In the last week, Apple unveiled “NeuralHash,” a tool that will hasten our move toward a dystopian post-privacy world. The company informed the world this week that it would be adding the NeuralHash to its network of over a billion iPhones, storage platforms, and other resources. The NeuralHash will allow it to scan images before they are uploaded to iCloud for child pornography. The user will then be disabled and reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
As with Facebook’s campaign for people to embrace censorship by calling it “content modification”, Apple has repackaged perpetual monitoring as “perceptual hashing.” Not surprising, these pitches for eroding expectations of speech or privacy are presented as as harmless, even reassuring. After all, the only people who need to worry are those with images constituting child porn. Of course, that determination will be made by a bot who will present people for review using algorithms looking for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others are already sharing digital fingerprints of known child sexual abuse images.
The controversy over Apple’s new system raises not just privacy concerns but broader concerns over the shifting of power from the government to corporate figures. In critical areas, United States is moving from a democracy to a corporatocracy where critical rights and privileges are effectively controlled by a small number of CEOs. The founding fathers of that corporatocracy are figures like Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Tim Cook (Apple), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). It is an alternative government created by acclamation rather than any constitution. From free speech to Covid mandates, many on the left, including the Biden Administration, have called for policies to be carried out by corporations like a type of shadow state. At the same time, companies like Facebook have been running commercials for months to try to convince people to embrace corporate censorship over their own speech. Yet, in this brave new world of corporate governance, nothing quite prepared many of us for
Apple will now use its phones to actively spy on over a billion users to see if any have photos that may be CSAM in order to report them. Imagine the post-privacy world unfolding literally before us. People will have no choice if they have an iPhone in allowing a corporation to monitor their photos. Then, when they use their phones on social media, Twitter and Facebook will censor any views that they object to on subject ranging from Covid to gender identification to Hunter Biden’s laptop to election fraud to even criticism of governments.
At the same time, the Biden White House has decided that it does not want to deal with the legal or political challenges of seeking to impose a national vaccine mandate. Instead, President Biden has called on corporations to carry out the mandate.
The Democratic embracing of corporate governance is a matter of simple convenience. Corporations now overwhelmingly support the left on key political issues, and some seem to have virtually written off roughly half of the country that voted for Donald Trump. More importantly, Democrats cannot limit speech, impose national vaccine mandates, or deny privacy through the government. However, surrogate corporations can since the First Amendment and other constitutional provisions address government not corporate abuses. Much of the Constitution then becomes largely relevant – your rights are entirely protected except from the main source of their denial.
What is really maddening is that companies like Facebook and Apple do not simply want us to yield core rights to them but to love them for it. After all, the cheerful hip figures on the Facebook censorship commercial like “Joshan” only want you to “change” to allow your “blending of the real world and the internet world.” Then there is Apple which simply tells you to
“Think Different” with all of the other worthy netizens at the “Genius bar.”
In this new world, free speech itself is a danger rather than the very thing that defines us. Privacy is a shield used by those who want to harm children. “Changing” with Joshan means learning to love corporate monitoring and “modifications.”
Carrying around your own personal surveillance device is not the only thing that you will lose in Apple’s Orwellian NeuralHash. In the end, the powers of both corporations and the government will be enhanced by our modified selves. Under the controlling standard of the “Katz” test, our privacy is protected from warrantless surveillance by our “expectations of privacy.” When such expectations exist, the government generally must obtain a warrant after showing probable cause that a crime is or has been committed. However, as our expectations fall, the government can engage in more warrantless surveillance. As it engages in more warrantless surveillance, our expectation fall further. Well, you get the idea.
We are increasingly living in a fishbowl society where monitoring (that would have once outraged Americans) is treated as part of life. When we leave our homes were are monitored on the road or at the 7-11 buying coffee. We are monitored on the streets and in our workplaces. We are monitored all the way home in the evening. Now, once at home our images will be monitored and our communications are “modified” according to what corporations want us to see and say.
The response from the left today is that none of this is a problem because corporations are not controlled by the Constitution. After all, if you want a phone that does not spy on you, invent one and compete with Apple with your own global network. Simple.
The current limited function of the NeuralHash is simply the decision of Apple. However, it is a new technology that can be expanded to other images and could potentially be used by the government. I recently testified in Congress about the rapid loss of privacy due to the government’s use of national security letters and other devices to search the iCloud and to obtain “metadata.” This includes the use of secret orders to corporations to spy on journalists during the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations. We already have ample powers to investigate and prosecute child pornography but this function will now be taken up by the corporatocracy which is not directly controlled any more than by Fourth Amendment than the First Amendment.
Like authoritarian governments, authoritarian corporations always have an appealing reason for limiting freedoms. Fighting terrorism or child porn or “misinformation” often leave free speech or privacy as mere abstractions. After all, the idea is to “Think Different” about privacy. Indeed, you have to think differently from the original Apple when many of us bought its first computer. Back then Apple was portrayed in its famous “1984” Mac commercial as literally smashing the authoritarian conformity of Big Brother. Now, conformity is good. After all, as Orwell himself wrote in 1984, “One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.”
Buy a non-smart appliance while you still can.
Put you phone/smart device in another room than the one you are having actual conversations in. Better yet, put it next to the radio at a moderate sound level.
Look for alternative non-smart devices.
Or even leave the stupid thing at home.
Computerized appliances break too easily, anyway. In many cases, I prefer analog to digital. Yet with CA’s environmental laws, most appliances are computerized for energy and water savings. They’re junk in a landfill after just a few years.
Svelaz,
Unlike a Trumpist, I do have self-doubt about my beliefs. I am willing to admit when I have been mistaken. I want to be corrected. I’d rather be right than wrong. I’m not invested in the Democratic Party; I don’t consider myself a doctrinal Liberal. I try to be logical and fair-minded. I honestly do not have an agenda other than law and order.
I do not deny that Hunter was/is influence peddling. I don’t claim that Joe is all there. I concede that it is possible (until proven) that Joe may have gotten kickbacks. I admit that Joe has stretched the truth.
Have you ever heard a Trumpist entertain such doubt about Trump? Have they shown a preparedness to keep an open mind? No! Their minds are shut- Trump is *not* a liar. At least not compared to Obama! Time after time, I have asked whether they will accept a jury’s criminal or civil conviction of Trump or his Organization. Not one will commit to saying so. They ignore the question for obvious reasons. They want to reserve the right to scream “witch-hunt” if and when the time comes. It would never occur to me to call a lawful investigation a “witch-hunt” 400 years after the real ones. And yet, this is the kind of conspiracy-minded drivel coming from Trumpists.
It’s absolutely maddening to try to reason with such a mindset. You have the patience of a saint to keep trying. I have largely given up. It confounds me that Turley’s blog has become a haven for Trumpists. Turley has done his best to play Devil’s advocate for Trump and defend him LEGALLY, but he has NEVER defended him as a moral man or an upright citizen. He would not deny that Trump is a habitual liar.
As for Turley, a man’s life is not judged for what he has done so much as what he has failed to do. And Turley has consciously refused to take a public moral stand against Trump because he is beholden to Fox News. His reticence will haunt him as more evidence of Trump’s wrongdoing emerges. He will never live down his decision not to go on the record to condemn the Big Lie which allowed its belief to fester on this blog. His silence is an utter disgrace.
It’s absolutely maddening to try to reason with such a mindset. You have the patience of a saint to keep trying. I have largely given up. — jeffsilberman
Free-thinkers have a way of p*ssing authoritarians off. Your messiah privilege is showing. Why do you keep beating up facts, torturing logic and sowing division?
I gotta be me!
Jeff,
Hunter Biden was not influence peddling. Hunter Biden was up to his eyeballs in a sex addicted, drug addicted alcoholic binge in the midst of all of this. He was far too busy porking teens to do anything else.
If you accept that influence peddling occurred – you have little choice but to accept that Joe was the king pin.
Though frankly none of the above matters. Whether Hunter was doing the selling or Joe was – what was being Bought was Joe’s power as vice president of the US.
Only Joe can make that available for sale.
We get political corruption wrong all the time. It is not the buyers that are crooks, it is not the brokers that are crooks.
It is those in government that are selling a public trust.
Jeff,
If you accept that there MIGHT have been something fishy going on with the Biden’s – then you MUST accept that the enitre Faux Impeachment #1 was itself politically corrupt.
All executive powers in the US vest in the president. It is completely proper for any president to ask a foreign leader to investigate possible political corruption in their country involving US citizens – including political rivals.
What government can and can not investigate is NOT a question of political advantage.
It is a question of reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed.
Those on the left are constantly under the delusion that presumed illegitimate motives, make otherwise legal acts illegal.
They do not. All crimes require acts that are criminal MOST also require criminal intentions.
The Biden corruption story first made the press in 2015 – Clinton Apparatchik Sydney Blumenthal fed NYT reporters damaging information on Biden to drive Biden out of the 2016 race.
The question is why was this not investigated – not in 2015, not anytime since.
I would be hard pressed to think of something that does not demand a special counsel more than this.
We have credible allegations of political corruption that involve a vice president now president and his entire family.
John Say – exactly.
John Say,
“ All executive powers in the US vest in the president. It is completely proper for any president to ask a foreign leader to investigate possible political corruption in their country involving US citizens – including political rivals.”
That is correct, HOWEVER that does ignore the fact that the president withheld military funding in order to force an investigation. Hunter Biden was already being called a criminal and accused of being guilty of a crime before any investigation occurred. The fact that it was always insinuated that a crime was committed and guilt ascertained violated Hunter Biden’s due process rights. He wasn’t given the benefit of being presumed innocent before being proved guilty. Isn’t that what many defending Trump demanded?
“ We have credible allegations of political corruption that involve a vice president now president and his entire family.”
Shouldn’t they have the same immunity from prosecution or convictions as Trump did? Didn’t Trump and his supporters claim that such investigations interfered with the president’s work and constituted harassment?
Surely they should wait until they are out of office to be investigated and prosecuted.
Hunter Biden was already being called a criminal and accused of being guilty of a crime before any investigation occurred. The fact that it was always insinuated that a crime was committed and guilt ascertained violated Hunter Biden’s due process rights. He wasn’t given the benefit of being presumed innocent before being proved guilty. — Svelaz
Yep, that sort of thing, accusing someone of a crime, usually happens before an investigation — an accusation of guilt opens the investigation.
What sense does it make to investigate people not accused of a crime? Equal Opportunity?
And, yes, Hunter is presumed innocent until proven guilty… but he’s leaving a wide circumstantial trail.
Maybe he has a conscience, which chooses a fiery end.
“Yep, that sort of thing, accusing someone of a crime, usually happens before an investigation — an accusation of guilt opens the investigation.”
LOL. Svelaz is full of statements that make no sense, so I appreciated your response.
With respect to Trump.
I did not vote for Trump is either 2016 or 2020.
I specifically did not do so because of some of his issues with Women.
Though frankly he looks tame compared to Cuomo.
I would note that though Biden’s conduct is different it is probably more creepy.
Trump was agressive with grown women, He was incredibly vanilla and he took no for an answer.
But acted without a yes first in circumstances where consent could not be assumed.
As to the rest of the claims about Trump – they have pretty uniformly collapsed on inspection.
What is it that you want people to admit about Trump ?
That he used Alinsky’s rules for radicals against those on the left ?
Sure, Alinsky’s tactics are immoral – I would be happy to see us all agree not to use them.
But Trump is only ground breaking in that because 50 years after Alinsky a republican used democratic standard fare political techniques against them.
Beyond that – what is it you want others to admit regarding Trump ?
I do not agree with all his policies – So What ? I do not agree with all of ANY politicians policies.
Trump is not near so great in reality as he is in his head – So What ? That is typical for politicians.
He was not a great president.
He was however the best in the 21st century so far – that is a low bar.
Inarguably Biden has been worse at everything – even the things Trump supposedly was poor at such as Covid.
Mostly Biden is proof that Democrats lied repeatedly about Trump.
If you make a moral accusation against another – such as Lying, The burden is on you to prove it.
You say Trump supporters do not accept that he is a liar ?
I am not selling you saint Trump. It is pretty well established he cheated on every wife he has had.
But democrats won the fight over whether fidelity is important in presidents and politicians.
I do not know whether Biden Raped Tara Reade, But it is pretty well established that he was a terror as vice president,
molesting the wives of secret service agents, and pretty much anyone he encountered.
And he has a really creepy way with Kids.
Regardless, what is it that you think Trump lied about ?
Russian Collusion ?
The Biden’s in Ukraine ?
Russian Bounties ?
We have been through a bazzillion claims that Trump is a liar, and all you have established is that as politicians go he is INCREDIBLY honest. that is not a high standard, But it is orders of magnitude better than Biden.
As the left and the media likes to say – all the claims of Trump lying have been “debunked” – except that in Trump’s case they actually have been.
Though honestly even most republicans give Biden a bit of a pass – he is incompetent. He is not lying, he just does not remember.
There are few left or right that want Biden prosecuted – even for things he has actually done.
He is non compis mentis
The rest of us just want to know why YOU were stupid enough to vote for him.
John, Jeff is probably not going to answer you or give support for what he’s saying. His opinion is his proof.
I doubt that Democrats voted for Biden because he liked to let children he’s not related to sit on his lap and stroke his hairy legs in the pool. They voted for his policies.
Likewise, Republicans did not vote for Trump because he was unfaithful to his long-suffering wives. Rather, they voted for his policies.
Karen,
Just for the record, I don’t respond to John Say. I said long ago, I will no longer do so.
My proof that Trump is a liar is “people are saying.” For Trumpists, that’s all the proof they need. If it’s good enough for Trump, it’s good enough for me!
You voted for Trump’s policies. Ok, so you admit that you did not vote for the man on account of his detestable character. We’re finally getting somewhere. There is hope for you yet!
“Just for the record, I don’t respond to John Say. I said long ago, I will no longer do so.”
You stopped talking to a bunch of people early on. They all have one thing in common. They didn’t accept your BS and all were persistent in having you back up your claims such as Trump is a liar. To date you have said that over and over again but you never listed the significant lies Trump made while acting as President.
We are all happy to be on your list. When you talk you say nothing of value.
“When you talk you say nothing of value.”
Go find a mirror.
Svelaz,
Case in point: you might have seen John Say responding to my comments to you. You’ll notice that he cherry-picks my qualms about the Bidens and completely ignores any contemplation of the bona fides of Trump.
We are often accused of TDS. Shall I rip a page out of their juvenile playbook and accuse Trumpists of Biden Derangement Syndrome? I will not. Their fault lies in their utter lack of self-reflection. I can and and will accept if Biden proves to be a criminal; they will NOT entertain the possibility that Trump could be- hence John Say- like every other Trumpist before him- will not pledge to accept the verdict should a jury find Trump guilty of a civil wrong or crime. They reserve the right to impugn the impartiality of the jury, question the political affiliation of the judge, and accuse the prosecution of engaging in a witch-hunt! Textbook Trumpism.
Damn the evidence, damn the sworn testimony, damn the judge’s rulings and damn the biased jury! Trump is innocent! I can hear it now….
I have asked whether they will accept a jury’s criminal or civil conviction of Trump or his Organization.
Wrong question. Is such a conviction a disqualification to hold elected office?
Bill Clinton
Bob Menendez
Andrew Cuomo
Senator Ted Kenedy
Convictions?
Speaker of the House Tom DeLay
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Senator Ted Steven
Alcee Hastings
The standards you demand of President Trump, ignore the wink and nod afforded lots of life long politicians.
Also, it is clear Democrats have honed lawfare into a scalpel used to neuter Republicans. while turning a blind eye to the likes of Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton’s wife.
Topped off by the MeToo movement, a petard aimed to take out Republicans, but hoisting mainly Democrats.
Iowan,
Turley has never expressed such disdain for our criminal justice system. I stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
I’ll ask you again if you’ll accept a jury’s criminal or civil conviction of Trump or his Organization?
Yes or no?
Or do you reserve the right to call it a witch-hunt if convicted?
I will say here and now that I will accept Trump’s acquittal.
DeLay and Stevens. Indicted, tried, convicted. Later overturned because the prosecution made it all up.
How about the Duke LaCrosse team?
No I will not agree to accept everything out of the corrupt criminal justice system.
Ok. I’m glad you are on the record. That’s one Trumpist anyway. Anyone else out there who shares Iowan’s view that the justice system is irremediably corrupt?
Explain the Tom Delay conviction to me.
The whole thing overturned.
I do not recall the facts of that case. It was many years ago. I don’t deny that there are miscarriages of justice. Probably his conviction was overturned on legal grounds. Wiki says the Court held the evidence was insufficient as s matter of law. Justice prevailed!
If Trump or his Organization is prosecuted and convicted, I will suspend my opinion until a final unappealable judgment is rendered in his case. He is entitled to all the Due Process that he can afford.
If he is convicted, Trumpists will scream, “witch-hunt” because, like you, they distrust the system, but if he is not found guilty, you and those like you will cry, “Exonerated” because you suddenly have faith in the system.
Hypocrite.
I do not recall the facts of that case. It was many years ago.
That’s why you are wrong in your conclusions. You are ignorant of what has been going on for the last 40 years.
President Trump is no different than any other politician, any other President.
With one exception. President Trump does his own wet work. He doesn’t orchestrated the deputy undersecretary of bureaucracy to float trial balloons or call attention corrupt judges. He does it himself. This stuff has been going on for decades.
Your self imposed ignorance, and blind belief in what ever the propaganda media feeds you causes you to be wrong in your conclusions
You realize there is no evidence of any crime? You are repeating propaganda.
Iowan’s view that the justice system is irremediably corrupt?
Lying about what I said is par for the course for those working off talking points, and don’t, or aren’t capable of critical analysis.
Read my post. I never inferred the justice system is irremediably corrupt. I said there are specific cases that prove judge shopping is common to get in front of judges ruling according their political desires.
You said:
“No I will not agree to accept everything out of the corrupt criminal justice system.”
So, Iowan2 will tell us what verdicts she will accept and those she won’t. How nice!
“I will say here and now that I will accept Trump’s acquittal.”
Don’t you realize that no one gives a sh!te what you will accept? Everyone already knows you are a narcissistic blogger.
Would you support that NY attorney general’s platform for election – you know, the one who said she was running on keeping on investigating Trump until she finds something?
Show her the man, she’ll show you the crime, as they say.
Jamie,
Please refer me to the her specific quotation in which she said that she’s going to keep investigating “until I find something.” She actually said that or are you putting words in her mouth?
I don’t trust you Trumpists to paraphrase a quotation. I want to see the actual quote.
…a witch-hunt…?
How about all the middle American “insurrectionists” rotting in the D.C. jails, without bail, for… petitioning their government for a redress of their grievances.
And Antifa / BLM rioters are catch and release…
Justice is blind — that’s your argument, right?
Spanky,
I’m sorry the Trumpist peacemakers who were given the red carpet to parade through the Capitol at their leisure failed to stop the Congressman counting the Electoral votes. They were not insurrectionists; they were patriots! If only they had gotten their hands on the traitor Pence, we wouldn’t have Biden as President.
Let them out of jail. Withdraw all the charges. Give them our thanks as heroes!
As for ANTIFA/BLM terrorists, send them to Guantanamo. They deserve enhanced interrogation to discover their ring-leaders who should be sent to CIA Black Sites in Romania for waterboarding.
Is that the Justice you crave?
Jeff, +100.
It may be maddening to kerp trying to reason with trumpists. I know that. However I believe that when you give up you essentially become complicit in helping spread the ignorance that pervades their world. It’s worth staying focused and keep making arguments against such ignorance. I don’t mind since I know I at least can admit when I’m wrong or concede I made a mistake and I have done a few here. Trumpists and at times Turley himself will go to great lengths to avoid personal accountability for their positions when it’s clear it’s a failed argument. Turley loves to mince words and split hairs ad infinitum just to avoid the most obvious flaw in an argument. It’s a form of cognitive dissonance that permeates that group in many forms.
The current disasters unfolding in Florida, Texas, and now Mississippi, states that all are calling for more doctors and nurses and ventilators, are all experiencing the consequences of that very ignorance mentioned earlier. It’s truly sad to watch it unfold and at the same time have no sympathy for their plight. It’s not deserved in my opinion. I just finished reading an article where border patrol is intercepting fake vaccination cards from China headed for Tennessee. Most likely for those same people who will no doubt be under vaccination mandates soon.
Ignorance has to be constantly challenged or it will surely create a whole new iteration of the “dark ages”.
It’s so bad in Florida and Texas that everyone is moving there!
The current disasters unfolding in Florida, Texas, and now Mississippi, states that all are calling for more doctors and nurses and ventilators, are all experiencing the consequences of that very ignorance mentioned earlier
Florida’s 7 day average death rate is less than half of what it was Aug. 6th. But I understand weaning yourself off of the propaganda panic porn is tough. But the question is, The CDC has been lying about this virus since January of 2020, Why would you believe them now?
The problem here is *not* with the NeuralHash technology, nor with its intended purpose. (For its limited purpose, it’s the same as video surveillance at a bank.)
The problem here is Apple’s history of kowtowing to dictators. It allows its technology to be used as a tool of oppression.
“’Apple has become a cog in the censorship machine that presents a government-controlled version of the internet,’ said Nicholas Bequelin, Asia director for Amnesty International, the human rights group.”
“Mr. Cook often talks about Apple’s commitment to civil liberties and privacy. But to stay on the right side of Chinese regulators, his company has put the data of its Chinese customers at risk and has aided government censorship in the Chinese version of its App Store.”
In a new building outside Guiyang, China, “Apple was preparing to store the personal data of its Chinese customers on computer servers run by a state-owned Chinese firm.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html
When you collude with dictators, don’t be surprised if people worry that you will use your new technology — to collude with dictators.
About that recent party (& refer to chatter downthread for relevancy):
“Behold Barack Antoinette”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/14/opinion/barack-obama-birthday.html
Katie Halper’s thoughts:
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/566759-podcast-host-katie-halper-calls-obamas-lavish-birthday-plans-pretty-disgusting
‘Halper said there’s a slight hypocrisy on the left when it comes to following CDC guidelines and overspending on personal celebrations.
‘“The binary of Democrats being responsible on COVID and Republicans being irresponsible, it’s a little bit more complicated,” Halper said, arguing that many in the Democratic Party view Obama and his legacy untouchable.
‘“Obama, they think, has never done anything wrong. They never mention the droning program, the surveillance, the bailing out of Wall Street at the expense of Main Street — none of these things matter and he gets to parade around as this exalted, sainted figure because he’s not [former President] Trump.”’
Matt Taibbi ‘subscribers only’ posting, yesterday:
“The Vanishing Legacy of Barack Obama”
“On the road from stirring symbol of hope and change to the Fat Elvis of neoliberalism, birthday-partying Barack Obama sold us all out”
Excerpt:
“The history books and the still-starstruck press will let him skate on this, but they shouldn’t.
“Obama was set up to be the greatest of American heroes, but proved to be a common swindler and one of the great political liars of all time — he fooled us all. Moreover, his remarkably vacuous post-presidency is proving true everything Trump said in 2016 about the grasping Washington politicians whose only motives are personal enrichment, and who’d do anything, even attend his wedding, for a buck. Trump’s point was that he, Trump, was already swinishly rich, while politicians have only one thing to sell to get the upper class status they crave: us.
“Obama did that. He sold us out, and it’s time to start talking about the role he played in bringing about the hopeless cynical mess that is modern America.”
Gotta love Taibbi.
“Obama has displaced the Clintons as the ultimate example of the modern political profiteer. We now assume presidents will spend their retirements pursuing every conceivable moneymaking opportunity, while living lives of hoggish exclusivity.”
“The White House is now first and foremost a seat of financial power, its occupant by design an apprentice member of the 1%, who’s expected to accept full entrance into the wealth archipelago upon exit.”
“How Barack Obama sold us out and opened the door for Trump”
Gotta love Taibbi? Oh yeah? Tell us how much you enjoyed this evisceration of Trump. Headline:
“Trump 2020: Be Very Afraid
America is the first country to ever elect a Mad King, and the way things are going, we may be dumb enough to do it twice”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/taibbi-trump-2020-be-very-afraid-872299/
I enjoy reading what Taibbi has to say because he is intellectually honest.
I also enjoy reading the comments, like this one, which is so true:
“Trump did not bring division. Division brought Trump. If you don’t see that, then you’re part of the problem.” (As Taibbi points out, Barack Obama created the division and ‘opened the door for Trump’)
And this comment, also very true:
“The mad King has achieved 2.6% growth, over eight years and in 2016 Obama achieved only 1.6%. The unemployment rate is the best in 70 years (3.4%) and the best in US history for Blacks and Hispanics. Median Income growth (nominal) is over $5,200, the bulk of the income increases have gone to lower income groups. This is because of the Tax Cuts and his attempts to end Illegal Immigration. Trade is more reciprocal and will soon be fully reciprocal. Trump has ended the territorial califate and achieved US Energy Independence. The reason why Trump will be elected in 2020 is that he is very effective (unlike the current failing US elites) and wins.”
Without Covid, no Biden.
I can accept all of what Matt says as long as you don’t lie to me by stating that Trump is NOT a chronic and habitual liar.
Intellectually honesty demands that you accept Trump’s dishonesty. Until then, we cannot have a profitable discussion.
You’re probably chatting with Allan, again, Jeff. And I’m not Allan’s mother.
Usually I can tell when Allan is talking. Sometimes, I slip. It’s pathetic that he goes anonymous. He just needs to properly identify himself and speak coherently, and I’ll take him off my list.
Two chances – slim and fat.
I do not want you to be on your list. You are a waste of time and almost as bad as Svelaz who you like to be close to. Many of your comments conflict with one another, just like Svelaz. You are a smooth talker, the type one should never trust. You lack facts and evidence. Your anonymous friend is not very bright and is untrustworthy.
Birds of a feather stick together. Anonymous (recognized by his lack of imagination, intellect, deceit, etc.), Svelaz and Jeff. Not of you can make a cogent argument and debate it without screwing up the truth. The Three Stooges alive.
“And I’m not Allan’s mother.”
You sure?
What I think about Trump has no bearing on what you think about Taibbi’s intellectual honesty. You either accept what he has to say, or you don’t.
There will never be a profitable discussion with anyone until you state your complaint. What are the most important lies Trump made in his Presidential duties?
You are unable to list them because you would add more proof that you are a charlatan. Most of us already know that, so you are free to come out of the closet. Only then can you place your intellectual dishonesty behind you.
Let’s establish this right here and now: Joe Biden is a chronic and habitual liar. Always was, always will be. Joe Biden is a serial plagiarizer.
By the way, where is Joe Biden? Where’s Waldo? Enjoying a bowl of pudding somewhere?
Holy hell America is in trouble with this demented idiot in the White House.
Intellectual honesty demands that you accept Trump’s dishonesty.
I think that depends on what the meaning of “is” is.
In other words: respond to the statement above, pointing out that “Trump’s dishonesty” is par for the course among politicians – indeed, tends to be less egregious than most because so many of his “lies” are only (and obviously) Queensisms – and so many other Trump “lies” have been shown to be true. Until you do that, why should anyone believe any discussion with you would be profitable?
Jamie,
You are not going to prevaricate with me over the matter of Trump’s dishonesty. His lying is incontrovertible. To me, it’s the acid test of whether one is intellectually honest. If you won’t acknowledge that fact, there is no point in having a discussion.
“You are not going to prevaricate with me over the matter of Trump’s dishonesty. His lying is incontrovertible. To me, it’s the acid test of whether one is intellectually honest.”
Intellectual dishonesty is not listing the lies. Jeff is intellectually dishonest.
The comments below Taibbi’s article sum it up best —->
“Damn, this article made me want to vote for Trump even more.”
“This is the hyberbolic nonsense that got Trump elected, and will get him re-elected.”
“Matt, you’re right, we could elect a Mad King, twice. Except, that we already did, Obama, and we survived him.”
——
And then go read Taibbi’s article about the Mad King Obama. Taibbi called Obama a fraud, a swindler, a political liar, and a profiteer, among other choice and apt words.
I think it is endemic of political commentators to be cynical of all politicians. Matt aspires to be the next H.L.Mencken:
Here is a Mencken quote that serves Conservatives:
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”
And one to serve Leftists:
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
But we should all bear this in mind:
“There is always a well-known solution to every human problem–neat, plausible, and wrong.”
Here’s one that Trump understood, but Joe Biden, a lifelong, corrupt politician will never understand because no one in government is ever held accountable for anything. Fauci has been wrong, way wrong, about almost everything. The CDC, too. What we see unfolding in Afghanistan today is another example. No one will resign or pay a price for the Covid catastrophe or this disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. Same as it ever was.
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” –Thomas Sowell
Does ANYONE feel we are in capable hands with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Tony Blinken, Jake Sullivan and some woke generals at the helm right now?
Oh hell no.
Has General Milley explained to the Taliban the perils of toxic masculinity?
🙂
I have serious worries about the days ahead in Afghanistan. I think the Taliban would be happy to trade 5,000 of its members or more to humiliate the US as it leaves Afghanistan.
All Biden/Commie Dim/Rinos/Gen Milley, Austin & Gen Onary have to do to turn their Disaster into Victory is the ship the Taliban Islamic Nut Job Head Choppers & Boy Rapist, is to ship the Taliban Red High Heals. That should work on the Taliban just as it has on the Best Of the Best in Our US Military/Militia.
Here is a Barack Obama quote:
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.”
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”
That doesn’t pertain to the classical liberal type, which many conservatives have an affinity for. Are you unread about political ideologies?
A fractured fairytale version of The Masque of the Red Death. Instead of an allegory about the inescapability of death, it is one about hypocrisy in rising tyranny.
Well said! May I quote you?
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/t_is_for_tyranny_how_freedom_dies_from_a_to_z
Speaking more on the issue of tyranny…
Thanks for posting Whitehead’s recent article, Prairie Rose.
What many don’t realize is that these problems predate Biden, Trump and Obama…and even GWB, to a large extent.
Daniel Ellsberg has said that he still has hope…
https://www.ellsberg.net/daniel-ellsberg-new-york/
Ellsberg says that the world’s survival, so far, has been “something like a miracle.” He’s a pessimist, but he believes in surprises. Nixon’s impeachment, the end of Vietnam, the fall of the Berlin Wall, his own freedom — they’re all miracles to Ellsberg. “For me to be doing what I’m doing doesn’t take a whole lot of hope,” he says as evening falls. “A little uncertainty here is enough to keep me going.”
Prairie Rose,
Here is the bottom line of that article:
“As I make clear in my book “Battlefield America: The War on the American People,” the reality we must come to terms with is that in the post-9/11 America we live in today, the government does whatever it wants, freedom be damned.”
It’s an advertisement to sell his book. If this joker truly believed the stakes couldn’t be higher, and the prospect of tyranny is just around the corner, and the future of America is teetering at the edge of the abyss, he wouldn’t be trying to profit on it.
He would give the book away for free as a patriot to his cause!
Come on, don’t be so naive. Don’t fall for this. And for God’s sake, don’t give this charlatan your money!
“Come on, don’t be so naive.”
You might want to heed your own advice, jeffsilberman.
Trump is a charlatan, to be sure. John Whitehead isn’t.
Anyone who gins up fear just to induce his readers to buy his book is a charlatan in *my* book. I’m sure Thomas Paine would have been happy to publish his “Common Sense” for free had there been an internet in 1776 because he was a patriot not a sell out.
Says a guy who gave us way too much detail about his dining experience/s at The French Laundry in CA. People have to eat…and not everyone has the money…
John Whitehead is no charlatan.
And FWIW, I didn’t vote for Trump. Not in 2016. Not in 2020. I loathe Trump, but I’ve been around the block, as it’s said…, and things are not what you might want to believe…
Jeff S.,
“If this joker truly believed the stakes couldn’t be higher, and the prospect of tyranny is just around the corner, and the future of America is teetering at the edge of the abyss, he wouldn’t be trying to profit on it.”
William Binney talked about being “this close” to a turnkey totalitarian state 8 years ago.
https://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff-nsadatacenter/
Prairie,
Lookit, I don’t like all this internal surveillance anymore than a Q-Anon paranoid, but I like a 9/11 terrorist strike even less. In the world in which we live, this level of surveillance apparently is the price we must pay. I’m no security expert obviously, and I am not going to pretend I am one by second guessing the security state experts.
Personally, I live my life on the straight and narrow, and I have nothing to hide. I would be flattered if some faceless snoop took an interest in my pathetic and lonely existence!
Do you buy these “How to get rich,” “Loose 30 lbs in 30 days,” and “American Marxism” trash books? I hope you have the good sense not to make these shysters rich.
In the world in which we live, this level of surveillance apparently is the price we must pay. — jeffsilberman
No, it’s the *fear* price you’re willing to pay… the rest of us, not so much.
I’m no security expert obviously… — jeffsilberman
It’s very apparent you don’t know what you’re talking about.
… I have nothing to hide. jeffsilberman
How boring…
…my pathetic and lonely existence! jeffsilberman
Why inflict yourself on others?
Iowan,
I was being facetious. I won’t bore you with any more comments; I’m sure you have some child porn you need to get back to- be wary!
My apologies. That last repost was meant for Spanky
” I like a 9/11 terrorist strike even less.”
Our DOJ, IC and military seem not very concerned about the 911 type incidents but wish to obstruct the will of the American people. When they should have noticed certain things happening in China, they were too busy trying to aid Democrat efforts to impeach President Trump.
SM
It appears your former research assistant did not learn the meaning of protected speech. Why you ever lionized him is curious.
Michael Avenatti’s Libel Lawsuit Against Fox Thrown Out by Judge
EUGENE VOLOKH
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/08/13/michael-avenattis-libel-lawsuit-against-fox-thrown-out-by-judge/
From the opinion today in Avenatti v. Fox News Network, LLC, written by Third Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas (sitting by designation in District Court):
Opinions that do not imply a false factual assertion are constitutionally protected. These statements cannot be proven right or wrong, so they cannot defame.
Take Arroyo’s joke that Avenatti is familiar with “bull__.” Or take Ingraham’s ridiculing him for being an “arrest waiting to happen” and for having a “heck of a right hook.” Though Avenatti complains about these remarks, he does not specifically allege that they are false. Nor could he. Their language and context reveal that they are opinions. Arroyo couched his comment with the qualifier “I think.” Am. Compl. ¶ 84. After Ingraham’s insult about his “right hook,” she immediately said “I’m joking. It’s a joke.” When a statement is “clearly a mere joke … there is no defamation.” And this “rhetorical hyperbole” is often used on cable news, particularly when politics is involved.
Opinions based on disclosed facts are often protected too. Avenatti is upset that Ingraham mocked him for being an “arrest waiting to happen.” But she expressly based her opinion on the fact that “Senate judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley made a criminal referral [about] Avenatti … for making false statements to Congress.” Listeners were “free to accept or reject” her opinion “based on their own independent evaluation of the facts.” This statement is not defamatory.
Before this recent decision came down, I did watch Turley claim that Avenatti had done some research work for him as a student in his class, and he said that he was one of his most promising students. Turley as is his wont was exceedingly sympathetic and sorrowful that Avenatti had lost his way. Notwithstanding that Avenatti had been a chief nemesis of Trump, Turley did not rejoice in his downfall unlike many on this blog.
We were told Obama’s magic fairy dust would keep everyone well.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9891873/63-people-Marthas-Vineyard-tested-positive-Covid-Obamas-60th-birthday-bash.html
Was it the “fairy dust” or that they’re “sophisticated”? Maybe a double dose.
It was a double dose of B.S. Sam. Kind of a ‘sophisticated fairy’ perhaps.
Biden tells DeSantis what to do, but at Obama’s Party at Martha’s Vineyard nothing can happen. Biden will call for masking all of us but at the border illegals with Covid are put into cages in intolerably close positions to other illegals and then from there carrying Covid spread throughout the nation.
Why won’t people listen to “the science”? The science only exists for the non elites.
Maybe Covid would immediately disappear if we all ate at the French Laundry.
“Maybe Covid would immediately disappear . . .”
Or maybe they don’t want it to disappear.
Or maybe they don’t want it to disappear. — Sam
That’s a reasonable hypothesis… unfortunately.
I guess many understand that the left will use any crisis to advance their cause even at the cost of lives, standard of living and freedoms. The last one, freedoms, is what the left wants lost the most.
Remember early in the AID’s epidemic. The left traded their politics for millions of lives and the left never paid for it.
Must read Matt Taibbi’s piece on what a great swindler and political liar Barack Hussein Obama truly is.
Why do they keep protecting this vacuous fraud?
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-vanishing-legacy-of-barack-obama
He brings in the money?
And MSM still keeps fawning over him?
Sounds like Apple is trying to have it both ways, looking at your phone’s content while telling you how secure your phone is. What would Jobs do?
The NeuralHash will allow it to scan images before they are uploaded to iCloud for child pornography.
🤔 What prevents them from targeting an innocent user by storing those images to someone else’s iCloud account?
The technical reply to your query is somewhat granular. Suffice it to say — not much of nuthin’
Yikes! 😳 Sadly, if I can consider the possibility, some really evil people are already working to make it a reality.
Olly,
Fear of Hell.
In reply to your question: “What prevents them from targeting an innocent user by storing those images to someone else’s iCloud account?”
This would be a good thread to introduce any favorite brands to replace iPhones. How do people like their Androids?
I’m android. (motoZ), and windows 10.
I just have different tech Overlords.
Get and talk and text like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Talk-Text-Cell-Phone/s?k=Talk+and+Text+Only+Cell+Phone
It won’t work overseas*, just so people know. Other than that, it’s a good little phone. International calls can be made in the U.S., with the purchase of a ‘global’ calling card.
*No calls can be made or texts sent, when out of the country.
The minute they use this… its a lawsuit waiting to happen.
If not the 0.0000001% of the population who may dabble in Kiddie Pr0n, but the 99.99999999+% of those who are not into Kiddie Pr0n.
The issue is that its a violation of one’s privacy rights.
No matter how they try to slice it… this is one that Apple will lose.
Depending on the hash algo, its a distinct fingerprint. Which is a violation of their privacy.
-G
Apple has a get out of jail free card.
From the same folks pulling Biden’$ strings.
One of the low information trolls (redundant?) Thinks going after child porn, its purveyors, and consumers, should be caught and prosecuted.
This is one of those times that most everyone nods and thinks…yea, that sounds about right.
Why do most not jump in to defend the deviants privacy? Do deviants even have the presumption of privacy?
The why, is because we no longer teach civics, we no longer teach history, we no longer teach the Bill of Rights. The constitution does not protect child pornographers. So they are free game? But if you were educated, even a little bit, you would understand the BoR does not protect any named entity. To name all those protected, and to name all the evil that should be stamped out, is impossible.
But. The framers understood that the real evil is not child pornographers. What could you even imagine would be worse?
A government with unlimited power looking for child pornographers.
The framers understood they would much prefer the scourge of child porn, than the true evil of a government with unlimited power
So the framers did not set out to “protect” people. The wise framers set out to enumerate those actions that the govt must not engage in. And they defined certain inalienable rights. One of those is the right to be secure in our property and papers. And for those people that would abuse others, a system of checks and balances was established to get a very defined and specific warrant to search that property and papers.
Those warrants cannot be delegated to self installed protectors of all things to root about my papers and then tip off the fuzz.
No I am not defending child porn. But I much prefer it, to a government that will ALWAYS abuse any power they can harness, real or imagined.
Iowan,
I take it that you would much prefer more 9/11’s to a government that will ALWAYS abuse any power they can harness, real or imagined?
Please ignore this question if it is uncomfortable to answer.
Jeff, its called the constitution
. Do you know Homeland Security just categorized all citizens that disagree with the official COVID recommendations as violent domestic terrorists.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
9/11? Really?
Do you know there have been 4 audits done of the use of 702 backward lookups? That would be the data base of all phone, text, and emails. Just plug in a phone number and date range and get returns of all the contacts and names.
More than 80% of those are illegal. According the the judges doing the audits. 4 different audits, the exact same results. The guilty? FBI contractors. The FBI has done nothing. The FISA judges that did the audit? Their boss is the Chief Justice of the United States. He has done nothing
You are a sheep, Jeff
Iowan,
Here is what I found:
“DHS’ National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin issued on Friday, warned that threats from domestic terrorists — individuals engaged in grievance-based violence — and foreign terrorists are exacerbated by the pandemic, “including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions.”
“Domestic terrorists” who are “exacerbated by by the pandemic”
NOT as you state “categorized all citizens that disagree with the official COVID recommendations as violent domestic terrorists.”
Idiot or liar- you tell me-
Since the executive doesn’t care about the Constitution and the Courts are filled with sponge-spined judges who won’t speak the Law, some landlords are resorting to self-help. In this case, shooting the defaulting tenants:
https://nypost.com/2021/08/13/las-vegas-landlord-kills-two-tenants-injures-another-over-unpaid-rent/
I expect there will be less noisy ways to protect one’s property. Screening for lack of character or a likely sense of entitlement should eliminate a lot of them. Collecting more in advance could help. Selling your property and getting the hell out of a corrupt market where contracts no longer have meaning is another approach. Maybe the Hells Angels can open a side business beating the crap out of anyone you don’t like.
The half of the country most inclined to support law and order no longer trusts the law.
I didn’t think everything would go down the toilet this fast.
More on this: https://reason.com/volokh/2021/08/12/this-is-no-way-to-rule-a-country/
Another thought: The executive and courts have forfeited trust. Even when the ‘extension on evictions’ ends, who will trust the government not to impose some other illegal imposition on property owners. I imagine landlords who have not decided to bail out of the market are already thinking about workarounds or ways to protect themselves. One thought might be to have prospective tenants sign a substantial demand note not tied to rent. The tenants will have to trust the landlord not to enforce it arbitrarily but, on the other hand, the landlord is trusting the tenants with a major asset.
Nobody can rely on the courts these days; not when they say ‘it’s unconstitutional but, screw you!, we are going to let them do it anyway.”
I doubt there has been any time in the history of the country when the Court has been so self-consciously in the wrong. Errors are one thing, but this isn’t an error. It is sabotage of the Rule of Law from the ‘highest’ Court. They aren’t even pretending anymore.
There are several things almost certain to happen. Rents will go up and the ones hurt the most will be the poor especially the minorities. There will be more vetting of potential renters. That will not be good for minorities.
Look at what happened in NYC. The government pushed rent control and developers stopped building rental properties. They built condos and co-ops. Where does that leave the poor and the minorities? The remaining buildings had sky high rents.
S. Meyer– I agree. The government is stealing property rights ‘for the greater good’ but they are too stupid or too uncaring to think of the nearly certain consequences.
Vetting of potential renters will be very high on any landlord’s list. Blacks will be among the first to be rejected because of a growing sense of entitlement and because they tend to have lower credit ratings and sketchy rental histories. They wouldn’t be rejected because of race but because of ‘not worth the risk as tenants’. But the impact will be the same. Of course, some over-regulated jurisdictions will have fewer people investing in rental property as you noticed in NYC. But there is still some room under freeway overpasses.
Importantly, beyond the rental market the government has shattered trust. What will they do next? Law appears to be no restraint, particularly with the Robert’s Court.
The government stepped in too much in NYC fining landlords for cosmetic defects. Many landlords stopped paying taxes and in one year, I think, 100,000 units were turned over to the city. Of course it took the city several times as much money to run those units so they cancelled the fines and returned the properties to the original owners.
Thomas Sowell wrote a book that talked about red lining and other books about the costs involved in vetting people. Anyone that wants to know what will happen can read those books. They are timeless because human motivations are mostly stable over time.
Thanks. I didn’t know that had happened in NYC. Just now the city is looking like a bad investment.
Young,
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
H.L.Mencken
More of Turley’s red meat for the disciples: “In critical areas, United States is moving from a democracy to a corporatocracy where critical rights and privileges are effectively controlled by a small number of CEOs.”
Tell us, Turley, is there a “right” or “privilege” to send child porn photos via social media? Is sharing of child porn a “critical area”? Do social media companies have an obligation to not allow their platform to be used to perpetrate these crimes against children? AI has been programmed to identify such photos and prevent their distribution. How is that wrong? Well, according to Turley, there is some right of “privacy” involved here. Is there a right of “privacy” to send dirty photos of children to pedophiles? Are you in favor of that, Turley? What law says that social media can’t prevent the dissemination of such images, when possession and distribution of such images are felonies under federal and state law?
Then, there’s the matter of spreading lies about COVID. These lies are killing people because the gullible Trumpsters believe them. As a result, COVID infections and hospitalizations are spiking once again, Trumpsters are physically attacking public health officials and physicians and nurses. How can it be wrong for social media companies to deny a platform to spread lies about a deadly pandemic, the results of which we see every single day? Is there a “right and privilege” to claim that COVID is a hoax, that the vaccines aren’t safe or effective, that vaccinated people have been injected with GPS tracking devices, that the vaccines kill more people than COVID, or the other lies used to hook Trump disciples?
But, that’s not the point here, is it, Turley; it’s another attack against the Biden Administration, one of Turley’s assignments, by arguing that social media companies are acting as surrogates or a “shadow government” for the Biden Administration that is using social media to curb our “critical rights and privileges” using surrogates to do that which it cannot do itself: spreading fear about “Big Brother”– except that it’s not the government limiting access to social media–it is private companies that have set the terms and conditions for use of their platforms, and they have drawn the line against child porn and spreading lies, like the Big Lie and COVID misinformation.Tell us, Turley, are you trying to claim that private companies have no right to set terms and conditions of use for their platforms? Where is the proof that they are acting as surrogates for the Biden Administration?
Moron’s like you, ones with no critical thinking skills, no reasoning skills, seemingly no logic, deserve to be ridiculed and laughed at in public… LOLOLLOLOL!
Are you one of the ones who think it’s an invasion of your privacy to prevent you from spreading kiddie porn on social media? Or, maybe, you think you have a Constitutional right to discourage people from getting vaccinated by lying about COVID and vaccination?
Natacha, if you could reason with a Trump supporter, there would be no Trump supporters.
Of course you have a constitutional right to lie and to discourage people from…. anything you want. Are you really that naive to think otherwise? I see my hyperbole wasn’t so far from reality in my first post to you.
Anonymous, Anyone who signs up to use any apple product including iphones agrees to many things that they are oblivious to. For example here’s an excerpt from Apple’s own Terms and Conditions.
“Apple’s Privacy Policy applies to use of this Site, and its terms are made a part of these Terms of Use by this reference. To view Apple’s Privacy Policy, click here. Additionally, by using the Site, you acknowledge and agree that Internet transmissions are never completely private or secure. You understand that any message or information you send to the Site may be read or intercepted by others, even if there is a special notice that a particular transmission (for example, credit card information) is encrypted.”
Here’s you’re agreeing that YOU the user are agreeing that you ARE aware and acknowledge that internet transmissions are NEVER completely private OR secure. That YOU understand that ANY message or information YOU send TO the site may be read or intercepted by others. even when there’s a particular notice that the transmission is encrypted.
Here’s another gem that millions willingly and obliviously agree to once they click on the “I AGREE” button.
“Apple reserves the right to do any of the following, at any time, without notice: (1) to modify, suspend or terminate operation of or access to the Site, or any portion of the Site, for any reason; (2) to modify or change the Site, or any portion of the Site, and any applicable policies or terms; and (3) to interrupt the operation of the Site, or any portion of the Site, as necessary to perform routine or non-routine maintenance, error correction, or other changes.”
Take note of (2)….” to modify or change the Site, or any portion of the Site, AND ANY APPLICABLE POLICIES AND TERMS”
Natacha, does have a point and she definitely asks important questions here.
Apple needs to add two items to its “Terms of Use:”
“We gave the keys to the kingdom to Chinese dictators.”
“Thus we have changed ‘Apple’s Privacy Policy’ to: ‘Apple’s Privacy-ish Policy’.”
Then, there’s the matter of spreading lies about COVID. These lies are killing people
You do a whole paragraph and never get to even one lie. Just like your regurgitation of “voter suppression” you spew the talking points but fail to engage in factual debate.
Iowan2 says” “you [Natch} spew the talking points but fail to engage in factual debate.”
***
I don’t think that is her job. She seems to be a propaganda troll. No matter how many times she is corrected with links to documents she returns to the same refrain: Trump. I think she is paid by the ‘Trump’.
I agree. But I’m not really responding to her.
It is more of a public service. Pointing out to others the hollow, vapid comments. Illuminate the lack of any position. Just a negative, empty, ideological rant
Tell us, Turley, is there a “right” or “privilege” to send child porn photos via social media? — Natacha
Before I read further…
Tell us, Natcha, is there a “right” or “privilege” for Apple to search every iCloud subscriber’s files, for any reason?
Private companies have the right to a lot of things – until they become so large that they are de facto public companies. As Justice Thomas said, if you don’t like toll bridges, you can always swim the river. If you are one of the billions in the Apple ecosystem, you can always jump over to the cell phones owned – and controlled – by Google. I have very limited options; declaring Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, et al, as public carriers subject to public-carrier regulation would go a long way.
This is exactly right. These companies are some of the biggest in the world. That the now have so much control and influence over speech and information and that they’ve chosen sides, renders their bias too influential over the populace to allow them to exist in their present incarnations. Government MUST do something to reign them in. The problem right now is big tech is an ally to the current government so nothing will change for the foreseeable future.
So what are the legal implications to using (mouse-less) tablets? All of us have done it, your finger accidentally clicks on the wrong link or ad. You quickly correct it but there is an electronic paper trail of you spending a millisecond on the wrong site.
About 10 years, email providers and social media companies kept most of our records 3-8 years and a limited number of records permanently. Apparently the goal was to create lifetime records or dossiers of every American from birth to death. There is no incentive whatsoever to remove anyone from any covert list since storage technology is relatively inexpensive.
How does the average American protect themselves when much of these covert dossiers are covert and bypass judges’ oversight? Even though most government censors swore an Oath of Office not to violate constitutional rights, are these covert censors being trained properly? Whose watching them?
The pictures themselves are not scanned. The hash, a sort of code like the serial number on a dollar bill, is scanned. If it matches a database of known, circulating pedophile pics, THEN further action is taken. Only hash codes for photos known to be specific pedophile pics alert the system.
PLUS, the only happens if the user activates iCloud Photo Library, which uploads all your photos to the cloud. If you don’t activate that feature, there is no scanning whatsoever.
There are some concerns about this policy, but the misinformation is far more prevalent.
Boy, are you naive….
Johnny Dollar, Excellent point. The technical aspects of how this works make more sense than what Turley seems to assume it is about. It would make sense to assume Turley doesn’t really understand how this would really work and once you delve into the technical details it is less of a concern.
Boy are you naive….
Only “Consumer-Voting” is likely to resolve this. Simply stop buying “privacy-invading” technology and stop using privacy-invading social media. MONEY TALKS more than voting at the ballot box.
According to the major newspapers, America’s most secret agencies use typewriters, paper and human-couriers. Use “DuckDuckGo.com” search engines, driving directions, etc. The world’s most powerful agencies, with the most powerful computer security don’t trust the technology. If automobiles were this dangerous, the federal government would ban the technology and close down the manufacturer.
Simply buy “paper” newspapers, “paper” books, etc and (after Covid) actually meet someone in person for lunch or coffee. The computer geeks disparage low-tech but the world’s most powerful agencies don’t agree with the geeks on terms of security. Stop buying it.
Consumer-Voting is powerful, only spend dollars on products and services that protect your personal information. They are using our personal data, they should be paying us!
“They are using our personal data, they should be paying us!”
Explain that to Svelaz.
Anonymous,
“They are using our personal data, they should be paying us!”
Explain that to Svelaz.”
When anyone signs up to use their site or other products you literally give away your right to many things. Willingly, because the majority of people DON”T actually read the terms and conditions they agree to. This is the fundamental issue that too many ignore and are completely oblivious to. People literally AGREE to have their information taken. The only way to prevent or limit it is to actually limit it through your own privacy settings or turn off certain features. It comes down to a very fundamental and simple conservative value. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. It seems people expect companies like Apple or Android to do things right for those people instead of taking personal responsibility and make sure YOU are limiting and TELLING them what you don’t want to share. People have that option. The difficult part is that it doesn’t happen by itself. YOU are responsible for making it happen.
Svelaz, you don’t get it. That is their fee.
Anonymous, there is fee. You WANT it to be a fee because it is the only way that your argument would make sense. You’re jumping to wild conclusions due to your incessant need to dive deep into conspiracy theories. If you doubt it I suggest actually reading the entire terms and conditions for yourself. They are readily available.
“When anyone signs up to use their site or other products you literally give away your right to many things. “
Svelaz, What you are talking about is a contract. For a contract to take place, there has to be consideration in the form of something that has value. That is the law behind the contract.
Consideration can be a fee or a whole host of things as long as there is discernible value.
Your ignorance is frightening.
So what’s to stop them from simply claiming you were going to upload a photo?
Who is going to train the algorithm/bot? No normal person will, so you’d have to get a pedophile to do it. So apple is going to start paying pedos to look at child porn all day? Smh
Nobody has to train the algorithm. It’s not looking at pictures. It’s looking for a hash code (like the serial number on a dollar bill) that matches pre-existing pedophile pics in a database of exploited children. That’s what triggers further action. The odds of an innocent pic having the same code # as a pedophile pic are like 1 in trillions. So there’s not much training involved; a number either matches or it doesn’t. Also none of this will happen unless the user turns on iCloud Photo Library which uploads photos to the cloud. Leave it off and your hash codes are invisible to Apple. I have concerns about this, but it’s important to understand how it actually works.
At some point a human HAS TO LOOK to verify before the authorities get involved. And what happens when the bot screws up (which of course will happen, probably thousands of times a day) and triggers a false-positive alert and next thing you know strangers are poking around and looking at your private family pictures with no warrant and no business doing so.
“Show me the man, and I will show you the crime.” — Beria
This takes it to a whole new level… who knew there were so many unvaccinated pedophiles.
Johnny Dollar, +100
The danger here isn’t that someone is looking at your pictures. The danger is that someone ISN’T. Your pictures are being looked at, not by a who, but an it. This is the danger of AI. Because one day, an AI will determine we’re guilty, and jail us, based on what the AI said. Not based on a jury of our peers.
I think differently, at least for the future we can see. This information will be in the control of government. Rule of law will be forgotten so only those causing difficulty with the government in power will face charges and difficulties. That is what the future has in store for us.
Wait, my error. This already happened under Trump where the bureaucracy of the left took over. It is now expanding with a leftist President.and travelling throughout the nation controlled by the left. They are using it to perform a cultural coup. By the time enough people notice the dangers, it might be to late.
Already too late.
At some point a human has to look at your pictures to confirm or not that a crime has been committed. Which mean strangers and possibly pedos get to invade your privacy and see your little grand kids running and jumping around your backyard in and out of the kiddy pool with their bare fannies exposed.. even though you never gave anyone permission.
As Johnny Dollar explained, they will NOT be looking at pictures. They will be matching hash codes with known pedophile pics with the same code. They will NOT be looking at actual images nor will they be scanning them. This makes sense from a technical perspective and it explains why it would be very efficient. Apple will not be snooping around people’s accounts. All. that will transpire is a program that will seek to match any hash codes to known pictures with the exact same hash codes and that will only happen when pictures are uploaded to the photo library in the cloud.
Svelaz,
Trying to talk sense to these Trumpists is like p*ssing in the wind. They need to be ridiculed not reasoned with.
+100
It’s a fool’s errand…
Jeff: “Trying to talk sense to these Trumpists is like p*ssing in the wind.”
You must be very wet by now.
You said a mouthful!
I agree, but every once in a while the ridiculousness becomes too much even for them. It’s amusing to see how conspiracy theories form in real time. How each trumpist builds on to the other’s conspiracies until they are too far gone. It’s like watching drug addicts overdose and keep on going.
at some point a human HAS TO LOOK AT THEM TO CONFIRM WHETHER THEY ARE ILLEGAL OR NOT. Are you that thickheaded?
STackPointer,
Stop scaring these impressionable Trumpists and Q-Anon types! They might actually believe your paranoid delusions.
Liberals are far more likely to molest children: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1767&context=wmborj
Garbage from Anon @ 1:47
Truth hurts pervert liberals….
Anonymous, writes that it is garbage to think Liberals are far more likely to molest children. Does he think? Is he able? Isn’t it the left that promotes pederasty, pornography, free sex, sex changes on young children etc. Wouldn’t that make one think that Liberals are more likely to molest children?
More garbage from Anon @9:36.
He just keeps spewing…
We can use you as an example. In the past your comments have promoted 3 of the 4 items mentioned.
pederasty
pornography
free sex
sex changes on young children
Lies, lies, and more lies from Anon @ 12:45 PM.
Pick the one that doesn’t apply to you.
pederasty
pornography
free sex
sex changes on young children
“Lies, lies, and more lies from Anon @ 12:45 PM.”
It’s time for his afternoon nap.