Good stuff.
The U.S. government’s attack against Megaupload bears all the hallmarks of a contract prosecution: a case resting on erroneous theories of criminal law, littered with due process violations and prosecutorial abuses, carried out for the benefit of a select few in exchange for their political and financial support. In the name of
eliminating copyright infringement, Hollywood has exerted a corrupting influence in Washington, leading us all down a slippery slope that not only threatens innovation and Internet freedom, but also has profound implications for constitutional principles of free speech, privacy and due process.
Computer Crime Law Goes to the Casino
Exploit a glitch, go to jail. Scary stuff.
Ricin-letter Plot Update
Weird. The FBI went to the guy’s house who the guy they arrested says did the deed. And? The feds better bail on this before it gets worse. Also, check the detailed reporting on the hearing. This is what newspapers used to do.
FBI: No ricin found in home of Mississippi suspect
Steven Hatfill, MK. II? The FBI has a big problem. Already.
AG sues florist who refused flowers to gay wedding
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts, a Richland florist that refused to supply flowers to the same-sex marriage of a longtime customer.
From the Department of They Said This Would Never Happen….
FBI agents at HQ of Haslam family business
Watch this one very closely. It is not everyday a biz throwing off billions to a sitting governor and his NFL owner brother gets jacked up by the feds.
Rather Than Fix The CFAA, House Judiciary Committee Planning To Make It Worse... Way Worse
Understand this is nothing more than the legal cartel trying to outlaw smart people who are not members of the legal cartel. The legal cartel must be destroyed.
Just like you can’t run into a theater and yell ‘fire’ when it’s not on fire, you can’t run into a crowded bingo hall and yell ‘bingo’ when there isn’t one.
That’s Park Hills (Oh.) Police Sgt. Richard Webster making you want to slam your head into a tree until your mental capacity matches that of this exceptionally high-functioning LEO.
Bonus: Kenton District Court Judge Douglas Grothaus sentenced the offender to not say the word “bingo” for six months.
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick…
FBI’s Ideas on How to Mess with…the FBI
Another one of those fun little “sensitive” FBI docs that spill out stuff you suspect, but don’t quite know. This time it involves the so-called sovereign citizen movement.
To be clear, these folks are nuttier than a sack of Almond Joys and essentially reduce to debt refuseniks, but they seem to trouble the feds and the courts, so there’s that.
Here’s how the FBI describes some of their tactics:
5. IRS-8300
…IRS-8300 forms may be utilized by sovereign citizens attempting to damage the credit or financial history of a specific individual.
The IRS-8300 form is used to report cash payments over $10,000.00 received in a trade or business transaction. This form is required when a business receives a payment in excess of $10,000.00 from a single buyer as a result of a single transaction or if two or more related transactions exceed $10,000.00. Fraudulent submission of the form by a sovereign citizen can result in an artificial increase in the taxable income of the target being reported to the IRS.
6. CURRENCY TRANSACTION REPORTS (CTR)
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) are legitimately used by US financial institutions to report currency transactions in excess of $10,000.00 as part of an effort to combat money laundering. Sovereign citizens may improperly use FinCEN Form 104 to report a target is engaged in structuring to trigger an investigation.
7. SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORT (SAR)
Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) are legitimately used by banks and other financial institutions to report known or suspected violations of law and banking regulations. Sovereign citizens may submit fraudulent SAR filings as part of their targeting schemes.
SAR and CTR paper reports may be downloaded by anyone from the FinCEN Web site. Paper copies may be mailed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) computing center where they are entered into the FinCEN database. There is very little oversight to determine the legitimacy of paper SARs or CTRs. Sovereign citizens may use SARs in an illegitimate manner to generate a criminal investigation of the target by the IRS or law enforcement. …
I doubt most work-a-day citizens have a clue these sorts of willy-nilly federal investigative instruments exist, so there is some delicious irony in thinking they have been turned against their creators. Karma is a bitch.
