- Whoa there, this is stunning. Police have been found to be in violation of a suspect’s rights. More shocking still, this happened in the United States. The Supreme Court issued a rare unanimous ruling Monday when justices decided the police violated the Constitution when they placed a Global Positioning System tracking device on a suspect’s car and tracked its movements for 28 days. While the ruling was unanimous, he justices divided 5-to-4 on the rationale for the decision, with the majority saying that the problem was the placement of the device on private property. In issuing the decision, the court managed to duck a litany of tough questions, including how to handle information gathered from devices installed by the manufacturer and how address information held by third parties like cellphone companies. The case before the court was that of Washington nightclub owner Antoine Jones, whom police came to suspect him of being part of a cocaine-selling operation. To determine if he was an aspiring Tony Montana or not, police planted a tracking device on his Jeep Grand Cherokee without a valid warrant, tracked his every move for a month and used the evidence to help prosecutors secure a conviction for conspiring to sell cocaine. Oddly enough, Jones didn’t react well to the life sentence he received and appealed the verdict. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned his conviction on the grounds that the information collected by the tracking device violated his Fourth Amendment rights, which protect citizens unreasonable searches. The Supreme Court concurred despite differing logic. “We hold that the government’s installation of a G.P.S. device on a target’s vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a ‘search,’ ” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor joined the majority opinion. Scalia noted that the government “physically occupied private property for the purpose of obtaining information” and that “such a physical intrusion would have been considered a ‘search’ within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when it was adopted.” Word, A. Scalia. Leading the ass-hatted objectors to the majority’s line of reasoning was Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who chided them for trying to apply 18th-century legal concepts to 21st-century technologies. But whether one sides with the majority of with Alito’s assertion that the pertinent issue is the contemporary reasonable expectation of privacy, the bottom line is that the police crossed the line and need to learn how to follow the laws they’re supposed to enforce………….
- It took 10 months, but the hacker community has finally jailbroken Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 for the iPhone 4S or iPad 2. The break came from the Chronic Dev Team, which announced Friday that it had successfully created the new jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, both of which run on the dual-core A5 processor. For the tech-clueless, jailbreaking allows any application to be installed and facilitates operating system, user interface, and system alterations. Users of jailbroken devices can even install an SSH client to remotely access the iOS device's file system. In the past, hackers have jailbroken some operating systems less than a day after Apple pushed an OS update. The battle to crack iOS 5.0.1 too much longer and from the sound of it, the challenge could become even tougher with each successive OS upgrade. "The endless war we fight to jailbreak has become more and more difficult with each new device released, and our recent battle against A5 only proved this further," said Joshua Hill, one of the principle iPhone hackers involved. "After working for months with few tangible results, Chronic Dev hackers tried a new approach--we launched CDevReporter to accumulate all your devices' crash reports, an invaluable source of information for iOS hacking & research." CDevReporter was able to complete the jailbreak by allowing users to run software on their Mac or Windows PCs that would prevent iTunes from sending iOS crash reports to Apple, and instead send them to a secure server hosted by the Chronic Dev Team. A simple plea for these reports--generated every time an iOS device crashes--in late November 2011 yielded more than 10 million reports in one week. Jailbreaking is legal in the United States and many other countries. The federal government clarified its stance on the practice in July 2010 And Apple had fought that decision ever since. The best the company can do at this point is warn users that jailbreaking a device could void its warranty. That doesn’t seem to be a deterrent to anyone intent on jailbreaking their device and probably won't ever be……….
- Not that the New Jersey Nets weren't already aware of the ginormous ticking clock lurking just over their shoulder, but here’s another valuable reminder for them. They packaged up a slew of talented young players and draft picks to acquire All-Star point guard Deron Williams from Utah and banked on Williams as a beacon to draw other stars to the franchise. They couldn’t convince any prime free agents to sign with them, so trading for one was their only option. But Williams didn’t exactly fuel the Nets to a strong finish to last season and the Nets are 5-12 to start this season. No prime free agents signed during the offseason and with Williams’ contract set to expire at the end of the year, there is already speculation as to what he will do once his deal is up. His choice, according to sources close to the team, is to stay with the Nets and help them build the franchise as it moves to Brooklyn next season. However, those same sources suggested that if the Nets don’t make another major move - such as acquiring All-Star center Dwight Howard - Williams is almost certainly gone and has a short list of desirable destinations that includes the Mavericks, the Knicks and the Lakers. While he has publicly expressed his desire to remain with the Nets, it is becoming increasingly clear that they will not be winning another other than one-third of their regular season games unless they add another star player. The Nets are putting on a brave face and refusing to entertain potential trades involving Williams, but that stance could change in a few weeks if the trade deadline arrives and the Nets are 10 games below .500. Without Howard landing in New Jersey on or before the March 15 trade deadline, Williams is likely gone and the Nets know it. Unfortunately for the Nets, the Lakers also have a desperate need for Howard and could offer a better package than the Nets if they’re willing to part with both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Williams didn’t seem happy when asked about rumors about where he would play next season. "Did you hear it from me?" Williams asked. "We don't need to talk about it then. Another one of these sources. Sources. I don't know who sources are." Sounds like it’s going to be a fun few weeks ahead in Jersey…………
- Croatians are fired up to join the European Union…..at least those who care enough to actually vote about the chance to do so are. Two-thirds of voters who cast ballots in a referendum on EU membership voted yes, but just 44 percent of those eligible to participate did so in Sunday’s ballot. The plan is for the nation of 4,300,000 on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea to become the 28th member of the EU by July 2013. That possibility should fire up the populace, but the 44-percent turnout suggest apathy and resignation rather than enthusiasm. EU membership doesn’t hold quite the appeal it once did with the credit downgrades of several prominent members and the economic instability gripping the continent. Many voters expressed either skepticism or diluted optimism over the benefits of EU membership for their country. The membership process began six years ago with negotiations between Croatian leaders and EU officials. Ironically, Croatia was governed by a government of the right at the time but it now under the leadership of a leftist regime. Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic hailed the referendum’s passage with all the blowhard political gusto he could muster. “A lot of good things will come out of it. Of course, there are downsides as well, but that is something we have to get used to. It will depend mostly on us,” he said. “This a turning point in our history, and we will be responsible for our own decisions. Success or failure now depends solely on us.” While Croatia is marching toward membership, Romania and Bulgaria continue to have difficulty meeting the criteria for admission. Life in Croatia isn't exactly caviar and fine wine at the moment, as economic growth is virtually nonexistent and the country’s debt is higher than its income at 102 percent of its GDP. Not everyone is enthusiastic about the prospect of EU membership. “We are not ready for the European Union. We should have improved our economy, increased our exports, and only join then. Our economy is in very bad condition. We don’t have a single real national bank. Our exports are abysmal. We are on our knees,” right-wing MP Ruza Tomasic said. Score one for optimism…………
- The reality weight-loss show circuit can be a brutal place. Even for bonafide D-listers like Kevin “K-Fat” Federline are not exempt from the grind and K-Fat is currently undergoing evaluation after being taken to a hospital in Australia on Sunday after complaining of chest pains while competing on weight loss reality show, “Excess Baggage.” That’s right, he’s bottomed out so emphatically that he’s now accepting roles on third-rate reality weight loss shows Down Under. What’s next, some celebrity fitness show in Peru or Indonesia? The former Mr. Britney Spears reportedly collapsed after completing a challenge with the Greater Western Sydney Australian Football League team. The challenge forced D-list has-beens and never-weres to run and catch footballs. A spokesman for the show made it clear K-Fat did not have a heart attack, but collapsed after completing the challenge and was treated for symptoms of minor cardiac arrest (typically known as a heart attack) and was taken to the hospital where an ECG determined he had not had a heart attack. As those who avidly follow Australian weight-loss shows know, “Excess Baggage” airs on Channel Nine. A spokesperson for Channel Nine said when Federline is released, producers would decide whether he would be allowed to continue on the show. The decision will undoubtedly be difficult - assuming the decision is how much of the next few episodes to use on playing up the drama and setting K-Fat up for an heroic comeback story. The incident was his second of the season, as the former Mr. Spears was hospitalized with heat exhaustion when the cast filmed in the Kimberley, a wilderness area in Western Australia. K-Fat probably should be better at the whole reality weight-loss show thing, as this is his second run at it. He was previously on VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club,” which did not seem to do much good for his health and physical fitness…………
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