Octopus Overlords

El Guapo wrote:It's odd, because my first instinct is that there are dangers in having a repressive-minded government tracking members of a disfavored minority group. Though yes, in terms of just keeping track of total numbers, it appears to be important to enforcing various civil rights laws.

Moliere wrote:Anything more than that is government intrusion and data for the sociologists/bureaucrats to play with.

Moliere wrote:Anything more than that is government intrusion and data for the sociologists/bureaucrats to play with.

If you want to read the official laws of the state of Georgia, it will cost you more than $1,000.

Open-records activist Carl Malamud bought a hard copy, and it cost him $1,207.02 after shipping and taxes. A copy on CD was $1,259.41. The "good" news for Georgia residents is that they'll only have to pay $385.94 to buy a printed set from LexisNexis.

Malamud thinks reading the law shouldn't cost anything. So a few years back, he scanned a copy of the state of Georgia's official laws, known as the Official Georgia Code Annotated, or OCGA. Malamud made USB drives with two copies on them, one scanned copy and another encoded in XML format. On May 30, 2013, Malamud sent the USB drives to the Georgia speaker of the House, David Ralson, and the state's legislative counsel, as well as other prominent Georgia lawyers and policymakers.

"Access to the law is a fundamental aspect of our system of democracy, an essential element of due process, equal protection, and access to justice," said Malamud in the enclosed letter. The law, he reminded them, isn't copyrighted.

The envelopes themselves announced Malamud's belief in the strength of his argument. "UNIMPEACHABLE!" read the fruit-adorned stickers, surrounded by American flags. "Code is law," they continued, that phrase being the first words that appear in a well-known book by Harvard Law Prof. Lawrence Lessig.

Georgia lawmakers' response to Malamud's gifts was anything but peachy. "Your unlawful copying... Infringes on the exclusive copyright of the state of Georgia," read the response letter, written by the chairman of Georgia's Code Revision Commission, Josh McKoon. "Accordingly, you are hereby notified to CEASE AND DESIST ALL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT."

Shiva Ayyadurai, the Massachusetts man who for years has made a widely disputed claim that he invented e-mail, has formally declared his intention to run as a candidate for the United States Senate in 2018.

The Federal Elections Commission only recently published Ayyadurai's statement of candidacy online. It has a filing date of March 17.

The Boston-area political neophyte announced his intention to run about a month ago on Twitter. He would be challenging incumbent Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat.

Earlier this year, Ayyadurai sued Techdirt, alleging the news website libeled him by calling him a "fraud" due to his claim to have invented e-mail. Ayyadurai had previously also sued Gizmodo's parent site Gawker over articles that he alleged also disparaged him. As part of the settlement in that case, those two stories were removed and he got $750,000. In both lawsuits, Ayyadurai was represented by Charles Harder, the lawyer who also represented Hulk Hogan in his lawsuits against Gawker. The Hogan lawsuit led to a $140 million verdict, which drove Gawker into bankruptcy and shuttered the website.

The entrepreneur is a Republican, and his Twitter feed suggests he has been a supporter of Donald Trump for at least several months. Ayyadurai faces an uphill battle: in the last 25 years, Massachusetts has only elected one Republican senator, Scott Brown, whom Warren defeated in 2013. (Warren also faces another GOP challenger, Allen Waters, who did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.)

"I don't think she's committed to this state, and she's using the podium, I think everyone knows, as a podium to run for president," Ayyadurai said recently on NightSide with Dan Rea, a Boston-area radio talkshow.

"This is an individual that is based on rhetoric, based on division, and is not interested in solving problems," he added, referring to Senator Warren.

Ayyadurai has not responded to Ars' questions about his US Senate campaign. His website contains biographical information, but contains no policies, platforms, or position papers.

Instead, his site contains paragraphs like:

On my seventh birthday, in 1970, I left India and came to America: to this land of incredible opportunity. As a kid, I learned from my parents, teachers, coaches, and friends that what mattered most was Truth—to uncover it, share it, and fight for it. That core value is THE foundation of the America Dream. And my life has been about fighting for Truth, at every step.

The site goes on to say he invented e-mail, "the system we know today," during the years 1978-82. Many conventional histories put e-mail's origins with ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet, which had firmly established electronic mail by the mid-1970s.

Earlier this month, Ayyadurai drew support from Curt Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox star pitcher, who has since become a conservative political pundit.

Ayyadurai makes a point of calling himself a "real Indian," as someone who was born and partially raised in India—and presumably a dig at Senator Warren, who some believe exaggerated her Native American roots.

Senator Warren's office did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.

Max Peck wrote:If you publish Georgia’s state laws, you’ll get sued for copyright and lose

stessier wrote:

Max Peck wrote:If you publish Georgia’s state laws, you’ll get sued for copyright and lose

Hopefully that ruling gets overturned. I feel the same about the technical standards - you should never have to pay someone to know if you're following the law.

El Guapo wrote:

stessier wrote:

Max Peck wrote:If you publish Georgia’s state laws, you’ll get sued for copyright and lose

Hopefully that ruling gets overturned. I feel the same about the technical standards - you should never have to pay someone to know if you're following the law.

Actually, those people should be very highly paid. Double the money!

Digital security and its discontents—from Hillary Clinton’s emails to ransomware to Tor hacks—is in many ways one of the chief concerns of the contemporary FBI. So it makes sense that the bureau’s director, James Comey, would dip his toe into the digital torrent with a Twitter account. It also makes sense, given Comey’s high profile, that he would want that Twitter account to be a secret from the world, lest his follows and favs be scrubbed for clues about what the feds are up to. What is somewhat surprising, however, is that it only took me about four hours of sleuthing to find Comey’s account, which is not protected.

stessier wrote:

El Guapo wrote:

stessier wrote:

Max Peck wrote:If you publish Georgia’s state laws, you’ll get sued for copyright and lose

Hopefully that ruling gets overturned. I feel the same about the technical standards - you should never have to pay someone to know if you're following the law.

Actually, those people should be very highly paid. Double the money!

Yeah, as soon as I hit submit I knew I'd be hearing from your ilk.

Rip wrote:Perhaps we can finally get Paul elected next time around.

Conservative news giant Matt Drudge had high praise for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul after meeting him for an “intriguing lunch” this week.

Moliere wrote:

Rip wrote:Perhaps we can finally get Paul elected next time around.

Conservative news giant Matt Drudge had high praise for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul after meeting him for an “intriguing lunch” this week.

This post needs more sirens.

"Intriguing lunch in hill office of America’s best senator, Rand Paul,” Drudge wrote on Twitter. “He’s bold, brave and has somehow kept his heart in such a corrupt city.”

Zarathud wrote:Rand Paul and Drudge conspire on finding a path towards relevance in a post-Trump world.

hepcat wrote:And Rip jumps ship now that he realizes the one he boarded is sinking.

dbt1949 wrote:I never realized until yesterday how much of a fanatic my stepson was for Trump.
I heard him tell his wife that other hackers were out there making it seem that the Russians were interfering.
Every anti-Trump thing that comes up he has some wild theory that I never heard of about how it's not Trump's fault or everybody is picking on him.
I reckon that's how most of Trump's supporters feel.

dbt1949 wrote:I never realized until yesterday how much of a fanatic my stepson was for Trump.
I heard him tell his wife that other hackers were out there making it seem that the Russians were interfering.
Every anti-Trump thing that comes up he has some wild theory that I never heard of about how it's not Trump's fault or everybody is picking on him.
I reckon that's how most of Trump's supporters feel.

Holman wrote:

dbt1949 wrote:I never realized until yesterday how much of a fanatic my stepson was for Trump.
I heard him tell his wife that other hackers were out there making it seem that the Russians were interfering.
Every anti-Trump thing that comes up he has some wild theory that I never heard of about how it's not Trump's fault or everybody is picking on him.
I reckon that's how most of Trump's supporters feel.

That's how the fake-news industry works.

There are lots of demonstrated cases of conspiracy theories and alt-facts showing up in Russian channels (RT, Sputnik) and then being parroted verbatim across the whole right-wing media spectrum, from Stormfont to subreddits to Fox to the president's twitter account.

From the very beginning, the Soviets knew the power of propaganda to shape reality. That's what Orwell's 1984 was all about.

“After every mass shooting, dozens of them, there would be these strange clusters of activity,” Starbird says. “It was so fringe we kind of laughed at it.

“That was a terrible mistake. We should have been studying it.”

Isgrimnur wrote:The methods of the Soviet era weren't forgotten just because the hammer and sickle came down.

Holman wrote:
There are lots of demonstrated cases of conspiracy theories and alt-facts showing up in Russian channels (RT, Sputnik) and then being parroted verbatim across the whole right-wing media spectrum, from Stormfont to subreddits to Fox to the president's twitter account.

Watts, who also is a senior fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, said Trump himself sometimes — apparently unwittingly — repeats propaganda put out by Russian sources. Russian outlets also parrot the president’s own remarks, he said. Watts cited three examples when Trump claimed his campaign was wiretapped and his statements that ‘‘election is rigged’’ and ‘‘voter fraud’’ is rampant.

‘‘You can pick almost any of these stories, which have no truth in them, and they show up back in Russian propaganda,’’ Watts said. ‘‘What’s hard to distinguish sometimes is did the Russians put it out first, or did Trump say it and the Russians amplify it.’’

LordMortis wrote:

Zarathud wrote:Rand Paul and Drudge conspire on finding a path towards relevance in a post-Trump world.

No R will get my support until the party is deconstructed but Paul did spend quite a bit of energy spinning his wheels against trump even post November. He kinda is the savior, if there is one to be found. That or the House member from Hawaii (Beth Fukumoto?) who decided to change her party allegiance in the last month, saying the Rs were unrecognizable.

Combustible Lemur wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:The methods of the Soviet era weren't forgotten just because the hammer and sickle came down.

It might have been a very different cold war if the propoganda could be sent around the world to self replicate with a key stroke.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced his support to close New York City's notorious prison on Rikers Island.

Mr de Blasio said closing Rikers would be "long and arduous", but that local officials and stakeholders had a "moral obligation" to do so.

The mayor said on Friday he was developing a plan to close the prison within 10 years.
...
An independent commission, led by the state's former chief judge, has been reviewing options to close Rikers as part of a larger probe into the city's criminal justice system.

The commission was created following a series of brutality cases revealing questionable practices and corruption at the prison complex.

Max Peck wrote:Apparently art cinema operators didn't get the memo that this is all really more of a Brave New World thing.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Holman wrote:

Max Peck wrote:Apparently art cinema operators didn't get the memo that this is all really more of a Brave New World thing.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

For all Huxley's attention to leisure and distraction, Orwell still nails it. 1984 is literally all about Fake News.

Skinypupy wrote:

Holman wrote:

Max Peck wrote:Apparently art cinema operators didn't get the memo that this is all really more of a Brave New World thing.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

For all Huxley's attention to leisure and distraction, Orwell still nails it. 1984 is literally all about Fake News.

I started re-reading 1984 this week. It's utterly terrifying, given the current context.

"The O'Reilly Factor" is facing a growing advertiser revolt, as 21 companies have pulled their commercials from the show amid a scandal involving the host, Bill O'Reilly.

Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, BMW of North America, Mitsubishi Motors, Lexus, Constant Contact, Bayer, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Orkin, UNTUCKit, Allstate, Esurance (which is owned by Allstate), T. Rowe Price, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Credit Karma, Wayfair, The Wonderful Company, TrueCar, the Society for Human Resource Management and Coldwell Banker are pulling ads from "The O'Reilly Factor" after a report about five settlements with women who alleged sexual harassment or verbal abuse by O'Reilly.

The decisions signal the potential of financial damage for "The O'Reilly Factor," the most popular show on cable news, and its network, Fox News.

Paul Rittenberg, the executive vice president of advertising sales at Fox News, addressed the exodus in a statement on Tuesday.

"We value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about the O'Reilly Factor," Rittenberg said. "At this time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs."

The statement indicates that the companies' decisions to withdraw ads from the program have not yet hurt Fox's bottom line -- but the loss of advertisers is at the very least a public relations problem for the network and its most valuable asset.

Holman wrote:42 companies as of a few minutes ago.

Enough wrote:Probably everyone saw the headlines today that Payless Shoes is the latest victim of the retail apocalypse. In reading up on it I saw that retail square feet per capita in the United States is more than six times that of Europe or Japan. Wow, I had no idea it was that large of a discrepancy. Commercial real estate is going to suck for years to come if we don't find some new uses for all of that footage.

Pyperkub wrote:
However, retail real estate is facing a monstrous crash - most anchor tenants are well on their way to going under (Sears amd Macy's to start). I suspect that just like the abandoned Walmarts, communities are going to have to figure out what to do with them.