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US claims seller of encrypted phones violated racketeering and drug laws:
A US grand jury has indicted the CEO of a Canadian company that sells encrypted phones, alleging that he and an associate violated racketeering and drug laws. On Friday, the federal grand jury "returned an indictment against the Chief Executive Officer and an associate of the Canada-based firm Sky Global on charges that they knowingly and intentionally participated in a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics through the sale and service of encrypted communications devices," the Department of Justice said in a press release.
Sky Global CEO Jean-Francois Eap and Thomas Herdman, a former distributor of Sky Global devices, were charged with a conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law designed to punish organized crime. They were also charged with a conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs and aiding and abetting. The racketeering and drug counts each carry maximum penalties of life in prison, the DOJ said. The US is seeking criminal convictions and forfeiture of "at least $100,000,000" worth of assets.
The indictment is available in this Motherboard article.
Soon all encryption will be illegal, the US Department of Justice considers encryption a crime and surprisingly, Canada apparently colluded with them.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:29AM (65 children)
And here we have a demonstration that both valid concerns and hysteria can be happening at the same time.
Unless they have very solid evidence of pooling money, resources, or minds, the guy is going to walk easily on any RICO charges. Very possibly without a jury ever hearing any evidence. And if they do have evidence of such though, he should have known better, is a criminal, and deserves a conviction.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:38AM (5 children)
How is this any different than companies selling VPN service (encryption level not defined)? Both will 'accomplish' the same/similar - end to end encryption, if carrier chosen visely.
Why are VPN providers not in the hot seat based on this claim?
Is it because it is done via phones - not via internet - which most likely will use the exact same media to transfer - well, you could be on 3/4/5G only...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:16AM (4 children)
The difference is in the goals. If there was actual collusion to help people break the law, he's guilty. Collusion, unlike what you may have heard of it recently, requires actual discussion on how to achieve an illegal end between whatever parties you want to accuse though. You have to present evidence of such if you want to convict someone. Which is why Trump's first impeachment was thrown out without trial; there was none.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:36AM (3 children)
And that's why this guy is almost certainly going to go down. The charges are "knowingly and intentionally participated in a criminal enterprise", not "sold some stuff that fell into the hands of criminals". This is exactly what RICO was created for.
Admittedly it's been egregiously abused since then, but this is what it was intended for.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:15PM (2 children)
Assuming evidence not yet in record.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:30PM (1 child)
Like all those minorities and protesters brutalized by police that you're happy to sweep under the rug cause "probably criminals." This just makes me think you're involved with some shady fuckin' people and only feel safe because you're not directly involved with their crimes.
Whatcha been doing buzzy muh boi?
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @12:04AM
Admining this site. So, yeah, some shady characters indeed.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Arik on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:38AM (51 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:18AM (49 children)
Well, RICO is just for when you're breaking an existing law in an organized fashion. They make sure to pass laws saying whatever they feel like doing is legal, so it doesn't really apply. That's the ballot and jury boxes having failed, what was the other one again?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Arik on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:39AM
RIOT!
The unbeatable high!
RIOT!
Adrenaline shoots your nerves to the sky!
RIOT!
Play right into their hands,
Tommorrow you're homeless
Tonight it's a blast.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:50AM (32 children)
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:20AM
Gen-X never had it together? Gen-X spends all their time caring for the generations on either side of them. They've got elderly Silent/Boomer parents to support and failure to launch boomerang Millenial/GenZ adult kids to take care of too. Meanwhile they need to do this even while both people in a marriage have jobs, because with stagnant wages, you can't support a family on one income any more (Millenials get to share this problem and so will GenZ when they're old enough). Gen-X is the hardest working generation since the 19th century, though at least most of the jobs are safer.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:47AM (2 children)
Fake news.
"It worked about as well as the other two, and even if they'd somehow succeeded it wouldn't have improved anything. "
True.
"Retaking a major party from the inside (Tea Party) got co-opted by the Koch brothers within a couple of months and then was overrun by the fundies."
The Koch brothers take a lot of blame for stuff they are nowhere near wealthy enough to pull off. The fundies, well, useful idiots for folks far more evil than the Kochs.
"Occupying Wall Street didn't last very long."
We were infiltrated from day one, and not even subtly.
"Preppers found out the hard way that even if society collapses and everybody has to bunker down just to survive, you still have to pay property taxes despite no longer having an income. "
And even if you have enough ammo to last 100 years, you didn't set up your kill zones correctly and you only have enough food for 10 months, and water for 3.
Yeah, that's no path forward.
Plus, there's a damn ammo shortage. Quit hording, you jerk. People need to practice.
"At this point Mars to Stay is starting to sound attractive"
Sure it is. That's why there's a real danger of revolt, frankly.
Only the rich people get a seat off this hellhole? They'll have to implement some sort of lottery, give a few seats away now and then, or there really will be a revolt.
"but I'm not sure that we can find enough of the kind of people needed (educated, motivated, hard working, honest, strong sense of civic duty) to make that work."
They don't need to be "educated" just learned, or smart enough to become so relatively quickly. "Educated" is probably a negative. There are millions of hard working honest young people who could make this happen.
Few, if any, would be able to bribe their way onboard though.
"because if we can't fix it how do we expect them to?"
We can't. It's a problem too large for any individual to solve; and too profitable to expect any group to grow large enough to solve it without first being infiltrated and coöpted.
But they WILL solve it. Or our civilisation will come to an end.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:19PM (1 child)
Fake news? He may be thinking of a courthouse burning in Portland.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday March 16 2021, @08:53PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday March 16 2021, @06:33AM (7 children)
Nah, that was more a "hold my beer" moment than it was an actual use of the Ammo box. Sure, they MEANT it to be an ammo box moment, but due to under-planning, under-preparing, under-training, and having no clue what had to happen to actually bring their objective closer to reality, it turned into "hold my beer!".
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @07:25AM (3 children)
"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." -1984, George Orwell
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:02PM (2 children)
So when my eyes tell me people busted in to the capitol building when they were holding a largely ceremonial yet important function, and those people had a hangman's noose and a fistfull of plastic restraints, and were saying they were there to halt the transition of presidential power, I should ignore my lying eyes and ears?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:32PM
Yes, that was pretty much the first instruction Dumpo gave all his bois! And token women, they love their token women that shit on women's rights. Back in da kitchen amirite? Team Dump! Team Dump!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @08:29AM
We are certainly meant to think so, but things don't quite add up. Yes they had a noose, and yes at least some of them intended to kill, but Capitol Security opened the doors, invited them in, and even provided the flex-cuffs. At least one rioter (IIRC the one with the noose) has been identified as a regular inciter who attends rallies and protests with the sole purpose of inciting others to violence. There were already warrants out for his arrest due to his incitement of a shooting in Utah. The supposed leader (the one given the flex-cuffs) is mentally deficient and would be in a group home if his mother wasn't taking care of him. There is no possibility that he could have planned any of this let alone had the connections in DHS needed to block calls for National Guard backup. There was no possibility of this farce of a coup ever succeeding at any of their goals and even Trump is smart enough to have known that it. No, someone high up in the US security apparatus planned it, and the only thing it ever could have done was give cause for another impeachment attempt. The only question is if they moved the Congresscritters out of the building before or after inviting in the rioters.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 16 2021, @11:01AM (1 child)
Good point. OTOH I don't know what's scarier, a prepared, disciplined takeover (Nazi Germany) or an unprepared, undisciplined lynch mob with no idea what they're trying to do but all the grievances in the world running the show (any failed state anywhere).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:29PM
What's worse is The Party inciting and showboating the latter, convincing the people that it was the former, and then using the backlash to further solidify their own power, all while getting rid of an interloper President that had outstayed his welcome. Trump bought his way onto the Presidential ticket and then won both the primary and then the election by being less of an unelectable chode than The Party approved candidates from either wing. Allowing that sets a dangerous precedent and had they disposed of Trump in the traditional way that might have started a real civil war. Now we are back to business as usual and soon it will be as if the last four years never happened. The only question going forward is how they will close the loophole that allowed an outsider to get into a position of actual power. If an actually good leader got in that way they might be able to effect real change, and we can't have that.
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:27PM
I'd be very surprised if that exact statement weren't literally uttered and completely amazed if actual beer was not involved.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:26PM (18 children)
What, you mean the capitol cops? They were the only ones I can find pictures of with firearms. Or do you think phones use ammo now?
Calling a hundred or so unarmed idiots a real attempted revolution is just absurd. Maybe you should Listen and Believe a bit less.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:37PM (17 children)
These idiots were armed with weapons of various kinds.
Videos show how violent this really was. And it was organized. And in advance of the event.
Reports are there were over 800 of these idiots. Close to 300 have been rounded up. So far.
Maybe you should look at what actually happened. The things this crowd chanted says it all. Death threats. Not accepting of the election outcome.
These people had a specific purpose: to stop the functioning of the congress in performing one of its constitutional duties. And one of its most important duties at the very foundation of our democracy. I don't know how you can say that is not an attempt to overthrow the government.
One single person can attempt to overthrow the government. I can push against the side of the empire state building, but that doesn't mean it will move. Lack of success does not mean lack of trying.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:42PM (16 children)
Then show me the pictures of weapons being used. It's not a difficult request if that's the truth.
It does, however, mean that you're not going to be convicted of terrorism by any jury without their heads completely up their own asses. You may very well spend some time enjoying a 72 hour psych hold though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:57PM (15 children)
Nothing will convince you. There are over one hundred thousand videos that are still being analyzed to find the perpetrators. How do you think they are finding and identifying them? Just look on YouTube. No need to have a social media account. You can see the violence. The battering. The overpowering of police. The use of Trump 2020 flags and even American flags to beat police officers who are just doing their job to defend the capitol.
Which side do you take? Those horrible awful people doing their job defending the capitol and congress people who just want to go home after their shift. Or those wonderful patriots who are trying to hang Mike Pence, and stop the steal, and kill Pelosi, and other terrible things -- by their own words and actions. And all because they don't like the election outcome.
A very sensible and simple down to earth theory, with no conspiracies: Quite a few republicans simply did not want to vote for Trump, yet voted for republican congress on those very same ballots. And that theory explains the observable results in the election outcome.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:05PM
Parent can't reply because there is no evidence for it. He FEELS it must be true!
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:47PM
Most of the videos I've seen show people wandering around like drunk tourists who'd lost their guide, which is what most of them likely were. That video of the mob chasing a guard up the stairs only to be confronted by a group of riot squad was so obviously staged it was almost funny. I'm willing to bet that of that 800 or so, maybe 20 were actually armed and organized and the rest were baited into entering the building in order to bolster the numbers. There is video of Capitol Security inviting people in and the flex cuffs that were "stolen from secure storage" came out of a yellow duffel bag that 'just happened' to be laying out in the open. Out of that 800, the only one that seems to have gone somewhere that wasn't intended got shot in the throat by the Secret Service, and if you look at the service records of the two guards that died they probably weren't "team players" and I wouldn't be surprised if they had in the past lodged a complaint or two against other guards for misconduct. Snitches get stitches and everything else was for show.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:13AM (2 children)
there's nothing "terrible" about killing the seditious scum in washington.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:35PM (1 child)
More and more of them are getting arrested every day.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @08:59PM
I'm talking about the politicians, obviously. Some morons and agent provocateurs used as an excuse for more tyranny, is of little inherent threat.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday March 17 2021, @10:30AM (3 children)
Quit preparing for failure.
"There are over one hundred thousand videos that are still being analyzed to find the perpetrators."
I've watched way too many of them. Read a lot of indictments too.
But nothing I've seen justifies your narrative. There are elements that are factual. But many seem questionable interpretations, at best.
Objectively; or as best as I can approximate that; it seems that a mixture of confused Trump supporters (who meant to be at the rally, some distance away) and agents provacateurs of every description, gathered together. The police retreated, the provacateurs advanced and provoked, as they so often do. The confused tourists moved forward with them; seeing no one told them not to do so. There were moments of panic, moments of lethal violence. But mostly it seems to have been a time of confusion.
And from that confusion people died. I have no problem with punishing the bad actors. But, again, your narrative seems... partial, to put it in the best possible light. A confusing situation with several bad calls and many sides reduced to two sides; the pure and virtuous versus the awful people.
Yeah, find more dimensions.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:39PM (2 children)
You ignore the crowd pushing against and over powering police. At the fence. At doors.
You ignore that they violently broke in to the capitol building. There is no nice way to put lip stick on this to make it look good.
You ignore that they violently broke through doors. Doors that were being held by a large group of police. They also broke through multiple other doors. This was not "just walking in".
They fully expected to find the house and senate chambers filled with elected officials they could murder. Not all, but some expected this. And it almost came true.
There simply is no nice way to spin this.
These people, even the tourists knew that they were disrupting one of the most fundamental operations of congress.
Of course, you wouldn't have liked it if something like this had happened four years ago.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday March 17 2021, @10:16PM (1 child)
"Of course, you wouldn't have liked it if something like this had happened four years ago"
Don't like it any better now. You don't need to exagerate it into a manichean apocalypse in order to make me not like it. That's entirely not the point.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 18 2021, @01:37PM
The people being sought as the most wanted, and the ones arrested so far appear to be the ones doing the worst of the worst things.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @12:02AM (5 children)
Yes, there are thousands of videos. None of which show weapons inside the capitol. Which means in all likelihood there were no weapons in the capitol. Also, stop moving the goalposts.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 19 2021, @02:05PM (4 children)
There were weapons. Anyone can see that. I think you may be meaning "firearms" when you say "weapons".
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @02:22PM (3 children)
Oh, we're taking the Jackie Chan approach to what's a weapon now?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 19 2021, @03:05PM (2 children)
All firearms are weapons. Not all weapons are firearms. What are you complaining about?
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @08:24PM (1 child)
I'm saying if it ain't a gun, it ain't much of a weapon as far as the cops who did have guns are concerned.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 19 2021, @08:30PM
The problem with that is we don't know what the cops' rules of engagement were. On that day I had wondered why the cops didn't at some point begin shooting. At that moment it occurred to me that there must be some formal rules for when this is allowed. If people come and over power you by sheer numbers because they don't respect the law, that is one thing. But then they begin using chemical agents, 'spears', beating with flag poles, etc, I would call that weapons. Not firearms. But these people, just doing their jobs, were definitely attacked. And not with bare hands.
I don't want to overstate it. But I also don't want to understate it.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday March 16 2021, @06:12PM
Unfortunately, most people want authority figures to do two things, pander to their fears (whether genuine or as is far more likely, driven by media hype) and most of all, to tell them that what they are doing is exactly the thing they should be doing. As a result, any suggestions for change, no matter if it would be for the best in the short or long run, gets viewed as an attack on their "core values", and instead of making things better becomes part of a hysteria fueled "end of the world' scenario.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:27PM (14 children)
Just because you don't like the outcome does not mean they have failed.
There is no proof the ballot box has failed. But nothing will ever convince you.
Trump filed numerous laughable lawsuits which courts soundly rejected. Those were given due consideration. The courts publish their findings with detailed research into all legal precedents and authorities and citations of relevant laws. Many of those judges were Republican, and some appointed by Trump. What more do you want? You just don't like the outcome. Even after you've stuffed the courts, the judges still strangely follow the law. You just don't like the result. Radical (and ridiculous) conspiracy theories are more appealing.
Democracy is precious. You should be working to preserve Democracy instead of to destroy and overthrow it to impose a new government upon the majority.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:37PM (12 children)
If a significant percentage of the electorate do not believe the election wasn't rigged, yes, they have failed.
Over two thirds of his lawsuits that managed to get heard on their merits went in Trump's favor. So, yeah, the exact opposite of what you just said is true.
But, yeah, you're absolutely right, no amount of false propaganda is ever going to sway me when the facts and basic logic show it for what it is.
Yes, democracy is precious. And when you have no way of telling if the result you get out of a black box has anything to do with the input fed to it, you do not have democracy anymore.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:47PM (8 children)
I have cited this before on SN. A site that shows voting equipment by state. I won't bother this time. You can easily google voting equipment by state, which is what I did.
The states that use an untrustworthy black box with no audit trail and no paper ballots are (shocker!) Red states. A subset of the red states, the ones I would tend to trust the least to run an honest election.
So if we're victim of untrustworthy black boxes, we should definitely be suspicious of a lot of votes for Trump in certain states.
This doesn't fit your radical view. You will ignore it.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:58PM (1 child)
The Red half of the Party didn't want Trump any more than the Blue half did but they couldn't be open about it without alienating their base. Trump cost important campaign contributors billions in no-bid government contracts because he didn't respect the gravy train and wouldn't follow orders. There is no telling how many back room deals that he broke or how many wealthy and powerful people missed out on their fifth yacht or eighth summer home because of him. It will likely take the Biden regime months to repair the damage and get things back on track.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:35PM
Reverse everything you said except the last sentence. Dumpo stopping corruption? How fucking stupid are you?
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @12:00AM (5 children)
None of them have an audit trail, only the illusion of one. Printouts are only a security measure if you put something on them to keep them from being forged as easily as an electronic vote can be.
Now, you keep making this mistake so let me clarify with necessary emphasis: THIS IS NOT PARTISAN. I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT TRUMP OR REPUBLICANS. The election would be just as insecure by design if Trump had won and Dems had raised the issue. If a quarter of all registered Independents or half of Bernie Bros were the ones who thought they might have been cheated, you would have exactly the same dangerous situation.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 19 2021, @02:04PM (4 children)
When it comes to voting machines, the only audit trail that I think I want is actual ballots, that were marked by the voters using a pen.
It's great if you can use a machine to count them. But humans can count them too. And there are ways to run a stack of ballots through multiple counting machines, maybe even different brands, to verify matching totals. Shuffle the deck of ballots and try again. Or cut the deck of ballots in half, combine each half with a different half from another stack of ballots that were cut in half, shuffle, and then count through machines again and verify totals. Etc. Ultimately, humans can also count these ballots because they are paper and human readable.
IMO that is the only good way to do it.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @02:43PM (3 children)
We can probably agree on a reasonable method of ensuring lack of fraud and accountability, which is why I haven't been talking about it much. What I've been trying to get across is this:
1) There are at least tens of millions of people who do not trust that the election results accurately reflect the intent of the legitimate voters and only the legitimate voters.
a) They are entirely correct that elections are insecure and unverifiable.
b) That is a good recipe for mass bloodshed.
c) The political affiliation of said people isn't relevant to my point. The same problem would exist regardless of who was yelling elections are insecure and unverifiable.
2) The DNC are the ones who caused this by intentionally passing laws to make election fraud easier.
a) They don't get the benefit of the doubt because all of their proposed election laws have done this for decades.
3) They've continued to double down on making election fraud easier, for the entire nation this time, since Biden took office.
4) The judiciary has failed utterly to be helpful on the issue.
5) The other party is not in a position to do anything to help matters. At least not for a couple years.
6) If a full about face isn't done by the DNC regarding election security and accountability, and soon, mass bloodshed is not a theoretical possibility, it is an absolute guarantee.
That is what I'm trying to get across. Not that "Republicans rule and Democrats suck". It doesn't matter what names are attached to it, it's about the situation and either remedying it or making it worse.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 19 2021, @03:17PM (2 children)
Okay, they need to bring some actual proof if they want to do something about it. Even if the shoe is on the other foot. Such as Trump beating Hillary.
The RNC are the ones who try to make it as difficult and restrictive as possible for legitimate voters to vote if they have the wrong color skin. So there is plenty of blame to go around if we want to start pointing fingers.
That said, I do think we want the same things: Eligible voters are able to vote and trust the election.
Trump had years to stuff the judiciary, and he did.
Surprise! Republican judges respect the law and constitution. They cite relevant authorities in their findings.
Trump failed to bring any actual cases that his own judges would take seriously. Whose fault is that? Don't blame me.
Probably true no matter who is in power. I was appalled at many things Trump did. I think a fraction of republicans were too, and said so.
Saying things like this is not helpful or constructive. It further entrenches the positions of people who think all people who want guns are crazy lunatics whose first solution to any problem is a gun. And that it unfortunate. But it really does reinforce that thinking.
What I am surprised at is that R's and D's cannot work together on things that we all seem to want. Easy voting access for eligible voters and a system we can trust. The real problem is that congress is broken. The divide runs too deep. Nobody is willing to try to work together. THAT is the reason your gloomy prediction might come true. It is because of how divided we are. The election issue is just a symptom, not the real underlying problem of a completely dysfunctional government.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 19 2021, @08:30PM (1 child)
Look, if you can't overlook partisan bullshit long enough to hear the words "You're in very real, very immediate fucking danger", we're just going to have to be done here. I spelled that shit out as clearly as I possibly could but you can't help having to make excuses for the Dems.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 19 2021, @08:40PM
I think we are in danger. I don't think it is the same danger you think. I think the deep division within our population is probably what will bring our country down. I also believe a factor in that is that we have people who will believe anything they read online. Even outlandishly crazy things that all adults would have laughed at decades ago. I think these are real dangers.
I think we both want secure and trustworthy elections.
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:57PM (2 children)
According to that bastion of lefty socialism, The Business Insider, trump didn't win Any [businessinsider.com].
Backing that, not one single state changed as a result.
The phone calls trying to broker a backroom deal didn't do any good either.
As someone who fairly and legally cast a ballot in a contended state, I am offended by the repeated attempts to throw that ballot in the shredder and coronate a king like we were some politically broken banana republic.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 17 2021, @02:07PM (1 child)
Some people in this world do not care about democracy. If it doesn't go their way, then anything goes to "correct" the will of the people. Even violence, apparently, and in their own words -- either directly, or strongly hinted at.
They cannot conceive that some percentage of republicans did not vote for Trump but did vote for a republican congress. It just seems inconceivable to them. Yet that is exactly what the ballots show happened. There are numerous republicans who have written articles and made videos describing how they could never vote for Trump again and how he is bad for the country and the republican party. Every person who would write such an article or make such a video probably represents a larger group of others who feel similarly but haven't gone to the trouble to make such a public expression of their feelings.
It just seems inconceivable that this simple reality could be what happened. So instead they are happy to believe the most outlandish bizarre conspiracy theories. Hugo Chavez manipulated and reprogrammed the Dominion voting machines from beyond the grave to give Biden the victory. It is so outlandish that even to state it is to refute it. (See Dominion's and Smartmatic's lawsuits.)
Young people won't believe you if you say you're older than Google. (born before 1998-09-03)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @09:03PM
i don't want to live in a country with anyone who would vote for biden. fuck all of you dumb sacks of shit. i'd rather not live with fake patriot republicans either, btw. Are there any Real Americans left? 2%?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:15AM
all you Neo-Bolshevik race traitors are going to die.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday March 16 2021, @11:41AM
They "shouldn't" according to you; your values and principles. They do, and they will continue to do so because that is how power works.
That, in a nutshell, is the argument for limiting power and pushing power down to the local level where it can more effectively be countered.
(Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Tuesday March 16 2021, @07:04AM (6 children)
As the defense in litigation, there is no winning. They either win the case at incredible expense, which is losing, or they lose the case at incredible expense and go to prison, which is also losing, but more so. Either way, they lose.
Anyway, reading through the complaint, there's a lot of bullshit.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 16 2021, @11:25AM (1 child)
Interesting summary, thanks. However, the courts and a jury will see it very differently from the way you've presented it. Just as none of walking around a bank building, being out in the dead of night, and carrying a rope and crowbar, are criminal offences, doing all of them at the same time is going to get you arrested and possibly fined or jailed. In the same way, the combination of all of the stuff you've mentioned makes them look really, really bad. I'd be very surprised if they got away with this combination of shell companies, anonymous untraceable payments, destroying evidence, and more, no jury is going to see that as any kind of legit business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:22AM
you probably pay the fed income tax too. fucking whore.
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:29PM (1 child)
Your point has some validity to it but it's far from that cut and dry.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:02PM
Don't get me wrong -- I agree that there is a significant problem for these dudes. I was just raving at the overreach, but if the Assange and Manning situations prove anything, it's that overreach works. I just don't like it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @06:36PM
"Sky Global ("SG") located it's servers outside the US to avoid US law enforcement. Pg 4 Line 27 ("4:27") (okayyy -- so the fuck what? You think you own the world?)"
Have you seen US foreign policy at any time over the last 50 years? Of course they think they own the world.
"SG phones cost a lot. 5:4 (so do iPhones, especially the diamond encrusted ones)"
These phones are too expensive for normal people like you to buy, so obviously they must only be used by criminals! Wookies! Endor! Convict!
"SG didn't inquire why people wanted the phones. 5:7 (no phone company has ever asked me what I intend to do with my phone)"
Doing so would be an obvious invasion of privacy. It shouldn't even be legal for them to ask.
"SG had good security practices including customer anonymity and anonymity between agents etc. 5:13 (sounds like they were serious about security)"
Hence the crackdown. Law enforcement always hates it when little people have any actual privacy or security of their own.
"SG distributed and facilitated distribution of drugs. 5:19 (if by facilitated they mean "sold phone service" that's bullshit -- Tmobile would be just as guilty -- if SG actually arranged and financed drug deals, then they screwed up)"
During the 2009 financial crisis the FBI actually stopped going after Bank of America for laundering drug money because it was one of the few things keeping them afloat at the time.
"SG apparently deleted data from phones that were seized (remotely I presume). 5:22 It is inappropriate to destroy evidence relevant to an investigation and there are consequences. Even in civil cases if it is found a party destroyed evidence there is an instruction that allows the jury to presume the evidence would have gone against the party. But what rule of American law applies to servers in Canada and France? Were these phones sold in America, or merely used in America by their owners? I question the validity of this paragraph because it does not make it clear where the data existed, what jurisdiction the US had, nor whether there was knowledge the information was supposed to be preserved)."
This is probably a security service so that people can remotely wipe their own phones if they've been stolen. Probably customer initiated and fully automated. Apple offers a similar service to remotely brick stolen iPhones.
"SG facilitated the activities of their clients. 6:1 ( Just like Verizon, AT&T, TMobile, Cricket, etc. etc. etc. Bullshit.)"
Not just phone companies. By that logic if I take a cab to get to a drug deal the cab company is an accessory.
"SG used bitcoin and shell companies. 6:3 (seriously - is it law we have to do every transaction through Bank of America? And aren't shell companies a dime a dozen in the corporate world?)"
Actually yes. Central Depository (owned by BoA) is based in Miami and all inter-bank financial transactions in the world are required to go through them. The way it works is that any bank that does any business at all with the Big 5 in the US must use CD for all of their inter-bank transactions. This means that every national bank in the world that does business with the US is forced to sign up, and then any smaller banks that do business with their national banks must do the same. They use exactly the same "It's not a cartel, it is an association" illogic that RIAA and MPAA use to avoid RICO prosecution. The only independent banks left are the little cash-only operations in third world countries that the US loves to go after for 'facilitating drug trafficking'.
"SG "within the Southern District of California and elsewhere" did the stuff alleged. 6:11 (I'm not taking this at face value to mean that the defendants worked, lived, and sold stuff in CA -- it could be one of their users had a phone bought in France while visiting CA. There is no detail provided -- just the flat statement about the SD of CA.)"
Typical jurisdiction shopping.
"SG named defendants conspired to aid and abet the distribution of 5kg of cocaine. 7:3 (if they did this directly, they're screwed of course, but I wonder if their "conspiracy" was merely providing phones and service to other people who used the phones to conduct illicit business, like a burner anyone can buy at 7-11)"
Most likely the 'conspiracy' was entirely in providing actually secure phones to customers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:20AM
the remote data wipe was probably automated maintenance (aka best practices when you're selling a security/privacy focused device/service) and these fed scum probably know that and just don't mention it.
(Score: 5, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:46AM (8 children)
March 10 - When Sky ECC fell, so too did Belgian crime lords [brusselstimes.com]
Encrypted Phone Firm 'Sky': Someone Sold Compromised Versions of Our App [vice.com]
How can honest criminals ever trust those agencies to play fair?
Europol Credits Sweeping Arrests to Cracked Sky ECC Comms [threatpost.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Touché) by Frosty Piss on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:48AM (3 children)
We should be able to moderate something “TL;DR” ...
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday March 16 2021, @03:52AM
Why do you complain, it's not even the first post (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday March 16 2021, @08:34AM (1 child)
He could use <spoiler> instead of <blockquote> next time.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:15AM
That's an idea, yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:02AM (2 children)
Police hacking your phone is legal in UK, folks.
Judges refuse EncroChat defendants’ appeal to Supreme Court [computerweekly.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Tuesday March 16 2021, @07:11AM (1 child)
That's crazy -- to make a distinction between "interception" and "hacking"? The hacking required both interception and then decryption, or interception before encrypting. What an insane law to say these are different.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:02AM
Taking a letter addressed to you in the mail from the postmaster isn't the same as photocopying an open letter sitting on your desk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:27AM
fuck these pigs. i hope they all die soon.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:09AM (2 children)
[Citation needed]
So far I only see
If I'm going to the Indictment document [documentcloud.org], I'm reading more:
Based on the above, I expect that the attorney will have to prove that the two actually racketeered and they knew others are doing it and the two aided them.
Should not make any difference if they used encryption or self-destroying pigeons as a transport.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:01PM
The way the US DOJ is constantly trying to mandate backdoors into encryption is all the citation that should be needed. They're pretty damn open about "Maybe it isn't illegal illegal, but we'll still treat it as illegal as far as we can get away with it".
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:30AM
colo never met a nanny state authoritarian traitor he didn't suck off.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:32AM
RICO conspiracies don't require secret meetings in back alleys and dimly lit restaurants to form a conspiracy. All that's required is that multiple parties cooperate to commit the same crime - even if they never talk to each other. If you sell a product intending it to be used legally and someone uses it illegally, that's fine. Car
analogymanufacturers aren't guilty if bank robbers use their cars as getaway cars. But if you sell a product intending it to be used illegally, and criminals use it in the way you expected, then that's enough to form a conspiracy.Proving criminal intent isn't always easy... but it isn't impossible either.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Tuesday March 16 2021, @05:57AM
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by AnonTechie on Tuesday March 16 2021, @10:12AM
“The indictment against me personally in the United States is an example of the police and the government trying to vilify anyone who takes a stance against unwarranted surveillance,” Jean-François Eap, of Canadian-based Sky Global, said in a statement following the indictment announced on Friday.
US govt indicted me because I make privacy tools, says crypto-chat app CEO accused of helping drug smugglers [theregister.com]
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by srobert on Tuesday March 16 2021, @02:41PM (3 children)
The key to this guy's defense isn't so much in the courts, as it is in a public awareness of what's happening. Someone would actually have to do some journalism to expose what the U.S. government is trying to do, i.e. essentially outlaw encryption. But in a world where Assange in prison for doing journalism, how much courage can we expect from the talking heads?
Also, the story won't be "sexy" enough. It's too complicated. The audience will be drawn from a pool of people who can be captivated by the vapidness of Hollywood horseshit. If the story cannot be squeezed between commercials for insurance and pharmaceuticals, (about 3 minutes), then it's not "newsworthy".
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @04:09PM (2 children)
The media would cover it if you could stick a black person prominently in the story.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16 2021, @06:54PM (1 child)
Nobody was beaten or shot so that angle wouldn't be covered either. The media attraction to such stories is because it sells: Half the population gets to watch one of "those people" get theirs and half gets to be outraged about it. Just like the Romans throwing people to the lions, it doesn't matter if the crowd are there to cheer for the lion or for the victim as long as they fill the stands. And it makes no difference for the poor bastard in the ring either because once the show is over everybody goes home having had their entertainment for the day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:36AM
"The media attraction to such stories is because it sells: Half the population gets to watch one of "those people" get theirs and half gets to be outraged about it."
You're being naive and/or are not informed. Do you still believe the lies about ww2, Germany and the holocaust too? Do you worship Jewsus?
It's always true that "if it bleeds, it leads", but this is an international Jewish conspiracy against the white race, not just some opportunistic news corps.