of useless so we don't have them. I am not a lawyer so I'm not sure of all the details.

Ah - I just checked. It's 21 days. You can read it for yourself:
http://www.mainelegislature.or...

We just had a law take effect recently and that pretty much ensures that police must get a warrant to use a drone in an investigation and that it's gotta be a real warrant, we don't have a FISA court type of thing. You can see that law in PDF format at this link:
http://legislature.maine.gov/l... (It's probably at the first linked site as well.)

We have an "Implied Warranty of Merchantability." That means, if you sold it to someone in the State of Maine it has to be free from defect and operate (key word) as long as would be reasonably expected to operate. You can just Google that one.

I intentionally have DSL. It's on the phone lines so if my ISP annoys me, I can fire 'em. I can use any provider willing to service my area - even if they're in Hong Kong. The line owner has no choice but to lease the lines at a reasonable price (pretty much without profit) or our PUC can, and will, come stomping in.

The list goes on but I retired to Maine and one of the reasons that I selected Maine was the justice system. It's not perfect but it's pretty good. It's exceptionally good when compared to some of the other States.

Oh, ha... I went and looked - Camera speed and red-light enforcement is illegal in the State of Maine. (So aren't billboards.) But, yeah, they can't actually use those in my home state. The cops are not allowed. If they want to stop speeders, they can go out and patrol the roads. If they want to watch a light-controlled intersection (there aren't that many, really) then they can go sit in the intersection and watch that intersection.

They're not even allowed to hide their vehicles - that's entrapment in Maine. Not even an unmarked vehicle is allowed to do certain things, hiding is pretty much not allowed. A "speed trap" means the cop at least has his headlights on and clearly visible at night.

Well, now I've gone and done it. :/ I've not only babbled at you again but you'll be trying to move to Maine next. It's kind of nice to have a government that sometimes actually does the right thing.

Uniform Commercial Code, while not law itself, which has been incorporated into the laws of most US states, disagrees with you. That link is for Ohio, just one of many states which have incorporated UCC into its laws; see also: Maine, South Carolina, Nebraska, and Google, if you care for a more complete list (HINT: Louisiana is the only state that has not adopted UCC article 2, which applies here).

You OWN your home, even though its mortgaged. You are not leasing it. You are not renting it. It is yours to do with ANYTHING you please.

Actually, that's completely incorrect. If you have a mortgage, go read what you signed and initialized (about 25 times in various places). A contract is a contract. They can put what they want in it if it's legal, and if you sign it you have to follow it.

Here's one specific statute (Maine... it was first on Google search :) -

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/33/title33sec769.html

Provided nevertheless, except as otherwise specifically stated in the mortgage, that if the mortgagor, his heirs, executors or administrators pay to the mortgagee, his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns the principal and interest secured by the mortgage, and shall perform any obligation secured at the time provided in the note, mortgage or other instrument or any extension thereof, and shall perform the condition of any prior mortgage, and until such payment and performance shall pay when due and payable all taxes, charges and assessments to whomsoever and whenever laid or assessed, whether on the mortgaged premises or on any interest therein or on the debt or obligation secured thereby; and shall keep the buildings on said premises insured against fire in a sum not less than the amount secured by the mortgage or as otherwise provided therein for insurance for the benefit of the mortgagee and his executors, administrators and assigns, in such form and at such insurance offices as they shall approve, and, at least 2 days before the expiration of any policy on said premises, shall deliver to him or them a new and sufficient policy to take the place of the one so expiring, and shall not commit nor suffer any strip or waste of the granted premises, nor commit any breach of any covenant contained in the mortgage or in any prior mortgage, then the mortgage deed, as also the mortgage note or notes shall be void, otherwise shall remain in full force.

Please provide a government document, a code, ordinance, statute, etc (you know, a law) that states a person cannot call themselves an engineer

Here you go. http://mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_124th/billpdfs/HP018001.pdf

Please provide a specific instance where this is a punishable offense.

And here: http://www.pels.ca.gov/consumers/convicted.shtml

My point, and most others on this site, is that pretty much anyone can (legally) call themselves an engineer without facing any consequences from the law. Whether you feel they can call themselves an engineer or not is moot and a subjective point.

Clearly untrue.

You know they have this thing called Google nowadays that helps you find things on your own.

I've been told... actually, that's not good enough. I'm going to look it up.

OK, in Maine, under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A: Maine Criminal Code, Part 2: Substantive Offenses, Chapter 18: Computer Crimes, unauthorized access is a Class D crime, and unauthorized copying, computer resource damaging, and virus introduction is a Class C crime. The classes are defined as such:

• Class D: Crimes punishable by up to 364 days incarceration and a $2,000 fine
• Class C: Crimes punishable by up to 5 years incarceration and a $5,000 fine

If I recall correctly, beating up a small child is also a Class C crime. By printing or forwarding these emails, this person in the article could be accused of a Class C crime in Maine.

So yeah, the courts may actually try and be reasonable, but be bound and restricted by the unreasonableness and especially the vagueness of the law.

State that if the owner of the vehicle or lienholder has not properly retrieved it and paid all reasonable charges for its towing, storage and repair within 7 days from the publication, ownership of the vehicle passes to the owner of the premises where the vehicle is located

As an expat from Maine who still pays some attention to what goes on in his home state, I have already been a fan of state Rep Hannah Pingree for some time. She was the sponsor of an early law requiring a paper trail (and originally, but not in the final version passed, open source software) in electronic voting machines. I wrote about it here. Well, I went to the title page of the legislation, and there's Representative PINGREE from North Haven as one of the co-sponsors.
Additionally, Rep. Pingree has become the majority leader in the Maine state legislature. I am a fan of Ms. Pingree's work and look forward to following her political career. I'm torn, though. She seems to be effective in the state legislature, but since Tom Allen has announced he will run for Senate against Susan Collins, that leaves Allen's first district US House seat available. I've heard rumors that both Hannah Pingree and her mother, Chellie Pingree, were both considering running for that seat. Much as I like Hannah's work in the state legislature, I start to wonder if she couldn't get some stuff done on the Federal level. I'd like to have somebody with a background like Hannah Pingree's (voting machine legislation and net neutrality being the two "nerd issues" relevant to this discussion, but there are others on which I agree with Ms. Pingree) representing Maine in DC.
What kills me is the fact that, although I identify with Maine and still have a clue what's going on in Maine, I have to vote absentee in Federal elections (Congress, Senate, President) in the district in California that was the last place I lived in the USA. Even though I lived for 8 years in California, I do not identify as strongly with the state (it was a great place to live, but I'm from Maine) and, despite it getting a lot more media attention, I am not really up on California state legislation and politics. I don't need to be, because since I'm an expat, I only get to vote in Federal elections, but I really wish I could vote in the state with which I identify instead of the last place I happened to live before leaving the USA.
I recently found out that friend of mine from childhood and adolescence is now a state rep in Maine. I just saw him a few weeks ago at my 20 year high school reunion. I didn't know about LD 1675 when I saw him, but I've already shot him an e-mail asking him about it. I'm almost sure he would vote the way I would. Even if I didn't know him and like him from when we were kids, he seems to be a politician I could like based on the issues and based on his way of doing things. Anyway, I'm following legislative and political goings-on in Maine in part because Maine is my home state, but also because Hannah Pingree (and, it turns out, a friend from my childhood) is doing things there that make me proud to be a "Downeastah."

Ayuh.

Call me weird, anti-/. or something, but I've read the bill (it's not that long, really), and it seems actually quite good.

Some interesting bits (my interpretation, IANAL etc; check the real stuff if you're into legalese):

• ISPs can still block spam/porn/attacks... as long as the customer is clearly notified of such filtering and can opt out

• However ISPs aren't allowed to, say, collect money from content providers for 'improved' service... bye Goodmail! :-)

• ISPs can implement some QoS (good!) but only based on the type of service, not its source/destination/ownership/content... In sync with this post by jonwil, who I fully agree with.

• Users can attach to their PC any device they want unless it "substantially degrade[s]" others' service -- Hello Wi-Fi sharing? :-]
  (this however certainly doesn't shield you from trouble if your line is used for illegal stuff)

All in all, seems pretty well-thought. Good job Maine. I can't see a nasty flaw, loophole, unnecessary burden put on ISPs or end-users...; did anyone spot some problem I missed?

Perhaps now the best thing would be to contact your representative legislators and let them know that Maine has set an example that should be followed...HOWEVER...and this is a BIG HOWEVER...

We should be careful before celebrating and actually READ the resolution. I must admit that I have not read the resolution and while everything looks great on the surface, sometimes, we the people, end up getting duped into thinking our rights have been preserved when in fact they were diminished. I doubt that is the case here, but we should read the resolution with magnifying glasses before celebrating and promoting it.

Here is the bill text from Maine's website which must be behind the times because the leading page still reads, "Not yet determined"

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/billte xts/LD167501.asp

Leading page:
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/LD.asp ?LD=1675

Well...I've got some reading to do :) - Zapped.Info

Perhaps now the best thing would be to contact your representative legislators and let them know that Maine has set an example that should be followed...HOWEVER...and this is a BIG HOWEVER...

We should be careful before celebrating and actually READ the resolution. I must admit that I have not read the resolution and while everything looks great on the surface, sometimes, we the people, end up getting duped into thinking our rights have been preserved when in fact they were diminished. I doubt that is the case here, but we should read the resolution with magnifying glasses before celebrating and promoting it.

Here is the bill text from Maine's website which must be behind the times because the leading page still reads, "Not yet determined"

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/billte xts/LD167501.asp

Leading page:
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/LD.asp ?LD=1675

Well...I've got some reading to do :) - Zapped.Info

I'm not sure if it's because of me (a /.er who's been doing a "Chicken Little" impression about electronic voting for a couple of years now) or because of Ben Cohen's (as in "Ben," the founder of Ben & Jerry's, tho' he's no longer working there) organization, True Majority, which has been sending her e-mails about e-voting, among other issues, but my mom has gotten into this issue. She lives in Maine and sent me an e-mail about an act recently passed in the Maine Legislature entitled An Act to Ensure the Accurate Counting of Votes. Note: navigation is a bit weird on the linked site-- if you go to the text of the Act, the whole text of the bill will not appear on a single page. You will have to use the arrows at the top and bottom of the pages to navigate around through the Act. You can also download a copy in M$ Word format.
Oh yeh-- there's an amendment. To see it, click on the "Amendments" link on the "Bill Text and Other Docs" page, or click here.
This is a sweet little piece of legislation. My favorite parts: it prohibits networking the voting machines, requires the voting machine software to be open source, and requires the voting machines to print paper ballots that are inspected by the voter and then placed into a ballot box. I am deeply impressed with this, and with the sponsor, Maine State Representative Hannah Pingree.
Here's a question: does anybody other than the OVC have a product that meets the criteria specified in the Act?
Responding to the parent post, I'll say that Maine can be considered a "backwater state," and its legislature has produced what appears to me to be a kick-ass piece of legislation on e-voting that explicitly requires open source software. Do big, rich, important states like California have such good legislation? I think not. Score one for the backwater states!

--Mark

PS: if you're near a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop, go there next Tuesday, April 27, and take advantage of Free Cone Day!!!

I'm not sure if it's because of me (a /.er who's been doing a "Chicken Little" impression about electronic voting for a couple of years now) or because of Ben Cohen's (as in "Ben," the founder of Ben & Jerry's, tho' he's no longer working there) organization, True Majority, which has been sending her e-mails about e-voting, among other issues, but my mom has gotten into this issue. She lives in Maine and sent me an e-mail about an act recently passed in the Maine Legislature entitled An Act to Ensure the Accurate Counting of Votes. Note: navigation is a bit weird on the linked site-- if you go to the text of the Act, the whole text of the bill will not appear on a single page. You will have to use the arrows at the top and bottom of the pages to navigate around through the Act. You can also download a copy in M$ Word format.
Oh yeh-- there's an amendment. To see it, click on the "Amendments" link on the "Bill Text and Other Docs" page, or click here.
This is a sweet little piece of legislation. My favorite parts: it prohibits networking the voting machines, requires the voting machine software to be open source, and requires the voting machines to print paper ballots that are inspected by the voter and then placed into a ballot box. I am deeply impressed with this, and with the sponsor, Maine State Representative Hannah Pingree.
Here's a question: does anybody other than the OVC have a product that meets the criteria specified in the Act?
Responding to the parent post, I'll say that Maine can be considered a "backwater state," and its legislature has produced what appears to me to be a kick-ass piece of legislation on e-voting that explicitly requires open source software. Do big, rich, important states like California have such good legislation? I think not. Score one for the backwater states!

--Mark

PS: if you're near a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop, go there next Tuesday, April 27, and take advantage of Free Cone Day!!!