Slashdot Mirror
New Zealand Spy Agency Deleted Evidence About Its Illegal Spying On Kim Dotcom
An anonymous reader writes "The latest news in this: GCSB appears to have deleted key evidence in the case in a ham-fisted attempt to cover up its illegal activities. Even more ridiculous, GCSB is trying to cover this up by claiming that the material had 'aged off' — implying that it was deleted automatically. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key claims that they had to delete the information under the law. Of course, there are a few problems with that. The first is that under New Zealand law, like most countries these days, parties have an obligation to preserve documents likely to be necessary in a legal case. But, even more damning is that there's video of John Key in the New Zealand Parliament trying to defend against an earlier claim that GCSB had deleted some evidence by insisting that GCSB does not delete anything ever:"
And fuck Beta!
FUCK SLASHBETA
There should be a law that says "Assume guilt, apply maximum penalty, put people in jail" when stuff like this happens.
Same for Arthur Anderson and their shredding parties, etc.
No sig today...
pretty please?
Beta sucks. Fuck Beta.
But it seems you turned to shit practically overnight.
You stay classic Slashdot!
FYI, The slashbeta admins are modding threads and replies as -1.... like 5-10 posts all at once. No REAL COMMUNITY MEMBER MODS are doing this, but the admins.
Users don't want Slashbeta, but the admins are trying to suppress this obvious reality. The last 3-4 stories all comments are 99% anti-slashbeta and they still want to pretend they're listening to us and asking for our feedback.
The feedback is to take your fucking redesign and rm -fr
Die in a fire slashbeta
We need a forking plan for near future when everything goes "Beta" permanently.
Fuck beta! Beta :(
Blah
At least give the option to switch back to classic.. and a rating.. so I can rate fuck beta!
...and what's up with all the hate agai...(click).
Oh. What in the holy fuck is this?
Nevermind. Fuck Beta.
Keep Classic
Fuck Beta
Hans Reiser would know how to deal with this bitch
... and yes, Fuck http://beta.slashdot.org/ !!
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I couldn't comment on Beta in the proper link because it's down, so I'd like to go offtopic for a moment, and note that the Beta interface is unwieldy and takes longer to load (which makes a difference on 2G/3G tethering). Therefore, I'd like to vote against it. Thank you.
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
For years, when someone has used the letters FB, I've always think about Facebook..... but now it has a new meaning...
FUCK BETA!
This site is probably the reason I didn't finish my university degree in 2000.
I have spent ages here, and took part in some very intelligent discussions.
Slashdot has always been about the highly educated user base, you could always count one at least one knowlegable person in the comments getting to the heart of TFA.
It has been in decline the last few years, maybe because new users find reddit first (and then they are reduced to drooling zombie basement dwellers) or maybe because the editors are worse (though complaining about the editors is nearly as old als /. itself), I don't know.
But this site redesign will be the end of it once and for all. The main selling point of slashdot is it's userbase. Scare them away and all you're left if is a generic 'news' rehashing site.
But the stubborn pushing of this disastrous beta (office politics? nobody wants to be mean to the nice new designer?) makes shure it will at least go out with a bang and not slowly fade away.
I watch with a sad sort of amusement as if my old college dorm where I spend so many good parts of my life is burning to the ground because the homeowner thought it would be a good idea to replace all woodwork with cardboard.
...will it take for slashdot to abandon this course? I'm only asking because I love this site and want to continue to to support it as long as I am able. Tell us please, this really is a case of Dice asserting it's supremecy isn't it? I can't fathom why the usual slashdot admins would subject their usership to these shenagagins.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
Dilbert's sage precience, circa 1995...
Say NO to cardboard betas.
I login here on rare occasions. One of them is now. Fuck beta!
Does anyone notice a cycle?
They ask for feedback, they say they care.
5 stories now 99% of comments pure hate. The disgust is everywhere.
They continue to make it worse pretend that no one fucking hates it.
We get more pissed
They tell us we're "griping" and want to know what's wrong...
Well them what's wrong (everything...again ).....
Nothing changes...
LIP SERVICE
Hey Dice, remember Digg?
July 2008 Digg took part in advanced acquisition talks with Google for a reported $200 million price tag
August 25, 2010 Digg v4 site redesign
July 12, 2012 Digg announced its sale to Betaworks for $500,000
Is that what you want?
Please do not commit a Windows 8 .... err..... I mean suicied!
FUCK BETA!
They don't delete externally collected data. They obviously delete or age-off internal records.
Making points like this doesn't really help people to be taken seriously when they make accusations of government malfeasance.
Applying a statement made about one set of data, to another set of data, is just nonsensical.
Of course they don't delete things they record about everyone else. Of course they delete things about their own actions.
Isn't claiming that Dotcom was illegally spied upon putting the cart before the horse here? Where is the evidence? Regardless of whether it was deleted or not, by making the statement one is assuming the conclusion and puts their own credibility at risk.
Slashbeta is like the sociopath half brother who came from the abusive side of the family, manipulated his way into the webroot and just fucking took over and shit on everything.
Maybe microsoft secretly bought dice and pland to emrace, extend and extinguish /.
Better to boil the frog and have the users disperse than shock them into making a competing site.
46137
rm -rf beta.slashdot.org
If you want to hear from us on the beta, why does mail to the given email address bounce? Maybe fix your stuff.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
Slashdot dying in 3, 2, 1....
It will be cool to see the comments in the thousands, even if all are screaming in unison the same two words.. "Fuck beta". But seriously, fuck beta and you're not google: shove it down our throats and many of us will be out.
Just say FUCK NO !
Filter error: You can type more than that for your comment. Filter error: You can type more than that for your comment.
I remember reading the hate back then too. The vitriol this time is much more pronounced, and empassioned. Last time, there still somehow managed to be comments that were on topic to the story submissions, and a fair amount of people that liked the new UI layout.
This time? I haven't seen a single taker for somebody that likes it, and have only seen troll type posts complaining about the complainers. We have well respected 4dig UID members openly endorsing the hate.
While apples and oranges are both fruit, This particular call by slashdot's corporate masters is clearly a lemon, and really shouldnt be compared to either.
Yes, good, good, more bad press for the ruling government party so next election we can get the exact same kind of people in under a different party name who care just as little about bad press when it's not election time.
Nothing will change because of it and rightfully so.
I actually usually don't give a crap about change - office ribbon interface, no problem. New dash and new gnome, meh, I love ponies slashdot - loved it. New beta interface for slashdot sucks, especially on the comment page. The damn new interface for comments radically decreases the comment page usefulness, I can't read good comments and follow threads like I used to. You can keep your stupid beta skin (too much white), but please keep the commenting the same!
I, for one, am thankful that Slashdot seems hell-bent on royally fucking up their website.
I'm becoming much more productive as I've stopped using sites that, like Slashdot, decided that a simple, clean, and elegant interface needed to be replaced with a downgraded user experience for the sake of being "fresh."
Recovering info/news junkie...
I'm off to kuro5hin
After careful consideration, I've decided FUCK THE BETA.
Someone in the executive suite must really be in love with beta for it to have survived this long, and despite so much user protest.
There are 1.1... kinds of people.
I wish. it sucks.
Here we go again.
Anyone that deletes evidence should be considered admitting that they did commit whatever they're being charged with, and with malicious intent.
The best part about Slashdot for me was really the people who visit it. This site has had one of the most intelligent communities around. This is how the site is successful IMO. Really good people massing together behind it. Finding and promoting articles is one thing but the commentary is where it really takes off. Almost every time I view a story what I find more interesting is the story that develops below it. I really don't know of another site where I can attempt to follow a debate about nuclear fusion, and find a debate about Apple only a page apart. This is about to be taken away as the best and brightest around here are going to leave as they are fed up with these beta changes, and Slashdot as a quality site will die. The new site takes away from the comments and the user driven atmosphere and plasters it with pictures and wasted space. This protest may seem futile at first to the bigwigs at the top here, but like I said the best part about this site is the comments. Therefore, if the only comments left are ones complaining about beta, its going to be a very accurate view of the future of Slashdot from here onward if the beta continues.
Well, after reading a few posts, I feel like I am watching one of the Boondock Saints movies,
except that a LOT of people are like the bartender with Turets....
I would protest but I just happen to agree with the sentiment, as well as the flavor of the
( FUCK BETA ) opinions expressed ( SHIITE ON THE BETA! ).
They deleted the evidence of spying because it's spying. If they didn't try to hide it, then it would be spying now, would it? They have a word for spying where you don't hide the evidence. It's called "watching". And, rest assured, they're doing that too.
I mean, duh.
Governments really get off on this super-secret shit, don't they? It's almost like they've got something to hide. What is it about all the so-called "free societies" that seem to be dying to turn themselves into East Germany circa 1962? I mean, they tried that already and it sucked.
You are welcome on my lawn.
it's slashdot. people come here for the freedom to act like whiny children.
Okay I just tried it. OMG FUCK ME. ./ on phone ever again if that braindead clusterfuck goes through,
Viewed on my phone, htc evo 4g.
Very serious image display errors, stretchef to
many screen heights. The links to the article are all broken.
Dont think from-the-xx-dept tags are there.
Wont view
which is most of the time these days. Cannit see posts either!!!!!!
FUCK BETA!!!!!!!
Got any recent management tips from Ukrainian government? Oh, wait, even they started to back down a little after some "whiny children" flooded the streets of Ukrainian cities. So... no. People can voice their opinion, don't they?
I agree that the hatred here is much deeper.
And I suspect the reason is that the "upgrade" to Beta isn't actually upgrading anything. There's not a single new feature or improvement.
The change to the current UI added things like collapsible threads, reply windows within the thread, etc. Beta is struggling merely to keep standard features like threads, moderation, or even the most basic stuff like displaying fonts correctly. Once they have code which broadly replicates most of the current functions, but in the new idiotic blog-style they've chosen, they'll call it done and push it out. All that effort and hatred for what amounts to - if we're lucky - a re-skinning.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
And don't forget, no actual dates of postings and the fact that half the time you can't post at all unless you are logged in. Oh and the fact that none of the comments actually load on the comments page unless you click on an extra button you didn't have to shazbot before.
The rare -1 Insightful mod!
Stop trying to turn slashdot into yahoo news. Every one of your users is repeatedly screaming at you to stop this stupid fucking move to beta but for some reason you insist on pushing it forward. Has anyone else seen the movie Brewster's millions? Maybe some one was given Slashdot but they must prove that they can run into the ground within 90 days in order to get their next big promotion.
Sucking Satan's cock isn't going to get anything done either.
You might be the last person to get fired from your hell-hole abusive company with your attitude, but your willingness to be a lick-spittle flunky won't count for anything else. And then when they finally can you, you'll never get another job, since every potential employer will realize what an obsequious toad you really are.
In conclusion - Fuck Beta.
For the record, I also do not like the beta. It looks like tumblr or some such nonsense. Get rid of the social media nonsense at the top too. No one shares directly to a story on an aggregation site, the share to the actual story. The only thing I ever share on slashdot are the (occasionally) brilliant comments.
Spying to maintain power or to satisfy big-corporate donors is an inherent vice of centralized government. This doesn't just happen in New Zealand.
I like Slashdot - I really do. The news may be a little stale, but the design is clean and efficient, and the commenters are generally reasonable adults. Now, a lot of successful web pages have been redesigned to "freshen" them or expand their market. I wonder how well that works out, in general? I no longer use Google News, Google Images, Slate, or a family of humor sites - was it cheesburger? - I used to visit. I can't think I'm so much an outlier that I'm the only one.
Design issue: there needs to be a 'no images' option for people running on restricted bandwidth.
That would compensate somewhat. Then we would have to continue with /. classic.
That javascript pop-up at the top asks for feedback with a link to feedback@slashdot.org, subject beta_feedback. (I'm not doing an actual link, because the beta site appears to not allow links).
I've already sent an email stating that, if beta becomes permanent, I will be deleting my account and not returning to Slashdot. If everybody gives their feedback about the Beta, perhaps they'll realize that they're going to lose all their money when we stop visiting.
What's next? Pictures of cute kittens? Fuck Beta.
"The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
I have been a regular visitor to Slashdot for around 15 years. For that, I get the checkbox to disable ads, though I browse with Javascript disabled so my browser does not slow down.
I come here for the discussions, and often read comments at +5, changing that only if I find a discussion interesting and warrants reading at a lower level.
The new beta uses JQuery for the comment threshold selector, and changes that on the fly. This means all the comments are loaded, but not visible, and processing any page with considerable number of comments will slow down MY computer! If I have a few tabs open to read later, my computer will be unusable.
What is worse it that they require you to click on the slider on every article to change the threshold! This is just insane!
If they insist that I enable Javascript to browse the site at the threshold I want, then they will lose me as a long time. I imagine that others long timers will hate the site too.
Dice have to remember that this site has two unmatched features, interlocked: a moderation system that is good at cutting down the trolling, spamming, and noise, and a comment section that is frequented by many people who are passionate about technology and other nerdy stuff.
If they wanted to intentionally ruin the site and drive people away, they would not have done any worse than what they are doing now.
If they manage to aggravate a lot of their users, the comment section will no longer be attractive to the audience. Perhaps we should revive kuro5hin?
I wrote the above in a feedback form that I filled a while ago, and I am emailing this comment to their feedback@slashdot.org. Please send them feedback too.
And mod this up so Dice can see what they are getting themselves into.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
Way to go corporate overloards, not!
I'm legitimately curious.. WTF is with New Zealand and its crazy need to have a spy agency? I've been to NZ. It's a beautiful and largely empty country. More sheep than people and all of that. Why on Earth do they feel the need to be part of the "Five Eyes"? It'd be cute if it weren't just another power-mad, rights-abusing secret stasi service like the NSA.
Any kiwis care to comment?
then you haven't seen Slashdot Beta yet. By comparison it's merely an honest mistake.
pre-post edit: the captcha is 'strain' (made me think 'eye strain'. how appropriate.)
You know those mistakes that Apple, Microsoft, Canonical, Gnome, etc, everyone and their mother is making? Massive unworkable user interface changes that hobble the customer's ability to utilize their product? Thanks Dice, you've infected Slashdot with it. This is fucking disgraceful.
How many of you are proud to believe in significant man-made climate change? How many of you are proud to believe the official story of the 9/11 false-flag? How many of you are proud to say you "support our troops"?
You are worse than criminally stupid. You are a willing partner in every significant crime carried out by the elites against this planet and its people.
Two industrialised World Wars failed to give you a clue. Massive abuse of eugenics all across the 20th Century by at least half the major nations, including the USA, failed to give you a clue.
New Zealand is such a pimple on the face of the Western Empire that no-one even bothers to sound convincing down there. New Zealand sheeple are far thicker than the actual sheep that also occupy the land. No amount of absolute proof publicly stated about the hilarious inconsistencies in the lies of their masters will prevent the NZ sheeple from 'voting' (the act of empowering the elites), or slurping up the sh*t produced daily by the mainstream media.
When Tony Blair first came to power, he understood that the problem with the world was that no person had ever DARED to exploit the sheeple to the maximum extent made possible by the modern nature of the world. Blair set about introducing programs in every sheeple space to rectify this. Getting the USA to fight ground wars again was a no.1 priority, and when Blair failed to achieve this with the Kosovo War, 9/11 became necessary- a new 'Pearl Harbour' as Blair's Neocon allies exactly described it prior to the date of the false-flag.
Blair spent more time than any American politician travelling the World, and propagandising the need for Blairite changes in the aftermath of 9/11. Blair ensured that the Intelligence Agencies of the West (and by association, the agencies of ALL nations with the ability to operate such) would undergo a program of expansion without financial limit, exploding the powers of the police state across the entire planet.
Most of Blair's allies, like the Human garbage that rules New Zealand, are moronic, vicious, low quality chancers. It's like any mob operation. The need to have people on board is greater than the need for 'quality'. Would Blair prefer his NZ goons to lie better? Of course. But Blair knows in the greater scheme, the worst that happens is that a small percentage of sheeple, destined to wake up sooner or later, are awoken a little sooner than later. Blair's is a numbers game, but also a game of dis-empowering those that, in previous times, might have rallied against his plans.
Organising against government corruption is as dangerous in NZ as it is in Saudi Arabia. You, the sheeple, are encouraged to think ONLY about the absolute penalties (so, how can NZ be as bad as SA, if NZ doesn't behead or whip?). But, the actual penalties don't matter to Blair, just their effectiveness in neutralising opposition. The right to effective protest, regardless of public support, has been wiped out by Blair's co-ordinated actions across the globe after his 9/11 action. And this isn't just true in nations like the UK and USA. Blair's influence is present in every other nation- where draconian laws (like those just imposed in Saudi Arabia) are justified by referring to governmental actions in the UK and USA. .
Mind you, that storage just "burnt down" conveniently.
Enjoy living in East Germany!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Not quite true. They have to know that they are in the process of killing /. stone dead. Silence will just let the frog boil.
Consider it a boycott. With noisy picketting.
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
You fuck beta fucktards are moronic—beta is gorgeous and usable and you can't get over your nerd cred long enough to admit that maybe alpha was always fucking hideous.
Fuck the fuck beta crowd.
The new BETA design is GREAT in the eyes of the business people behind revenue generation at slashdot, All the white space they created is just a place holder for all the advertising spam thats going to fill it gradually. I highly doubt the designers of BETA were thinking how can we make the users happy by making it more readable. Unfortunately for them and for us, increasing their revenues at the expense of user's happiness is a mistake that will only hurt them long term. Plenty of other good news sources to choose from.
it's slashdot. people come here for the freedom to act like whiny children.
I thought they came here to curse. Don't whiny children use much better language?
The judges have so far been surpisingly enlightened in their handling of things related to Dot Com. While other parts of NZ government have been busy following the Hollywood script the judges rulings to date have called the police etc out for law breaking. If the judges stay to form then the GCSB are going to have difficult time in court.
Uh . . . There is a link at the bottom of the page to go back to SlashClassic, if you don't like the SlashBeta.
Just click the fucking link, fucking tard.
Your response was so much more civilized than mine. I guess I got "trolled".
GC
It promises to shake things up from the stale old party options. They will get my vote. It will be interesting to see if they can break the 4% threshold to get in parliament. Given how close Labor (left) and National (right) are if he can get enough votes DotCom's party could hold the balance of power. Unlikely, but not impossible, it would be the ultimate irony that DotCom could have a significant measure of influence on those who wronged him..
I'm a Kiwi and I see the need for us to have spies as both a joke and waste of money.
Most of us Kiwis don't see the need for a spy agency either. They are generally benevolent data sleuths so the media feels safe enough to rip a new one out of them every time they do something stupid. Very occasionally something genuinely bad happens, such as the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by French secret services, and then it's nice to have some smart guys on our side... Actually, I think they stuffed that up too and released the French secret agents back to France, where they spent the rest of their careers teaching the next generation of agents! BetaFuck GCSB!
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence