Anonymous Retaliates, Leaks Texas Police Emails 340
An anonymous reader sends word that hacking group Anonymous has breached servers and accounts belonging to "dozens" of Texas police departments, leaking emails, documents and personal information. They say the attacks are in retaliation for "the arrests of dozens of alleged Anonymous suspects," and were done in solidarity with "the 'Anonymous 16' PayPal LOIC defendants, accused LulzSec member Jake Davis 'Topiary,' protesters arrested during #OpBart actions, Bradley Manning, Stephen Watt, and other hackers and leakers worldwide." Predictably, some of the leaked emails paint an unflattering picture of internal operations at the police departments.
The cops who wrote those emails should be fired (Score:5, Interesting)
Not for racism, bigotry, their general unprofessionalism, etc. I mean, that's kind of a given for local-level Texas cops. No, they should be for the epic level of stupidity they showed in actually *writing all that down* and *sending it in emails*.
Anyone *that* stupid probably shouldn't be trusted to operate the fry machine at McDonalds, much less be in charge of investigating crimes.
I've had some pretty dumb friends over the years who ended up becoming cops (we're talking 2+2=5 dumb), but even they knew better than to BROADCAST their incompetence for the record. I just wonder how some of these departments are supposed to collect DNA evidence when half their force thinks DNA is a rap group from the 80's. Not that every Texas cop can be Sam Deeds from Lonestar [wikipedia.org], but geez.
Re:The cops who wrote those emails should be fired (Score:5, Insightful)
Who would they hire as replacments?
I'm not an idiot, but I don't want to be a cop. You don't. I think the job attracts that sort so maybe it should be eliminated...
Re:The cops who wrote those emails should be fired (Score:5, Funny)
Who would they hire as replacments?
Especially someone with the same level of commitment to getting the job done. I mean, this guy lives and breaths law enforcement. Listen to him go :
"... Same with that pervert that got shot by the county. Fuck that guy, see ya. That all sounds like good police work to me. Those folks got the criminal cure. It's guaranteed, they will never commit a crime again."
Ever heard a programmer put so much passion ? "Great job punching that project manager in the face, he finally got what it fucking deserved. I swear if catch him messing around here again with his fancy schedule and Gantt charts, not letting us code and shit, I'm stab him with my stapler !"
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take my red swingline stapler...going to burn the building down...
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How exactly do you go about doing that? I'm curious myself (and happen to be in the same area incidentally)
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With shitty pay for people with power I'd expect corruption much more than stupidity. Many corrupt countries have their corruption because they give people power but don't pay them enough so the empowered people decide to supplement their income by bribery or blackmail. Keep your policemen and judges well paid.
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Look at the milwaukee voucher program.
Parents get to be picky about what schools to send their kids to.
That's right, good old fashioned competition.
Naturally, the teacher's unions lobbied the crap out of it to get it killed in house, and then when that didn't work they sent lawyers to sue.
They fought tooth and nail to kill the program and the people had to drag it all the way to the supreme court.
Sadly, anything that pisses off a big organization is probably a good thing these days.
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anarchy breeds tyranny.
It's hard to have tyranny without the police there to enforce it...
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I have family in law enforcement, and many cops are just basically your average kids who go to police academy instead of higher education. They graduate and they're still your average kids- now with guns and badges. Whether they become good, honorable men/women is still up to them and many won't. Many will be hired by departments that will make it nearly impossible to be honorable and still have a career. Don't ever think they're the best of the best or that they were thinking of your safety when they took
Re:The cops who wrote those emails should be fired (Score:5, Insightful)
If they conceal the misdeeds of their fellow cops -- they're just as bad as they are. And if they're ignorant of those misdeeds... they aren't smart enough to be cops. The whole structure is corrupt, top to bottom. We'll know it isn't when the bad apples start getting thrown out. That hasn't started in any serious way, nor do I expect it to.... because the whole structure is corrupt, top to bottom.
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And if they're ignorant of those misdeeds... they aren't smart enough to be cops.
Pop quiz, if one of the employees in your company (not necessarily your division) was embezzling, and caught, should you be held liable too? Since obviously you should have known, and if you didnt, obviously youre inept and not smart enough for your job?
Yea, thats really the kind of policies we want in place. Be aware of all misdeeds, or youre inept.
The whole structure is corrupt, top to bottom.
Thats a bold statement, with vague accusations. What type of corruption? Bribes? Who is being bribed?
Care to clarify and give some substance to your rather
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Pop quiz, eh? ok. Here's my answer:
Cops are tasked with detecting crime. Knowing it when they see it, taking action accordingly. Now, if my company was made up of people tasked with detecting crime, and none of them caught on to the fact that a goodly number of their co-workers were in fact committing crimes, I think I'd fire everyone and start over. Which, not co-incidentally, is exactly what I think most police departments should do.
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I think your logic on the first point is badly broken (developers arent fired when they miss bugs, for example), but it seems pointless to argue with that viewpoint-- its clear we have a fundamentally different view on what a person is responsible for.
As for your list, thats a doozy. Lets take a look....
*Arresting people for recording/photographing public scenes.
---Im not really sure that qualifies as corruption, and youre kind of begging the question by calling them "public scenes"-- thats precisely the i
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If you haven't had your ears open to the world long enough to be able to recall multiple cases or news stories regarding those things WITHOUT the source being thrown in your face, you're as incompetent as the police we are questioning here, and you have zero place in this discussion.
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The systemic corruption is what keeps those so called "individual" cops from being held accountable for what they are doing.
The actions might be lone wolf stuff, but the coverups are institutional.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_code_of_silence [wikipedia.org]
And here ya go: A wikipedia article about cops covering cops, because they are cops, and not because they are actually free of any guilt.
They will lie and attempt to cover everyones ass, even if they are all rapists and murders.
Look at it this way: If you are asked to "cover" for a fellow cop, you are doing a felony you are well aware of.
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Yes, that wikipedia article is impressive. In the first 3 paragraphs they make vague, weasly statements, with no source, and then on the end tack on a reference to an article that appears to be an opinion piece. This is one of the reasons wikipedia can be dangerous-- if you dont know how to check the sources on questionable statements, you shouldnt be reading wikipedia.
Thanks for the link tho, maybe I can put it up for review so someone can actually try to find sources for the statements that it makes.
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Like it or not, the police force is a civilian militia. You cannot expect it to operate without some kind of collective group code of conduct. I agree that such unwritten "codes" can be a source of very serious problems and even crime. But you cannot expect police forces to behave like just any other company or state organisation.
A better response is to instil a powerful sense of ethics in police forces, so that those who c
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A job for two who are now of job age, you might say?
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Generally, I don't see uniforms. Long, long ago, as a kid, I studied uniforms. Police, Army, Marines, even boy scout uniforms. Today? Nahhh. I wore a uniform for 8 years in the Navy, another uniform for 5 years as a boy scout leader, and I have another two years as a brownie scout leader. I see the uniform, and pretty much dismiss it. Instead, I see the man or woman IN that uniform. When I judge a man as good, bad, spectacularly good, or totally incompetent, that has a bearing on his department, in
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ya except the guy in the next cube doesn't have a tazer, a gun, and immunity to use them at will
Well, just move to Texas.
Re:The cops who wrote those emails should be fired (Score:4, Insightful)
They just suspended a cop here in Madison, WI the other day for illegally downloading the movie Hall Pass while he was on duty...not only did he download it on the police computer, but he got a virus in the process which he then tried to remove himself and obviously failed because, honestly, anyone that doesn't know how to even pirate a movie safely at this point sure as shit can't remove a virus...
Best and brightest they are not.
I went to school in Georgia, and I can pretty much tell you, the entire student body fell into one of two camps after graduation: Those that went to college (about 25%) and those that went into the military and/or Law Enforcement. You can probably guess which group had higher GPAs and SAT/ACT scores. It certainly gives me the warm and fuzzies knowing the guys that used to get their jollies beating up on Freshmen and drinking beer in the parking lot are now police officers...
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but he got a virus in the process which he then tried to remove himself and obviously failed because, honestly, anyone that doesn't know how to even pirate a movie safely at this point sure as shit can't remove a virus...
Best and brightest they are not.
Hahah, yea, those idiots, who gets a VIRUS these days (oh yea, more than 50% of computer users)? And who cant remove the advanced bootsector rootkits floating around today? I mean HONESTLY?
Part of my job as a consultant is helpdesk support. For lots of companies. Companies with really smart people, who just arent that computer savvy-- their masters is usually in economics, or law, or what have you. Theyre also people, and do dumb things some times, and get viruses. Laughing at them just makes you a si
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Yup. As far as my high school classmates - the proportion of students that went into military or law enforcement was FAR lower (5-10% at most), however, I grew up in a fairly wealthy county in suburban New Jersey. However, the students that later became cops were the worst troublemakers in school.
Of all the people I knew from childhood who became police officers, I can think of only ONE who could have been described as a "good kid". In fact, he was an Eagle Scout in my Boy Scout troop - however, law enfo
Maybe I haven't had enough coffee... (Score:2)
Other questionable content includes the use of homophobic language, and this request for the Texan chiefs to investigate an officer's affair with a married woman. Tax dollars at work:
From: Doug Lauersdorf Sent: Thu 9/16/2010 10:06 AM To: Bob Wieners; Luke Loeser Cc: Subject: Complainant Attachments: View As Web Page Chiefs: I conducted a preliminary inquiry into information received from Detective Price who received a call from Mr. Clements wanting us to know that one of our officers on midnight shift was having an affair with his wife. He also complained that the officer had run his criminal history. I asked KC to contact DPS to research their database to ascertain any person(s) that had ran his information to obtain information from any of the following: CCH, TDL, NCIC, TCIC, SETCIC, etc. The search revealed that the only person with the Friendswood Police Department that had run him was Elaine who had ran the information at KCâ€s direction at my request. This matter is mute until the time comes when he initiates the complaint process and provides us with the officerâ€s name. Sergeant Douglas E. Lauersdorf
I'm just not seeing the homophobic language here. Am I missing something (besides moot/mute)?
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Yeah, I'm kinda wondering: if those three emails were the worst they found (true, the first two are kinda bad), then the picture painted is really not all that bad. The email you quoted seemed to be a police officer doing his job properly more or less properly (a police officer running a criminal background check for personal reasons would be corruption).
True, there are a lot of emails to go through, but I rather strongly suspect Anon put the very worst at the beginning (makes sense as a tactic), and if th
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The homophobic language may be in another email. The first two emails were clearly racist. The one about the marriage affair investigation looks like an actual case of a department doing EXACTLY what they should have. They received a complaint that an officer had run a criminal background check against him for personal reasons - they investigated this complaint. Someone might have misread the email as indicating that the department ran a background check on the guy just because he complained - but they
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Jake Davis != Topiary (Score:2)
Jake Davis was framed by the real Topiary, Daniel Sandberg:
http://www.dailytech.com/Exclusive+British+Police+Duped+by+LulzSec+Into+Arresting+the+Wrong+Guy/article22280.htm [dailytech.com]
who is probably hiding in a cave right now since all his personal info has been freely available online for some time.
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People who are really intelligent know to evaluate based on content, not form. Grammar nazi's, by contrast, are just autistics who've managed to find a dictionary.
So their, put *that* in you're pipe and smoke it.
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People who are really intelligent know to evaluate based on content, not form. Grammar nazi's, by contrast, are just autistics who've managed to find a dictionary.
So their, put *that* in you're pipe and smoke it.
People who are really intelligent should also understand that snarky, sarcastic, or otherwise offensive responses never help. Why should someone endure a certain "content"? Most people are not *that* important/relevant.
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People who are really intelligent know to evaluate based on content, not form. Grammar nazi's, by contrast, are just autistics who've managed to find a dictionary.
If you can't spell or read, demonstrating your ignorance to others does you no favors. That doesn't mean you're unintelligent, but it's difficult to evaluate content when the form is wrong. Imagine someone you just met ejecting spittle in your face during a conversation because they haven't yet learned how to speak. Sure, maybe their message is fine, but you'd probably rather talk to someone else.
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"People who are really intelligent know to evaluate based on content, not form."
The real issue is that people don't take the real world into account. Most people who complain about style/spelling/missing words/grammar don't have any background in neurology and the mind. Once you learn about the mind and how much we are not aware of you learn to take a step back when being quick to judge others.
Many errors in grammar/spelling can't be helped because they happen on an unconscious level. You should all wat
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Pretty please?
Your first post is being modded up as I type this. You are not losing respect from us when the ACs flame you.
Hell, you are not even losing respect when you respond to the ACs. But you still shouldn't do it . . .
Re:You talk about stupidity (Score:4, Insightful)
In most cases, it's one of the last two options. In short, it means that you're an asshat or an idiot. Either way, it's not worth my time to work out which.
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You must be so much fun at parties.
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You're assuming he gets invitations.
Re:The cops who wrote those emails should be fired (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm black or Muslim in Friendswood, Texas, I might be better off just calling a friend with a gun.
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Oh yeah... sure... call a cop (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, because when seconds count, the cops are only minutes away. And when they do get there, they're actually pretty likely to arrest the victim. I've seen this personally more than once. Then there are these little techniques they use... you're upset, they lure you outside "c'mon, let's just step outside" and as soon as you're out your door, you're arrested for disturbing the peace. Yeah, don't fall for that one. Well, there is a silver lining. They're usually not quite as corrupt as our politicians and judges, and individual cops do a lot less harm than individual politicians and judges.
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Ya gotta love a down-mod for simply telling the truth. Slashdot moderation... hilarious. I read at -1, idiots. Your moderation is meaningless to me.
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Yeah, I'm just trolling the moderators. Whoever it was was so stupid as to mod down my comment, they probably can't work out how moderation actually works anyway.
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Re:Oh yeah... sure... call a cop (Score:4, Interesting)
And when they do get there, they're actually pretty likely to arrest the victim.
THIS.
In the 1990's I worked for IT at a state agency. It was a large state agency and occasionally valuable IT supplies (memory, HDDs, etc. - stuff that cost real money in the 1990's) would disappear. My boss ALWAYS had me report the thefts/missing items instead of her. Why? I'm white, she was black. I don't blame her at all for doing this.
EVERY time I reported missing equipment I was escorted into a locked room and interrogated by state police for at least half an hour. Twice I was fingerprinted. Once they were going to fucking CUFF ME TO THE CHAIR, but I talked them out of it. Because I REPORTED the theft. Later I would be interrogated again and ANY tiny difference between my answers would be pounced on like they were Perry Mason and I was an accused murderer. For a few thousand bucks in missing equipment each time.
The worst part was I was pretty sure I KNEW who was behind most of the thefts. I told the cops to check the badge-in records from the affected areas at the affected times. I mentioned that this person would show up at work when it wasn't his shift. I mentioned his elaborate spending habits (on a $25K salary) and how he would suddenly have lots of money after we would lose $5000 worth of memory. And yes, they ASKED if I or anyone I knew had large debts or seemed to spend more than they earned. Did he even get questioned? Nope. Who always got the 3rd degree? Me. The person reporting the crime.
Law enforcement is fairly broken if these are the super geniuses running things.
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You honestly think there is a single cop in Texas... no, wait... in the entire USA, smart enough to backwalk a chain of proxies? lol. Just.... lol.
The CIA hasn't done it... the FBI hasn't done it... Interpol hasn't done it... believe me, patrolman Bubba Powermad McHomophobe isn't going to do it either.
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When these folks exposed the US diplomatic corps and the banks and *nothing happened to them*, that's how we (well, not you, obviously) all knew they weren't easily caught. It's nothing to expose Texas cops, sure... but that's just the latest in a series of their actions. If you were paying attention and your mind produced more than lame ad hominem, you'd understand what is going on. You should work on that. In the meantime, leave the thinking to the people who know how.
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"And you are a total idiot if you actually believe these guys can't be tracked down with ease by the NSA or any other affiliated security service"
Just FYI, the NSA has consistently failed to catch most hackers in any security exercise.
"You actually think these organizations are going to issue a press release and reveal their capabilities to the world?"
You don't know how the government system works, I see.
You very obviously don't know IT, either.
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this is the first time the world has a sufficiently-large dataset to find out just what percentage of cops are professionals
That's actually an interesting idea. I wonder what the ethical implications would be if a university researcher proposed this. I know there are pretty serious restrictions on using human subjects in research. I wonder if using illegaly-obtained data, even if widely publicly available, would be disallowed. Probably would, but still could be interesting for someone doing private research.
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Retaliates? (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when does Anonymous not just act because it can? Does it really need a reason?
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Or as Obama said, the big issues... the faked moon landing and what really happened to Biggie and TuPac. ;)
And Texas had to this with this because...? (Score:3)
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From their post For every defendant in the anonymous "conspiracy" we are attacking two top Texas police chiefs, leaking 3GB of their private emails and attachments.
Re:For the lulz (Score:3)
For the lulz, and probably Texas was the biggest system they could get into quickly. There is little need to ask why they do things. It's a mob mentality.
-lulz
-low hanging fruit
-opportunity
-someone probably got a speeding ticket in texas once
-random
Pick one or more things on or off the list above, and there's your reason.
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Can anyone give a good explanation for why they went after Nintendo, and Eve Online?
Theyre children with loaded weapons; theres no trying to explain the havok they cause.
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Shining light on corruption and racism is havok?
Police emails should be public after X years anyway. Hopefully it costs some of these dirtbags their jobs.
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Racism and corruption at Nintendo and Eve Online?
Or in the Texas PD, where they would have had no cause to think there was racism prior to a break in? And as for corruption, none of those emails show any, sorry. Sounds kind of like you didnt bother to read them, and just assumed that the summary must be correct (are you new here?)
As for "havok", yes, if you look over the list of hacks over the last 6 months (including The Escapist, Eve Online, Nintendo, a number of Sony divisions, etc), it starts to look
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Anonymous are a very poor hackers.
They use an sql injection tool called Havij to probe websites for vulnerabilities. If they try enough websites eventually one will let them in.
It's like breaking into a building by trying the door handle. Sooner or later you'll find one that's unlocked.
For every site they deface there are thousands, if not tens of thousands that they failed at.
We need Anon more than ever. (Score:2)
I for one am glad they are out there.
Does Anon realize (Score:2)
Does Anon realize that retaliation legitimises the captures of those people? I mean, as I see it, if there was a shred of doubt before that these people were part of Anon, retaliation just advertised that the belief was correct and those people are guilty of being part of the organization... I'm all about pointing out corruption and opening up closed doors when there are problems behind them, but keep getting sloppy like this Anon and it's going to be hard to find supporters in the future.
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I disagree with the actions of Anon
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Still need to remain objective on this (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't get it. The gizmodo article does a good job to show how some of the e-mails paint a really bad picture of certain police officials. But then it includes this as an example of a "request for the Texan chiefs to investigate an officer's affair with a married woman", and comments that this is "tax dollars at work"...
From: Doug Lauersdorf
Sent: Thu 9/16/2010 10:06 AM
To: Bob Wieners; Luke Loeser
Subject: Complainant
Chiefs:
I conducted a preliminary inquiry into information received from Detective Price who received a call from Mr. Clements wanting us to know that one of our officers on midnight shift was having an affair with his wife. He also complained that the officer had run his criminal history. I asked KC to contact DPS to research their database to ascertain any person(s) that had ran his information to obtain information from any of the following: CCH, TDL, NCIC, TCIC, SETCIC, etc. The search revealed that the only person with the Friendswood Police Department that had run him was Elaine who had ran the information at KCÃââs direction at my request. This matter is mute until the time comes when he initiates the complaint process and provides us with the officerÃââs name.
Sergeant Douglas E. Lauersdorf
Ok, Gizmodo. You were spot on with the other e-mails, but this does not at all fit into your story. For starters, it is not a request, but rather a report. Second, the investigation was on the improper use of police computer files, not the marital affair.
See, use of police databases for personal reasons is a major no-no. And suspicions of such conduct is almost always looked into.
In this particular instance, the effort was suspended because they did not know which particular officer was being accused. Had they known, they could have looked specifically at his search history (for say, misspelled names of the complainant).
Anyway, the racist and other unprofessional e-mails should cause heads to roll. But in this last case I see nothing improper. Except that it is "moot", not "mute", Sgt Lauersdorf. :)
Seriously? there's a COP named BOB WEINERS? (Score:2)
... no, that's a perfectly good name, Officer. A fine name.
News at 11 (Score:2)
Does anything think it will do a damned thing to stop arrests of anonymous members?
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Here's a hint: not all laws are just, and not all laws should be obeyed.
Part of the reason the police are so effective is they have no problem breaking the law to see their goals met. Is it illegal to retaliate against the police in this way? Certainly. Is it immoral? In my opinion, not by a long shot. This isn't restricted to "cyber-crime" either. If a cop murders someone unjustly and gets away with no punishment (like usual), do I shed a tear if his victim's family takes his life in revenge? Of cou
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Your police have a nasty habit of shooting "fat black bitches" and anyone else that they feel needs the "criminal cure". Are you going to stick up for them?
Who polices the police? Anon have stepped up to the plate and they should be welcomed as no one else is brave enough to do it.
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Our police are actually much more likely to shoot, beat, or taze black and Hispanic men than "fat black bitches". Not saying they won't shoot a black woman either, but generally speaking they will tend to view black men in particular as enemies, regardless of who they are and what they are doing.
And obviously a black man has a much worse chance of getting shot than a pretty white girl doing the exact same thing.
Crime? No, ethics. (Score:5, Insightful)
I heard you say the word crime a lot. But technically, what Google does is a crime in China. In the US, media tried to show that Google's Canadian Pharmacy advertisements, which was a crime in the US, make Google look evil. But if you have half a notion about health care, there is a greater argument that it is actually ethical.
What makes something unethical simply because it is a crime? Any idiotic idea can become a crime, like blasphemy laws in Iran. So saying your against crime has to have an underlying ethic of which laws you support, and which you yourself would break under certain circumstances.
Let's stick to ethics, and leave crime to politicians. We can argue the ethics, but really, crime is not crime. Saying otherwise, you validate every law ever made everywhere.
Re:Put an end to the crime and criminal supporters (Score:5, Insightful)
Not sure if this is intended to be funny.
If not, I take it you are no supporter of Mohandas Gandhi.
"Crime is not OK" is a terribly naive statement. Often it is the law itself that "is not OK."
When voting doesn't work, those who "want to change society" have three choices:
1) submission to tyrants;
2) civil disobedience;
3) armed insurrection.
Which of those you find more "OK" is up to you. But breaking a law may often be more honorable than submitting to tyranny.
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1) submission to tyrants;
2) civil disobedience;
3) armed insurrection.
As someone outside the US I'm highly jealous that you lot have option 3. It's a really bad option but it's better to have it then be under the jackboot of a government that knows only they have the guns.
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The US government is under little threat from mere handguns or even assault rifles. They have tanks, attack helicopters and UCAVs.
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Crime is crime--if you want to change society, you do live in a democracy and are supposed to change it by voting.
Given the nature of our government today, I'd be willing to argue that the crime is far more effective. Especially considering that we're stuck in a two party system and the cost of mounting an effective campaign is much too high for any real independents to ever win without aligning themselves to one of the two parties and toeing the party line.
Change from within is not going to happen because the only people that have the power to change the system directly benefit from the way it is now. If Anonymous f
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if you want to change society, you do live in a democracy and are supposed to change it by voting.
The politicians are all corrupt and in the pocket of big business. The really stupid people form a big enough voting block to ensure that nothing really changes. The differences between all major political parties are tiny, none want real change but they will lie about it to get votes.
What can voting change when you are out numbered 49 to 1 by people who will vote for whoever spends the most on marketing?
How can any fairer system of proportional representation ever get put in place when whoever is ruling ha
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I obviously don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect if everyone had pulled the lever for McCain your last line would remain the same.
Or if it had been Clinton in Obama's place, or any of the republicans who's names I don't recall.
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Re:Put an end to the crime and criminal supporters (Score:5, Insightful)
I wasn't quite clear enough, but that's exactly my point. Obama (and the Democratic congress) has been indistinguishable from Bush and the Republican congress. People vote for either of the electable choices and get the same result; the system is completely broken. It shocks me that anyone suggests participating in American electoral politics as a way of making a dent in anything.
Re:Put an end to the crime and criminal supporters (Score:4, Insightful)
It shocks me that anyone suggests participating in American electoral politics as a way of making a dent in anything.
It is a way of making a dent, but a system which is badly broken can't be fixed in a single election. Just voting isn't enough for that either - you really need to get into the parties and reform them, or build alternatives to them. Which would take decades.
Note though: there is no alternative to doing that. Even if you had a revolution suddenly - at best you'd get a better election system and maybe all lobbyists thrown in jail, but you'd still need to build working democratic structures, you'd still need to find halfway decent representatives.
So you might as well start now: vote in the primaries, vote in local elections, stand for political positions or support decent people who do.
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It shocks me that anyone suggests participating in American electoral politics as a way of making a dent in anything.
Kinda like the people saying "vote with your wallet", especially as regards ISPs with local monopolies, boycotting Walmart when there's literally nowhere else to shop within an hour's drive, Big Oil...
Re:Put an end to the crime and criminal supporters (Score:5, Insightful)
if you want to change society, you do live in a democracy and are supposed to change it by voting.
Gotcha. *votes for Obama* *stands by helplessly as wages fall while the government demonstrates its only competence to be launching cruise missiles*
And right there is your problem. Someone says that if you want to change society, vote and your thought is the only office that makes a difference is that of President. When, in fact, you can cause greater change by changing who your Township supervisors are, or your state legislator, or your Congressman. Changing things does not happen in 4 years or 8 years, it takes a long time.
As an example, in England, William Wilberforce began working towards the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery in 1787, Parliament did not outlaw the slave trade until 1807. Slavery was not abolished until 1834, just days before his death. Changing things takes time and commitment, not just showing up at the ballot box every four years.
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That is why most people see a 60-year "investment" to change things "within the system" (with less than 10% chance for positive outcome) to be more like something a desperate gambler-junkie with uncontrollable withdrawal shakes would do, rather then a rational being capable of calculating of effort/risk/reward ratios.
This is also why "participation" in this so-called "democracy" declines year after year.
I do
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There is no other solution. Either you are willing to work as hard and long as it takes to make the change, or you have to live with the world created by those who are.
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No, it is not "you are willing to work as hard and long as it takes to make the change, or you have to live with the world created by those who are." it is "you are willing to live with the world that is the random result of the collision of millions of mutually contradictory ideas and objectives". You are under some wacky illusion that anything we actually do as individuals counts in the big picture. It does not, unless random chance makes it so.
The very popular and utterly laughable delusion of "control
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Well perhaps if you DID take care of the ones who don't play by the rules by firing their asses people might think a bit more highly of you.
As long as your attitude is, "Oh billy Bob, he's just a good ol boy and even if he did beat that fellow a little while he was cuffed to bench so fucking what the nigger had it coming" then people will still look at you like a bunch of red necked idiots that we don't want in the gene pool.
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Does Texas complain loudly when the US messes about in the internal affairs of other countries?
Turnabout is fair play.
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