Slashdot Mirror
Phoenix Police Seize PCs of a Blogger Critical of the Department
logicassasin sends in a story about a blogger in Phoenix, AZ, who runs a site that is critical of the local police department. The police recently raided his home and seized his computer hardware. "Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, said the officers confiscated three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging. The 41-year-old software engineer said they also confiscated numerous personal files and documents relating to a pending lawsuit he has against the department alleging harassment — which he says makes it obvious the raid was an act of retaliation." A local publication quotes Pataky saying, "We have heard internally from our police sources that they purposefully did this to stop me... They took my cable modem and wireless router. Anyone worth their salt knows nothing is stored in the cable modem."
Which is exactly why I've stuck a flash drive in mine that I can run a USB cable to when I want to do some "backups to my modem".
Wink wink.
This guy's obviously already been in court. ACLU time, and even up to the supreme court. The Phoenix police department is about to get a federal raping.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
When the Police came for the bloggers,
I remained silent;
I was not a blogger.
Then they locked up the rich,
I remained silent;
I was not rich.
Then they came for the gun owners,
I did not speak out;
I was not a gun owner.
Then they came for the press,
I did not speak out;
I was not a member of the press.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
"I know that every word that man just said is true, because it's EXACTLY what I wanted to hear." -- Space Ghost
This is what happens when panic'd decisions are made. The police force thinks they can go in and silence the whole thing with a BS warrant and put an end to it, only for the story to be picked up nation wide and now they're drawing way more attention than ever.
Serves them right. This looks like a clear cut abuse of power by the department and now that the story is national, hopefully some heads will roll.
How long before people understand the Streisand Effect??
This just seems like bullying(who started it and why is something else). Do cops not know of internet cafe's? freedom of speech? or are people just willfully ignorant of reality around them. Like the town that tossed out google streetview. If I close my eyes the bad people can't see me cause i can't see them?
one day I hope humanity grows up? unfortunately I will have been long since dead.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Harassing a critic is just a bonus, what the police really wanted was the names of the internal informants so that they can be silenced.
No informants = No credible criticism.
...to explicitly layout stronger civil and criminal penalties for abuse of office in the US.
Use of the office to start an unjustified war, death and 50 million dollars or 50% of your wealth whichever is greater.
Use of the office to murder, death and 50% of assets.
Use of the office to take bribes, death and repayment of any contracts lost by competing companies.
Use of the office to facilitate violence or cause violence against a person, 25 years to life.
Use of the office to intimidate, threaten or harass, 15 years.
Use of the office to deny someone their constitutional rights, 5 years.
Anyone want to help get this on the ballot in 50 states while we still have the populist fervor going?
Public servants need to be held to a higher standard because of the amount of power they have been given. If we continue allowing politicians and police to be above the law than we have lost our way as a people. We need to remake the laws so that this sort of thing carries penalties that these police officers and district attorneys will be forced to reckon with when they demonstrably are routinely operating as criminals with badges and warrants.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Accidentally modded you wrongly, posting to undo
Orwell got everything right except the year. The Thought Police are now a reality, at least in Phoenix.
Phoenix? Minneapolis? It looks like its really all the same.
...that law enforcement agencies are still foolish enough to harass people in such a public and blatant way. Over time they will gain more technical expertise and find other, more difficult to detect, methods of harassing citizens who dare to criticize them. I fear the day when the police get a little bit smarter about disguising their abuses of power. Until then it will continue to be relatively easy to bring the enforcers of law to justice.
It's only going to bite us once the police report what he may have been actually doing, or what was not published. Where I find it horrible that they would do it for no reason, I also find it unlikely that they would go to such efforts, when it is obvious that it was retaliatory. My guess is there's more than they reported or know.
It's all fun and games till someone divides by 0. Then it's hilarious.
I don't live in a police sta%%%CARRIER DISCONNECT%%%
IBM doesn't play chess with the Universe.
I don't think you have a way to silence him.
Enjoy your Streisand Effect.
Second, this appears to be a simple domestic dispute. Guy gets a divorce and wife starts accusing him of what he says are false claims. Judge, probably just seeing that this couple can't stand each other, and probably does not want to waste time sorting out the truth, just drops the charges. Who knows who is telling the truth in such cases. I know people who have been accused of cutting other peoples phones off to harass them. I know for a fact that they didn't do it how can you prove it one way or another?
So what does this guy do. Start collecting 'tips' from persons inside the department and posting these accusations online. OK, that makes sense, you get slandered by unsubstantiated charges, so you go out and do the same? This is a good way to make friends with the police. Tell the world that one of them is a child molester, even though it may or may not be true. I telling you this is what I live for. Trying to do my job by helping two people that are too immature and uncivilized to get along with each other, I mean the police are required to investigate any reasonable charge, and then what do I get. My face plastered on the internet as a child molester. Oh yeah, that brightens my day.
Predictably this guy goes too far and gets himself in trouble and the police uses the excuse to take out a problem. Again, overkill, but so is calling a soon-to-be cop a child molester on the internet is not the way to go, especially when all the documentation is apparently yet to be delivered.
Arizona seems to have it's share of messed up policing, but there must be a better way to go about this than ranting on the internet with unsubstantiated claims.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
The smart powerful interests will use third parties to indirectly harass you.
If you are bothering me, maybe I'll anonymously let your kid's principal know your kid is under investigation for drug smuggling. This may lead to a locker search that might not find drugs but might find something else. In any case, it will stress out your kid and that might lead to family stress.
Even if I'm not low-life enough to drag kids into it, I may arrange for your sister or parents to be given some "extra scrutiny" or otherwise mess with them. Maybe I'll arrange for someone to steak your brother's license plate so he'll have to go to the time and trouble to replace it.
Are you a member of a non-profit board? Start a rumor that the non-profit isn't as squeaky-clean as the public believes. The resulting investigation will cost them time, energy, money, and possibly donations.
All of this is pretty petty, but a bunch of such things over time add up. While I'm not judging the Phoenix police, In the abstract, we are after all talking about organizations who obviously don't care about hurting people.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gr4RsI2V6Y
Check out the video. Some college kids from the UofO are out in the "Ken Kezzie Free Speech" plaza in Eugene protesting the spraying of pesticides and get harassed by the cops and the taserd.
I mean look at the kids out there, 18 or 19, doing one of the great things about this country and that is letting you're thoughts be voiced.
This is crazy!
Something tells me he hasn't heard of the mysterious black smoke.
those police folks - aren't they?
One has to wonder how they react in a real emergency situation. One can feel very protected by this kind of police....
I predict that they "find" kiddie porn on his computer.
âoeThey broke into my safe and took the backups of my backups,â he said in a phone interview with Photography is Not a Crime on Wednesday.
Let us use this as an instructive moment: Always keep important backups at a seperate physical location.
Especially if we are dealing with information that important, powerful, or underhanded people may want destroyed.
Mod points: Guaranteed to remove your sense of humor.
Side effects may include gullibility and temporary retardation
"It's only going to bite us once the police report what he may have been actually doing .. My guess is there's more than they reported or know"
.. Inept, Dishonest and Just Plain Wrong! Internal Corruption within the 4th Floor of the Phoenix Police Department, under Wanna-Be (Chief) Jack Harris"
.. The Daily News also reported that several other shop owners went through the same experience that year from the same group of cops, only to return from jail to find their store looted"
"Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops
The link at the top of Badphoenixcops points to a video of cops cutting the wires to video cameras before they help themselves to the owners goods and money
"once the cameras were not functioning, police proceeded to loot almost $10,000 in cash as well as several cartons of cigarettes
davecb5620@gmail.com
The guy was, at best, running an ongoing campaign of character assassination against certain Phoenix police officers. No crime there, although what he said may have been libelous. But if he was accusing police officers of breaking the law, then it is his duty as a citizen to present his evidence to whatever the local equivalent of the Internal Affairs Department is. If he was withholding that evidence, he was obstructing justice.
Bloggers aren't journalists. They don't have to live up to any standards of ethical journalism, and so they don't get protection for their sources. If that's what he's claiming, he's going to get a rude shock.
Bottom line is, we don't have all the facts. Phoenix isn't some podunk town. It's hard for me to imagine that both the cops and a judge in a large metropolitan area would do something this egregious.
I piss off bigots.
accused him of harassing her. Angry, he went on to complain to the mayor, the police and anyone else who would listen. When he ultimately was charged (even though it was later dropped), he got mad at the police and went after them, going so far as to make and photograph duplicate name plates of various police officers. What do you want to bet his wife was right about the harassement to begin with ?
I am not saying that justifies the actions of the Phoenix PD, just that this guy apparently enjoys being an asshole. While there's no crime in that, it does make me wonder whether what he says is credible or spiteful.
I am a little frightened by the willingness of most of you to accept this without any corroboration. Searching the web I find no real reporting on this just blogs already predisposed to an anti-lawenforcement bias. And these blogs are just linking to the original story. Not saying it didn't happen, things like this do sadly happen, but shouldn't we have a higher standard.. I mean this isn't digg.
That is freedom.
Real freedom is not support for popular ideas but defense of the right to think stupid things, believe abhorrent things, and spread those ideas to others.
And the faith that in a truly free marketplace of ideas, Nazi ideas and ideals will fail.
Wow, so let me get this right, he is in a lawsuit against the Phoenix PD for harassment, they seize the computers that contain the harassment evidence for 'unrelated' reasons; I wonder if this is more than retaliation, a quick sneak peak at his sources, evidence, etc...... talk about stacking the deck. I'll bet there will be goat.se or alter boy photos found somewhere on his system.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
I'm wondering how long it will take to use pirating as an excuse to seize equipment for harassment purposes. The police get the records from the ISP, discovers their target has had a lot of torrent activity, and gets a warrant.
The Internet is generally stupid
Do you know why the took his stuff?
Do you know anything about the story other than what he said?
Do you know every single criminal on the planet says 'I'm guilty and this is police harassment'?
Other than a blog post, do you have any evidence to support his story?
Fortunately, I don't have to count on you to protect me from criminals.
Fortunately, I'm not consumed by this paranoia that the government is out to get me. This allows me to just wait until someone gathers some ACTUAL FACTS about the story before drawing conclusions.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
heh, bad post, criminals say 'I'm not guilty and this is police harassment'.
Really ruins the smugness of a post when you have to correct it yourself afterwords.
Damnit
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
It's possible that because of a lack of knowledge of where the information is actually stored, they thought they were actually removing the blogs, not just his tools, and if some 'unfortunate accident' were to happen to the equipment, the critical information would be gone.
If there is a possible conflict of interest, the agency should have the option of requesting an *outside* agency, such as the FBI, perform such a raid, and perhaps even review the merit of the raid. Judges are to recuse themselves if they know of a possible conflict of interest in a case. The same should apply to cops.
Table-ized A.I.
Maybe it will work out better for you than it did for him.
FYI, the "Minne" comes from a native american word for "water." That's why there's lots of similar names: Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnehaha, etc. So "Minneapolis" is a mishmash of the two.
Moderators: Before moderating a comment Insightful/Informative, check to see if a child post has already refuted it.
Humanity will grow up and idiots like this guy will stop taunting people who can make their life a living hell...
Why are you blaming the victim? By your logic, the Blacks should've stopped trying to escape from slavery. Women should've just gotten over the whole suffrage and rape-within-marriage ordeal.
Your logic is bad, and you should feel bad.
Like all humans, the slashdot crowd does not learn from history. That's "history" spell R-E-I-S-E-R.
Moderators: Before moderating a comment Insightful/Informative, check to see if a child post has already refuted it.
No, don't try to pretend you don't understand me. If you publish the fact that you have evidence of a crime, but you don't offer that evidence to law enforcement -- and especially if you name the criminal -- you've committed a crime yourself. The guy laid himself open. I suspect he's not nearly as well-versed in the law as he thinks he is.
Contrary to what you may think, in America you can't just set up a website and anonymously accuse people of crimes on it. It's libel at best, and may be criminal. If you don't understand that, then for your own sake, stay off the Internet.
I piss off bigots.
This article is dedicated to all of those who say "I have nothing to hide, let them watch me"
This is disgusting. The Phoenix Police will hopefully soon learn that they can not bully & intimidate a civilian that is standing up for his rights against corruption and abuse.
America is a lie.
"First, they ignore you. Then, they laugh at you. Then, they fight you. Then, you win." - Gahndi
Or something like that
If you have dirt on the police department, you keep a copy somewhere safe and outside of their jurisdiction. Its worked well for me.
Have gnu, will travel.
If his story is to be believed he has 50-100 current or retired "good" cops secretly providing him tips and information about the "bad" cops. If true I suspect that the raid is less about shutting him down than it is shutting the informants down by discovering their identities. Cops hate cops that rat on cops.
Didn't Gandhi get killed, thus losing in the end?
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Anyone worth their salt knows nothing is stored in the cable modem.
I don't know about the USA, but in France, all major ISPs provide their customers with "boxes" that can not only act as a modem/router/wireless access point, but also provide phone service over IP, IPTV, and sometimes include a hard drive for PVR functionality; mine can even act as a FTP server (that's an advertised functionality), with either the included hard drive or even a USB flash drive plugged into the box.
Anyone worth their salt knows that, right? Anyway, I don't expect the police to be fully aware of the latest advances in consumer hardware, so I don't think it's completely illegitimate for them to seize anything that looks related to computing equipement.
Here's a couple of laws that apply. The police conspired, under color of law, to deprive him of his rights guaranteed by the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments.
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241
Conspiracy Against Rights
This statute makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person of any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the United States, (or because of his/her having exercised the same).
It further makes it unlawful for two or more persons to go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another with the intent to prevent or hinder his/her free exercise or enjoyment of any rights so secured.
Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to ten years, or both; and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years, or for life, or may be sentenced to death.
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242
Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law
This statute makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to willfully deprive or cause to be deprived from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S.
This law further prohibits a person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to willfully subject or cause to be subjected any person to different punishments, pains, or penalties, than those prescribed for punishment of citizens on account of such person being an alien or by reason of his/her color or race.
Acts under "color of any law" include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the bounds or limits of their lawful authority, but also acts done without and beyond the bounds of their lawful authority; provided that, in order for unlawful acts of any official to be done under "color of any law," the unlawful acts must be done while such official is purporting or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. This definition includes, in addition to law enforcement officials, individuals such as Mayors, Council persons, Judges, Nursing Home Proprietors, Security Guards, etc., persons who are bound by laws, statutes ordinances, or customs.
Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and if bodily injury results or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined or imprisoned up to ten years or both, and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
-- Will program for bandwidth
So if you read the article with any sense of fairness rather than biasing yourself against the police, I find it pretty hard to believe anything this man has to say.
Lets look at the bullet points:
So he began filing complaints with everybody from Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon down to Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris to no avail. He was eventually indicted for harassing his ex-wife.
So lets recap ... he gets accused of harassment, and promptly responds to that by harassing city officials ... uhm ... FIRST RED FLAG.
He proceeds to follow up with a website damning the cops for not helping him. Let me give you a hint, no one rushes to help assholes like this.
Next he says he's getting tips from 'good cops'. I call complete bullshit here. The cops of all people would know who to talk to up the chain of command at the state or federal level to get something done about this if they had any real information. They don't. Any tips he's getting are likely just the start of witch hunts on people they are trying to get even with.
I have no doubt that there are corrupt cops in Phoenix.
I also have no doubt that this guy is a douche bag who probably deserves more than he's going to get for starting a bunch of shit based on unsubstantiated 'tips' from what are most likely the corrupt cops themselves. Those that scream the loudest are typically the ones breaking the rules the most.
This is a prime example of why anybody who trusts 'blogs' as a source of news is, to put it nicely, completely ignorant and should be terminated as soon as possible.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
This guy's first contact with the police department stems from a messy divorce, and charges of harassment and stalking. While this story is interesting, I'm afraid to just take his word for anything. This will take some digging, to determine who the bad guys really are. Yeah, on the face of it, the Phoenix police overstepped their authority. Whether that be true or not, they look to be pretty heavyhanded. BUT, what do we NOT know concerning the case? I reserve judgement, personally. If the "hero" of the story is 100% credible, then I sure hope he has good lawyers. One doesn't go up against a police force with a half-assed plan.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Look it up.
Don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon.
Gahndi won. India is free today. Some people have greater goals than their own self-preservation. That is the concept behind medals, and other forms of recognition. In fact, that is the concept behind serving one's country - in the military, or otherwise.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Especially when you went to the trouble of using "Dear Moron" for a subject line. Sure puts your priorities in perspective. Officer.
This is fascism. And it must be stopped at Every Instance.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
It's a shame that with 190+ posts not a single mention of encryption is to be found. Are we geeks or are we a barbershop? There should be an open invitation from those of us who know about encryption to help bloggers like this guy setup pgp for email and a truecrypt file if not full-drive encryption so raids like this, while succeeding in making the raiders look foolish, have the added feature that no data will be compromised.
And where were you coming from?
And what makes you presume that you have rights here?
The only right you really have here is the right to remain silent!
I'm in a bad mood
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
How do you turn it on? How do you charge the batteries? The best way of storing info like this is encrypt everything and send it to a gmail account. Call it birthday photos or something...
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_saints
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
Probable cause of what exactly?
They're using their grammar skills there.
when I come take your computer because it was actually stolen from my dad in the first place, doesn't make me a corrupt cop or guilty of being evil
Exactly where does it say the computer was stolen? Or is this misdirection and FUD?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I don't want my tax money going to pay these guys either, but when you give money to an organization to pay its obligations and they do, you can't get upset about it. Better to have let them go out of business, which was my position, and avoid the situation altogether.
I'm with you on tax money going to these people but I find it hypocritical when the admin says the AIG execs had contracts and had to be paid but the UAW workers should take pay cuts, when they also have contracts. They all, AIG, Detroit, and other financial businesses, should have been made to declare bankruptcy. Those that made bad decisions would then be out of business while those who chose not to make bad decisions would still be around. Those still around may even have been able to buy those bankrupt and turned them around.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
That is one of the most insightful posts I've seen here, and it's sad that it has not been modded accordingly.
I can only give you a hearty Well Said!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Using the office to put future generations into debt beyond reckoning should result in jail. Using the office to write laws to deprive them of their property (to include cash) for merely punitive matters should result in jail time.
I don't know why so many don't see their money being taken as a violation of their rights. It is the profit of your labor yet so many turn a blind eye to its taking and outright abusive spending.
Why should locals care? We let Congress run amok all the time so its not like the locals won't get their air of aristocracy about themselves as well. Don't worry, you will get to pay for their golden retirements too. Too many locals when booted for any reason from office hold on to their cherry pensions.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This is what happens when panic'd decisions are made. The police force thinks they can go in and silence the whole thing with a BS warrant and put an end to it, only for the story to be picked up nation wide and now they're drawing way more attention than ever.
Serves them right. This looks like a clear cut abuse of power by the department and now that the story is national, hopefully some heads will roll.
What national media?
A quick search of google news for "arizona blogger raid" produces one result from "prison planet".
whooo.. national media attention!
I think the "national media" has been throughly co-opted by multinational conglomerates for decades now, and is conspicuously silent.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Humanity will grow up and idiots like this guy will stop taunting people who can make their life a living hell...
For your sake I hope you're right but there isn't enough info, evidence, to support your claim he's an idiot, or a criminal.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I predict that they "find" kiddie porn on his computer.
This guy has predicted the future.
I can't wait to see it on the news.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
My logic is fine, your jumping to conclusions about who the actual victim is is bad. You have no clue what actually happened, just the word of some blogger who by his own work hates cops.
And how does your logic conclude he's guilty? Or that he hates cops? What I get from both articles is that he hates bad cops, not all. He even uses cops as sources of information.
When someone starts off by saying 'I hate cops because they are all corrupt, and these corrupt cops are attacking me because I'm telling other people they are corrupt' its generally a good sign they aren't exactly telling you the whole truth.
I read then searched both articles for "hate". One did not contain it at all and the other only hard the word in comments made by others. Can you show me where either article says he said "I hate cops because they are all corrupt"? Do you have another source for this, or are you putting words in his mouth?
You've already decided who's guilty
By making him out to say "I hate cops because they are all corrupt" you're not doing the exact same thing but you're making things up too.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
http://badphoenixcops.blogspot.com/
Obviously the AZ police didn't like what this guy was publishing. I figure the more exposure it gets, the better.
He's fortunate to not have been beaten half to death while they were at it. It's very easy for the police to claim he "assaulted" them.
I shut the fuck up the minute he wagered *ten*dollars*. On *Slashdot*.
If that fucker don't know what he's talking about I don't know who does.
I've known a lot of people who said stuff like "I bet X money" who didn't know squat about something. I've said it myself.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
And don't give me that bullshit 'they are just kids' crap, that excuse has been used far too many times. If you think they are old enough to drive a car on their own, I think they are old enough to know when they are about to get their asses kicked for being morons.
They're old enough to be stopped from protesting but they're not old enough to drink?
If we stop using pesticides, those same kids will be even more unhappy when they starve to death because we can't produce enough food
Organic farmers, who are barred from using most pesticides, do it all the tyme.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
who was railroaded during the elections, has been completely exhonorated.
"Exhonorated"? If you mean he was relieved of a burden, yes he was but if you mean he was cleared of wrong doing you're wrong. Stevens may well have been innocent but the charges were dropped because he was wrongly convicted, the prosecutors withheld evidence and such from defense.
We got screwed out of one of the few honest politicians in the Senate
You can't possibly talking about the same Senator Ted Stevens who earmarked millions of taxpayer dollars for a Bridge to Nowhere. But what other Senator Ted Stevens is there?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live--did live, from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."
I just got a $1200 ticket for driving an off road vehicle about 100 yards on the dirt shoulder.
that's $950 for no insurance and $250 for registration. FYI, the fines for speeding or other "dangerous" activities are far less.
Oh, and here's an interesting story from the Parker 425 race a few years ago. At the start of the race, the vehicles haul ass down the road and make a hard left. On the outside of that turn, there was a cop car and a bunch of spectators were standing behind it (because they wouldn't want to get hit by a race truck if it missed the turn). Just before the race started, the cop got in his car and moved it directly behind the crowd of spectators, leaving nothing between the crowd of people and race trucks driving straight at them. Clearly the public safety was of no concern to this particular law enforcement officer.
Here's a link to the feedback form on their website:
http://phoenix.gov/EMAIL/svfdback.html/
Perhaps if a ton of Slashdotters leave them critical feedback of what they did, it might knock some sense into them. (I would maintain a level of courtesy in the message, if you choose to do this. It's harder to disregard when it's kept civil.)
What excuse did the cops offer for the raid and seizures? If this story is half true these cops need a lot of years in prison. If it is all true then throw the key away!
No, he wanted an independent India, which is what India is, so he won.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
In my opinion, it's not really a great way to "win". I really don't consider it "winning", if the game to win is to die.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Yeah, the fines for violating it would probably exceed the $1000. ;-)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
This is the same state where the owners and operators of the New Times were arrested for exposing extreme judicial misconduct by prosecutors;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_New_Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/business/media/19cnd-arrest.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=login
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/99912
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13508_3-9800829-19.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21376598/
Between "speed tax" photo radar on freeways and "Nickel Bag" Joe Arpaio in Arizona, I would definitely call the state highly prosecutorial against it's citizens.
So this either means they're going to have internal documents requested under discovery, but for a trial against them, or for this whole "internal leaks" thing?
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
See? Never criticize Barry here, or you go to Slashdot prison.
You'ld be an idiot to speak as a "member" of the press.
I operate a press from time to time; either pressing my words to paper or deriving an illustration of note to seal an instrument of value pertaining to property warehoused for wait of draw to its apprised value on a certain time (a cheque).
In other words, the freedom of the press tends to banking, communion, travel, as well as speaking one's own mind. It's three-fold, and any alleged Constitution that breaks it down to a form of maintenance in itself as to be a "member" that would deny any non-member to the same secured right of one's interest would be a pervertion to the laws of nature in and by itself.
A news company or news corporation is a silly manner of veiling one's movement. Diversity of citizenship evinced in the First Judiciary Act should be discerned. United States by any alleged "matter" of suit would prove it a corporation (US Code Title 27, Sec 3002 15b), not the style to a conjoined or unioned body-politic
There is so much contraband drugs going through that place that the druggy "lords" send their runners through there with specific instructions to not return until the full value of the drugs has been collected. Often when the alleged "authorities" of policin seize a shipment of drugs, the runners have been recently looking towards seizing any of the nearby disarmed populous to hold them ransom for the value of drugs they need to restate their favor to their deployer.
This is why war is a crime; drug dealers never forced me to buy their wares, and when a bunch of jack-booted thugs seize the non-HMO's drugs then the non-violent will always suffer. Should kick-out anyone that deprives you of your ability to conduct business peacefully independent. "COPS" don't pay the bills, and aren't even on a service roll but to a corporation having contract to the municiple corporation that incorporated the township into a federal city. COPS are worse than drug-dealers theirselves; thinking they can remove the disease of addiction, but all they do is attract all the people of unfit character to fill the ranks of personell. Don't want either of their services. Same goes for Social Services. I'll hang myself by my nuts before I'll volunteer into Social Services. None of them are civil. Just a bunch of felons that ignorant people grant implicitly to work for them just because of a desparate or fleating transient cause.
I mean, if anything then the PD is staffed by the same beautiful hell-spawn that created this guy. We know they are so much better people, and that kind of privileged sallary higher than productive labor only attracts the most positive-attitude kind of kin that love their neighbors as any slaughterhouse filling the bench of Judge Colonol Sanders McDonalds
Was I supposed to use this (\sarcasm) tag?
An officer disgrages his office when he correlates those of his private disabilities and immoral character to become the urge to mis-promote his office. He would never be ashamed of disinformation because it fit the charter's character. Do you accuse a clown of being a clown, and make fun of his floppy shoes?
Stop trying to say "bloggers" are anything but a trademark of a websites services. There are many journalists pretending to be "bloggers" at the illegal construment or misrepresentation of a commerc clause.
I remember when one of the #oldwarez channel members got raided in the 90s. The cops took music cds, and anything else unrelated that they could carry out in boxes.
All part of the intimidation factor I would imagine.
"Get our attention and we're going to come fuck up your life, guilty or not."
Do you know why the took his stuff?
Do you know anything about the story other than what he said?
Do you know every single criminal on the planet says 'I'm guilty and this is police harassment'?
Other than a blog post, do you have any evidence to support his story?
Fortunately, I don't have to count on you to protect me from criminals.
Fortunately, I'm not consumed by this paranoia that the government is out to get me. This allows me to just wait until someone gathers some ACTUAL FACTS about the story before drawing conclusions.
Translation :
I'm white. Police tend to like me and give me the benefit of the doubt and my neighborhood is safe. I will give them the benefit of the doubt since I probably wouldn't like the moron blathering in his blog anyway.
After reading all the Obama paranoia on slashdot for the past few months now, I've come to the conclusion that conservatives are the biggest bunch of pantywaist sissies, scared of their own shadow. It's pathetic. Crawl back into mommy's crack and let the grown ups have a talk without throwing a hissy every 5 minutes, would you please?
I agree with everything up until the last line. "Gun-nuts" as you call them are not authoritarian as a rule. In fact, it's quite the opposite. While some gun-rights people want their guns for hunting, many want them to be able to defend themselves from the government, and would be against authority and certainly against the federal government's authoritarianism.
On the other hand, I hope you're not under the illusion that Bush and authoritarianism are tied together either. The Democrats want to control each individual as much as the Republicans. In the Democrats' case, they want to help the disadvantaged. The only way they will get that is to enact more social programs that control more and more of the population's activities.
Bush's administration was removing rights with the supposed intention of making everyone safer, and the Democrats will continue it with the supposed intention of helping those who can't take care of themselves. Both are authoritarian, both are contrary to the Constitution.
Hello little man. I will destroy you!
My goodness gracious, I about went through the roof upon reading this. My God, what has America come to? I am glad I no longer live there, even though I miss my City of Angels and my family and many things, my God.
I can't believe this. I hope to God the Feds go fucking psycho on them hick shithole cops, the Feds can cause some major, major damage when they feel like it.
I wish I could do something . . . I wish someone would email me and tell me how I can help.
This crime may very well go unpunished, however, I have hopes that the Obama administration will make an example out of those fucks. This is why, this is why, EVERY TIME I hear/read about a cop getting blown away, anywhere in the world, I LITERALLY hoot and holler and cheer and say GOOD, GOOD RIDDANCE, I AM SO GLAD THOSE PIGS GOT BLOWN AWAY
It makes my motherfucking day every time!
GGGRRRRRRRRRRR
SARAVA!
Here in Portland Oregon we don't have this problem with bloggers suing police. The police shoot them before anything could get that far. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Police_Bureau " Members of local law enforcement have killed about 47 citizens from 1992 to 2008. A large majority were shot by the Portland Police Bureau members , with several having died in while in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center.[19] In several high-profile cases, including the James Chasse, Jr. and Kendra James incidents, the Portland Police Bureau has been accused of habitually engaging in the abuse of force and then covering up the investigation.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]"
Ask David Myrland on how to prosecute all these wicked men.
How many times do you see a man in uniform with nothing to do? Do you call him a mechanic on break? A Fireman without a brushfire to piss-off? A doctor? Never a lawyer, yet we see them every day giving legal advice that is not qualified in their position, and for their purpose specially as a process server if not a rare kind of investigator we instead see them as a mere accuser without any interest in the matter allegedly in dispute.
Have you ever seen them fight amongst one another? How about this on a non-duty COP upholding his 2nd amendment right.
Think they are limited to tasing when they have no lawful or moral high-ground? They yell at you as would a boot-camp instructor, giving such suggestible "content" of their delapidated character or neck-wrestling whoever with a disagreeable dialect. Theses people called "COPS" are like you and me, but only one difference; they're US'ians, not nationals; always offended of there being any equality between you and them, posing their many achievments as would any unstewardly parson, and payed by a municipal corporation in bias to conduct any function on your dime. You can't be payed by another to perform a function that predominantly funds your living rather than lawful work. A more studied and lawful function to abate the opposition pre-tendered by a COP would perhaps be a security consultant, a notary, and then a clerk. COPS have no sole but what is given them, and with a pension supported by their pyrosecution.
Simple: Jeff, go to a public library and access your blog from Internet connected computers there.
I feel for this guy. Hopefully he was just publishing and/or exposing the truth. Police like that should be in jail! I have had great police here, actually worth my taxes imho but been lucky with that that I suppose. ITT, very interesting. 3slashdot
I must admit I was thinking too that both UK and US were using 1984 as a manual to reduce their nations to Zimbabwean levels of undemocratic behaviour. But the aim is a little bit more dictatorial.
However, I confused the method with the target. That actual aim is to turn the nations into a Panopticon, which was invented in 1785. The stated design aim was to influence the way prisoners thought by making them think they were permanently being watched.
It's amazing that the governments of two allegedly "democratic" countries engage in this. Stalin would have been proud.
Didn't Gandhi get killed, thus losing in the end?
He was killed, but not by the British Empire that he drove out of India. If dying any time after a great victory means you lost after all, then there are no winners. No one here gets out alive.
What about the rich dissidents, the ones that can actually do something about the whole mess? The ones with the most power AND some conscience. Not all the rich are equal.
Then it becomes of question of who has the most money, the dissenters or the others.
The purpose is not to have a police force that is open to the highest bidder of course, but to maintain the status of those who are affluent.
You can't take the sky from me...
In what is going to be a landmark, open-and-shut case, the Phoenix Police Department is going to have to put their Kevlar kneepads on when the Electronic Frontier Foundation convinces the judge to throw the book at the cops.
By the way, with kidnappings, and murders on the rise in Arizona relating to the Mexican Drug Lords (MDLs) south of the border, when was the last time anyone in the local news media actually made it a cover story that the MDLs are already in the United States and planning to go to war with ill prepared American police departments?
It became quite clear the MDLs were interested in going north when one of the local police departments in the St. Louis, Missouri area had a sting at a local gas station that was selling AK-47s and Claymore mines to local gangbangers. The only other possible group of people interested in that market would be domestic terrorists.
When the cops aren't doing their job, someone has to speak out.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
India became free in large part by fighting at the side of Britain in WW2. All while Gandhi preached for British and French to lay down arms and welcome German soldiers to their homes, and for Jews to "throw themselves at the butcher's knife", all in the name of non-violence. Do you seriously think that India would be better off, or even "free", if they all followed his advice?
And if you invent it and charge for it, you owe me a bunch o bucks...
Create a security camera system that uploads camera data to a public internet site at all times. Then if someone breaks into your house and steals your equipment, the photos are already uploaded. Further have the site spread the photos around to other sites so its harder to take them down. Watch the watchers. Make it HARD for them to act in secrecy.
Boy!
They were obviously trolling, hoping to find something like kiddie porn they could use to put him away for a long time. I'm surprised that nothing like that "just showed up" on one of his drives or disks.
Taking over major companies an then firing the CEO,....
You're a cunt. A stupid, disingenuous one at that.
That's not what happened, and you know it.
Stop being a cocksucker. Or at least, if you insist on sucking cocks, suck mine.