Category: Ignorant or unreasonable

DEA Accessing Millions Of Travelers’ Records To Find Cash To Seize | Techdirt

The DEA loves taking cash from travelers so much it has hired TSA screeners as informants, asking them to look for cash when scanning luggage. It routinely stops and questions rail passengers in hopes of stumbling across money it can take from them.But it goes further than just hassling random travelers and paying government employees to be government informants. As the USA Today’s article points out, the DEA is datamining traveler info to streamline its forfeiture efforts.

Source: DEA Accessing Millions Of Travelers’ Records To Find Cash To Seize | Techdirt

Rightscorp Threatens Every ISP in the United States – TorrentFreak

Following a court win by its client BMG over Cox Communications this week, Rightscorp has issued an unprecedented warning to every ISP in the United States today. Boasting a five-year trove of infringement data against Internet users, Rightscorp warned ISPs that they can either cooperate or face the consequences.

Source: Rightscorp Threatens Every ISP in the United States – TorrentFreak

Malpractice insurer alleges that Lipscomb lied on the application, sues to rescind the coverage | Fight © Trolls

Keith Lipscomb/Malibu Media breakup brings more and more interesting tidbits. Yesterday it came to my attention that Markel Insurance Company (MIC), a malpractice insurer for Lipscomb, Eisenberg an…

Source: Malpractice insurer alleges that Lipscomb lied on the application, sues to rescind the coverage | Fight © Trolls

FBI Agent Goaded Garland Shooter to “Tear Up Texas,” Raising New Alarms About Bureau’s Methods


An undercover FBI agent egged on a would-be terrorist shortly before he opened fire on a Texas cartoon contest last year, raising new doubts about the bureau’s approach to cozying up to its targets.

Source: FBI Agent Goaded Garland Shooter to “Tear Up Texas,” Raising New Alarms About Bureau’s Methods

Olympics fan claims Twitter killed his account after he posted Rio videos | Ars Technica


Venezuelan tweeter says short clips were legal under local laws—Twitter disagrees.

Source: Olympics fan claims Twitter killed his account after he posted Rio videos | Ars Technica

Getty Images sued again over alleged misuse of over 47,000 photos | Ars Technica

“Upon information and belief, Getty has been carelessly and recklessly acquiring content, not doing due diligence and not taking adequate measures to prevent infringement as well as falsifying/removing proper copyright management information. In fact, its aggressive acquisition schedule is possible only at the expense of others’ rights. Undeterred by almost two hundred complaints filed with Washington State Attorney General’s Office, despite several lawsuits, and the growing consensus in the industry that its abusive, unethical, and reckless business practices must be addressed, Getty has shown that it cannot and will not reform on its own accord.”

Source: Getty Images sued again over alleged misuse of over 47,000 photos | Ars Technica

State Supreme Court Says Secret Software Used In Sentencing Determinations Not A Violation Of Due Process Rights | Techdirt

An algorithm is deciding certain criminal defendants should spend more time in prison. And that determination can’t be fully challenged because the code belongs to a private company which provides the software to the government.Eric Loomis was determined to be a “high risk” defendant, based on something called a “COMPAS score.” COMPAS — Criminal Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions — cranks out Presentence Investigation Reports for use in the courtroom, utilizing a number of factors to generate a score that lets judges know how likely the defendant is to re-offend.The problems with this system are numerous. For one, the code is proprietary, so defendants aren’t allowed to examine the factors that lead to this determination, unlike other sentencing guidelines created by the government, which are open to the public to examine.Another problem is that the algorithm engages in demographic profiling — generally considered to be a bad thing when it comes to determining criminal behavior.

Source: State Supreme Court Says Secret Software Used In Sentencing Determinations Not A Violation Of Due Process Rights | Techdirt

Anti-Piracy Group Reveals Personal Details of Counter-Notice Senders – TorrentFreak


In what appears to be a retaliatory move against DMCA notice archive Lumen Database, anti-piracy outfit Remove Your Media has launched a transparency report of its own. The report lists people who have sent the company DMCA counter-notices but it goes much further than Lumen by publishing their names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

Source: Anti-Piracy Group Reveals Personal Details of Counter-Notice Senders – TorrentFreak

Getty Makes Nonsensical Statement On Photographer Carol Highsmith’s Lawsuit For Falsely Claiming Copyright | Techdirt

We are reviewing the complaint. We believe it is based on a number of misconceptions, which we hope to rectify with the plaintiff as soon as possible. If that is not possible, we will defend ourselves vigorously. The content in question has been part of the public domain for many years. It is standard practice for image libraries to distribute and provide access to public domain content, and it is important to note that distributing and providing access to public domain content is different to asserting copyright ownership of it. LCS works on behalf of content creators and distributors to protect them against the unauthorized use of their work. In this instance, LCS pursued an infringement on behalf of its customer, Alamy. Any enquiries regarding that matter should be directed to Alamy; however, as soon as the plaintiff contacted LCS, LCS acted swiftly to cease its pursuit with respect to the image provided by Alamy and notified Alamy it would not pursue this content.

Source: Getty Makes Nonsensical Statement On Photographer Carol Highsmith’s Lawsuit For Falsely Claiming Copyright | Techdirt