All Frederick County (MD) Councilman Kirby Delauter knows is that he doesn’t like unfavorable press. Literally, that appears to be all he knows — at least as far as press relations go. He apparently believes that he holds the power to decide whether his name appears in print, rather than the other way around. Delauter blew off a phone call from Frederick News-Post writer Bethany Rodgers seeking comment on a story and then turned around and called her out on Facebook for using his name without permission.
The post has since been deleted by Delauter, but the image will live on forever… as will Delauter’s inability to comprehend how journalism actually works.
Category: Ignorant or unreasonable
FBI Says It Has A Warrant Requirement For Stingray Use; Has Exception Broad Enough To Ensure It Never Needs A Warrant
[W]e understand that the FBI’s new policy requires FBI agents to obtain a search warrant whenever a cell-site simulator is used as part of a FBI investigation or operation, unless one of several exceptions apply, including (among others): (1) cases that pose an imminent danger to public safety, (2) cases that involve a fugitive, or (3) cases in which the technology is used in public places or other locations at which the FBI deems there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Which is pretty much everywhere…
Linux Developer (Antoni Norman) Who Issued Bogus YouTube Takedowns Threatens Techdirt With Legal Action For Publishing His ‘Private Information’
It looks very much like Techdirt is correct in this analysis:
What is for certain is that Norman is either unwilling or unable to learn from his mistakes. He was given a chance to salvage his reputation but instead has decided to double down on matches and accelerant. He’s a respected developer, but he’s swiftly shedding what’s left of that respect with an unfortunate proclivity for retaliation and bluster.
Antoni Norman, The creator of PinguyOS, Issues Bogus Takedowns Against Cup Of Linux YouTube Channel
Pinguy was banned by moderators of my community at cupoflinux.com for several counts of misconduct while impaired. Pinguy is a great source of information and we have been more lenient with him than anyone else. I was going to consider lifting his ban after a 3 month period to send a strong message to him that we will not tolerate bad behavior from anyone. This act of acrimony makes his ban permanent and is treated as a “trademark troll” attack. The GNU general public license grants us the freedom to use GPL software in any way we see fit with the inclusion modifying, sharing and providing tutorials under FAIR USE.
Paul Hansmeier and John Steele of Prenda fame is at it again
For more than a year now, Paul Hansmeier has attempted to offset the losses generated by the flagging Prenda Law brand with class action lawsuits predicated on supposed ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) violations. Hansmeier isn’t suddenly a do-gooding social warrior seeking equitable treatment for disabled Americans. He’s just shifted the focus of his modus operandi. Hansmeier sues and sues and sues, offering out-of-court settlements to the defendants. This is money Hansmeier shouldn’t theoretically be able to demand, but he’s found a loophole that works for him.
In most cases, federal and state laws governing disability access don’t provide punitive relief. They can only be used to get property owners to correct shortcomings and to recover the plaintiff’s reasonable legal expenses. However, Hansmeier has been making claims under a Minnesota law that the property owners are committing a bias offense, which is a misdemeanor. In correspondence seeking a settlement with Peterson, he wrote that the law exposes defendants to a fine of $500 per incident, as well as punitive damages.
Using this, Hansmeier has demanded anywhere from $2,500 to $15,000 from the businesses he’s sued. The end result has been some companies paying up rather than fighting back, while others have decided to cease doing business entirely. The 84-year-old owner of an antique shop targeted by a Hansmeier suit has closed her business as a result of his litigious actions. At the point it shut down, it was making around “$50 a day.” Now, the business is completely inaccessible — both to the disabled and non-disabled alike.
Sarah Palin vs PETA
I despise Sarah Palin as much as the next sane person. Well, I would imagine that John McCain has stronger feelings about her, but that’s another story. I agree that she should be beaten into dust by the marketplace of ideas – since she has very little, if anything, to sell in that marketplace.
Nevertheless, watching her fight with PETA is sorta like watching two assholes fight in a bar. You ever been in a bar where two assholes, both of whom could use a beat down, wind up fighting with each other? As long as you stay out of the way, everyone wins. They both get a beating of some sorts, and perhaps one or both go to jail. Then you go on with your night, laugh your ass off, drink too much, slump into a cab, get home and laugh your ass off some more. Meanwhile, the assholes get stitches and bail bondsmen in their lives.
Indian Government Orders 32 Web Sites Blocked, Including GitHub, Archive.Org, Pastebin, DailyMotion And Vimeo
“It now appears that the blocks are being carried out on the instructions of [India’s] DoT (Department of Telecom). The telecom body reportedly issued a notification regarding the same on December 17. A screenshot of the circular has been posted on Twitter by Pranesh Prakash. The notification mentions that 32 URLs including Pastebin, video sharing sites Vimeo and DailyMotion, Internet archive site archive.org and Github.com( a web-based software code repository), have been blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. DoT has also asked ISPs to submit compliance reports. However, we have not been able to verify the authenticity of the circular.”
UK Cinema Calls Police on Kids With iPhones Over Piracy Concerns
The movie industry sees the illegal recording of movies as one of the biggest piracy threats and for years has gone to extremes to stop it.
It started well over a decade ago when visitors began sneaking handheld camcorders into theaters. These big clunkers were easy to spot, but as time passed the recording devices became smaller and easier to hide.
While recording a movie for strictly personal use is not illegal in UK cinemas (despite industry efforts to have the law changed), theaters continue to outlaw the use of recording devices. Most recently, Google Glass was banned, and phones and tablets need to be switched off as well.
In a code of conduct the movie industry and cinemas have agreed that employees will take immediate action when they spot someone with a recording device, but some cinema staff take these obligations way too far.
At a Cineworld cinema in Brighton Marina, UK, employees dialed the national 999 emergency number after they spotted a group of 12-year-old girls with iPhones and iPads at a showing of The Hunger Games.
The girls, accused of recording parts of the movie, were hauled outside where two police cars rushed towards the scene with flashing lights.
Furious Google Ended MPAA Anti-Piracy Cooperation
Each week Google removes millions of ‘infringing’ links from search engine results at rightsholders’ request, 9.1m during the last documented week alone. In the main Google removes these links within hours of receiving a complaint, a record few other large sites can match.
But no matter what Google does, no matter how it tweaks its search algorithms, it’s never been enough for the MPAA. For years the movie group has been piling on the pressure and whenever Google announces a new change, the MPAA (and often RIAA) tell the press that more can be done.
By most standards, this October Google really pulled out the stops. Responding to years of criticism and endless complaints that it’s one of the world’s largest facilitators of pirate content, Google came up with the goods.
But this, ofcourse, wasn’t enough for the MPAA.
In response to the snub, Google pressed the ‘ignore’ button. A top executive at Google’s policy department told the MPAA that his company would no longer “speak or do business” with the movie group.
In future Google would speak with the studios directly, since “at least three” had already informed the search engine that they “were very happy about the new features.”
FBI Agents Pose as Repairmen to Bypass Warrant Process
This is a creepy story. The FBI wanted access to a hotel guest’s room without a warrant. So agents broke his Internet connection, and then posed as Internet technicians to gain access to his hotel room without a warrant.