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Microsoft Fends Off Data Request, FBI Gets Data Another Way

Posted by Soulskill on from the more-than-one-way-to-eavesdrop-on-a-cat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a time when the government avows that it cannot carry out justice without issuing secret warrants and National Security Letters to anyone other than the suspect, it is truly noteworthy when news breaks that the FBI, facing push-back from the likes of a company such as Microsoft, finds that it can indeed gather the information it needs for its investigation through a regular search warrant applied directly to its suspect. Such was the case on Thursday. Court documents (PDF) reveal that Microsoft filed a petition against the National Security Letter (NSL) it received involving one of its customers, citing violations to the First Amendment. The FBI later withdrew the NSL and went after their suspect in the old, Constitutionally-sound way. A federal judge ruled last year that the NSLs impinge on free speech' That judgement has been stayed, of course, pending appeal."

2 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Hey Alan... by mmell · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    What does any of that have to do with the current thread under discussion?

    Let me guess - you don't get any of the attention you crave elsewhere, right? Mommy was always there to shelter her "sensitive little boy", I don't know if Daddy just left you or if he just never respected a gutless worm such as yourself. Now you have the internet. You can be as annoying and self-centered as you like, and never fear that you will be called to account for your excesses. It's like having the internet defending "Mommy's little boy" without the humiliation of Mommy actually having to save her little darling.

    It's like a wonderland for you, isn't it? You can say anything anywhere, no matter how offtopic or unwelcome without fear of reprisal. It must've been hard for you - Daddy didn't care how smart or sensitive you were, he was still disgusted at having a gutless little worm for a son. Did he leave your Mommy over this, or did he just abuse you?

    Now, you seem to feel empowered. You can actively troll, insult, and make a general nuisance of yourself without fear of reprisal. It must really hurt to know that even here on the internet, even without direct contact, you're quivering core of fear is plainly visible for all to see. It must've really hurt to be banned from all of these arenas, to discover that you're not absolutely immune to being called to account. It must hurt even worse to discover that there are no family or friends even here on the internet. You yell your same message "pity me, I've been wronged" without even varying the words. You haven't even got the simple mental skill to devise new and unique messages - I'm guessing you have all of your rants neatly stored in Notepad documents, ready to cut 'n' paste at need. Shouting these canned messages is the only way you can prove to yourself that you matter.

    So, once more - what does anything you've posted here have to do with the current thread under discussion? Or were you just verifying my earlier post on another thread. You will remember, I predicted exactly this behavior. You'll no doubt respond with something along the lines of "two wrongs do make a right", but really - where did the post stalking begin? How many others have you done this to? Thank you for verifying the accuracy of my posts in this specific regard - that you simply lack the emotional and intellectual maturity to do anything more than rant and moan, attempting to hurt all of those mean people you think have done you harm (note that the above mentioned errors on my part resulted directly from your post-stalking behavior). I won't say you brought it on yourself; as I mentioned, I made a mistake. I suppose you don't make any mistakes, eh? Your post-stalking and blogpost spamming are all perfectly okay, because you're right? Let me know when you'll own up for your mistakes, but I'm guessing never. You're a child. I'd blame your parents, but beyond a certain age you should be ready to take responsibility for your own actions. I'm guessing that's another thing your parents failed to teach you.

    So one last time - what does any of what you've posted have to do with the current conversation?

  2. Look out. by mmell · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    He has sock-puppet accounts. He manages to post enough good stuff here to get himself mod points, which he uses to downmod anybody who disagrees with him. I personally don't care; and despite his behavior I don't downmod his comments (as A/C, I see him at -1 anyhow; it would be a waste of mod points).

    Oh, wait - you're posting A/C as well. I've considered that; but it would be the move of a coward, afraid he'll get beat up in the schoolyard again. Afraid Mommy'll have to rescue him again, afraid Daddy'll be ashamed or worse yet, angry at his useless dick-turd being gutless and worthless yet again.

    In short - don't be too hard on APK. He can't help it - he's damaged goods. Too bad; he seems to be a pretty fair programmer (although he apparently needs to have his software hosted offshore - do a whois on the start64.com website and you'll see) - and his emotional instability probably make it impossible to trust his software, certainly in an enterprise setting.