Free Republic

SNIP: Prosecutors allege Pellicano hired Alexander Proctor between April and June 2002 to intimidate then-Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch "to cause her to fear for her life." The criminal complaint alleges Proctor went to Busch's Los Angeles County home and placed a dead fish with a rose in its mouth on the windshield of her car.

Gov. Ted Strickland has placed the director of the Department of Job and Family Services on paid leave for possibly using a state computer and e-mail account for political fund raising. The governor took the action against Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the state agency, late this afternoon. Strickland said he asked Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate the matter. He named Jan Allen, secretary of his cabinet, to serve as acting director of Job and Family Services. The Dispatch filed a public-records request last week that requested any Jones-Kelley e-mails that mentioned Democrat Barack Obama, who won election as...

Just in: The Toledo Police Department confirms that one of its records clerks has been charged with performing an unlawful search of Joe The Plumber’s records. That makes two Ohio government employees identified in the snooping case. (Obama donor Helen Jones-Kelly, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, approved a separate search. More are being investigated.) snip...

Inspector general investigating access to Joe the Plumber's personal information Monday, October 27, 2008 11:33 AM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch Personal information on "Joe the Plumber" was sought through the state's child-support computer in a check run from the main offices of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles confirmed today that he is investigating the incident. He declined to provide details. The inquiry on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher was run through the Support Enforcement Tracking System from the state department's offices in downtown Columbus. The use of a state computer system...

"Mike Kernell, a longtime Tennessee state assemblyman from Memphis and a technology enthusiast, is concerned about future elections because the new machines are harder to get a look at. ''We used to be able to check the machines and see if they'd been tampered with,'' he said. ''It is now almost impossible.'' Mr. Kernell wonders whether he will have to hire a computer programmer in his next race to make sure the machines are working smoothly and haven't been tampered with. ''We've hit a brick wall,'' he said." - NY Times A "technology enthusiast" indeed. Did he help with his...

I'm getting bombarded with e-mails claiming that at least one of the persons responsible for hacking into Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account is David Kernell, the son of Tennessee state representative & Democrat Mike Kernell. The evidence is that the hacker responsible uses the e-mail: rubico10@yahoo.com . That email was used at one time by a person named David Kernell. Democratic politician Mike Kernell has a son named David. Pretty thin, but it's a starting place. Also, earlier I posted that it would be relatively easy to track down the Palin hacker by comparing the Wikileak IPs to the IPs...

One or more people, very likely supporters of Barack Obama, hack Sarah Palin's email account and publish her private correspondence on the web. So MSNBC and Politico naturally want to know if. . . Palin did anything wrong and whether there might be anything embarrassing to her in the purloined e-letters. Discussion of possible negative implications for Barack Obama? Zilch. Talk about blaming the victim. Norah O'Donnell, subbing for Andrea Mitchell during MSNBC's 1PM EDT hour, interviewed Politico's Jim VandeHei. View video here.

You are clever and creative; it's time to find a target worthy of your talents. Like Sarah Palin. Start harassing her! ......PS: Don't blow up our servers. Thanks! .....and that it was time for them to find a new target. We even threw out a suggestion: Sarah Palin! And then yesterday, this happened........ Just last week, we posted a brief open letter to Anonymous, the Internet-based rabble-rousers who have made a name for themselves taking on Scientology, in which we said that they'd succeeded in ruining the Church's reputation, and that it was time for them to find a new...

There is revolution going on in waste management, which Big Brother would be proud of. Tucked away under the rim of wheelie bins found in two Sydney councils are small radio frequency tracking devices collecting information on a household's waste habits. Randwick Mayor Bruce Notley-Smith told The World Today they are the way of the future. "We will be able to find out the weights of the various bins and collect the data, the entire amount, as opposed to the quantity that is recyclable," he said. The garbage truck reads the data on the bin, weighs the bin, and the...

The superhero power to see through walls will soon be within the grasp of ordinary mortals, thanks to a new hand-held X-ray scanner. Inventors hope the gadget could revolutionise police work and Customs searches by allowing officers to seek out contraband, weapons, bombs or hidden people. The LEXID device sends out low-level X-rays which are collected in a lens based on the design of a lobster's eye. Rick Shie, senior vice-president of its American inventors, Physical Optics Corporation, said that lobsters' eyes, which are able to see in deep, murky water, use thousands of tiny squares to focus by reflection...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman's voice right in her ear asking, "Who's there? Who's there?" She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, "It's not your imagination." Indeed it isn't. It's an ad for "Paranormal State," a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries...

Immigration Bill To Collect American Info By Elliott West, Raleigh Chronicle News Editor Friday, May 18, 2007 WASHINGTON DC - Although a new immigration bill that was passed by the United State Senate last year chiefly addresses illegal immigration, some components of the bill will definitely benefit the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies by tracking all sources of wages and compensation by American workers, even those who are legally American citizens. The Immigration Bill Status The controversial Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 was already passed by the Senate in late April of 2006 and another version of...

On the eve of a major RFID apparel and footwear conference, privacy activists are asking questions about an Orwellian industry video presentation depicting the use of Radio Frequency Identification at an American Eagle Outfitters store. The animated video, created by technology integrator CompEx Inc., depicts how a retailer could embed the controversial technology into clothing and credit cards to secretly identify and track consumers--even deliver targeted marketing messages. "American Eagle Outfitters has assured us that it is not using RFID in its stores or operations, and we applaud them for that. But consumers need to know that this technology exists...

Yes i know this will probably be zotted within 2 minutes of posting, but freepers watch out.. The admins monitor your PM's. The absolutely most disgusting abuse of power i've ever seen.. Now i know there are 400 of you morons ready to hit me with your ZOT pictures, go for it.. it just proves how pathetic you are. Keep on blaming the Clinton administration for this president's mistakes, keep making excuses.. You are comic relief. See you on DU :)) (and watch what you say in your PM's, they are under heavy watch) later ho's.

I woke up this morning to find a city worker peeking inside my trash cans, when asked just what the hey did he think he was doing, he replied, this isn't a warning, just information, but styrofoam doesn't go in the blue container! This is just one more indignity in the long line of city choke holds that goes on in Fresno, California. We have water nazis to make sure we water at the appropriate time and on the appropriate day, we have chimney nazis to make sure we don't light our fireplaces on an unnapproved day, and now, apparently,...

Reuters Says Bush Photo Not 'Malicious,' Reports Wide Interest In it By E&P Staff Published: September 15, 2005 4:30 PM ET NEW YORK With confirmation today that an accidental photo of President Bush at the United Nations on Wednesday, writing a note to Secretary of State Condeezza Rice about a “bathroom break,” was indeed real, newspapers around the U.S. and abroad are now planning to run it widely. But many, it seems, will treat it as something more than a joke. A source at the Washington Post tells E&P that the paper is considering it for prominent play tomorrow morning,...

Pennsylvania officials who track down deadbeat parents want to mine cell phone records -- an untapped resource that contains information about more than half the people in the state. Part of the allure of cell phones is their portability and anonymity -- they go where you go, and no one gets the number unless you give it to them. An estimated 6.5 million of Pennsylvania's 12.4 million people have cell phones. Inspired by new tracking programs in Virginia and Iowa, Pennsylvania's child support bureau wants to see whether any cell phone owners owe back child support. Law enforcement agencies have...

The attorney for a Virginia man told a Cumberland County judge Tuesday that, though his client acted in bad taste when he took a picture up a woman's skirt, he wasn't doing anything illegal. "I have no doubt that what (Robert G.) Sullivan did was highly offensive. ... "It was stupid, it was immoral, it was insulting — it just wasn't criminal under the invasion of privacy law," John "Jay" Abom argued in the non-jury trial before Judge Edgar Bayley. [snip] The woman's friend, who was working at a restaurant in Capital City Mall's food court at the time, told...

MESA, Ariz. - Nearly 100 employees of a trash collecting company in Phoenix have filed a lawsuit, alleging that people were videotaped while using the restroom. Waste Management lawyer Michael Manning said there was videorecording equipment in the men's restroom of the company's building but it was to catch vandals and drug users at night. He said nobody ever watched the recordings unless there were signs of vandalism or drug use in the restroom first, which there were none after the equipment was installed. Manning said the lawsuit is an attempt by union organizers to malign the national trash collection...