Hey, did you know that somebody was trying to take out Fred Upton?

Yeah, it was news to me, too.  And, for the record? Fred Upton, contra the text below, is still cruising toward victory.

Veteran Republican Rep. Fred Upton appeared to be cruising toward victory until Harvard law professor Larry Lessig’s Mayday PAC targeted him earlier this month, buying $2.15 million in TV ads against him.

Lessig’s PAC targets politicians who don’t back campaign finance reform, but hitting Upton was an odd tactic, not only given his support of the issue but also because of his ties to the tech industry.

Continue reading Hey, did you know that somebody was trying to take out Fred Upton?

Yet ANOTHER call for a Leftist Tea Party.

The best sort of clueless person is the sort that pats themselves on the back for actually being all with-it, and suchlike.  Today’s example: Larry Lessig.  Lessig didn’t really write anything that was good enough stylistically to quote, so I’ll summarize: Lessig hates Citizens United, likes to beat the dead horse of public financing of elections (mind you, that horse was shot four years ago by Barack Obama), and thinks that there should be an organic grassroots movement designed around the bedrock principle of Do Whatever Larry Lessig Says.  And that said grassroots movement needs to be cultivated by the Democratic Establishment (which includes Larry Lessig, despite his no-doubt vehement protestations otherwise).  Because, you know, the Democrats need to create their own Tea Party.

(pause) Continue reading Yet ANOTHER call for a Leftist Tea Party.

Telecommie* Aaron Swartz’s federal indictment (and unpersoning by Larry Lessig).

The formal indictment of PCCC/Reddit** co-founder (and Demand Progress Executive Director) Aaron Swartz is available [link fixed], and you will find it compelling reading, if only because it shows the level of stubborn disregard for other people’s property and needs that can be exhibited by a telecommie geek who is simultaneously convinced of the rightness of his cause, and not especially overburdened with a sense of conventional ethics.  Essentially, if this indictment is correct, then Swartz physically broke into MIT’s computer network, inserted a virgin laptop into that system, deliberately spoofed the network into believing that the laptop represented a legitimate (guest***) user of MIT’s JSTOR online journal database account, immediately began massive downloads of JSTOR data in flagrant violation of JSTOR and MIT policies, spent several months playing steadily-increasing games of digital cat-and-mouse with MIT’s anti-piracy forces, then attempted to retrieve the physical evidence for all of this while trying to disguise his identity.  The indictment lists several occasions where Swartz’s behavior hindered the ability of legitimate MIT users to access JSTOR, and at least one where MIT users were outright prohibited from accessing JSTOR at all.

Lastly, please note this passage from a Boston Globe article on the crime.

Swartz allies claim the prosecution was launched over the objections of JSTOR.

“That is not the case,’’ said Heide McGregor, vice president of marketing and communications for JSTOR. “We were interested always in making sure the data was secure and the data was not disseminated. So we were happy we got to that result.”

Continue reading Telecommie* Aaron Swartz’s federal indictment (and unpersoning by Larry Lessig).