Bayosphere

So much for free speech, I guess. Not like we didn’t know it was dead long ago. The disclaimer below says it all I guess. Still, even with the New World Order of journalism, I thought we were allowed to keep our senses of humor, irony, and as Cornel West puts it (to paraphrase), “the ability to revel in the absurdity that IS life in this country, today.” Sadly, I guess all of those human traits go down with the free speech ship. Wow. Maybe that’s why the founders counted it so fundamental, because without free speech, our humanity is choked off. One censored word at a time.

I guess my censored post falls in the “otherwise objectional to us in any way” bucket, seeing as it didn’t fit in any of the others. Just out of curiosity, it would be interesting to see a brief post describing the nature of the offense committed by the censored post so that myself and other readers can avoid that sin in the future. In any game, it’s hard to stay inbounds if the boundaries keep closing in during the game.

No need to freak out and go on an IP address hunt, I’ve spent years around Internet security, so all you have to do is ask and I’ll gladly provide phone contact information.

As they say, every time there’s an earthquake all the nuts roll into Californiat.

I apologize to humanoid. I apparently removed it from here, where it did fit the theme, when I removed it from another posting on a completely unrelated subject. I hope he’ll re-post his comment here.

[crunch, crunch, chomp, crunch, blech!] Sound of humanoid eating crow for screwing up the posting in the first place. He did hit STOP immediately upon realizing his mistake, and a reload of the page convinced him of success, but it must not have been soon enough. /me thinks confession may be good for the soul but it’s a nuke for unjustifiable pride.

[clank, swish, plink, clunk] Sound of humanoid cleaning up dishes after eating an entire humble pie for desert.

[sigh] Sound of humanoid thinking that he’ll use the Opera Browser note function in the future as a way to protect himself from himself.

[pray, pray, pray] Sound of silent plea that Dan, purely out of unmerited favor, delete this entire thread of evidence of humanoid’s embarrassing knee-jerk response without asking first, as any reasonable humanoid would have done.

[mutter, mumble, mope] Sound of humanoid justifying himself under his breath for the knee-jerk, due to having just settled a three month debate with soulless Washington Mutual automatons just hours prior to encountering the eJournal 404 Not Found. {whiny violins mode} Consequently, humanoid is compelled to confess the sin that he was having some issues with being unheard and misunderstood that particluar day. Even though WAMU (wham-you) conceded that the bank was in error for trashing his credit RIAA style, it still cost humanoid hours of needless distraction which will continue as he now goes through the credit rating exhoneration process. Humanoid appreciates that the eJournal feels his pain, because, in the words of the infamous Harry Tuttle, “we’re all in this together.” {/whiny violins mode}

[whirr…clack] Sound of humanoid opening the DVD drive to insert Terry Gilliam’s 1986 “Brazil” movie for peer-intervention-ordered recovery therapy.

[snore, wheeze, snore] Sound of humanoid falling asleep and dreaming of his mother, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Hehe, that was funny.

This sounds like overreaching stupidity, but couldn’t
it just be tunnel-visioned legal stupidity? The context
from the Sun terms of use document says “Sun trademarks
must not be used as a noun” — aren’t they just saying
they don’t want the “Kleenex” or “Xerox” problem?

I’m not saying that it’s valid, I’m just saying that maybe
it’s boilerplate legalese — not a creative new form of
stupidity.

I believe trademarks are always supposed to be used as adjectives. So the Sun trademark guidelines are just expressing the proper way to use trademarks.

I worked at Apple for many years, and (no surprise) Apple is very big on proper trademark and logo usage. In fact, Apple has its own page of trademark guidelines:

http://www.apple.com/legal/guidelinesfor3rdparties.html

There’s also an up to date list of Apple’s trademarks online, which makes for an interesting trip down memory lane:

http://www.apple.com/legal/appletmlist.html

Compare that to the Knight-Ridder trademark notice at http://www.knightridder.com/notices.html which says you can’t use them in any way at all.

Ooops, I just used a Knight-Ridder trademark without permission! Oh no, I did it again!

Now we just need ISEN.RSS so we can keep up proper-like using our fave blogragator.

C’mon Isen.Dude, you late-adopter laggard, you. 😉

Unfortunately, “President Bush… has threatened to reject any measure that rolls back the FCC’s decision….”

>Are the authorities really this paranoid?

Yes, at least in NYC they are, but you know what? If they’d been that paranoid before 9/11 might not have happened. All last year I worked downtown on Broad Street and right outside our front door was where they stopped all the vehicles headed towards the stock exchange so bomb sniffing dogs could inspect them. There were cops dressed like soldiers carrying automatic weapons right outside the exchange. We were all glad they were all there. It made it easier working next to a target.

Where do you draw the line? One of the things I learned working as a bartender in this town is that most people don’t recognize violence happening in front of them until it’s too late to keep it from happening. Americans just don’t recognize it for what it is let alone know how to prevent it. We’ve always depended on other people to do it for us. I think we are now experiencing the price of freedom as some people in other countries do.

>cameras?

Nothing fancy, they use regular cameras and look like tourists from all I’ve read. Easier to not be noticed.

Sorry, Jim, but Dan’s right. There is no way any security issues are going to be hanging out on the street for any passerby with any camera and any motive to photograph. And if there is, then shame on the morons who put the “secret stuff” in plain view.

This kind of paranoiac over-reaction reeks of a police state, which of course means it fits right into the right-wing religio-political agenda of the Bush Regime.

Not to make light of this, but ok, sorry, ….

If you’re a Fed, and see someone taking pictures of your building using a common camera, then you need to fill the nearest van full of bullets. Someone is trying to measure your response.

If you’re a Fed, and see someone taking pictures of your building using a common camera, then sit back and relax, do nothing to reveal your true preparedness, but start up a cointel op.

If you’re a Fed, and see someone taking pics of your building using a common camera, then harass the individual mercilessly, thus disseminating the false information that our culture may soon face a collapse of our civil liberties, thus enabling the fly paper theory and bringing our enemies out of the woodwork so as to pile on us and bring us down.

If you’re a Fed, and see someone taking pics of your building using a common camera, then harass the folks mercilessly, because you have to justify your budget and because absolute power corrupts.

If you’re not a Fed and observing the Busco and the Justice department, use Occam’s Razor.

I am an amature photographer and I like to take pictures of old buildings. If the police came up to me while taking pictures of a federal building and asked to see my ID and were courteous I wouldn’t have a problem. I sure wouldn’t make them have to run me down… Unless of course I was doing something wrong at the time.
— Quote – I’m writing this to alert all of you to be very aware WHERE you are shooting while in the United States! Yesterday I was out doing some street shooting and apparently I wandered a little too close to our Federal Building downtown with my camera and I was immediately ran down by four officers, detained and questioned for over an hour. end quote.

I think perhaps we haven’t heard the whole story. I don’t believe the police are going to act like storm troopers unless provoked. Like by running when confronted or refusing to co-operate by showing ID. I hope we aren’t making this molehill into a mountain.

This is probably true. I tried to take a picture of the local US 5th Circuit Courthouse one Sunday, with the idea that our law firm’s website needed a picture of a local court. I was immediately approached by a security officer who asked that I not do that. I asked him since when did it become illegal to take a picture of a public building from a public location? He was uncomfortable and I made it clear that I was a lawyer and I truly wanted to know what his opinion was. He of course had to keep his ‘game face’ on and so I relieved his anxiety by telling him that I would accede to his request to make things easier; but I also informed him that he was really on shaky legal ground.

Interestingly, I had another window into the soul of federal security when I ran into the Head Marshall of the local federal district court at a fundraiser. I told him I was pleased to hear the announcement that the local court was finally going to allow cellphones in the court; he said that I was misinformed. I told him that the Chief Judge of the Court had made the annoucement at a public meeting. He said that was a silly thing to do and that she didn’t understand the security risk. I asked what security risk a cellphone would pose. He said “plastic explosives.” In the phone, I asked? Yes, he replied. What about the PDAs that are allowed in? He said those shouldn’t be allowed either.

I’m surprised that they let us wear clothes. If it were up to him we’d all change into Orange jumpsuits. Ah, the mind of the diligent security-conscious government official. It’s really a sad thing to behold.

A co-worker was taking pictures on his lunch hour in downtown Chicago year or so ago, not real long after 9/2001 and had a cop threaten to confiscate his (new, expensive, digital) camera. If I remember correctly (which I may or may not) he had to delete the image in their presence for them to let him go.

I thought it was depressing then. It’s more depressing to think it’s still going on.

It is heartening to see that more and more Americans are willing to protest the conversion of our once free nation into a police state, though.

Hey, you can still photograph the White House.

Dan:

I’ve seen posts like this before on photo.net, and I don’t know if the most recent one is genuine or a hoax, but it is alarming if true.

As a fine art photographer and occasional event photographer, I’m troubled by the severe restrictions placed on photography by many government and commercial entities. It’s a crime to raise a tripod virtually anywhere in Las Vegas – even on the street. I’ve been chased away from Park Service parking lots because of security concerns. (I live a few miles from Yosemite.)

The proliferation of camera phones and the increasing portability and ubiquity of digital cameras and storage are going to meet this kind of heavy-handed enforcement head-on. You can’t stop people from making snapshots when and where they want, despite posted notices or personal endangerment – witness the folks pulled over in the “no stopping – rockfall danger” areas around Yosemite!

I walked around Washington, DC a few weeks ago as a tourist, taking photos of all kinds of federal buildings, the Capitol, etc. and no one said anything. It is a tradition there to take photos of our nation’s landmarks. Why should it be different anywhere else?

I’ve read that you can even take photos on the DC Metro, which I did, as long as you don’t use a tripod. But for some reason you can’t take photos on the New York subways without a permit. Seems inconsistent to me. Source: http://www.nycsubway.org/faq/photopermits.html

You all maybe interested in this: Legal Handbook for Photographers (http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm)

I’m an amateur photographer, I’d thought about wandering around our county taking pictures of the “Art in Public Places” that are part of any buildinjg built with govt funds. Decided not to as stories similar to this one have been in the news since right after 9/11/01 – one guy in NY got interrogated because the statue in public he was photographing faced a govt. building.

and don’t forget the guy who was interrogated in DC for videotaping the monuments – a very abnormal thing for a tourist to do.

Silly question: these are the people who banned nail
clippers from airliners in the name of “national security”.

Outside the USA too.
I was hassled by the RCMP in Canada when taking
a photo of a US consulate and this was before 9/11/2001.

I didn’t say what alledgedly happened was right, it was certainly an amateurish encounter as described.

What I said was:
1. Yes authorities are paranoid
2. Not only did we get used to working in a secure area but came to appreciate it
3. Americans usually don’t notice danger in real life because they are unaccustomed to it
4. I’ve seen statements related to terroist recon that said the people involved appeared as a tourists taking pictures and if you stop and think about it clandestine efforts would be more obvious than touristy type activities
5. I asked where we draw the line

I do not agree with unprofessional police behavior nor am I impressed by “my rights” rants. There is a realistic middle ground that has yet to be recognized. We will lose some “rights” and nothing will change that. When I was a bartender we could spot non-New Yorkers because they just weren’t aware of the space around them. New Yorkers cover their space instinctivly to avoid unpleasant situations. Most Americans, unlike Israelis, South Aficans, or many other populations an ocean away, have only seen violence as entertainment and when it, or the preperation for it, is happening in front of their faces have no idea what they are seeing. The natural consequence of this lack of education and experience is repressive amateurish policy and procedure with “victim” backlash.

It is going to take some time to flesh out realistic policies and procedures to deal with activities that may or may not be security risks. Until that has happened we will all be subject to abuses from the lowest paid, least educated minions of law enforcement (the guys who carry guns and make decisions in the street).

Until then then, my experience with the police has taught me it doesn’t matter what the law is at any given moment, the legality isn’t judged until the next day or later in a dispassionate objective way. If one of these guys stops you, be polite and cooperative. You can make a case the following day.

Of course, if you want to be pro-active, don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself to begin with. If you want to be part of the solution start pushing for clarification of security procedures and be willing to pay more taxes for the neccessary educationa of police and the public.

I don’t like it but I do believe that no matter what we say or do our world has changed and freedom as we have experienced it will be no more than a memory. Anything less than that is unrealistic.

You must not be a railfan, Dan.

There are people whose hobby is photographing locomotives, cars, track, buildings, structures, equipment, scenery, and pretty much everything around railroads. There have been railfans nearly as long as there have been railroads and cameras, and model railroaders who want their layouts to be historically accurate are very grateful to them.

I’ve read several reports in the hobby press of photographers being stopped by railroad security officers and local police. Since a lot of law enforcement officers have never heard of railfanning, sometimes they’re detained for quite a while. Some folks suggest carrying a railfan guide to the area with you.

While going onto railroad property or right of way has always been trespassing, in the past, so long as you looked like you weren’t likely to steal anything or hurt yourself, railroad security people would look the other way or even help you find a good vantage point for a shot. Nowadays, according to the hobby press, they tend to run you off or detain you.

When I was staying near Heathrow several years ago, I’d notice pretty good sized groups of aviation fans taking pictures, and I imagine it’s even harder on them.

You must not be a railfan, Dan.

There are people whose hobby is photographing locomotives, cars, track, buildings, structures, equipment, scenery, and pretty much everything around railroads. There have been railfans nearly as long as there have been railroads and cameras, and model railroaders who want their layouts to be historically accurate are very grateful to them.

I’ve read several reports in the hobby press of photographers being stopped by
railroad security officers and local police. Since a lot of law enforcement officers have never heard of railfanning, sometimes they’re detained for quite a while. Some folks suggest carrying a railfan guide to the area with you.

While going onto railroad property or right of way has always been trespassing, in the past, so long as you looked like you weren’t likely to steal anything or hurt yourself, railroad security people would look the other way or even help you find a good vantage point for a shot. Nowadays, according to the hobby press, they tend to run you off or detain you.

When I was staying near Heathrow several years ago, I’d notice pretty good sized groups of aviation fans taking pictures, and I imagine it’s even harder on them.

What are they going to do about the phone cameras? You can pretend to be looking up a number to make call and snap a picture of the forbidden target… No measure can prevent this.

“Homeland Security” or “Gestapo”?
“Fear of Terrorism” or “Domination”?
“Freedom of Individual Rights” or “Control”?
“Free Country” or “A Prisoner in our own Land”?
Which is it?

Dan, you disappoint me. Not in your concern about the knee-jerk security reactions (although I tend to agree with Jim Moran’s well-reasoned words).

What bothers me is the fact that you, a reasonably respected 🙂 journalist, have reported what you admit is not a substantiated report as if that was irrelevant. Instead, you dismiss that as some other entities responsibility for verifying.

Isn’t that the kind of b.s. that the Bush administration pulls, quoting dubious sources to support their prejudices? C’mon, Dan…give us a standard to live up to…otherwise blognews becomes as useless in advancing the pursuit of truth as the nitwit callers on talk radio.

Do we need to rally the troops again as we did a few months ago regarding Starbucks?

I wonder how the ‘authorities’ would deal with individuals who, like me, don’t generally carry any form of ID. Usually the only thing in my wallet with my name on it is a credit card or two and a couple of business cards.

Sorry folks. This is the way it is. We have to destroy your freedom in order to save it.

I don’t see how this decision will have any effect on new voting machines for California, since there’s already a consent decree in place that mandates the end of punch-card balloting by March, 2004. This decision simply seeks to frustrate democracy by delaying the election from its Constitutional timetable.

I’m not feeling much frustration at the decision, Richard, at least not compared to what I felt as I watched a rich politician buy a recall election.

I’m pretty nervous about the use of touch-screen machines. Not only is the absence of a paper trail a serious problem, but I suspect that the poll workers are going to have a difficult time dealing with voter questions and machine problems. Dan, how about putting out a call to techies to serve as poll workers in the upcoming election?

Regarding Dan’s comment:

“Nothing is more important to our trust in democracy than a verifiable ballot.”

I’d like to put on equal footing the need to have a vigorous and informed electorate.

I’d wager that a majority of people walking around in a typical Wallmart:

a) Don’t vote

b) Don’t have a clue who John Ashcroft is.

Our blessed democracy is drowning in a sea of indifference and apathy.

And as much as I agree with the absolute necessity of maintaining a paper record of our votes…

I can’t help but think…that even with the paper trail…we are still slouching towards despotism.

If they install machines with no paper trail in my county, I’ll permanently switch to absentee ballot. I think that will be paper for a while longer (but maybe not forever).

To pea: If they don’t vote, does it matter whether they know who Ashcroft is?

Try to use the delay to even out the Merc’s coverage of “the lt. governor” and “the actor”.

Try to use the delay to even out the Merc’s coverage of “the lt. governor” and “the actor”.

Two upsides to this election that won’t happen:

1) Regardless of how dumb I think the recall is, I had some hope that by managing to have an important election in just six weeks, we (the US) would have a movement to shorten all elections. Do we really need 18 months of nobody paying attention and bazillions of dollars spent? Would it be more democratic and possible to hold presidential campaigns say, two months after the primary? Would our short attention span America pay more attention to such an election?

2) Chaddy ballots bad. Theftible e-voting horrid. How about an experiment in old time ballot counting? Count the ballots by hand in each precinct, monitored by anyone that wants to monitor them. Use lotto technology to pull out statistical sample size and count those. Send both results in by fax signed by monitors. Bundle ballots in lock box for collection. Even with 45million ballots served, I am not sure we need anything more than paper ballots.

It was mainly the Wal-Mart and Costco shoppers who signed the petitions for the recall, Bob, and nobody had to pay them a dime to sign. Eventually, they’ll have their votes counted.

“Dan, how about putting out a call to techies to serve as poll workers in the upcoming election?”

Such a good idea it had to be repeated.

Stay with this story Dan, you will never cover a more important one.

Positives:

1. For Davis, changes the outcome of the election (same time as democratic primary and helps Davis prove he should remain Governor).

2. For Democrats, gives the Republicans more time to implode (Pro Life Republicans vs. every other type of Republicans, especially Arnold).

3. May help the non-Arnold candidate (recently gaining traction).

4. Positives will be theoretically a more accurate vote. With the percentage possible of inaccuracy with the chad being irrevelant.

Negatives:

1. We may end up in lame duck time for a while longer that does not help CA.

2. Process isssues of people who already absentee ballotted.

No one paid the petition signers, Richard. But someone did pay to organize the signature collection. And I’m betting you knew that.

For those of us who bothered to go to the polls during the last election, our votes have already been counted. Didn’t even have to go to Wal-Mart.

There is a lot about this subject that is not being brought to light these days. Thank you to Dan for writing about this.

There is a website about the book, “Black Box Voting”. The website contains current info. on the status of systems that are not reliable/provide no paper trail and state secretaries who either don’t care or who are in collusion with the profit makers.

My question about the CA recall and the vote timing is: are the counties (esp. Santa Clara county) ordering new equipment locked in
to their orders? Are they ordering touch-screen voting machines with no paper trail? Is there no time left to change the mind of the buyers?

Our right to vote is one of our most fundamental rights. It is in danger of being undermined in a very quiet way, whether people realize or care that it’s happening or not. It’s time to educate ourselves and those around us.

the website is: www.blackboxvoting.com

But someone did pay to organize the signature collection.

Just as someone paid to organize the signature gathering for every other initiative, including medical marijuana, de-criminalization of first offense drug convictions, the mandatory floor on school spending, and the ban on the eating of horse meat. That’s how the system works, and it takes about three cents per Californian to get a popular initiative qualified. There were attempts to recall every other governor since Jerry Brown, and they all faild. Is this the corrupting power of money in politics, or a rational reaction to an extremely corrupt and unpopular governor?

The voters will decide that, if and when the Ninth Circuit decides to let democracy go forward.

To whom it may concern; Why don’t the Sant Clara

investigate the use a Vote Scanner Machines that will solve the problem of having voters an easy and quick less hassle for the coming elections. I am sending you the way they use this method in the Polls in Mass. and Rhode Island where I was a warden for several years The URL is www.s-t.com/daily/10-96/10-96a011o034.htm.
Ed.Gershman
1981 Montecito Ave. Apt.128
Mountain View, Cal. 94043
Phone 650-965-2659
E-mail edmetal1@juno.com Apt.128

How long until dissenting is made into a crime? How long until we do something about this erosion of civil liberties?

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone: they’ve been doing
this sort of thing with the asset forfeiture laws for years.

More recently, we’ve had people who merely pulicize
embarrasssing computer vulnerabilities prosecuted under
the laws intended to punish people who make use of them
to do harm.

Those who doubt that this is part of “an agenda” should note
that Ashcroft showed up on Capitol Hill with a shredded in
one hand, and a ready-to-enact copy of “Bill of Rights 2.0”
in the other, before the fires at the WTC were put out.