I'm almost entirely sure the USSC could invalidate a lot of this, if somehow someone could get it to them (you know, without being thrown out because the secret courts or president's administration won't cough up evidence).
Last I checked, the USSC was still the supreme court of the land, not the military courts (which would technically put them under the judicial branch, not the executive one, I believe)
>>>But trying to stop people from accessing Kiddie Porn is a good thing.
You presume that nudity is a bad thing. I completely disagree. "Because God created it, the human body can be uncovered and still preserve His splendor." - Pope John Paul. There's nothing sinful about a naked human body.
Agreed.
As for sex: What should be banned is the ACT of underage rape, not the mere shadows captured on a negative. The former is what harms children and teens, not the latter. (Especially if the latter consists of CGI characters, not real people.)
Define rape. Statutory rape was an invention to allow prosecutors an easier standard with which to convict someone of rape by removing the capability of consent, in effect legally defining all sexual contact as forced, despite the facts; i.e. it isn't a true rape by classical definitions.
That is a given. But trying to stop people from accessing Kiddie Porn is a good thing. You will get zero traction from the general population trying to keep access to kiddie porn.
You can get traction trying to keep it from being abused.
I don't suppose anyone has ever heard of pissing into the wind...
Society will always have its whipping boy. Once we get rid of perverts who like to see small children naked, we'll find something else. Eventually we'll all be encased in plastic, being told all the while that it's for our own safety, and we're free to do whatever we want so long as it involves not doing anything.
Censorship for "the good of the people" will inevitably lead to "whats good for the govenment". And whats good for the government is hardly ever good for the people.
Why is it I'm never allows to decide what's good for myself? Why do I need it decided for me?
One thing that I'm certain would be a part of future "wishes and plans" to censor (if not already part of the proposed filter) would be Nazi paraphernalia. Of course, it starts with the indefensible neo-Nazi sites and hate groups, but gradually, this sort of thing can begin to erode the historical record.
Could this ultimately help Germany develop historical blind spots?
It'll eventually lead to people forgetting what the Nazis were about. And of course, someone will eventually decide that the gov't is hiding something because the Nazis had something right (and the gov't doesn't want you to know about it); eventually it will lead to Nazi sympathizers.
Here's a funny one, and it's based on a true occurance.
An insurance-salesman was mentoring a junior salesman. One day when he decided to go for lunch, he left junior in charge. Junior stayed busy and sold a life insurance policy to a 100 year old.
The boss was pretty upset, but the intern justified it by stating that statistically, very few 100+ years old die.
Citing studies that showed tens of thousands of convicted sex offenders were using MySpace...
Sex offenders use myspace? Did they use it to commit a crime? If not, why are those particular offenders included?
Do these uncited studies distinguish between actual predatory individuals and the 18 year old convicted of mooning the opposing football team, or the 21 year old convicted of public urination and attendant indecent exposure? The 19 year old who fucked his 17 year old girlfriend, and her parents didn't like him?
The task force, led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, looked at scientific data on online sexual predators and found that children and teenagers were unlikely to be propositioned by adults online. In the cases that do exist, the report said, teenagers are typically willing participants and are already at risk...
They probably should have been a little more pedantic. Some willing teenages simply think they know everything (and they're exploring life, as everyone does), and some are at risk because of their life. The quote implies they're willing because of risk factors, which isn't always the case.
Ironically, there are also bartenders and veterinarians (probably) using Myspace. And doctors, and lawyers. Oh, and politicians.
What an amazing coincidence...the study probably also shows that adults hook up on myspace as well, and politicians use it to lie during campaigns. We should ban these individuals from society.
His father Mark, who was shot in the head and survived, testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."
He said he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.
The judge's remarks about video games being at fault for this are asinine.
This kid knew well what he was doing. If I were the prosecutor, I'd be asking for the firing squad for this kid. That quote there gives me the chills.
Personally, I've solved the entire problem by encasing my children in polycarbonate resin which forms an airtight barrier between the sanctity of the child and the outside world
Why use polycarbonate? I'd just carbon-freeze them.
>>If everyone did this (4x9hr days), we could avoid tons of layoffs nationwide.
A company can avoid layoffs by cutting hours and pay.
If everybody at every company had their hours and pay cut, their bills remain the same, so the workers' spendable income after covering expenses is either gone or greatly reduced - You have just created a recession.
Of course, if a company doesn't avoid layoffs, those laid off workers find their pay and hours cut a lot more, but their bills stay the same. They have no spendable income or it is greatly reduced, forcing them to draw on their savings and settle for positions where their skills potentially wither. Viola. You have just created a recession and welfare recipients.
Long answer: because it's more portable that way. I don't have a fancy-shmancy iPhone where I would have ubiquitous Internet access (but it doesn't matter anyway because it can't run Java or Flash!) so taking RSS feeds on my gadget with me on the run works best. No need for pictures (most of the time), gimme the vanilla information.
Those applets lock up my browser. I'm sticking with text. Yay compatibility!
You may think it's security theater, but remember that the US has said that it will share the data with various agencies.
I wouldn't be surprised if the UK governement certainly takes a look at all this information and uses it to populate our police databases to subvert the population.
They are taking us down the road of national ID by any means possible.
Our DNA database contains thousands of people who have never been criminally convicted. It even has the data of people who have volunteered their DNA to exclude them from murder enquiries.
They were never suspects!! The fishing expedition was to find people unwilling to give their DNA and then concentrate policing on why.
Want privacy? Expect to be investigated then.
There are going to be false positives. Someone is going to get screwed out of all of this.
What really appauls me if that the UK and I think most of the other 35 countries are not giving the Americans a taste of their own medicine.
We should be stopping y'all at our borders, subjecting you to a search of your luggage, kidnapping your laptop and fingerprinting y'all.
I'm sure many Americans would be up in arms and calling XYZ from your vaunted constitution.
I've travelled to old Soviet countires and the Mid East. No one is this demanding.
USSR called, they want your papers please.
You seem to think Americans like this crap. I would consider myself to be a pretty right-wing guy, and I think the US Gov't (as opposed to the USA) is overstepping by a long shot. Bush overstepped, Obama will overstep. Don't blame me, I don't endorse the behaviors.
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its citizenry.
Your government keeps your prints when you haven't been convicted of anything?
Here in Canada they take your prints upon arrest and are supposed to destroy them IIRC 6 months after acquittal.
You're Canadian, eh?
Pleased to meet you. I'm from the real world.
Where I'm from, the police state says it destroys everything. And it does. Of course, before it does, it gives copies to the FBI, as a courtesy.
My wife and I were looking at holidaying in the US for the first time in 5 or so years. We'd previously decided not to based on the Presedent, now we probably won't because of the queues at the entry barrier.
You'll probably want to stay out because of the new president we ended up with, too. He is the president of change and messiah, to boot.
Slashdot Mirror
Well Duh. Mod down if you want, but the law is pretty clearly written. Don't like it? Vote out the Democrat dominated Congress that blessed it.
That won't have any effect on the law. A bill is hard to pass. Once passed that law is even harder to get rid of.
It's not like they don't think they have what's best for you in mind.
Fixed it for you. Just because legislators think they know what's best for me doesn't mean I agree with that conclusion.
Obama voted to give the telecoms immunity for their part. McCain did too. Neither one should have gotten elected, but unfortunately, one did.
Incremental, deliberate, and with the best of intentions.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Never forget that.
I'm almost entirely sure the USSC could invalidate a lot of this, if somehow someone could get it to them (you know, without being thrown out because the secret courts or president's administration won't cough up evidence).
Last I checked, the USSC was still the supreme court of the land, not the military courts (which would technically put them under the judicial branch, not the executive one, I believe)
>>>But trying to stop people from accessing Kiddie Porn is a good thing.
You presume that nudity is a bad thing. I completely disagree. "Because God created it, the human body can be uncovered and still preserve His splendor." - Pope John Paul. There's nothing sinful about a naked human body.
Agreed.
As for sex: What should be banned is the ACT of underage rape, not the mere shadows captured on a negative. The former is what harms children and teens, not the latter. (Especially if the latter consists of CGI characters, not real people.)
Define rape. Statutory rape was an invention to allow prosecutors an easier standard with which to convict someone of rape by removing the capability of consent, in effect legally defining all sexual contact as forced, despite the facts; i.e. it isn't a true rape by classical definitions.
That is a given. But trying to stop people from accessing Kiddie Porn is a good thing. You will get zero traction from the general population trying to keep access to kiddie porn. You can get traction trying to keep it from being abused.
I don't suppose anyone has ever heard of pissing into the wind...
Society will always have its whipping boy. Once we get rid of perverts who like to see small children naked, we'll find something else. Eventually we'll all be encased in plastic, being told all the while that it's for our own safety, and we're free to do whatever we want so long as it involves not doing anything.
Censorship for "the good of the people" will inevitably lead to "whats good for the govenment". And whats good for the government is hardly ever good for the people.
Why is it I'm never allows to decide what's good for myself? Why do I need it decided for me?
One thing that I'm certain would be a part of future "wishes and plans" to censor (if not already part of the proposed filter) would be Nazi paraphernalia. Of course, it starts with the indefensible neo-Nazi sites and hate groups, but gradually, this sort of thing can begin to erode the historical record.
Could this ultimately help Germany develop historical blind spots?
It'll eventually lead to people forgetting what the Nazis were about. And of course, someone will eventually decide that the gov't is hiding something because the Nazis had something right (and the gov't doesn't want you to know about it); eventually it will lead to Nazi sympathizers.
You posted to the wrong article. Massah Obama getting his daguerreotype made is in the article down the hall.
There's no boycotting the government.
Sure there is. It just involves suicide.
Wait wait wait. Bully's are now finding nerds to beat up via the internet? The universe tends towards maximal irony after all...
Are playground bullies usually smart enough for that? Don't they eventually become the city cops or something?
Here's a funny one, and it's based on a true occurance.
An insurance-salesman was mentoring a junior salesman. One day when he decided to go for lunch, he left junior in charge. Junior stayed busy and sold a life insurance policy to a 100 year old.
The boss was pretty upset, but the intern justified it by stating that statistically, very few 100+ years old die.
Guess what you get when you do a google search for pokemon sex?
I got a picture of a really hot girl dressed as a pikachu!
Citing studies that showed tens of thousands of convicted sex offenders were using MySpace...
Sex offenders use myspace? Did they use it to commit a crime? If not, why are those particular offenders included?
Do these uncited studies distinguish between actual predatory individuals and the 18 year old convicted of mooning the opposing football team, or the 21 year old convicted of public urination and attendant indecent exposure? The 19 year old who fucked his 17 year old girlfriend, and her parents didn't like him?
The task force, led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, looked at scientific data on online sexual predators and found that children and teenagers were unlikely to be propositioned by adults online. In the cases that do exist, the report said, teenagers are typically willing participants and are already at risk...
They probably should have been a little more pedantic. Some willing teenages simply think they know everything (and they're exploring life, as everyone does), and some are at risk because of their life. The quote implies they're willing because of risk factors, which isn't always the case.
Ironically, there are also bartenders and veterinarians (probably) using Myspace. And doctors, and lawyers. Oh, and politicians.
What an amazing coincidence...the study probably also shows that adults hook up on myspace as well, and politicians use it to lie during campaigns. We should ban these individuals from society.
His father Mark, who was shot in the head and survived, testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."
He said he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.
The judge's remarks about video games being at fault for this are asinine.
This kid knew well what he was doing. If I were the prosecutor, I'd be asking for the firing squad for this kid. That quote there gives me the chills.
Personally, I've solved the entire problem by encasing my children in polycarbonate resin which forms an airtight barrier between the sanctity of the child and the outside world
Why use polycarbonate? I'd just carbon-freeze them.
>>If everyone did this (4x9hr days), we could avoid tons of layoffs nationwide. A company can avoid layoffs by cutting hours and pay. If everybody at every company had their hours and pay cut, their bills remain the same, so the workers' spendable income after covering expenses is either gone or greatly reduced - You have just created a recession.
Of course, if a company doesn't avoid layoffs, those laid off workers find their pay and hours cut a lot more, but their bills stay the same. They have no spendable income or it is greatly reduced, forcing them to draw on their savings and settle for positions where their skills potentially wither. Viola. You have just created a recession and welfare recipients.
Long answer: because it's more portable that way. I don't have a fancy-shmancy iPhone where I would have ubiquitous Internet access (but it doesn't matter anyway because it can't run Java or Flash!) so taking RSS feeds on my gadget with me on the run works best. No need for pictures (most of the time), gimme the vanilla information.
Those applets lock up my browser. I'm sticking with text. Yay compatibility!
You may think it's security theater, but remember that the US has said that it will share the data with various agencies.
I wouldn't be surprised if the UK governement certainly takes a look at all this information and uses it to populate our police databases to subvert the population. They are taking us down the road of national ID by any means possible.
Our DNA database contains thousands of people who have never been criminally convicted. It even has the data of people who have volunteered their DNA to exclude them from murder enquiries. They were never suspects!! The fishing expedition was to find people unwilling to give their DNA and then concentrate policing on why.
Want privacy? Expect to be investigated then.
There are going to be false positives. Someone is going to get screwed out of all of this. What really appauls me if that the UK and I think most of the other 35 countries are not giving the Americans a taste of their own medicine. We should be stopping y'all at our borders, subjecting you to a search of your luggage, kidnapping your laptop and fingerprinting y'all.
I'm sure many Americans would be up in arms and calling XYZ from your vaunted constitution.
I've travelled to old Soviet countires and the Mid East. No one is this demanding.
USSR called, they want your papers please.
You seem to think Americans like this crap. I would consider myself to be a pretty right-wing guy, and I think the US Gov't (as opposed to the USA) is overstepping by a long shot. Bush overstepped, Obama will overstep. Don't blame me, I don't endorse the behaviors. Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its citizenry.
Your government keeps your prints when you haven't been convicted of anything? Here in Canada they take your prints upon arrest and are supposed to destroy them IIRC 6 months after acquittal.
You're Canadian, eh?
Pleased to meet you. I'm from the real world.
Where I'm from, the police state says it destroys everything. And it does. Of course, before it does, it gives copies to the FBI, as a courtesy.
Looks like George Orwell's 1984 book was an instruction manual after all.
I had that figured out in 1995. Glad you could join me.
Now the thing is that in some countries there is or was such a crime as "buggery"... Fun reason to get your visa turned down :P
Writing from experience, are we now?
My wife and I were looking at holidaying in the US for the first time in 5 or so years. We'd previously decided not to based on the Presedent, now we probably won't because of the queues at the entry barrier.
You'll probably want to stay out because of the new president we ended up with, too. He is the president of change and messiah, to boot.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!