Comments for Pete Ashdown's Journal

Comment on Ralph Becker for Mayor by shawn book

shawn book — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:39:03 +0000

to whom it may concern, if u atre related to a mayor ashdown of hicksville ny i have some very old pictures of him ..1920s 1930s if interested please contact me at 6319652350

Comment on HB150 to the Senate EDUCATION Committee by Jim Anderson

Jim Anderson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:06:35 +0000

Without sounding too skeptical, I think it is completely obvious. They are taking the argument to the place that it has the best odds of succeeding and – judging by the result of yesterday – it worked for them.

I understand the “tricks” of getting one’s way, but the idealist in me still yearns for the day that our government becomes more about doing the right thing and less about winning and/or personal gain.

Comment on Get A Warrant by HB 150: A Violation of Privacy « Utah Legislature Watch

HB 150: A Violation of Privacy « Utah Legislature Watch — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:00:58 +0000

[...] a court battle in your favor. HB 150…. was defeated in the House yesterday[February 25], but Pete Ashdown writes that Rep. Daw wants to bring it back from the dead as a slimmed down version covering kidnapping and [...]

Comment on Legislature Flier Against HB150 by HB 150: A Violation of Privacy « Utah Legislature Watch

HB 150: A Violation of Privacy « Utah Legislature Watch — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:59:55 +0000

[...] was the lone vote against HB 150 in committee. He asked Pete Ashdown to help him in pointing out the problems with this bill. Of course, number one was that it’s unconstitutional. The one I wouldn’t have thought of [...]

Comment on Legislature Flier Against HB150 by HB 150: Senate Education Committee Members to Contact | Saintless

HB 150: Senate Education Committee Members to Contact | Saintless — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:29:14 +0000

[...] Please consider writing to the members of the committee listed below ASAP about why this is wrong. It would be easiest to stop if we can keep it from getting out of committee. If you need a review about why this is so bad, check out Pete Ashdown’s flier against HB 150. [...]

Comment on HB150 Passes House by David

David — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:36:45 +0000

@El Greco…They say you can learn a lot from people of the nations you serve as a missionary. Let’s hope that his is assigned to a country that loves liberty and defends judicial process.

Comment on Get A Warrant by Pete Ashdown

Pete Ashdown — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:41:29 +0000

Unfortunately David, they slapped some minor modifications on it and passed the house. Contact your senator.

Comment on ISP Immunity for Violating Your Privacy! by Jim Anderson

Jim Anderson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:29:37 +0000

I agree that the new revision concedes nothing from the original. The new limitations, as pointed out by Tiana Coleman [above] are there only for show. When put into action, they are easily broad enough to not hinder any sort of mass info-scrape request made.

And as far as the revision to protect the ISP. Well that should spell it out plainly enough for everyone! That clause alone would, to any rational thinker, expose the bill as having something integrally wrong with it. I mean, if you have to specifically state that if someone following a request [order] will be held not responsible, doesn’t that just as much say that the request being made is suspect? Seems pretty obvious to me.

Comment on Get A Warrant by David

David — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:12:55 +0000

Yeah, the problem with this bill is that it defines the entire apparatus of the ISP as a target for the search and seizure of the information specified. This includes emails and the email headers that are part of the email themselves. If this was limited to log files, accounting information, transaction logs, or other such mechanisms, perhaps this bill would have had life. Perhaps the next incarnation will have those limits in place but it still won’t give the AG what he wants until he can get at the emails themselves. The scope was too reaching and it fails because deep down it is wrong and a warrant is the proper tool.

In the end, a majority of the people in the State Legislature had enough sense to do the right thing.

“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” -H. L. Mencken

Comment on HB150 Passes House by Eric Jensen

Eric Jensen — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:30:44 +0000

I’ve been going the rounds with Mr. Daw regarding this. It’s quite interesting.