CommentsDisplaying Thoth's 10 most recent comments.

• Fed. Judge to Decide if Gov’t Can Force Defendant to Unlock Encrypted Laptop

  January 6, 2012 at 4:24pm

  In reply to Rowgue.

  @JamesWest, criminals are already out there with encrypted drives, phones & internet connections. I’m sure you realize this is not new technology and the terrorists have been using it for a lot longer than private citizens.

  Besides, a search warrant gives law enforcement the right to enter your private ‘area’ and look for and seize physical evidence. It does not give them the right to steal information which is not available physically.

  Imagine if they had a device to read your mind, and you had secret information they wanted. Would a search warrant give them permission to hold you down & steal the info from your head? How does allowing that create more freedom for the population? How is that not to be abused by the government?

  I‘m not willing to give up my personal liberties ’in order to make society safer’. We all bought that line when they passed the Patriot Act and the TSA took away our shoes & toothpaste! And do we think all of this extra government intrustion into our privacy makes us safer? When will it end?
  ~Thoth

• Fed. Judge to Decide if Gov’t Can Force Defendant to Unlock Encrypted Laptop

  January 6, 2012 at 1:52pm

  In reply to Rowgue.

  With a warrant, they seized the laptop. Fine. They know have possession and are welcome to examine the 1‘s and 0’s to their heart’s content. If they cannot understand it (due to encryption) that is on them. They cannot compel a citizen to decipher or decrypt it. It is EXACTLY like asking someone to testify against themselves. If the seized a bookie’s notebook, can they compel him to decypher his clever shorthand to incriminate himself?

  Besides, I have forgotten encryption passwords on dozens of files… ohh well. I tried to help the law… guess I forgot this one too.

• When Good Intentions Go Bad: Traffic Cameras Trigger Rear-End Collisions

  November 24, 2010 at 4:56pm

  In reply to Zai.

  I do not ‘speed up’ on yellow-lights, but have received a ticket from one of those intersections. They really have the timing screwed down tight on some. So much so, you really have to anticipate the yellow light. The last time I went through that same intersection, I realized the yellow was on as I was approaching, and slammed on my brakes to avoid the ticket. No rear-end, but I just got lucky as I screeched to a halt in-time. It would have been far safer to just go through the yellow, and be clear before the opposing traffic got its green. Definitely un-intended consequences.

• Bikers Rally to Ride With Boy After School Banned American Flag

  November 15, 2010 at 6:58pm

  In reply to trolltrainer.

  Most Excellent! Outstanding! So very glad that folks came out and supported young Cody and the American way of life!

• (UPDATED WITH VIDEO) Congresswoman: People Are Planning to Die Soon to Avoid New Estate Taxes

  October 30, 2010 at 9:56pm

  In reply to quarter horseman.

  @GOPatheist you are so wrong. If you spent your life working on a farm for next to no money, and just the wholesome goodness of earning a living on the land, raising livestock & growing food, would you want to have your entire farm & land taken away from you because you died in 2011 instead of 2010? Your children, your family tossed out and thrown to the winds of fate?

  Estate taxes were designed 80 years ago, and there were no adjustments for inflation. Land value has grown so high in many markets. It has happened where to inherit the business, assets of your parents will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. The only way the successors can pay for it, is to liquidate their entire estate. If was not supposed to rob families of their livelihoods, or prevent familys form inheiriting their lifeswork.

  Read up on it. It is grossly unfair. Imagine if your own parents died next year, and the government suddenly demanded you pay them millions of dollars because your parents just happened to own property in California or New York….

  ~Thoth