Month: November 2014

WikiTickets

This is wrong on so many levels…

WikiTickets is our new web-based application that allows you to increase the safety of your neighbourhood by highlighting the bad behaviour of others. Any time you see someone blocking an intersection, parked in a no stopping zone, or flying through a stop sign, you’ll be able to issue them a virtual ticket, using any computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Just go to WikiTickets, which will capture the location, date, time, and type of infraction, along with any additional details you care to share.

You’ll help to identify problem areas and people, and help establish more civil behaviour. And you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing they didn’t “get away with it”.

Link (Kickstarter)

Court Says By Agreeing To AOL’s Terms Of Service, You’ve ‘Consented’ To Search By Law Enforcement

It seems like if you’re using AOL, you don’t have a 4th amendment right any more…

AOL’s policy is quite different. Not only does it explicitly warn users that criminal activity is disallowed, and that AOL monitors for such activity; the policy also explains that “AOL reserves the right to take any action it deems warranted” in response to illegal behavior, including “terminating] accounts and cooperat[ing] with law enforcement.” The policy also makes clear that AOL reserves the right to reveal to law enforcement information about “crimes[s] that [have] been or [are] being committed.” In contrast to Omegle’s policy, which includes only a passing reference to law enforcement — and which gives no indication of the role Omegle intends to play in criminal investigations — AOL’s policy makes clear that AOL intends to actively assist law enforcement. For this reason, I conclude that a reasonable person familiar with AOL’s policy would understand that by agreeing to the policy, he was consenting not just to monitoring by AOL as an ISP, but also to monitoring by AOL as a government agent. Therefore, DiTomasso’s Fourth Amendment challenge fails as to the emails.

Link (Techdirt)

Catcalling is for Genetic Refuse

So lets do an experiment: We have an attractive woman, perhaps wearing attire that is specifically designed to attract male attention. She walks down the street, and she gets all kinds of male attention. Then, she’s all pissed off that guys pay attention.

Fair enough.

I agree that a woman should be allowed to walk around with non-verbal cues that scream “I WANT TO BE FUCKED RIGHT NOW” and still, it is a desirable cultural norm that we don’t actually get to fuck her, nor get to treat her like she’s just there for the fucking (I mean, unless that’s what she wants). Consider me a feminist, I guess.

Now, does she have a right to an existence without hearing guys hoot, holler, and catcall? Meh, maybe. I’m a little on the fence about it.

Which means that I don’t really mind the anti-catcalling crowd exercising its First Amendment right to protest and criticize this practice. I just think they’re making everyone dumber with their approach.

But, sorry to mansplain it ladies, you’re doing it wrong.

Link (The Legal Satyricon)

Mobile Providers: No One Has Complained* About Our Service, So Net Neutrality Shouldn’t Apply To Us

From our innovation economy to the free exchange of ideas, the United States is a shining example to the world of the promise of an open Internet. It is widely embraced by policymakers, innovators and consumers alike, particularly with respect to mobile broadband. We remain the global leader in mobile innovation and have embraced openness across the ecosystem. So much so, that not a single formal complaint against wireless providers has been made to the Federal Communications Commission since it first adopted open Internet rules in 2010.

Oh, really? First of all, that last sentence is so ridiculous that it deserves a special callout for just how blatantly dishonest it is. You know why there’s been no formal complaint to the FCC against wireless providers under its 2010 open internet rules? Because those rules never applied to wireless in the first place. This was one of the major loophole/problems with the 2010 rules: they explicitly carved out wireless providers. So the reason why there haven’t been any formal complaints against wireless providers is because you couldn’t make a formal complaint under those rules. To use that as the example of “nothing to see, move along now” is ridiculous — and totally dishonest.

Link (Techdirt)

KIMYE’S PUG CALENDAR – BOUND 2015 by MEET THE PUGS

We are “Meet the Pugs”, a group of creatives crazy about pugs.

Last year we created Kanye’s Pug Calendar and made it available on Kickstarter for only 10 days, not knowing it would become such a success.

This year our challenge was to make something unexpected, not just a second edition of Kanye’s Pug Calendar.

We are proud to present our new creation:

Kimye’s Pug Calendar – Bound 2015.

Link (Kickstarter)