Comment Re:First Post (Score 5, Funny) 336
Fail, It's upside down
Comment Re:Think Twice? (Score 1) 218
At most it partially explains motive while ignoring means and opportunity.
Perhaps not. But the example is to highlight that any conversation, even those which are considered to be the most innocent, will never ever be exculpatory.
Comment Re:Think Twice? (Score 2) 218
This is really is one of those situations that if you aren't doing anything illegal don't worry about it and if you do worry about it find another tool.
You are arguing a false dichotomy and the third axiom is the expectation of privacy from government intrusion.
Consider this scenario: Your neighbor dies a horrible death at the hands of the most gruesome killer. The police are pressured by the community to bring his killer to justice. In their dragnet, they listen in on your phone call to your mother in which you state to her that:
"My neighbor is dead, died a gruesome death and the police were all over the place.... I never really liked the guy, but it's sad to see him go that way"
They haul you in for questioning and charge you with his murder. What do you think the testimony of the officers will be in court?
Prosecutor: "Officer Jones, was there anything funny about the conversation you heard between the defendant and his mother?"
Officer Jones: "Yes there was, He stated his neighbor died a gruesome death, but the newspaper had not reported that yet"
Prosecutor: "Was there anything else peculiar about the conversation?"
Officer Jones: "Ohh yea, he said he never liked the guy."
Open and shut, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Point being, even the most innocuous of conversations can be taken out of context and used against you and it doesn't even have to be due to malice on the part of the recollecting party.
Comment Re:How does that mean it is full of holes? (Score 2) 66
Your analogy is confusing. Can I get one with cars?
Comment Re:Well done. (Score 5, Informative) 157
The four companies that were smacked with this fine are:
Main Street Telephone for $4,200,000
VoiceNet Telephone, LLC for $3,000,000
Cheap2Dial Telephone, LLC for $3,000,000
Norristown Telephone, LLC for $1,500,000
Looks like either the majors are not engaging in this practice or too large of Goliaths for the FTC to consider throwing stones at.
Comment Re:Ugh, polygraphs (Score 0) 189
Reminds me of a story I read somewhere, where the police didn't have a polygraph available. So they rigged up a headband with some wires, ran the wires into a photocopier and printed off copies of "HE'S LYING" in huge letters every time they thought he was. Probably and urban legend, but also probably about as effective as a 'real' polygraph is.
And if true, someone somewhere who has an IQ bordering on mentally disabled is sitting in a jail cell for a crime he did not commit but confessed to under false pretense, all while the real perp is free to commit again. =/
Comment Re:Police have no expectation of privacy (Score 1) 384
act belligerent (e.g. threatening police officers arresting a friend while they are videoing the arrest) there shouldn't be a problem.
Actually, your belligerent words may be constitutionally protected (although threats of violence not so much) Read: City of Houston, Texas v. Hill
Comment Re:Makes sense (Score 1) 601
Using your constitutionally guaranteed rights does not work so well at these checkpoints.
Comment Re:Nappy? (Score 1) 91
For North American readers, a "nappy" is a diaper.
Comment Re:why, standards, of course (Score 1) 221
You are still missing the point. It's not the Technical Standard that you program for, but quite simply the customers standards.
Comment Re:why, standards, of course (Score 2) 221
Yeah, but what standard?
In most of my web development work it's always been the client that sets the standard. There have been some clients that have said "Support IE6 and beyond" (/cringe) and others that have more reasonable standards, e.g. IE7+, Firefox 3.5+, Chrome 9+
Comment Re:HTML 3.2 (Score 2) 221
IE7. If you can't do it with IE7, our clients don't want it.
Consider yourself lucky, I'm still stuck with supporting IE6. PNG overlays, forgettaboutit.
Comment Re:Infrared imaging of homes ... (Score 1) 405
Whats wrong with the stakeout, waiting and watching until they leave the house and you nab them on the sidewalk. Or is this not exciting enough for the C.O.P.S generation?
Submission + - Amazon CEO: Sales tax is unconstitutional (weberbooks.com)
Steve1960 writes: "Amazon.com chief Jeff Bezos says the online retailer won’t collect tax from most of its 90 million customers until Congress clearly mandates it.
Although a growing number of states are demanding that Amazon collect and remit tax on sales within their borders, such demands are “interference in interstate commerce” and prohibited by the Constitution, Bezos said."
Although a growing number of states are demanding that Amazon collect and remit tax on sales within their borders, such demands are “interference in interstate commerce” and prohibited by the Constitution, Bezos said."
Submission + - Developer required for pothole identification (i-programmer.info) 1
mikejuk writes: The city of Boston has already devised a novel Android app for pothole identification and has now posted a bounty of $25,000 for an algorithm to improve it. Using the accelerometer to detect bumps as people drive round the city is clever. When multiple phones report the same jolt, the app identifies a pothole that needs to be repaired and this is clever. But... they can't tell the difference between things like railway crossings and sewer gratings from potholes and so are offering $22,500 to any programmer who can work out an algorithm that can tell the difference.
Don't they have city maps in Boston?
Don't they have city maps in Boston?
