Archive for the ‘Tennessee’ Category

Supercomputer watches as you surf the web

Monday, December 13th, 2010

What task could possibly be more important for America’s most powerful computer than to watch over your shoulder as you surf the web just in case you’re transmitting kiddie porn (or maybe something else the government doesn’t like)?

According to the Daily Mail:

The most powerful computer in America is being used in the hunt for paedophiles.

The Jaguar supercomputer, which can carry out trillions of calculations a second, has been put to use help track down people who send child porn over the internet.

Scientists at the Oak Ridge Facility in Tennessee have been able to use the lightning fast supercomputer to find where the vile images originate from.

The article goes on to explain that law enforcement can easily find those who possess child porn, but have a hard time finding the source of the material.  To the government and anti-porn crusaders, simple possession is as great an evil as producing the material even though only the latter actually abuses children.  But, since arrests on possession are much easier to score (thanks to sting tactics) and prosecute, that’s where the resources or assigned.

The lead investigator on the project at Oak Ridge, Robert Patton, has developed algorithms that analyse traffic, looking at the search terms people are using on peer-to-peer, file-sharing networks.

Search terms that indicate someone is looking for child porn are flagged, and the algorithm watches to see how different IP addresses respond to the queries.

It’s not like there are any Fourth Amendment issues involved in wading through  everyone’s internet activities hoping to find a crime they can pin on someone.  Of course, maybe the computer is already monitoring everything we do on the internet and this simply amounts to one more screening algorithm.  One thing is for certain.  Nothing generates a rush to give up Constitutional protections like the claim that it’s to protect children.

‘ We want to be able to say ‘Hey, of all of the data you’re looking at right now, here are a handful of IP addresses that you should investigate further.

‘Hopefully, the work that I’m doing here will help save somebody’s life.’

Probably not.  More likely is that will lead to another high profile prosecution for the creation of cartoons (like Japanese anime or the Simpsons) that the government doesn’t approve, but which don’t hurt any children.

Probably just discussing child porn probably gets their attention…

You people!

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Before I started this site, I wanted to start a blog called youpeople.org because, folks, there are times when you just want to grab the public by the shoulders and yell, “What’s wrong with You People?

While everyone has heard the phrase, ‘sex sells’, it would be a challenge to find anyone more dedicated to that philosophy for their own personal gain than politicians.  And way out ahead of the pack you will find prosecutors.

Nothing exemplifies that approach to self fulfillment quite like the parade of state attorneys general who have hitched their wagon to the moral crusade against craigslist.  As described on Huffington Post, seventeen state attorneys general have signed a letter (PDF) demanding that craigslist remove its adult services section.

“Only Craigslist has the power to stop these ads before they are even published,” Kansas attorney general Steve Six said in a statement.

Yes, that is absolutely correct.  That’s because the First Amendment prevents the government from doing it itself.  Unfortunately, being good students of the persuasion techniques practiced by organized crime, state governments are masters at intimidation when it looks like it could gain them some votes.

The campaign against craigslist didn’t start as a grass roots movement.  It started as a crusade by a noisy minority who are adept at stirring up public emotion with visions of children being exploited.

“No amount of money, however, can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution and the suffering of the women and children who will continue to be victimized, in the market and trafficking provided by Craigslist,” the letter said.

Women who advertise on criagslist are invariably described as idiots with no will of their own to resist exploitation by evil pimps and slave masters.  They have to be victims, otherwise who would get worked up about it?  And, of course, a lot of them have to be children for the same reason.

While wearing sheets is out of fashion, there should be no mistake that these state attorneys general are using persecution of a favorite target as a means to inflame the public’s mob mentality.  They might as well be carrying torches and pitchforks.  And the public, knowing that it would be impolite to demand actual numerical evidence that rises above the level of guesses and delusional claims, mindlessly goes along with the hysteria.  Who would oppose those whose only wish is to “help women and children”?  But, the last time I heard, a willingness to be your brother’s keeper wasn’t sufficient reason to burn the Constitution.

My message to the people of these states is this:

Well, folks, your wish is coming true.  In your fervor to impose your narrow personal values on everyone else, You People have created a monster who will enthusiastically piss on free speech in order to carry out your will.  But, be warned.  The monster is pretty kinky.  He likes a threesome, so don’t be surprised to find him in your bed as a supervising partner deciding what does or doesn’t constitute acceptable behavior between you and your lover.

P.S.  I intentionally avoided mention of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley simply because if I started writing about her, this post would have turned into a book.  She is probably one of the most self-serving and parasitic of politicians, having mastered the craft of exploiting children and sex hysteria for her own personal benefit.  In a contest to be the antichrist, Coakley would be a leading contender.

Woman attacks sex offender in traffic, except…

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

he wasn’t a sex offender.

From the original article:

A Concord man told Alcoa police officers Friday that he was waiting for a light to change at an intersection on Hall Road when a woman in a Jeep in front of him got out, jumped on his hood and started kicking and punching his windshield.

The woman … “repeatedly said she knew he was a ‘sex offender.’” Williamson is not a registered sex offender, the report said.

Not that there’s any reason to think that media hype and sex crime hysteria has anything to do with a woman jumping out of her car and attacking another motorist who she mistakenly thought was a sex offender.  Hell, no.  I mean doesn’t that happen all the time to other types of criminals?

Credit to Sex Offender Issues for the link.