Posts by Ian Michael Gumby

Why should you care about Google's AI winning a board game?

@Dave Re: Bollocks

While I am not a Go player... you have to consider a couple of basic rules on which move to make.

Take the top 100 potential moves. Then for each of those moves. Consider the top 100 counter moves. Then for each of those.. consider the top 100. (Do this for 10 levels of recursion deep.) I'm not sure of how fast this would be.. but if its too slow... reduce the 100 to N and if its fast enough... increase 10 to 20... but that should be more than enough to beat a human.

At the end, you'll have the move that makes the most sense at that point in time. Clearly there's more to this but the idea is that you need to out play your opponent and not make any mistakes.

If you want to train your machine... build a second machine and have it play one another as a way to improve its skills.

IBM pimps Watson out to Hilton robot for concierge duty

Meh...

So what you're really saying is that Watson is a solution still looking for a problem and so far it hasn't found many areas of interest.

The whole idea of a concierge could be done via an iPhone app.

Hotel apps already have keyless entry to your hotel room that supports RFID cards and not mag stripe cards. They also have maps of the hotel property.

Then they have links to uber and local eateries.

In short, there isn't much of a need for an AI when it comes to being a concierge.

Is this article a comment on how desperate is IBM is... or how limited Watson really is?

Re: The Robot

If you are going to go after the Paris angle, why not use the Paris icon?

So you wanna build whopping pools of PCIe flash? Say no more, whisper Intel, Facebook

Finally! Some good news!

The announcement has two interesting pieces.

First, the FPGA on the die. This allows one to add a customized solution that will give killer performance. Think about building a cluster of servers for a given task where having the FPGA programmed for a specific task. (Trading systems, encryption, etc ...)

The bigger thing is the SoC Xenon D. Now you can build white box servers that could be put in to fanless cases. Now you can have a small cluster of desk side machines for R&D that doesn't require noise cancelling head phones, and generate a lot of heat. As long as they don't turn off your office's A/C after hours... you're ok.

Canadian live route map highlights vulnerabilities to NSA spying efforts

@AC Re: Meh...

No junior birdman, you would not be breaking the law in the US.

First, the encryption laws are for US companies exporting the encryption technology as a munition. Using strong encryption that was produced outside of the US isn't violating the law, nor is sending encrypted traffic regardless of what path the data takes.

Please take off your tin foil hat and take your meds.

@Nuno , Meh is right... Re: Meh...

The author of the article is being a tad paranoid.

Look, apply Occam's Razor to this and you may start to see things in a better light.

In the internet, not all routes are created equal. Some have greater bandwidth (capacity) than others and even if they are longer, they are preferred routes. It just so happens that most of those routes flow through the US and not Canada. (If you were a telco, do you want to piggyback on existing long haul routes, or do you want to spend BILLIONS to run fiber across rugged terrain?

Lets also not forget the whole thing of peering agreements and contracts which also drive the traffic flow...

So regardless of the NSA/CIA/Alphabet/etc ... your internet traffic in Canada will most likely flow thru the US.

Having said that... if you were the NSA, where do you think you would be able to capture most of the traffic? Doing something clandestine in Canada, or something clandestine in the US. (Its against the law for the NSA to knowingly spy on US Citizens... a subtle fact that gets abused by a lot of people...)

If I were the NSA, I'd monitor the choke points on the major internet highways first.

When you put this in perspective, you lose the tinfoil hat and the idea that the telcos are in cahoots with the NSA. (Which they are not.)

That doesn't mean that the NSA isn't slurping data, or Google if you're on their network... it just means its not an evil conspiracy. (Unless you're talking about Google.)

And if its not the US, then its the Chinese, Russians, pretty much every spy agency in the world is doing this at some level.

Blah Blah blah ... I don't care! To hell with your tech marketing bull

@AC, Re: @Ian Michael Gumby - @Trevor Potts, MAN UP!

What lies?

I have seen shops that don't practice DevOps and ones that do.

The ones that don't have a difficult time meeting or managing SLAs or even upgrading software.

The ones that do can meet SLAs, keep up on the latest upgrades.

You don't lose staff, but you reassign to other projects as your toolset grows.

Trevor's 'lies' are that companies are switching to DevOps so they can reduce head count.

I don't see that.

@Trevor Potts, MAN UP!

Dude,

I feel for your loss, I really do. Its tough having to say goodbye to a friend, but you counter it with the years of unconditional love, even after they stalk you and treat your ankle as prey. Or when you tell the rat bastid to go to his kennel for being bad, you turn your back and he bites you in the ass. You still love them.

But seriously man up. Get over it and focus on your work.

You made a comment about DevOps.

DevOps isn't about letting admins go, its about being more efficient. Compare a DevOps shop to one that doesn't practice it. BOFH rules the day in the shop that doesn't practice DevOps. Nothing gets done on time, and its a constant goat f.

Think about it and get back to work.

Hacker 'Guccifer' extradited to US

@David Roberts ... RIF Re: Prison time?

David,

Reading is Fundamental. ;-)

He got caught in 2011 for hacking... suspended sentence.

He got caught in 2014 for hacking... 4 years prison time. (Not sure where you come up w 7 years served.)

Now wanted in the US for his hacking and ID theft here.

Now... funny thing... he can make a nice plea deal with the FBI in exchange for testimony over Hillary's server.

No?

Huh? Seriously WTF...

If you were going to be doing jail time... where would you want to go?

Romania or some Eastern Europe / Slavic country, or a medium security or club fed prison in the US?

And you have to realize that he has a huge bargaining chip in his back pocket.

If it wasn't for him, we would never had known about Hillary's private server... or found proof of her and Billy Boy's corruption.

He could cop a plea and testify against Hillary. Do you not think that he didn't go after Clinton's server once he found out it existed?

He had better act fast. Google Vince Foster if you don't understand.

Hillary Clinton private email server probe winding up – reports

@ E Coli Re: The other shoe

Yup.

Only none of this has been proven in the released information.

We know some from official documents and the allegations in 'Clinton Cash' as well as some of the Foundation's required filings.

There's the 30K or so emails that the FBI may have recovered from the server.

That could be used to show the corruption and the smart money is that the Feds found something.

Clinton is putting on the brave face and is lying to herself and others because she thinks the Fix is in

Re: Let it go

That's like condoning bank robberies because the banks are insured so depositors are ok.

@Tom ...Re: @Hans

Actually, its Patrick Kennedy who is also in the hot seat. He's the man in charge.

@Doug S Re: @Ian Michael Gumby "Bush didn't make the mess"

You clearly don't understand what happened and why it happened.

You want to blame Bush, but remember Congress voted on it too.

Again We won the war but lost the peace.

Re: Immunity

If you are not truthful in your testimony, you lose immunity and your statements can and will be used against you.

He's toast and he knew it. He also knew he wasn't in her inner circle and was going to be roadkill.

@Alister Re: Do not understand the issue

You forgot 4.

4) Corruption. She was mixing Clinton Foundation business with State Department business which she told Obama she would not have any part in the Foundation. Do you remember US Aid to Haiti?

Bill Clinton was put in charge of managing the aid money. Under his management, those who received lucrative contracts somehow all were donors to the Clinton Foundation. A charity where less than 10% of monies raised actually went to anything which might resemble aid or a charitable act. (That is if your name is not Clinton.)

There's more. Even if you take what 'Clinton Cash' uncovers with a grain of salt, there is so much more that could be in the deleted emails that the Feds recovered.

@Hans

She may not have had the technical skills to set up the server... HOWEVER...

She should have known how to handle 'classified' material and what material was or was not classified regardless of any markings. (SAP for example...)

She hired a staffer who was responsible for setting up the server (He has immunity) He should have known the risks.

He struck an immunity deal because he knew that he wasn't part of her inner circle and he would end up tossed under the bus (repeatedly). Its his testimony that is going to take down the rest of HRC and her minions.

There is so much to this... it makes House of Cards borning. (Both the US and British versions)

@Chris, Re: What was going through Clinton's head?

Actually there is an issue.

HRC's hubby Billy Boy amended the Official Records Act to include emails way back in 1995. So that if you are in a position like Sec of State, you are required to retain all of your emails (work emails). Even if you used an out of channel personal email account, you have 20 days from when the message was either sent or received to hand the email over. That was the law before HRC took the oath of office. Along with signing a document that said she understood how to manage 'classified' documents and how to classify material deemed (confidential, secret, top secret)

Based on the emails that have been released, we know that she did not turn over all of the emails that were work related. Sidney B. turned over emails that were not found in HRC's cache. We know that Mills who knew about the secret server (she had an account on the server) tanked at least one FOIA by saying there were no emails when in fact she knew that there were....

There are already two lawsuits that are at the center of this. Judicial Watch (JW) and Vice both have lawsuits over the Clinton State Dept. thwarting their FOIA requests. And even the judge (Sullivan I think) who let JW perform discovery and interview Clinton's staff and ultimately Clinton over this email arrangement. Note that these are civil lawsuits.

For violations of the Espionage Act, there is no need to show motive, only the fact that she managed 'classified' material on a unsecured server. We have that in spades. 2000+ emails now with a classification and at least 4 of them contained top secret SAP information.

We have a couple of counts of perjury.

We have obstruction. (in spades).

And one leak said that there were 50 FBI agents who are looking in to the possible corruption charges.

There is more, so much more.

@DougS Re: What was going through Clinton's head?

BZZZT!

Neither Powell or Rice used private email servers.

Unlike HRC, they had .gov email accounts.

Here's the fact... neither sent confidential (lowest level of classification) material but received that information. 2 emails to Powell, 10 emails to Rice.

And here's the funny part. We have their emails because one of the rules of using a personal account which at the time was allowed but discouraged was that they had to turn the emails back to State within 20 days of the email being sent or received.

Methinks you're a Grandma Pumpkin (Her Secret Service code name) fanboi.

There is so much more ... just sit back and watch what the feds reveal. Either in the indictment or if Lynch doesn't indict, the eventual leaking of information.

@Craigness Re: @AC Classification Game

I guess the NSA/CIA could call up their Soviet err Russian counterparts or the Chinese. Maybe even the Brits or Germans to see what they found out.

The wild thing is that many don't understand just how easy it would have been to hack the server.

Remote Admin turned on for a Windows Server running Exchange over the internet with nothing in front of it acting as a firewall? We have El Reg who reported on the Security researcher who found her server in his data that he collected on unsecured servers...

What many don't realize is that HRC perjured herself and when she deleted the emails... under the advice of counsel, she committed obstruction. Her lawyer Kendall is also potentially in trouble for keeping the USB thumb drives and for giving the legal advice that she could delete the emails even though she was requested earlier to turn them over and was also subpoenaed which she claimed she wasn't.

And lets be clear... its not just Republicans who should be mad... I know a lot of Democrats who were looking towards Kasich because they didn't like the choice between a Socialist and a Criminal.

This election and the Obama administration are history in the making.

@AC Re: @ AlexS

Bush didn't make the mess. Clinton and Obama did. That's what most people don't understand.

Yes Bush made a serious mistake... not in invading Iraq, but in not preparing for the peace. He forgot his history and should have implemented the Marshall plan as well as keeping the Iraqi Army in place and policing the nation as the US did when they beat Germany. So Bush won the war, but he and Obama lost the peace. (Some may have trouble wrapping their head around that.)

Take the book "Clinton Cash" with a grain of salt. Yet if you do follow the money, Clinton and her Hubby is dirty as sin. Beyond that... you have news talk show person George Stephanopolus who was a Clinton insider during his time in office, now at ABC, 'donating' 75K to the Clinton Foundation. It was a 'pay to play' bribe so that he and ABC could have access to Clinton's inner circle. (Chelsea getting paid 650K for a year where she only did 3 puff pieces? Now where can I get that job? )

Trump is just as dangerous. The way he does deals won't work at the international level. Of all of the candidates, Kasich is the most qualified and probably the most sane. But he's getting shut out by the media who wants the Trump Clinton fight.

@Doug ... Re: @ AlexS

That's about as brazen as Obama bragging that if he could run for a third term, he would win the election.

Doesn't he realize that he's the reason Trump is getting so much support?

Re: AC Re: @ AlexS

A true cynic.

I think its funny when I'm down posted for showing the facts.

This has got to be the worst self inflicted wound any politician could make.

The worst thing about it... besides the brazen flaunting of the law, is that many politicians do use private email accounts to talk about work 'out of channel' and do not comply with the requirements. Of course, I seriously doubt that they are talking about classified material in those emails... with one exception ... John Kerry's email to HRC.

With the 4 SAP emails ... she's guilty of violating the espionage act.. along with the staffer who cut-n-pasted the information in to the email.

What isn't being talked about was the request to set up a PC across the hall, that wasn't connected to the government network, so HRC could "manage her personal emails on a separate PC". Some now say that the PC was never set up... however... I seriously doubt that. It would make it easier for the staffer to get the secure email... walk across the hall and send the email to HRC.

If this were a private company... she would have been fired immediately not trying to run for the CEO job.

@ AlexS

No, the timing is bad.

The truth is that HRC and her staff stretched this out, not to mention they committed two sets of counts of obstruction.

First when her lawyer instructed Mills and the rest of Clinton's staff to delete emails before sending them.

Second when they sent .pdfs of the emails rather than the raw electronic forms since this meant that they would lose any markers and header information. Add to this they could and probably did edit the emails prior to printing the pdf. I believe there was one case of that.

Obstruction alone is 20 years.

Clinton and Obama's current State Department tried to get the emails dumped after the election. Their goal was to bury this in the hopes that HRC gets elected first.

She will be indicted and with the testimony from the hapless IT guy, it will start to pick up pace.

Its bad enough that it probably won't go to a GJ.

She should have been indicited at the beginning of the race. Then others more qualified could have stepped in.

Re: Could get interesting

Yes,

However its more than just HRC. Its her senior staff and Kennedy who's still working for State.

Its in part a question of who knew what and when. Not to mention that HRC had instructed her staff to break the law. Repeatedly.

HRC is toast, her staff is toast. And this can run into the Clinton Foundation which is the sorriest excuse of a charity.

The one thing we don't know much about is the Corrumption charges that can stem from this.

JW and Vice should get a huge pat on the back for uncovering this mess. It makes Watergate look like a cop giving out a speeding ticket compared to this.

@AC Re: Classification Game

You really need to do your research.

First none of the emails had any markings to show a level of classification. HRC instructed her staff to remove those before sending her the emails. That doesn't mean that the information contained in those emails wasn't already classified by the source. Also several of the emails contained SAP data which is by its very nature the highest classified doc (top secret) and only for a very few eyes.

So no, its not a 'classification game' which HRC and her camp are attempting to portray this out to be.

Its actually far worse.

HRC set the server up to break the FOIA law. There is already documentation that shows Mills one of her aids and a lawyer to boot, obstructing a FOIA request stating that there were no emails knowing all about Clinton's server.

There's more and just on the 32K emails that have been released, we know that HRC committed perjury, obstruction and numerous violations of the espionage act.

Then there are the 30K emails that she deleted. How many were recovered by the Feds is unknown to the public and what those emails contained.

There is so much more to this that she may win the party's nomination only then to be charged.

The smart money is that she'll clinch the party's nomination, then to be charged so that the DNC can decide who to run in her place. Cue Biden. Or cue Bloomberg to run as an independent.

Building a fanless PC is now realistic. But it still ain't cheap

This is news? Re: How about

Sorry, but I built a Streacom system with an i7 chip and 2 2.5" SSD drives w 16GB of memory over a year ago. Its been running quiet ever since.

Yes you can run a totally quiet PC. The only drawback is that you're using a laptop's power supply sitting outside of the case. (Although there's enough room and internal fitting power supplies that will work today.)

Of course, I'm running Linux on it so I don't know how it would work as a game machine. But for a DNS server, Email Server and even a web server for a SOHO... it works. I did this because my servers sit next to my desk and I was going deaf. Can't decide if it was my wife's nagging or all of the loud server fans from the 2U rack machines... :-)

Netlist NVDIMMS shine bright in SuperMicro's flashy boxen

Meh.

I have to agree with Bronek.

If you take up 8 slots of the available DIMM slots on the SuperMicro motherboard, that's 128GB of 'non-volitile memory.

In the NoSQL / Big Data space, this is nothing.

ReRAM seems to be 'just around the corner' and should be able to be available within the next year, or so we're being promised by Marketing. (YMMV ;-) )

With ReRAM, there would probably be a motherboard design change, but would also first become available as a PCIe card. Still slower than UltraDIMMs, but with a higher density and faster throughput than Flash.

I'll pass on this... using Tachyon (Spark related project) which is a series of distributed shared memory segments which would suffice.

Ker-ching! IBM paid 10 times Cleversafe’s funding for the startup

Re: Cheap at twice the price.

No, not exactly.

First Cleversafe does have customers and are profitable.

Cleversafe also has a compelling story. The ability to store data across data centers where you do not need to do a full replication to be secure. You can also run Hadoop on top of their FS which means that you could in theory store more data within a cluster thus reducing its footprint.

Not sure about the other startup.

Too bad the author gets stuck in the Sillycone math when it comes to valuations.

'Kalamazoo killer' gave Uber rides in between shooting six dead

@Alister

Not all serial killers are terrorists, not all terrorists are serial killers, even though there is a large overlap between the two sets of killers.

The reason why he's not a terrorist is that there isn't any ideological profile to the killings or that the individual professed an ideological viewpoint for his actions.

@John Lilburne Re: Well I'm reassured

He would have passed multiple background checks. Prior to this... he had a clean record. (Or so the current reports in the news say...)

So you can't blame Uber on this. He could easily have been a cab/taxi driver and submitted to a full background check (criminal, credit, supplied finger prints, etc ...) and would have been squeaky clean.

This reminds me of an incident that happened after Dunblane where a cabbie got a hold of a shot gun and went on a driving shooting spree around town...

IBM UK puts 1,352 Global Tech Services heads 'at risk'

Lee Conrad?

I thought the Alliance @IBM went tits up?

UK carrier Three in network-wide ad-block shock

@ E Shep Re: Still slurping...

You have two issues.

1) Delivering 'relevant ads' could be translated to mean "Ads sent by the telco not the original site. Read this to mean more revenue for the carrier.

2) What makes you think that the carriers aren't already monitoring your traffic?

What would happen if Earth fell into a black hole?

AC's don't surf! Re: Naturally, we would no notice

"gravity != gravitational waves"

I don't think the AC or those who up voted him thought this through.

What happens to the space time fabric if suddenly a massive black hole appeared inside this solar system?

Hint. Find a pond / pool and toss a massive rock in to it. It goes splash now doesn't it?

So yes, the waves would rip us apart long before what remains is sucked in to the event horizon.

But don't worry... we wouldn't feel a thing. Since the wave front is traveling at the speed of light, we'd be torn apart before our nervous system could make sense of what is happening.

So while the first AC was wrong about the waves pulling the planet in (That is gravity), he was right that it will be the gravitational waves created by the sudden appearance of a black hole that will kill us.

Big data lakes? Too many ponds, that’s the problem

@Pomeroy, you varnish sniffing programming type...

You sir would do well in Big Data.

The simple truth is that the path to any solution or how to get the most out of big data is not always the most direct or linear path.

For those of us with ADD or ADHD, beside copious amounts of caffeine , aderall or (mondafil and dompamine ) You need to have a certain flexible way at looking at the problems.

While you said something in jest... there is some truth to the mindset. ;-)

France joins India in telling Facebook to just Zuck off

@Roq Re: France had hissy fit, nobody shocked?

Sorry this isn't just a hissy fit.

Even if you don't have a facebook account, many sites have embedded javascript that goes back to facebook. Just like Google's analytics. (Which is why Google will always have an edge over its rivals and why they are a monopoly).

Facebook is capturing data from websites and is tracking both members and non-members. Of course this is governed by the ToS of the website you're visiting.

Sending back the data to the US? That's a new one. What' will eventually happen is that each nation will force global companies to set up data silos by each country. This could make things interesting. Both from a DS perspective and how things play out.

I wonder what Gibson would have to say about this...

Fleet of 4.77MHz LCD laptops with 8088 CPUs still alive after 30 years

just fyi ...

"The T1000 was introduced in 1987, but that's long enough that we'll forgive Holrum the slight lapse, not least because the machine was one of the very first computers to use a clamshell form factor."

Try Grid which came out in 1983.

It was also one of the first PCs to go up in the space shuttle. Although that one was modified to include a small fan to help keep it cool.

An yes, I am showing my age since I remember selling them bubble memory.

Submarine cable cut lops Terabits off Australia's data bridge

Jared Fogel strikes again!

Too soon?

Official UN panel findings on embassy-squatter released. Assange: I'm 'vindicated'

@Sparty ... Re: The USA has won ...

Lets correct a few things...

1) Assange appealed the EAW three times, which is the maximum allowed under the law.

2) Under the EAW, there are 32 areas of law where there is no need to show duopoly. That is, you don't have to show that his actions broke the laws in both countries. Rape is one of those 32 laws. So while the appeals judges didn't have to consider the question of duopoly, they did. Even then they agreed that what he is accused of would be considered rape in the UK.

I agree that the Assange supporters continue to argue the issue and ignore the law.

In addition to the issue of the EAW, they also forget that Assange wasn't allowed to leave the country.

He was supposed to come in for questioning where he would have been charged, but his lawyer helped him escape. His lawyer admitted to his actions during the first EAW appeal in the UK.

Then they talk about Manning and Assange blowing the whistle on illegal US activities.

Yet nothing released was shown to be illegal.

You can point these verifiable details out to everyone, yet that won't change their minds. People will believe what they want to believe.

@Uffish Re: discredit ...

Manning violated his oath and broke the law.

The only good thing to come of this is that Manning got the US to pay for his sex change.

Manning was the epitome of a 'Sad Sack' who should never have been in the military in the first place.

His actions are no where near honorable.

Manning got what he/she deserves.

@Alain Re: The USA has won ...

Look, I don't know what you call 'wrong doing'.

Manning was not a whistle blower by any definition. He was duped in to his actions by his infatuation with Assange. Every time this comes up, some maroon tries to claim Manning blew the whistle on some illegal activity. Only there isn't any illegal activity uncovered.

The only upside for Manning is that he got the government to pay for his sex change.

Assange?

Publishing the pilfered data? He's got some legal protection. That's now why he's afraid of the US. However, until the US acts, he's on his own, assuming that the US would act.

Sorry but the US hasn't won anything.

The only losers here are the girls in Sweden and the UK taxpayers caught up in Assange's delusions.

@Hans Re: Won't make a bit of difference.

Didn't you hear? The Swedish Chef died from a heart attack.

Too much cholesterol in his blood due to his cooking.

@AC Re: Won't make a bit of difference.

Look, you had it right in your first sentence. He gets arrested by the 'Plod'.

What happens next. He's tossed in the clink until they have a flight booked for him and his escort back to Sweden.

He sits down with his new Swedish lawyer, and is interviewed and then formally charged with the sole count of rape remaining. They go to trial. Whatever happens, if he faces jail time, after all of that... he goes back to the UK to face the jumping bail charge. He will do time. (Why? Because he's a prat and cost the UK taxpayers $$$$$)

After all of that... the UK plod, escort him to the airport, and put him on a plane back to Australia. He may even be escorted back to Aussie land because he's been such a prat there and an international embarrassment.

After that. Who knows.

ABC once reported that the then Aussie government was thinking about taking away his passport.

Its then... if the US wants him, they would make a move.

Why? Because he's got a record. He's a convicted felon for hacking the US government's servers while a teen. It would make any extradition that much easier.

The only problem is that the US hasn't raised any issue or hint that they want him for anything.

Post Wikileaks, Snowden had done far more damage to the US and Western world. And Wikileaks has some legal protection due to a '71 SCOTUS decision.

Of course I will wager someone at the US State Department would say 'Boo!' just to toss Assange in to a tizzy and watch him leave for Ecuador never to be heard from again. ;-)

Leak – UN says Assange detention 'unlawful'

Re: Cue Tom Jones....

Now why am I thinking about the movie "Mars Attacks!"

@ Chris King Re: It all depends

If the US really wants him, they'll be patient.

Julian is like a cockroach. When he's in the dark most people wouldn't know or care if he's there.

So Julian shines a light on Julian as a way to protect himself from his delusions.

Julian will end up in Australia before he could go anywhere.

He'll go to Sweden, back to the UK and then on to Australia.

Note that in some cases, when someone gets bounced from the UK, they can go anywhere else. But Julian, for being such a prat, will be sent back to his home country. Where, according to ABC news, the government at one time was contemplating removing his passport.

Also remember that when Julian was a teen, he got busted for hacking a US Defense computer.

That just made the extradition request easier.

Julian doing a runner in Sweden and in the UK? That made it even easier. No bail while he fights a hypothetical US extradition.

And that's also important. In the US, he's old news. Hillary and Bill Clinton are now the target of a fed investigation. (Along with Hillary's senior staff) So again, nobody really wants Assange. Not even his current hosts.

@Spartacus Re: It all depends

You do realize that two of the 'chairs' are alternates in case one of the first 3 chairs are not available to cast a vote.

But I have to wonder how do you get to be 'first chair'? Some sort of musical competition?

@Desidero Re: No legal force

So, essentially you're condoning rape?

First, had you investigated the EAW, there are 32 charges where you don't have to show a duopoly of the crime. That is to say that if Sweden says its a crime and submits an EAW, you don't have to check to see if it would be a crime in the UK. Rape is one of those 32 charges.

Second, during the EAW appeals, the UK government gave Assange the benefit of the doubt and reviewed the charges to see if they would be considered rape under UK laws. Guess what happened. They found that he would have been charged in the UK for rape. He lost all three of the appeals and then decided to do his runner to the Embassy.

Third, Sweden is pretty open when it comes to sex. The issue is that unlike the Middle East and most Muslim countries, women are first class citizens and have the same rights as males. Its when you force a woman to have non consensual sex, its called rape and you have to face the charges.

The boy is facing allegations he committed rape. Had he stayed and not used his lawyer to help him leave Sweden, this would all be a footnote on Manning's wikipedia entry.

@AC Re: A completely meaningless ruling

Wow. Forget your meds?

Look, here it is in a nutshell.

Assange has a historical problem about keeping it in his pants. He has a child out of wedlock as well as admitting in an interview that he likes the ladies. There's more to it, and he would be too easy of a target for a honeypot.

But the US doesn't do Honeypots. And there would be nothing to gain. No blackmail leverage. So he wasn't set up. It would have been far easier to pick him up back in the UK or Australia before this whole Swedish thing blew up in his face.

Not to mention the reason why Assange was in Sweden in the first place. Sweden has a lot of protection of their journalists which would have given him more protection from an extradition request. Only he blew that chance.

The US doesn't want him. No extradition request, nothing. The entire thing is a fantasy he made up.

If the US did want him... they would have a much easier time nailing him in Australia. So in short, the Swedish thing is all on Assange.

@Brangdon Re: A completely meaningless ruling

First, Julian isn't a Journalist, even by the loosest definition of the term.

To your point, the '71 SCOTUS decision which protected the press when they released the Ellsberg papers on how the US was lying about the Viet Nam War to the US public, Assange would have grounds to fight those charges. Hence no extradition from the US.

As to Manning and Assange, there is something there. Assange, while failing to honor a promise to help fund Manning's defense, he hired his own attorney to monitor the case. During the Article 32 hearing, some evidence came to light. During the actual trial, Manning plead guilty to the charges so that evidence never made it to court.

If said evidence is true, (An article 32 hearing is like a Grand Jury where the evidence is taken at face value to be true) then Assange has a right to be scared of being extradited to the US. However, that is separate from Sweden and the UK. The US has plenty of time to go after him, if the next POTUS so desires. Again that's another reason why Assange went to the Embassy. To wait out the clock.

@ Nigel Re: We make our own prisons

You can't guarantee that he won't be extradited when no extradition request has been submitted.

And no, he will not be free to travel from Sweden to Ecuador while he's still wanted in the UK for jumping bail and he's traveling on an Aussie passport.

Now he'll go to Sweden, face the music. Whatever happens, happens. After that, back to the UK for jumping bail. Again, whatever happens, happens. After that...

Because he's traveling on an Aussie passport, he will be put on a plane and sent back to Australia.

Now... here's where the fun will begin.

The Aussie government could decide to revoke his passport. Which means he can't leave Australia unless he gets an Ecuadorian passport. And after his current stint as a 'house guest' who would never leave, they may or may not want to do it.

Second, if he's been found guilty of a crime in Sweden, countries could bar him from entering their countries. (e.g. certain celebrities are banned from countries due to their drug arrests...) So his future travel would be restricted.

Third, if the US wants him, they could extradite him from Australia and it would be a much easier thing to do than from any other country in the world. (Assange has only himself to thank for that quirk.)

To your post... The US hasn't said that they want him for anything. There hasn't been any formal charges or extradition requests made.

And when has anything Assange done make any sense? Raping women?