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.
...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.
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!
I haven't got beta yet - is it really that bad!
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.
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/
Words can't describe it. You must try it yourself.
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 !
Words can't describe it. You must try it yourself.
I see what you mean - everything compressed into the screen with a big space to the right. That's ... much worse
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
AC opined:
They don't delete externally collected data. They obviously delete or age-off internal records.
Prime Minister John Key, who is in charge of GCSB said:
This is a spy agency. We don't delete things. We archive them.
Key's office confirmed that Key was talking about the video that his lawyers had claimed was deleted.
AC opined:
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.
Here are some links from the fine article showing that the government and the police have already admitted malfeasance:
Police Admit That NZ Spy Agency Illegally Spied On Kim Dotcom
NZ Prime Minister Admits That The Government Illegally Wiretapped Megaupload Employees
Oddly enough you are correct that these admissions of malfeasance do put the credibility of the police and the Prime Minister at risk although that is probably not what you meant.
And in conclusion: FUCK BETA!
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
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.
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.
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.
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!!!!!!!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
:) Made my day AC
46137
When a nation has conflicting laws it tends to cover illegal activities as any court can choose to take the view that supports the government.
Welcome to the new USA-beta!
We've had only a few major redesigns since 1776; we think it's time for another. But we really do take to heart the comments you've made about the look and functionality of the beta government that will control our country's future.
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
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.
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