Random News Stories

[Freeky]

I'm moderately amused that Naruto is on this word cloud.

[Junkenstein]

Joe Muto has dealt with losing his job, losing his reputation and losing friends. The low point for the former Fox News Channel "mole" came three weeks ago, when he needed to be escorted from a holding cell in handcuffs to use the bathroom.

The ex-producer at Fox is still dealing with his spectacular flameout of April 2012. Muto, who worked on Bill O'Reilly's prime-time show, began writing an anonymous column for the Gawker website about what it was like for a liberal to work at Fox. His bosses blew his cover and fired him within 24 hours.

Muto did get a book deal out of the experience, though, and "An Atheist in the Foxhole" (Dutton) is being released Tuesday.

He also got a criminal record. In an agreement with the Manhattan district attorney, Muto pleaded guilty May 9 to two misdemeanors — attempted unlawful duplication of computer material and attempted criminal possession of computer material. He had copied two Fox outtakes to prove to Gawker that he worked there, and the website posted them. One showed Newt Gingrich's wife primping her husband's hair before an interview. Sean Hannity and Mitt Romney chatted about horses in the other.

The videos were what enabled Fox to identify Muto as the mole; their investigators found that someone with his computer sign-on was the only one to look at them recently in the network's archive.

Muto was sentenced to 10 days of court-ordered community service and 200 hours of private service that he will fulfill by working with a literacy organization in Brooklyn. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to give to charity the $5,000 that Gawker had paid him.

He's already joined a work crew cleaning trash in city parks three times. At one, he compared crimes with fellow workers — one had gotten drunk and stolen a cab for a joyride, another had punched a cop. They couldn't quite understand why Muto was there for making a copy of a Gingrich clip.

"I don't want to give the impression that I'm being railroaded by the system," Muto said. "I did something very stupid and I suppose it's right that I paid for it."

But John Cook, editor-in-chief of Gawker, called the sentence "preposterous" and suggested Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. was trying to curry favor with Fox and its powerful chairman, Roger Ailes. A spokeswoman for Vance's office declined comment. Fox representatives didn't return phone or email requests to talk about Muto.

Muto's short-lived tenure as the Fox "mole" wasn't particularly well thought-out in the first place. After eight years at Fox, his first job out of Notre Dame, Muto had decided to leave. He said Fox had gotten more conservative since President Barack Obama's election, and he was growing more uncomfortable feeling the disconnect with his own politics.

He wanted a job at Gawker and met with its editors, who suggested maybe he could write for them before leaving Fox.

The mole was born. It died before making any shocking revelations; Muto spent most of the only column he wrote prior to detection criticizing a Fox-related website. He bears no ill will toward Gawker, which paid for his defense against felony charges of computer tampering.

"I have enough self-awareness to realize that I pretty much made an ass of myself last year," he said. "It was weird, because I would be able to step back from it and say, 'Wow, this guy is really ruining his life here. What is he doing?' Then I'd be like, 'Oh, wait. That's me!'"

Muto realizes his career in cable news is over. Besides writing his book, he's done some freelance work in reality TV since then. He's found many people don't even remember the incident, which may bode well for future employment, if not book sales.

"An Atheist in the Foxhole" mixes work anecdotes with the story of the uncomfortable hours before he was led out of Fox's office. Muto said he wasn't miserable at Fox, even if he'd roll his eyes at some of the things he saw on the air, and misses some former friends who won't have anything to do with him since his act of disloyalty.

The book is filled with observations on current and former Fox personalities, like former commentator Sarah Palin (usually unprepared), Ann Coulter (very nice off-camera, sharklike when the camera light is on), Sean Hannity (doesn't get along with O'Reilly, and vice versa) and Glenn Beck (book chapter about him is titled "Rhymes with 'Cat Bit Hazy''').

His book isn't a diatribe, and is often funny. He knows there are stories some of his former colleagues won't like, but Muto is hard on himself, too.

One thing he said surprised him about working at Fox was how few of his co-workers bought into the "fair and balanced" idea.

"Even the true believers, the conservative producers, are like, 'Oh, yeah, we're here to dole out red meat to our conservative audience. We're not here to be fair and balanced. We're here to stir up the crazies, basically. We're here to stoke up anger in our conservative fan base and that's how we get ratings,'" he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/03/joe-muto-fox-news-mole-book_n_3378020.html

Barely news, I'm just trying to figure out why he though Gawker was a good career move.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/04/digital-hit-man

"I call your sister asking about you, and the minute we get off the phone, she's dialling you. I pull your sister's phone records and I'll have your phone number, and that's how I'll find you."

Frank Ahearn calls himself a "digital hit man" -- if your reputation is threatened by something online, he can help.

He made his name in 2010 with his book How To Disappear, which detailed the methods needed to maintain a sense of privacy in an online world that tracks so much of what we do. Ahearn spent 20 years working as a skip tracer -- someone who specialises in tracking down missing people, whether they want to be found or not -- and much of How To Disappear focused on how to stop people like him who might use their skills for nefarious ends like identity theft.

His latest book -- The Digital Hit Man -- goes on the offenive, describing the tools that Ahearn uses to repair reputations once information gets online. Fake identities, fake websites, photo distortion, SEO-rigging -- all legal methods he relies on to help his clients distort what comes up when someone searches for them. While he offers clients the chance to disappear, he's not cheap -- he can charge as much as $35,000 (£23,000) at a time.

Wired.co.uk had the chance to speak with Ahearn about his work. 

Wired.co.uk: Which problems do you solve?
Ahearn: I solve two problems. One is if you are in a situation and you are afraid, or you want to just disappear so nobody can find you. Or if there's information online about you that's a disaster for your life, I can assist you by using deception and digital manipulation.

Who comes to you for help?
It depends. With the disappearing, it ranges from victims of stalkers to wealthy people who are concerned about their digital safety. With digital manipulation, it's wealthy people who are in some "interesting" business situations, or they want to make sure their 15-year-old daughter isn't putting her information on the net. Or it's that stupid thing of getting drunk and driving into a building and you don't want your future clients to read about that. The beauty of the internet is that sometimes secrets of the past are surfacing today.

So it's more about deflecting attention?
Right. That's really misdirection. I'm of the philosophy that you can't delete online information. If you don't own the website or blog, there's nothing you can do about it. To give an example, I have a client -- this is pretty harrowing -- his daughter is about six years old. Her mother was violently killed. Her and her mother share the same name, and my client says she's reaching the age where she's surfing the net, and she's going to search for her own name and find out about her mother's violent death. So I created all this content using the mother's name, tricking it out, suppressing it, manipulating it, so that's not the first thing she sees when she types her name in.

I see a growth industry here over then next few years.

[Reginald Ret]

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/04/digital-hit-man

"I call your sister asking about you, and the minute we get off the phone, she's dialling you. I pull your sister's phone records and I'll have your phone number, and that's how I'll find you."

Frank Ahearn calls himself a "digital hit man" -- if your reputation is threatened by something online, he can help.

He made his name in 2010 with his book How To Disappear, which detailed the methods needed to maintain a sense of privacy in an online world that tracks so much of what we do. Ahearn spent 20 years working as a skip tracer -- someone who specialises in tracking down missing people, whether they want to be found or not -- and much of How To Disappear focused on how to stop people like him who might use their skills for nefarious ends like identity theft.

His latest book -- The Digital Hit Man -- goes on the offenive, describing the tools that Ahearn uses to repair reputations once information gets online. Fake identities, fake websites, photo distortion, SEO-rigging -- all legal methods he relies on to help his clients distort what comes up when someone searches for them. While he offers clients the chance to disappear, he's not cheap -- he can charge as much as $35,000 (£23,000) at a time.

Wired.co.uk had the chance to speak with Ahearn about his work. 

Wired.co.uk: Which problems do you solve?
Ahearn: I solve two problems. One is if you are in a situation and you are afraid, or you want to just disappear so nobody can find you. Or if there's information online about you that's a disaster for your life, I can assist you by using deception and digital manipulation.

Who comes to you for help?
It depends. With the disappearing, it ranges from victims of stalkers to wealthy people who are concerned about their digital safety. With digital manipulation, it's wealthy people who are in some "interesting" business situations, or they want to make sure their 15-year-old daughter isn't putting her information on the net. Or it's that stupid thing of getting drunk and driving into a building and you don't want your future clients to read about that. The beauty of the internet is that sometimes secrets of the past are surfacing today.

So it's more about deflecting attention?
Right. That's really misdirection. I'm of the philosophy that you can't delete online information. If you don't own the website or blog, there's nothing you can do about it. To give an example, I have a client -- this is pretty harrowing -- his daughter is about six years old. Her mother was violently killed. Her and her mother share the same name, and my client says she's reaching the age where she's surfing the net, and she's going to search for her own name and find out about her mother's violent death. So I created all this content using the mother's name, tricking it out, suppressing it, manipulating it, so that's not the first thing she sees when she types her name in.

I see a growth industry here over then next few years.

Indeedy. Interesting to say the least.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22793424

North Korea calming down for the summer. Expect hijinks to resume..... I'm going for October.

The two Koreas appear set to hold talks on a jointly-run industrial zone, weeks after operations were suspended there.

North Korea proposed talks with Seoul in a statement early on Thursday carried by state news agency KCNA.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said it "positively views" the proposal, which follows months of high tension on the peninsula.

The Kaesong industrial zone, just inside North Korea, is a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.

In recent weeks, however, tensions appear to have lessened somewhat. Late last month, North Korea sent an envoy to Beijing - seen as having the greatest degree of influence on Pyongyang - for talks, for the first time since its nuclear test.

These two things have no relation to each other.

[Telarus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/marijuana-arrests-four-times-as-likely-for-blacks.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

WASHINGTON — Black Americans were nearly four times as likely than whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates, according to new federal data.

This disparity had grown steadily from a decade before, and in some states, including Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, blacks were around eight times as likely to be arrested.

During the same period, public attitudes toward marijuana softened and a number of states decriminalized its use. But about half of all drug arrests in 2011 were on marijuana-related charges, roughly the same portion as in 2010.

...

Drawn from police records from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the report is the most comprehensive review of marijuana arrests by race and by county and is part of a report being released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. Much of the data was also independently reviewed for The New York Times by researchers at Stanford University.

"We found that in virtually every county in the country, police have wasted taxpayer money enforcing marijuana laws in a racially biased manner," said Ezekiel Edwards, the director of the A.C.L.U.'s Criminal Law Reform Project and the lead author of the report.

...

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/marijuana-arrests-four-times-as-likely-for-blacks.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

WASHINGTON — Black Americans were nearly four times as likely than whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates, according to new federal data.

This disparity had grown steadily from a decade before, and in some states, including Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, blacks were around eight times as likely to be arrested.

During the same period, public attitudes toward marijuana softened and a number of states decriminalized its use. But about half of all drug arrests in 2011 were on marijuana-related charges, roughly the same portion as in 2010.

...

Drawn from police records from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the report is the most comprehensive review of marijuana arrests by race and by county and is part of a report being released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. Much of the data was also independently reviewed for The New York Times by researchers at Stanford University.

"We found that in virtually every county in the country, police have wasted taxpayer money enforcing marijuana laws in a racially biased manner," said Ezekiel Edwards, the director of the A.C.L.U.'s Criminal Law Reform Project and the lead author of the report.

...

I am told by a high-level policy maker that we do not arrest people for marijuana.

How can this be?   

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/marijuana-arrests-four-times-as-likely-for-blacks.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

WASHINGTON — Black Americans were nearly four times as likely than whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates, according to new federal data.

This disparity had grown steadily from a decade before, and in some states, including Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, blacks were around eight times as likely to be arrested.

During the same period, public attitudes toward marijuana softened and a number of states decriminalized its use. But about half of all drug arrests in 2011 were on marijuana-related charges, roughly the same portion as in 2010.

...

Drawn from police records from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the report is the most comprehensive review of marijuana arrests by race and by county and is part of a report being released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. Much of the data was also independently reviewed for The New York Times by researchers at Stanford University.

"We found that in virtually every county in the country, police have wasted taxpayer money enforcing marijuana laws in a racially biased manner," said Ezekiel Edwards, the director of the A.C.L.U.'s Criminal Law Reform Project and the lead author of the report.

...

Yep. And also vastly more likely to be imprisoned for it.

[Junkenstein]

How can this be?   

It just didn't get used enough really.

[Don Coyote]

How can this be?   

It just didn't get used enough really.

I almost think this should be an emote.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

How can this be?   

It just didn't get used enough really.

This should be an emote.

FIXED.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

How can this be?   

It just didn't get used enough really.

This should be an emote.

FIXED.

No. No it should not. As much of a brainwashed ass as the former RWHN has become, he is still a longstanding member here who once contributed meaningfully, and he may eventually pull his head out of his ass and do so again someday. Making a derogatory emote of his image lumps him in the same category as some of our most beloved/reviled trolls like IANAR, DK, and AKK, and is, in my opinion, unworthy of either the board or of him.

[Eater of Clowns]

That is a very pretty man fisting his ass, though.

So that's nice, at least.

[Junkenstein]

Resuming your regular schedule of random news:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-jail-audit-20130606,0,5840807.story

No standard structure is in place at the city jail for security checks or for how often they are conducted, the audit said. Many security gates are operated manually and have no electronic controls. Officers have a poor understanding of inmates' civil rights, and holding cells are "uniformly dirty."
It found that graffiti in some cells is so thick that the walls appear muraled, full of overlapping street-art taggings. Some hallway walls have simply been painted black to hide the dirt and graffiti. Hand-written signs and outdated staff memos litter the walls. And toilet paper has been crammed into nearly all the air vents at the central booking facility — a condition that neither auditors nor corrections officials explained.

The state also has moved to upgrade the security camera system and replace many that the department found broken at the facility in the wake of the indictment. Binetti said 144 of 231 cameras in the detention center were either completely broken or had some other problem, such as a cracked screen.

Impressive. Most impressive.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Resuming your regular schedule of random news:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-jail-audit-20130606,0,5840807.story

No standard structure is in place at the city jail for security checks or for how often they are conducted, the audit said. Many security gates are operated manually and have no electronic controls. Officers have a poor understanding of inmates' civil rights, and holding cells are "uniformly dirty."
It found that graffiti in some cells is so thick that the walls appear muraled, full of overlapping street-art taggings. Some hallway walls have simply been painted black to hide the dirt and graffiti. Hand-written signs and outdated staff memos litter the walls. And toilet paper has been crammed into nearly all the air vents at the central booking facility — a condition that neither auditors nor corrections officials explained.

The state also has moved to upgrade the security camera system and replace many that the department found broken at the facility in the wake of the indictment. Binetti said 144 of 231 cameras in the detention center were either completely broken or had some other problem, such as a cracked screen.

Impressive. Most impressive.

This is what a decaying empire looks like.