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Phoenix Police Seize PCs of a Blogger Critical of the Department

Posted by Soulskill on from the check-and-mate dept.

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."

17 of 515 comments (clear)

  1. Cable modem... by unts · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Cable modem... by bigman2003 · · Score: 2, Funny

      More interestingly, is the use of the phrase; "Anyone worth their salt."

      This is a very old phrase, originally used when salt was a very, very expensive commodity. Roman soldiers were typically paid for their duties in salt. So a good soldier was 'worth their salt.' (Obligatory Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salary )

      So back to the topic on hand. I don't think this phrase is appropriate here, because we are taking geek assumptions (knowing that a router/modem do not store data long-term (other than configuration data, and potentially a log file)) and comparing it to a soldier who is worth his pay.

      These are cops, we should use a different phrase like:

      "Not showing up for work on the day of the idiotic raid; Chief Wiggims saved his own bacon through incompetence."

      --
      No reason to lie.
    2. Re:Cable modem... by bigman2003 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Hmm..not sure why off-topic. The intro had 5 sentences, I addressed one of them.

      Obviously I'm being targeted by cops.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    3. Re:Cable modem... by KeX3 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm going to counter that with (-1 Fact Nazi), and rate you (-1 Overly Eloquent).

    4. Re:Cable modem... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2, Funny

      (+1 Now that's just plain silly)

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  2. To quote a fellow slashdotter's sig: by ternarybit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Orwell got everything right except the year. The Thought Police are now a reality, at least in Phoenix.

    1. Re:To quote a fellow slashdotter's sig: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      > Please read 1984 before commenting on 1984.

      I read it. I can't remember a word of what's in it. May I still comment on it? :-P

    2. Re:To quote a fellow slashdotter's sig: by houstonbofh · · Score: 3, Funny

      I can't. Fahrenheit 451 came true first.
      http://www.alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00002
      http://marchinred.com/BB1984.html

  3. Fortunately... by Atari400 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't live in a police sta%%%CARRIER DISCONNECT%%%

    --
    IBM doesn't play chess with the Universe.
    1. Re:Fortunately... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't live in a police sta%%%CARRIER DISCONNECT%%%

      Well duh, none of us lives in a police station. Sheesh...

  4. Cable modem... by deAtog · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone worth their salt knows nothing is stored in the cable modem.

    Something tells me he hasn't heard of the mysterious black smoke.

  5. Re:Critical of officials? by The+Good+Reverend · · Score: 3, Funny

    Phoenix? Minneapolis? It looks like its really all the same.

    Greek names?

  6. Re:Phoenix has done screwed up. by Mr2cents · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm beginning to think the world is one big Milgram experiment...

    --
    "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  7. Re:What the police were really after, by GuldKalle · · Score: 2, Funny

    The problem is, when they see your collection of tinfoil hats, they'll split every molecule of your house in search of what you're hiding

    --
    What?
  8. Re:Phoenix has done screwed up. by BitZtream · · Score: 1, Funny

    And did you deserve it?

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  9. Re:Phoenix has done screwed up. by spazdor · · Score: 2, Funny

    "computer tampering with the intent to harass" sounds pretty close to what the blogger's accusing the police of.

    --
    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  10. Re:Phoenix has done screwed up. by techno-vampire · · Score: 3, Funny

    Never mind the county corruption, the Phoenix DA employes a psychic, and allows her dreams to influence his investigations. Not only that, he's expecting to get re-elected even though this has been made abundantly public.

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    Good, inexpensive web hosting