You don't understand it from their position. If nobody notices, no issues. Since its brought up, they actually have to do something about it. If it is used for badness, its the EVIL HACKERS and not our incompetence. Since he sent in the evidence, they have to do something about it, and can't blame anybody.
~ He could even be charged with performing a scapegoat-otomy without a medical license! Oh, the humanity!/~:-)
taking their rightful places on the junk heap of other failed ideologies and social/economic systems which are based upon....greed.
Agree with your other points, but capitalism works because it accounts for greed. Many of the other systems fail because they don't.
You are correct. Capitalism does work in part because it does in fact leverage the human weakness of greed to direct and channel it to benefit everyone.
The US Constitution was also designed to account for human weakness and corruption. The problem is that over the last century or so, the politicians have convinced the people that it's fine and even necessary to go around or even outright ignore the Constitution's limitations on their power. This is largely why the US is in the shape it's in today. That's what "Progressive" means, to "progress" past the limitations of power set forth in the Constitution.
its not a left issue. its a right issue - its capitalism : in this case the corporation is lecturers' union. in the case of music, it is the music corporations. in case of movies, its hollywood corporations.
its capitalism - if something may prevent your easy profits, prevent it even if it costs a major innovation for civilization.
Capitalism is the worst system ever invented. Except for every other system ever invented. The problem is that the current system the US is operating under isn't really capitalism, it's crony-capitalism, and people opposed to capitalism point to the crony-capitalists and claim capitalism is to blame, when it's actually the corrupt politicians who have caused the problems and allowed and covered for the crony-capitalists to continue their corrupt ways.
Capitalism is the only system ever created where wealth is a renewable resource for everyone as long as they are willing to work and/or come up with an idea, skill, or invention thatâ(TM)s useful to someone else.
Capitalism has raised more people from poverty than any other system ever created.
Capitalism has allowed more people to live in freedom than any other system ever invented.
Capitalism has allowed the US to provide more humanitarian assistance to those in need around the world than any other system or country in history.
For these reasons and many, many more, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Islamic Caliphate, and the so-called âoeNew World Orderâ are doomed to failure and to taking their rightful places on the junk heap of other failed ideologies and social/economic systems which are based upon hate, greed, fear, and lust for power.
Use tax is impossible to practically enforce, that's the problem.
~ That's easy to solve. Just enact a law that requires that all personal property worth over, say, $10 be registered with the State in which you reside with heavy criminal penalties for failure to register property promptly, accurately, and completely. Think of the huge number of government jobs that would be created to collect, monitor, and correlate all the personal property lists and enforce such a law, never mind the huge jump in demand for prison workers./~
Wow, I must be having a huge problem making myself clear.
The idea is that you hack one of these: http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/5232 [maxim-ic.com] in line on the USB data lines, and control it with a GPIO from the CPU. The data lines are only connected when the phone is unlocked. So it really doesn't matter what you device you connect to the phone's connector, it won't be talking to the phone.
Yes, you were not clear. I see no way to naturally infer you meant adding a surface-mount component and associated circuitry to operate it from your posts.
That's kind of going to extremes even for someone with decent electronics skills. You've got any number of space constraints even with a SM switch considering the variety of phone models/designs out there. In most cases you'd need to add a PCB for the switch & circuitry, as the component-density of most cell phone PCBs doesn't allow for sufficient space to add much of anything.
Doing surface-mount PCB component-level work at the average electronics hobbyist workbench isn't easy or practical either. I know, I've worked on electronics for over 35 years. It takes some specialized tools and skills to work with components like that switch which is only 2mm a side with multiple connections.
Besides, if one is doing things that would make it dangerous for the cops to grab data from one's phone, one is more than likely using a disposable phone anyways. A quick slice with an X-Acto knife is a much more reasonable, efficient, and practical precaution that doesn't take a lot in the way of time, trouble, tools, or skills. A good thing for something you may end up ditching in a fire or the bottom of a large body of water.
Sure, it'd be nice (and may even be possible in some cases) to have custom surface-mount goodies installed in your phone, kinda the way that having "Q" from the Bond films customize your ride would be nice, but not really practical or realistic in most cases.
Try reading again: "Software controlled switch that disconnects the data lines"
the data lines in question would be the USB data lines mentioned in my post's parent.
You miss the point. The "slurping" device doesn't use or require the phone's software. It accesses the stored data directly.
A software switch in the phone would be about as effective as a software switch in a Windows box would be at stopping someone from connecting a cable to the HDD and copying it.
A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and videos off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections. 'Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,' a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities."
Do some Googling on these devices. You'll see that a physical inability to make electrical contact is about the only practical and do-able short-term prevention measure (short of destruction) for most people.
It's the only way I can think of that has a decent chance of you ending up with your phone and data still secure and yourself not under arrest.
I like the idea of this... have a software controlled switch that disconnects the data lines whenever the phone is locked... I wonder how hard that would be to hack into my iPhone?
A software switch wouldn't do any good.
The data is taken directly from memory. I'm not sure if the phone even has to be powered-on to be "slurped".
There was a/. story about this a couple months ago (State Troopers in MI seizing phone data, I think) if memory serves.
They buy special devices that plug in to the manufacturer specific port and rip the data that way. They don't always use the screen and keypad but rather swipe all the data at once and review it in the privacy of their office while laughing at your photos.
Better idea would be to hollow out part of the phone without stopping it from working and rewire the port to discharge a capacitor that hopefully ruins their machine.
Too much risk of the authorities charging you with something related to destroying police/government property to bother with a booby-trap.
Most cellphone "slurping" units being used by LEO's use, to my knowledge, the mini-USB port to connect. Simply use a method to disconnect the data line that's not obvious from a brief external inspection. If you're not worried about using the mini-USB for data transfers, simply cut the copper land or wire to the data pin. Maybe someone clever could devise a secret switch.
They can't "slurp" what they can't connect to.
If you're questioned as to why their magic box doesn't work, simply claim it worked fine before they hooked up their box to your phone, did you break my phone, Officer?
Most likely they'll toss your phone back in your car, and you'll suddenly be sitting there all alone with maybe a warning, free to be on your way. Last thing they like to do is a bunch of paperwork, especially over something like a stupid phone in a traffic stop.
Oh, right. Well, different people have different ideas of sane. Actually, my favorite WM of all time was the SGI Irix workstations we had in our college computer lab around 1997. The combination of the soft colors, easy to read fonts, and the scratching sound the mouse made as I moved it across the desk without a mouse pad (mouse pads always got stolen) was very satisfying.
Later, the lab people started punching a hole in the mouse pad running the cord through it. That just killed the whole experience.
Heh. I've got a working SGI Octane workstation running IRIX and a matching SGI monitor sitting here three feet away. Fiber-optic audio I/O and a 3mS max buss latency means it's still useful for some things, even today.
A shock wave passing through the material causes enough local heating (and a lowering due to pressure) to pass the curie point (there's papers about that happening in iron powder composites) - but a shock wave that big is most likely going to come from the sort of impact that would shatter the glass platters anyway. It's glass in those drives. A big drop onto a hard surface is probably all you need instead of ovens and explosives.
For practicality, I like the kind of HDD-destroying "shock wave" produced by putting a number of 3/4-inch holes clean through the drive in the platter area with a drill press.
Several good whacks with a 10-pound sledgehammer to top it off, and whoever wants to recover anything useable/useful off of that particular drive had better have some mad skills, low expectations, and a long time to spend doing it!
Besides, if there are people willing to try recovering data from a drive of yours after such measures, you're most likely already hiding in some hole in Lower Bumfukistan to avoid a drone strike.
I don't think that having good ol' fashioned humans die in our wars is morally required of a sovereign people, rather, I question how we can truly feel ownership of our society if we do not control it, protect it, assist it and direct it.
I think there's another issue to consider before we even get near to asking questions about "societal ownership".
Automating front-line offensive & defensive forces makes it much easier for a government to use it's military might against its' own citizens, as there will be far less of a problem with human officers and front-line soldiers refusing to open fire on their fellow citizens and/or issue orders to that effect.
Somebody in the White House, Pentagon, or some military installation just types a command and pushes the "Enter" key and people are automatically hunted down and killed. A tyrant's dream.
Robots and drones are already being utilized in domestic law enforcement, so how long would it be before these fully-automated weapons systems were used domestically? You know they will be eventually if we allow it. History shows us that human nature is all too predictable when it comes to governments having immense power over relatively defenseless citizens. Governments always seek more power & control, and it never ends well once they achieve a large amount of it.
The poor guy probably sacrificed his own life by staying with the aircraft and not bailing out/ejecting in a last-ditch attempt to try to avoid hitting the stands.
Pilot and skydiver here. 1. WWII fighters did not have ejection seats. 2. At that low altitude there is no time to climb out of an out-of-control aircraft. 3. The still photos show the pilot slumped forward in the cockpit, no doubt unconscious from the high-G's when the plane nosed up.
Nice to hear from someone else with experience in the aviation field. Retired senior avionics technician here. I've done some work on WW2 vintage aircraft electronics for a local air museum.
I'm aware that the P-51 series didn't come equipped with any ejection system. Being this was an unlimited event with highly modified aircraft, I wasn't going to assume one hadn't been added. The P-61 Black Widow night-fighter was one of the earliest US military aircraft used in some of the first post-war experimental ejection system tests, IIRC.
I agree that the pilot had very little time in which to take any action, and bailing out was likely an impossibility. He probably realized this as well and, if he was still conscious, trying anything he could to take the aircraft away from the grandstand area during his last seconds.
As to the pilot being slumped forward, that very well may have been an indication he was unconscious and/or being subjected to extreme G forces. It may also have been the pilot reaching down and/or up under a panel in some kind of attempt to regain some kind of last-second control. There's simply no telling.
However, some eyewitnesses also stated they believe they saw the pilot alter the plane's course at the last moments enough to avoid the grandstands themselves.
I'm willing to give the pilot the benefit of the doubt.
There's also no way to determine which direction an aircraft might travel in the case of mechanical/control failure or pilot incapacitation.
Yes, there is and minimum safe distances account for that.
There is no "safe distance" really. As I stated in my previous post, one of those aircraft could conceivably travel up to 100 miles or more in any direction.
Given that he was 74 years old the odds of him passing out due to the forces involved were quite high.
You don't understand the thorough testing those pilots must pass. If he wasn't physically & mentally capable he wouldn't be allowed to fly, especially racing, period. Besides, having that many decades of experience flying means I'd trust him before I'd trust some twenty-something to safely pilot an aircraft I was a passenger on. It was also reported by eyewitnesses that it appeared there was a control surface failure of some sort. It wouldn't matter in that case how young or old the pilot was, how the course was laid out, distance, etc.
You're opining out of ignorance here.
In the 21st century people should be doing better than Waldo's Flying Circus, it's as simple as that.
But this is the equivalent of a "Flying Circus" (in the form of a race) that people are *paying* to spectate at through their own free will. Just as in any activity involving large human-controlled/piloted/driven objects/vehicles traveling at extreme velocities at the edge of control, there is risk both to the actual participants and to spectators.
The risks can be mitigated to some extent but not eliminated. The risks are part of the draw both for participants and spectators. If it wasn't risky, there would be little challenge and little interest. Heck, spectators have died at freaking baseball games for crying out loud.
One must accept some risk of injury or death if one desires to spectate in person at an inherently dangerous event like an auto or aircraft race. If you are unwilling to accept the risks, then watch it on video from your home.
You're *much* more likely to die or be critically injured on the drive to or from the air race than spectating. Spectating at air races has resulted in far, far fewer spectator injuries than car racing. That's despite the fact that you can't build a "retaining wall" around the sky as you can around auto racing tracks.
With the level of fear and risk-aversion you demonstrate by your comments I'm surprised you're able to leave your residence. Or get out of bed.
Was the race allowed to weasel out of those regs by not calling itself an airshow, even though that's exactly what it is?
The Reno Air Races operate under far stricter regulations than air shows. Unfortunately, sometimes aircraft fail in unpredictable ways. Nothing is completely safe.
"Second, air show performers Ã" both civilian and military Ã" are prohibited from performing maneuvers that direct the energy of their aircraft toward the area in which the spectators are sitting."
So much for that rule.
These aircraft travel at well over 400MPH. They can travel a long way in a very short time. There's also no way to determine which direction an aircraft might travel in the case of mechanical/control failure or pilot incapacitation.
It appears from the video that the pilot experienced a control failure. In that case, there's not much anyone including the pilot could do to avoid tragedy. The pilot appears to have lost all control of the aircraft, likely due to the aforementioned control system failure.
In this kind of scenario with no way to control the aircraft, the only way to be totally safe is to be outside of the distance the fuel onboard could carry the aircraft. This could be up to 100 miles or more in any direction, even with the limited fuel load of a race aircraft and depending on the point in the flight where directional control is lost.
The poor guy probably sacrificed his own life by staying with the aircraft and not bailing out/ejecting in a last-ditch attempt to try to avoid hitting the stands.
I hope the FAA employees, airshow promoters, and airport employees who approved the airshow plan are all charged criminally.
You may want to re-think your rant. The world cannot be made toddler-safe, and nobody would like living in it, even if it were possible. There is always an element of risk to practically any activity, even laying in bed at night under your covers.
True. The muti-state "public safety network" here is 6m; Storm-chasers and fire watch is 2m. That's what ARES is for. It's simple, reliable technology and there are good volunteers to run it. Our local Sheriff recently remarked that the feds are trying to shove narrow band digital radios down the counties' throats. The proffered radios are expensive, overwhelmingly benefit one corp, and perform poorly in this terrain (the digital radios tend to be all or nothing; in much of rural MO, you can get a poor but comprehensible analog signal further, at least with current equipment). Switching will either hurt strained county budgets or the strained federal deficit (if subsidized) and will mean other services don't happen.
I think one of the more important yet unspoken priorities behind the governments' push for digital communications for local/state/federal authorities' short-range communications, especially trunked/spread-spectrum/frequency-hopping types, is it's inherent increased difficulty for "civilians" to eavesdrop on/intercept with widely-available civilian electronics as opposed to standard analog two-way radio traffic.
After all, if people can easily listen in on government radio communications they may attempt to flee ahead of the trucks & troops when they're dispatched to their neighborhood to begin the round-ups for the camps & facilities, institute quarantines, seize weapons, or mobilize crack-downs on dissent. They don't want to spoil Granny's priceless "surprised expression" when the DHS storm-trooper kicks in her door and shoves the assault rifle in her face.
I disagree. History demonstrates again and again the truth of my statements.
government can hire people to do things that need to be done
Government must first take wealth away from others attempting to create wealth, thereby decreasing their ability to do so and benefit others, pay for the administrative/governmental costs, then use a portion of what remains to hire and pay wages. It's the broken-window fallacy.
Government can create wealth by granting monopolies, contracts or protecting trademarks and copyrights.
That is not "creating" wealth. The first two in particular (government monopolies/contracts) are redistribution of existing wealth. The second part (copyright & trademark) are simply regulation.
The reason US businesses are increasingly shipping jobs and even the entire business itself overseas is that the government has created an environment that makes it easier and more profitable to do so.
The rest of your post appears to be little more than class warfare, which has been discredited and debunked repeatedly through history by far greater intellects than anyone here or in government currently.
Correct. Some problems can be solved by throwing money at them.
Care to name one?
I'll go one step further. Some problems can be solved only by throwing money at them. Poverty, for example. There is provably no other way to solve poverty. Indeed, it is tautologically so....
"Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime."
Throwing money (monthly/weekly checks) at the poor alone solves nothing (except political strategies) and creates dependency. It doesn't solve poverty. You've only created a poor person with some temporary cash...which oftentimes doesn't work out well. It's why there are so many liquor stores and drug dealers operating in poor areas.
The only things that ever solve poverty on larger scales are and have always been motivation, opportunity, and the freedom to pursue them. Anything else is not only doomed to failure, it is a waste of resources for the society and guarantees that poverty continues or worsens.
Government cannot "solve poverty" any more than it can "create wealth". It can only increase, spread, and/or perpetuate poverty. Only the impoverished individuals themselves may relieve their poverty through motivation, opportunity, and freedom. Three things government always has a damping effect upon.
I'm a Canadian, by the way. If you'd like to engage in partisan dick-waving that's your decision, but I'd really like nothing to do with it.
Who's partisan? Both parties suck. I'm simply pointing out the injustice and unfairness in this particular instance of flagrant legislative & regulatory abuse, selectively enforced, to purely political ends. It matters not what letters follow the names.
Yet, none of those charges were filed.
Of course they weren't - Honduran law is not United States law! You can't charge them with poaching and smuggling because they were only guilty of those things in Honduras. Those criminal acts were used to justify a ruling under the Lacey Act, which is the only American law these people violated. Read the judgment, it's all right there.
OK, so they aren't being charged with violating Honduran law. That's understood. At least, for now.
IANAL, blah blah blah.
"A ruling under the Lacy Act" would be charges filed, at a minimum, in a Federal court. No court, no legal "ruling". A bureaucrat, Federal department head, or DA cannot make legal "rulings". Only a judge can make legal "rulings". A judge has granted a search warrant, nothing more. The Lacey Act is law. In the US, you must be afforded 'due process' which means the charges against you being named, and afforded the opportunity to confront those charges in a court of law.
So far, the government has only presented sworn statements that someone believes certain laws may have been broken to obtain a search warrant. They searched and seized a sizable dollar amount of property as evidence. No other evidence has been presented to a court/judge, not even the seized evidence, as the government is delaying and stonewalling any opportunity for a court/judge to demand, as they should, that either charges be filed and evidence presented, or that the case be dropped and seized property returned. The legal principles of habeus corpus and corpus delicti apply.
It would be like the police seizing your house because they say they believe some crime has been committed, and then never charging you with any crime and refusing to return your house, while simply refusing to even allow a judge or court to hear any charges against you or hear your defense and petition for return of your unjustly-seized property.
That would be a tyranny. That's what's happening here. "Sure, you've got rights and guarantees, we're just not gonna let you have the opportunity to exercise them until we decide to. Don't hold your breath." Justice delayed is justice denied, and all that.
Should the government be able to seize someones' wealth/property or throw someone in prison and not allow them to see a judge and hear the charges against them and defend themselves?
The first investigation and seizure against Gibson involves different allegations of wrongdoing than the current investigation and seizure. Three freakin' *years* is far longer than is normal in these cases if charges were going to be filed. Three years of *litigation* in court is not atypical, but *three years* with ~$1M in property seized and not a *single charge* filed in a court of law against a defendant??? Now a second raid and property seizure???
That's simply thug tactics by the government, no matter what party or ideology is in power.
What the video doesn't talk about is the fact that they also caught egg-bearing lobsters, undersized lobsters, did not report their catch to the Honduran authorities, and transferred their catch at sea without going through a Honduran port or having their catch inspected by Honduran authorities - all of which are actually against Honduran law, and the Honduran government filed affidavits affirming that these were violations of the Honduran law.
Yet, none of those charges were filed. Other restaurants also bought from the same suppliers, just as in the Gibson case, yet no charges have been filed against these others.
Gibson's two major competitors, C.F. Martin and Fender, both use the exact same wood from exactly the same sources, yet no raids are conducted against them. The only difference is that both Fender and Martin are Union shops, where Gibson is not, and that Gibson contributed heavily to Republican campaigns and PACs, where Fender and Martin support Democrats.
One doesn't need a bloodhounds' sense of smell to detect a rat here. Of course, partisan blinders seem to have the ability to not only compromise all four senses, it also apparently affects logical reasoning and powers of logical deduction. I detest what Republicans have done to the US almost as much as what Progressive Democrats have done. I'm not making any party distinctions here, I'm pointing out corrupt behavior and actions that have no party affiliations. If the roles were reversed and this happened to C.F. Martin, I would protest just as loudly and for the same reasons. Wrong is wrong.
To further clarify, here's a copy/paste from a/. post of mine on this topic a couple days ago. The links near the bottom are particularly enlightening.
I actually called the Indian Embassy. They say they did not file any complaints to anyone about the rosewood, and do not support the raid on Gibson.
Further, the rosewood in question *is* finished into pre-cut & polished fingerboard slabs, was inspected & OK'd for export by Indian authorities, and for import by US Customs (Gibson ain't sneaking this stuff into the country in jungle-built subs, after all, like cocaine!).
AFAICT, Gibson is also the only major US guitar maker that's in a "right-to-work" state. Gibson has also contributed to Republican campaigns. All major US guitar makers that I know of use Indian rosewood and other CITES regulated materials, yet Gibson is the only maker that's been raided (twice since '09!) and had guitars and wood seized.
Gibson is in trouble because the DOJ, in it's infinite wisdom, thinks that the finished fretboard pieces they got from India, although they were deemed OK for export by India and OK'd for import by US Customs aren't, in the F&W's/DOJ's opinion, "finished enough" according to the *F&W'sDOJ's interpretation* of Indian export laws (NOT India's interpretation of THEIR OWN LAW!!...they filed no complaint and don't support the F&W's/DOJ's actions)...and therefor in violation of the amended-in-2008 Lacey Act despite all statements and evidence to the contrary, even from India.
The first raid on Gibson in '09, as far as I can determine, was based upon statements made by either F&W and/or the DOJ to a judge, asserting that they believed some portion/part of the chain-of-custody paperwork was forged, in order to obtain a warrant to raid & search Gibson facilities. So far, NO CHARGES have been filed regarding the '09 raid & seizure, and the DOJ has had the judge delay indefinitely any further court proceedings, leaving some $500K-$1M in guitars & materials seized from Gibson in limbo.
Not necessarily that *Gibson* forged, had forged, or knew of any forging of any documents (could have been any of the suppliers/warehousers/transporters in the chain), but according to the letter of the amended portion of the Lacey Act, *who* forged them, why, or who had knowledge of any irregularity was immaterial, and the Act as written didn't protect Gibson (or any other US company or individual) for criminal or civil liability for acts outside their knowledge or control...called "strict liability"...which was one of the things those opposed to passage of the amendment to the Lacey Act were against due to it's unfairness.
I'm not against conservation at all. However, the jack-booted ham-handedness with which the laws are written, interpreted, and enforced should be an outrage to anyone.
No, the government found that Gibson was importing rough ebony shipped as finished fingerboards (the shipment also wasn't addressed to Gibson, it was deliberately bounced around between warehouses and subsidiaries in order to hide its real destination.) The paperwork IS fraudulent, period.
It takes years to build a substantive case, especially when it involves businesses. The court case has not been "delayed." The investigation is still on-going, as this latest raid demonstrated.
No charges have been filed, only a SWAT raid (overkill, anyone?) performed and property seized. No evidence of any crime has been presented in court, as no charges of any wrongdoing have been filed, either relating to the '09 raid or the the latest raid.
Gibson has been in court since '09, attempting to force the government to either file charges or return Gibsons' property. So far F&W/DOJ has done nothing but file for stays and delays.
You'd have to be damn gullible to believe a Department of Justice when they say shit like "They're guilty! We haven't presented any proof, but that's just details!" and "It's a TEA Party and GWB conspiracy!"
This investigation started in 2009 because they were importing raw ebony under a fraudulent manifest, which is illegal whether the wood itself is legal to import or not. This is not just some case of big government picking on the innocent businessman.
No.
The government claims that some paperwork may be fraudulent. The government has not proved this, in fact they are still delaying the court case over this some 3 years later.
The government has not submitted evidence or proof in court that any paperwork is fraudulent or forged. Meanwhile, the government is holding some ~$500K-$1M in guitars and wood seized from Gibson. In neither raid on Gibson have any of the source-countries for the materials claimed any wrongdoing by Gibson.
Looks to me like some people at Fish & Wildlife/DOJ wanted a pristine Les Paul to display in an ebony and rosewood display case on the cheap.~
The wood isn't illegal. India is protesting because they insist that the wood be processesed, in India, by Indian workers, before Gibson gets it. The state department is enforcing India's claim.
This isn't a matter of ecology, it's just business as usual.
I'm a semi-pro guitarist/musician. This stuff impacts me directly.
I actually called the Indian Embassy. They say they did not file any complaints to anyone about the rosewood, and do not support the raid on Gibson.
Further, the rosewood in question *is* finished into pre-cut & polished fingerboard slabs, was inspected & OK'd for export by Indian authorities, and for import by US Customs (Gibson ain't sneaking this stuff into the country in jungle-built subs, after all, like cocaine!).
AFAICT, Gibson is also the only major US guitar maker that's in a "right-to-work" state. Gibson has also contributed to Republican campaigns. All major US guitar makers that I know of use Indian rosewood and other CITES regulated materials, yet Gibson is the only maker that's been raided (twice since '09!) and had guitars and wood seized.
Gibson is in trouble because the DOJ, in it's infinite wisdom, thinks that the finished fretboard pieces they got from India, although they were deemed OK for export by India and OK'd for import by US Customs aren't, in the F&W's/DOJ's opinion, "finished enough" according to the *F&W'sDOJ's interpretation* of Indian export laws (NOT India's interpretation of THEIR OWN LAW!!...they filed no complaint and don't support the F&W's/DOJ's actions)...and therefor in violation of the amended-in-2008 Lacey Act despite all statements and evidence to the contrary, even from India.
The first raid on Gibson in '09, as far as I can determine, was based upon statements made by either F&W and/or the DOJ to a judge, asserting that they believed some portion/part of the chain-of-custody paperwork was forged, in order to obtain a warrant to raid & search Gibson facilities. So far, NO CHARGES have been filed regarding the '09 raid & seizure, and the DOJ has had the judge delay indefinitely any further court proceedings, leaving some $500K-$1M in guitars & materials seized from Gibson in limbo.
Not necessarily that *Gibson* forged, had forged, or knew of any forging of any documents (could have been any of the suppliers/warehousers/transporters in the chain), but according to the letter of the amended portion of the Lacey Act, *who* forged them, why, or who had knowledge of any irregularity was immaterial, and the Act as written didn't protect Gibson (or any other US company or individual) for criminal or civil liability for acts outside their knowledge or control...called "strict liability"...which was one of the things those opposed to passage of the amendment to the Lacey Act were against due to it's unfairness.
I'm not against conservation at all. However, the jack-booted ham-handedness with which the laws are written, interpreted, and enforced should be an outrage to anyone.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't understand it from their position. If nobody notices, no issues. Since its brought up, they actually have to do something about it. If it is used for badness, its the EVIL HACKERS and not our incompetence. Since he sent in the evidence, they have to do something about it, and can't blame anybody.
~ He could even be charged with performing a scapegoat-otomy without a medical license! Oh, the humanity! /~ :-)
Strat
You are correct. Capitalism does work in part because it does in fact leverage the human weakness of greed to direct and channel it to benefit everyone.
The US Constitution was also designed to account for human weakness and corruption. The problem is that over the last century or so, the politicians have convinced the people that it's fine and even necessary to go around or even outright ignore the Constitution's limitations on their power. This is largely why the US is in the shape it's in today. That's what "Progressive" means, to "progress" past the limitations of power set forth in the Constitution.
Strat
its not a left issue. its a right issue - its capitalism : in this case the corporation is lecturers' union. in the case of music, it is the music corporations. in case of movies, its hollywood corporations.
its capitalism - if something may prevent your easy profits, prevent it even if it costs a major innovation for civilization.
Capitalism is the worst system ever invented. Except for every other system ever invented. The problem is that the current system the US is operating under isn't really capitalism, it's crony-capitalism, and people opposed to capitalism point to the crony-capitalists and claim capitalism is to blame, when it's actually the corrupt politicians who have caused the problems and allowed and covered for the crony-capitalists to continue their corrupt ways.
Capitalism is the only system ever created where wealth is a renewable resource for everyone as long as they are willing to work and/or come up with an idea, skill, or invention thatâ(TM)s useful to someone else.
Capitalism has raised more people from poverty than any other system ever created.
Capitalism has allowed more people to live in freedom than any other system ever invented.
Capitalism has allowed the US to provide more humanitarian assistance to those in need around the world than any other system or country in history.
For these reasons and many, many more, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Islamic Caliphate, and the so-called âoeNew World Orderâ are doomed to failure and to taking their rightful places on the junk heap of other failed ideologies and social/economic systems which are based upon hate, greed, fear, and lust for power.
Strat
Use tax is impossible to practically enforce, that's the problem.
~ That's easy to solve. Just enact a law that requires that all personal property worth over, say, $10 be registered with the State in which you reside with heavy criminal penalties for failure to register property promptly, accurately, and completely. Think of the huge number of government jobs that would be created to collect, monitor, and correlate all the personal property lists and enforce such a law, never mind the huge jump in demand for prison workers. /~
Strat
Wow, I must be having a huge problem making myself clear.
The idea is that you hack one of these: http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/5232 [maxim-ic.com] in line on the USB data lines, and control it with a GPIO from the CPU. The data lines are only connected when the phone is unlocked. So it really doesn't matter what you device you connect to the phone's connector, it won't be talking to the phone.
Yes, you were not clear. I see no way to naturally infer you meant adding a surface-mount component and associated circuitry to operate it from your posts.
That's kind of going to extremes even for someone with decent electronics skills. You've got any number of space constraints even with a SM switch considering the variety of phone models/designs out there. In most cases you'd need to add a PCB for the switch & circuitry, as the component-density of most cell phone PCBs doesn't allow for sufficient space to add much of anything.
Doing surface-mount PCB component-level work at the average electronics hobbyist workbench isn't easy or practical either. I know, I've worked on electronics for over 35 years. It takes some specialized tools and skills to work with components like that switch which is only 2mm a side with multiple connections.
Besides, if one is doing things that would make it dangerous for the cops to grab data from one's phone, one is more than likely using a disposable phone anyways. A quick slice with an X-Acto knife is a much more reasonable, efficient, and practical precaution that doesn't take a lot in the way of time, trouble, tools, or skills. A good thing for something you may end up ditching in a fire or the bottom of a large body of water.
Sure, it'd be nice (and may even be possible in some cases) to have custom surface-mount goodies installed in your phone, kinda the way that having "Q" from the Bond films customize your ride would be nice, but not really practical or realistic in most cases.
Strat
Try reading again: "Software controlled switch that disconnects the data lines"
the data lines in question would be the USB data lines mentioned in my post's parent.
You miss the point. The "slurping" device doesn't use or require the phone's software. It accesses the stored data directly.
A software switch in the phone would be about as effective as a software switch in a Windows box would be at stopping someone from connecting a cable to the HDD and copying it.
Look here: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/04/19/2231240/Michigan-Police-Could-Search-Cell-Phones-During-Traffic-Stops
FTFA:
A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and videos off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections. 'Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,' a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities."
Do some Googling on these devices. You'll see that a physical inability to make electrical contact is about the only practical and do-able short-term prevention measure (short of destruction) for most people.
It's the only way I can think of that has a decent chance of you ending up with your phone and data still secure and yourself not under arrest.
Strat
Yes it is a soundblaster driver in C++
Winner!
Nicely done, sir.
Strat
I like the idea of this... have a software controlled switch that disconnects the data lines whenever the phone is locked... I wonder how hard that would be to hack into my iPhone?
A software switch wouldn't do any good.
The data is taken directly from memory. I'm not sure if the phone even has to be powered-on to be "slurped".
There was a /. story about this a couple months ago (State Troopers in MI seizing phone data, I think) if memory serves.
Strat
They buy special devices that plug in to the manufacturer specific port and rip the data that way. They don't always use the screen and keypad but rather swipe all the data at once and review it in the privacy of their office while laughing at your photos.
Better idea would be to hollow out part of the phone without stopping it from working and rewire the port to discharge a capacitor that hopefully ruins their machine.
Too much risk of the authorities charging you with something related to destroying police/government property to bother with a booby-trap.
Most cellphone "slurping" units being used by LEO's use, to my knowledge, the mini-USB port to connect. Simply use a method to disconnect the data line that's not obvious from a brief external inspection. If you're not worried about using the mini-USB for data transfers, simply cut the copper land or wire to the data pin. Maybe someone clever could devise a secret switch.
They can't "slurp" what they can't connect to.
If you're questioned as to why their magic box doesn't work, simply claim it worked fine before they hooked up their box to your phone, did you break my phone, Officer?
Most likely they'll toss your phone back in your car, and you'll suddenly be sitting there all alone with maybe a warning, free to be on your way. Last thing they like to do is a bunch of paperwork, especially over something like a stupid phone in a traffic stop.
Strat
Oh, right. Well, different people have different ideas of sane. Actually, my favorite WM of all time was the SGI Irix workstations we had in our college computer lab around 1997. The combination of the soft colors, easy to read fonts, and the scratching sound the mouse made as I moved it across the desk without a mouse pad (mouse pads always got stolen) was very satisfying.
Later, the lab people started punching a hole in the mouse pad running the cord through it. That just killed the whole experience.
Heh. I've got a working SGI Octane workstation running IRIX and a matching SGI monitor sitting here three feet away. Fiber-optic audio I/O and a 3mS max buss latency means it's still useful for some things, even today.
Now, the old Netscape browser...not so much.
Strat
A shock wave passing through the material causes enough local heating (and a lowering due to pressure) to pass the curie point (there's papers about that happening in iron powder composites) - but a shock wave that big is most likely going to come from the sort of impact that would shatter the glass platters anyway.
It's glass in those drives. A big drop onto a hard surface is probably all you need instead of ovens and explosives.
For practicality, I like the kind of HDD-destroying "shock wave" produced by putting a number of 3/4-inch holes clean through the drive in the platter area with a drill press.
Several good whacks with a 10-pound sledgehammer to top it off, and whoever wants to recover anything useable/useful off of that particular drive had better have some mad skills, low expectations, and a long time to spend doing it!
Besides, if there are people willing to try recovering data from a drive of yours after such measures, you're most likely already hiding in some hole in Lower Bumfukistan to avoid a drone strike.
Strat
I don't think that having good ol' fashioned humans die in our wars is morally required of a sovereign people, rather, I question how we can truly feel ownership of our society if we do not control it, protect it, assist it and direct it.
I think there's another issue to consider before we even get near to asking questions about "societal ownership".
Automating front-line offensive & defensive forces makes it much easier for a government to use it's military might against its' own citizens, as there will be far less of a problem with human officers and front-line soldiers refusing to open fire on their fellow citizens and/or issue orders to that effect.
Somebody in the White House, Pentagon, or some military installation just types a command and pushes the "Enter" key and people are automatically hunted down and killed. A tyrant's dream.
Robots and drones are already being utilized in domestic law enforcement, so how long would it be before these fully-automated weapons systems were used domestically? You know they will be eventually if we allow it. History shows us that human nature is all too predictable when it comes to governments having immense power over relatively defenseless citizens. Governments always seek more power & control, and it never ends well once they achieve a large amount of it.
Strat
The poor guy probably sacrificed his own life by staying with the aircraft and not bailing out/ejecting in a last-ditch attempt to try to avoid hitting the stands.
Pilot and skydiver here.
1. WWII fighters did not have ejection seats.
2. At that low altitude there is no time to climb out of an out-of-control aircraft.
3. The still photos show the pilot slumped forward in the cockpit, no doubt unconscious from the high-G's when the plane nosed up.
Nice to hear from someone else with experience in the aviation field. Retired senior avionics technician here. I've done some work on WW2 vintage aircraft electronics for a local air museum.
I'm aware that the P-51 series didn't come equipped with any ejection system. Being this was an unlimited event with highly modified aircraft, I wasn't going to assume one hadn't been added. The P-61 Black Widow night-fighter was one of the earliest US military aircraft used in some of the first post-war experimental ejection system tests, IIRC.
I agree that the pilot had very little time in which to take any action, and bailing out was likely an impossibility. He probably realized this as well and, if he was still conscious, trying anything he could to take the aircraft away from the grandstand area during his last seconds.
As to the pilot being slumped forward, that very well may have been an indication he was unconscious and/or being subjected to extreme G forces. It may also have been the pilot reaching down and/or up under a panel in some kind of attempt to regain some kind of last-second control. There's simply no telling.
However, some eyewitnesses also stated they believe they saw the pilot alter the plane's course at the last moments enough to avoid the grandstands themselves.
I'm willing to give the pilot the benefit of the doubt.
Strat
There is no "safe distance" really. As I stated in my previous post, one of those aircraft could conceivably travel up to 100 miles or more in any direction.
Given that he was 74 years old the odds of him passing out due to the forces involved were quite high.
You don't understand the thorough testing those pilots must pass. If he wasn't physically & mentally capable he wouldn't be allowed to fly, especially racing, period. Besides, having that many decades of experience flying means I'd trust him before I'd trust some twenty-something to safely pilot an aircraft I was a passenger on. It was also reported by eyewitnesses that it appeared there was a control surface failure of some sort. It wouldn't matter in that case how young or old the pilot was, how the course was laid out, distance, etc.
You're opining out of ignorance here.
In the 21st century people should be doing better than Waldo's Flying Circus, it's as simple as that.
But this is the equivalent of a "Flying Circus" (in the form of a race) that people are *paying* to spectate at through their own free will. Just as in any activity involving large human-controlled/piloted/driven objects/vehicles traveling at extreme velocities at the edge of control, there is risk both to the actual participants and to spectators.
The risks can be mitigated to some extent but not eliminated. The risks are part of the draw both for participants and spectators. If it wasn't risky, there would be little challenge and little interest. Heck, spectators have died at freaking baseball games for crying out loud.
One must accept some risk of injury or death if one desires to spectate in person at an inherently dangerous event like an auto or aircraft race. If you are unwilling to accept the risks, then watch it on video from your home.
You're *much* more likely to die or be critically injured on the drive to or from the air race than spectating. Spectating at air races has resulted in far, far fewer spectator injuries than car racing. That's despite the fact that you can't build a "retaining wall" around the sky as you can around auto racing tracks.
With the level of fear and risk-aversion you demonstrate by your comments I'm surprised you're able to leave your residence. Or get out of bed.
Strat
US Airshows
Wrong.
This was an Air Race not an Air Show.
Was the race allowed to weasel out of those regs by not calling itself an airshow, even though that's exactly what it is?
The Reno Air Races operate under far stricter regulations than air shows. Unfortunately, sometimes aircraft fail in unpredictable ways. Nothing is completely safe.
"Second, air show performers Ã" both civilian and military Ã" are prohibited from performing maneuvers that direct the energy of their aircraft toward the area in which the spectators are sitting."
So much for that rule.
These aircraft travel at well over 400MPH. They can travel a long way in a very short time. There's also no way to determine which direction an aircraft might travel in the case of mechanical/control failure or pilot incapacitation.
It appears from the video that the pilot experienced a control failure. In that case, there's not much anyone including the pilot could do to avoid tragedy. The pilot appears to have lost all control of the aircraft, likely due to the aforementioned control system failure.
In this kind of scenario with no way to control the aircraft, the only way to be totally safe is to be outside of the distance the fuel onboard could carry the aircraft. This could be up to 100 miles or more in any direction, even with the limited fuel load of a race aircraft and depending on the point in the flight where directional control is lost.
The poor guy probably sacrificed his own life by staying with the aircraft and not bailing out/ejecting in a last-ditch attempt to try to avoid hitting the stands.
I hope the FAA employees, airshow promoters, and airport employees who approved the airshow plan are all charged criminally.
You may want to re-think your rant. The world cannot be made toddler-safe, and nobody would like living in it, even if it were possible. There is always an element of risk to practically any activity, even laying in bed at night under your covers.
Strat
I think one of the more important yet unspoken priorities behind the governments' push for digital communications for local/state/federal authorities' short-range communications, especially trunked/spread-spectrum/frequency-hopping types, is it's inherent increased difficulty for "civilians" to eavesdrop on/intercept with widely-available civilian electronics as opposed to standard analog two-way radio traffic.
After all, if people can easily listen in on government radio communications they may attempt to flee ahead of the trucks & troops when they're dispatched to their neighborhood to begin the round-ups for the camps & facilities, institute quarantines, seize weapons, or mobilize crack-downs on dissent. They don't want to spoil Granny's priceless "surprised expression" when the DHS storm-trooper kicks in her door and shoves the assault rifle in her face.
Strat
It's a tea-bagger!
And thus, you discredit through bigotry and intolerance anything you had to say.
Strat
You, sir, don't know history.
I disagree. History demonstrates again and again the truth of my statements.
government can hire people to do things that need to be done
Government must first take wealth away from others attempting to create wealth, thereby decreasing their ability to do so and benefit others, pay for the administrative/governmental costs, then use a portion of what remains to hire and pay wages. It's the broken-window fallacy.
Government can create wealth by granting monopolies, contracts or protecting trademarks and copyrights.
That is not "creating" wealth. The first two in particular (government monopolies/contracts) are redistribution of existing wealth. The second part (copyright & trademark) are simply regulation.
The reason US businesses are increasingly shipping jobs and even the entire business itself overseas is that the government has created an environment that makes it easier and more profitable to do so.
The rest of your post appears to be little more than class warfare, which has been discredited and debunked repeatedly through history by far greater intellects than anyone here or in government currently.
Strat
"Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime."
Throwing money (monthly/weekly checks) at the poor alone solves nothing (except political strategies) and creates dependency. It doesn't solve poverty. You've only created a poor person with some temporary cash...which oftentimes doesn't work out well. It's why there are so many liquor stores and drug dealers operating in poor areas.
The only things that ever solve poverty on larger scales are and have always been motivation, opportunity, and the freedom to pursue them. Anything else is not only doomed to failure, it is a waste of resources for the society and guarantees that poverty continues or worsens.
Government cannot "solve poverty" any more than it can "create wealth". It can only increase, spread, and/or perpetuate poverty. Only the impoverished individuals themselves may relieve their poverty through motivation, opportunity, and freedom. Three things government always has a damping effect upon.
Strat
I'm a Canadian, by the way. If you'd like to engage in partisan dick-waving that's your decision, but I'd really like nothing to do with it.
Who's partisan? Both parties suck. I'm simply pointing out the injustice and unfairness in this particular instance of flagrant legislative & regulatory abuse, selectively enforced, to purely political ends. It matters not what letters follow the names.
OK, so they aren't being charged with violating Honduran law. That's understood. At least, for now.
IANAL, blah blah blah.
"A ruling under the Lacy Act" would be charges filed, at a minimum, in a Federal court. No court, no legal "ruling". A bureaucrat, Federal department head, or DA cannot make legal "rulings". Only a judge can make legal "rulings". A judge has granted a search warrant, nothing more. The Lacey Act is law. In the US, you must be afforded 'due process' which means the charges against you being named, and afforded the opportunity to confront those charges in a court of law.
So far, the government has only presented sworn statements that someone believes certain laws may have been broken to obtain a search warrant. They searched and seized a sizable dollar amount of property as evidence. No other evidence has been presented to a court/judge, not even the seized evidence, as the government is delaying and stonewalling any opportunity for a court/judge to demand, as they should, that either charges be filed and evidence presented, or that the case be dropped and seized property returned. The legal principles of habeus corpus and corpus delicti apply.
It would be like the police seizing your house because they say they believe some crime has been committed, and then never charging you with any crime and refusing to return your house, while simply refusing to even allow a judge or court to hear any charges against you or hear your defense and petition for return of your unjustly-seized property.
That would be a tyranny. That's what's happening here. "Sure, you've got rights and guarantees, we're just not gonna let you have the opportunity to exercise them until we decide to. Don't hold your breath." Justice delayed is justice denied, and all that.
Should the government be able to seize someones' wealth/property or throw someone in prison and not allow them to see a judge and hear the charges against them and defend themselves?
The first investigation and seizure against Gibson involves different allegations of wrongdoing than the current investigation and seizure. Three freakin' *years* is far longer than is normal in these cases if charges were going to be filed. Three years of *litigation* in court is not atypical, but *three years* with ~$1M in property seized and not a *single charge* filed in a court of law against a defendant??? Now a second raid and property seizure???
That's simply thug tactics by the government, no matter what party or ideology is in power.
Strat
What the video doesn't talk about is the fact that they also caught egg-bearing lobsters, undersized lobsters, did not report their catch to the Honduran authorities, and transferred their catch at sea without going through a Honduran port or having their catch inspected by Honduran authorities - all of which are actually against Honduran law, and the Honduran government filed affidavits affirming that these were violations of the Honduran law.
Yet, none of those charges were filed. Other restaurants also bought from the same suppliers, just as in the Gibson case, yet no charges have been filed against these others.
Gibson's two major competitors, C.F. Martin and Fender, both use the exact same wood from exactly the same sources, yet no raids are conducted against them. The only difference is that both Fender and Martin are Union shops, where Gibson is not, and that Gibson contributed heavily to Republican campaigns and PACs, where Fender and Martin support Democrats.
One doesn't need a bloodhounds' sense of smell to detect a rat here. Of course, partisan blinders seem to have the ability to not only compromise all four senses, it also apparently affects logical reasoning and powers of logical deduction. I detest what Republicans have done to the US almost as much as what Progressive Democrats have done. I'm not making any party distinctions here, I'm pointing out corrupt behavior and actions that have no party affiliations. If the roles were reversed and this happened to C.F. Martin, I would protest just as loudly and for the same reasons. Wrong is wrong.
Strat
To further clarify, here's a copy/paste from a /. post of mine on this topic a couple days ago. The links near the bottom are particularly enlightening.
I actually called the Indian Embassy. They say they did not file any complaints to anyone about the rosewood, and do not support the raid on Gibson.
Further, the rosewood in question *is* finished into pre-cut & polished fingerboard slabs, was inspected & OK'd for export by Indian authorities, and for import by US Customs (Gibson ain't sneaking this stuff into the country in jungle-built subs, after all, like cocaine!).
AFAICT, Gibson is also the only major US guitar maker that's in a "right-to-work" state. Gibson has also contributed to Republican campaigns. All major US guitar makers that I know of use Indian rosewood and other CITES regulated materials, yet Gibson is the only maker that's been raided (twice since '09!) and had guitars and wood seized.
Gibson is in trouble because the DOJ, in it's infinite wisdom, thinks that the finished fretboard pieces they got from India, although they were deemed OK for export by India and OK'd for import by US Customs aren't, in the F&W's/DOJ's opinion, "finished enough" according to the *F&W'sDOJ's interpretation* of Indian export laws (NOT India's interpretation of THEIR OWN LAW!!...they filed no complaint and don't support the F&W's/DOJ's actions)...and therefor in violation of the amended-in-2008 Lacey Act despite all statements and evidence to the contrary, even from India.
The first raid on Gibson in '09, as far as I can determine, was based upon statements made by either F&W and/or the DOJ to a judge, asserting that they believed some portion/part of the chain-of-custody paperwork was forged, in order to obtain a warrant to raid & search Gibson facilities. So far, NO CHARGES have been filed regarding the '09 raid & seizure, and the DOJ has had the judge delay indefinitely any further court proceedings, leaving some $500K-$1M in guitars & materials seized from Gibson in limbo.
Not necessarily that *Gibson* forged, had forged, or knew of any forging of any documents (could have been any of the suppliers/warehousers/transporters in the chain), but according to the letter of the amended portion of the Lacey Act, *who* forged them, why, or who had knowledge of any irregularity was immaterial, and the Act as written didn't protect Gibson (or any other US company or individual) for criminal or civil liability for acts outside their knowledge or control...called "strict liability"...which was one of the things those opposed to passage of the amendment to the Lacey Act were against due to it's unfairness.
Here's just one example of Lacey Act injustice that put an innocent man in jail for 8 years!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHvJ6ld_Mic
Here's a piece on the difficulties that individual musicians now face in traveling with guitars and other wood instruments because of CITES: http://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/magazine/guitar-lover%E2%80%99s-guide-cites-conservation-treaty
Here's a couple of links to Gibson regarding the raids:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/ceo-outrage-0826-2011/
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/gibson-0825-2011/
I'm not against conservation at all. However, the jack-booted ham-handedness with which the laws are written, interpreted, and enforced should be an outrage to anyone.
Strat
No, the government found that Gibson was importing rough ebony shipped as finished fingerboards (the shipment also wasn't addressed to Gibson, it was deliberately bounced around between warehouses and subsidiaries in order to hide its real destination.) The paperwork IS fraudulent, period.
It takes years to build a substantive case, especially when it involves businesses. The court case has not been "delayed." The investigation is still on-going, as this latest raid demonstrated.
No charges have been filed, only a SWAT raid (overkill, anyone?) performed and property seized. No evidence of any crime has been presented in court, as no charges of any wrongdoing have been filed, either relating to the '09 raid or the the latest raid.
Gibson has been in court since '09, attempting to force the government to either file charges or return Gibsons' property. So far F&W/DOJ has done nothing but file for stays and delays.
You'd have to be damn gullible to believe a Department of Justice when they say shit like "They're guilty! We haven't presented any proof, but that's just details!" and "It's a TEA Party and GWB conspiracy!"
FTFY
Strat
This investigation started in 2009 because they were importing raw ebony under a fraudulent manifest, which is illegal whether the wood itself is legal to import or not. This is not just some case of big government picking on the innocent businessman.
No.
The government claims that some paperwork may be fraudulent. The government has not proved this, in fact they are still delaying the court case over this some 3 years later.
The government has not submitted evidence or proof in court that any paperwork is fraudulent or forged. Meanwhile, the government is holding some ~$500K-$1M in guitars and wood seized from Gibson. In neither raid on Gibson have any of the source-countries for the materials claimed any wrongdoing by Gibson.
Looks to me like some people at Fish & Wildlife/DOJ wanted a pristine Les Paul to display in an ebony and rosewood display case on the cheap.~
Strat
The wood isn't illegal. India is protesting because they insist that the wood be processesed, in India, by Indian workers, before Gibson gets it. The state department is enforcing India's claim.
This isn't a matter of ecology, it's just business as usual.
I'm a semi-pro guitarist/musician. This stuff impacts me directly.
I actually called the Indian Embassy. They say they did not file any complaints to anyone about the rosewood, and do not support the raid on Gibson.
Further, the rosewood in question *is* finished into pre-cut & polished fingerboard slabs, was inspected & OK'd for export by Indian authorities, and for import by US Customs (Gibson ain't sneaking this stuff into the country in jungle-built subs, after all, like cocaine!).
AFAICT, Gibson is also the only major US guitar maker that's in a "right-to-work" state. Gibson has also contributed to Republican campaigns. All major US guitar makers that I know of use Indian rosewood and other CITES regulated materials, yet Gibson is the only maker that's been raided (twice since '09!) and had guitars and wood seized.
Gibson is in trouble because the DOJ, in it's infinite wisdom, thinks that the finished fretboard pieces they got from India, although they were deemed OK for export by India and OK'd for import by US Customs aren't, in the F&W's/DOJ's opinion, "finished enough" according to the *F&W'sDOJ's interpretation* of Indian export laws (NOT India's interpretation of THEIR OWN LAW!!...they filed no complaint and don't support the F&W's/DOJ's actions)...and therefor in violation of the amended-in-2008 Lacey Act despite all statements and evidence to the contrary, even from India.
The first raid on Gibson in '09, as far as I can determine, was based upon statements made by either F&W and/or the DOJ to a judge, asserting that they believed some portion/part of the chain-of-custody paperwork was forged, in order to obtain a warrant to raid & search Gibson facilities. So far, NO CHARGES have been filed regarding the '09 raid & seizure, and the DOJ has had the judge delay indefinitely any further court proceedings, leaving some $500K-$1M in guitars & materials seized from Gibson in limbo.
Not necessarily that *Gibson* forged, had forged, or knew of any forging of any documents (could have been any of the suppliers/warehousers/transporters in the chain), but according to the letter of the amended portion of the Lacey Act, *who* forged them, why, or who had knowledge of any irregularity was immaterial, and the Act as written didn't protect Gibson (or any other US company or individual) for criminal or civil liability for acts outside their knowledge or control...called "strict liability"...which was one of the things those opposed to passage of the amendment to the Lacey Act were against due to it's unfairness.
Here's just one example of Lacey Act injustice that put an innocent man in jail for 8 years!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHvJ6ld_Mic
Here's a piece on the difficulties that individual musicians now face in traveling with guitars and other wood instruments because of CITES: http://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/magazine/guitar-lover%E2%80%99s-guide-cites-conservation-treaty
Here's a couple of links to Gibson regarding the raids:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/ceo-outrage-0826-2011/
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/gibson-0825-2011/
I'm not against conservation at all. However, the jack-booted ham-handedness with which the laws are written, interpreted, and enforced should be an outrage to anyone.
Strat