Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 27 November 2002
Note: the comments below are the unabridged
submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Andrew Hooper For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: One rule for us, another for the police I have finally had my day in court. Some years back my computer was confiscated and used as evidence in a criminal case, Yes i was convicted and i have repaid my debit to society. When the police finally returned my computer it did not work in the same way it did when they took it from me, what's more there was physical damage to the case. During the hearing one of the police witnesses stated that it appears that the computer had been dropped. The computer is My property and the police have a "Duty of Care" or a responsibility to ensure that my property is not unreasonably damaged. But in this case it appears that it was damaged while in their care. Normally you would think that they would have to pay for damages, certainly i can prove that the damage did not exist prior to the police taking it as during the execution of the warrant photos were taken of the computer and the state is was in. Couple thins by the statement of the police witness and you would think this would be enough but according to our one sided legal system it is not. I have been asked to show exactly how the damage has occurred, that includes damage to components my static discharge. (Anyone have a spare electron microscope i can borrow). Now how do i go about showing that the damage to the HDD was caused by the computer being dropped, there are no physical dents on the HDD. That aside, the request of the court was somewhat unreasonable. then came the request asking me to prove that the police damaged the computer. Well EXCUSE ME.. There was no damage to the computer before they took it away, and I had an expert pick it up for me and he collaborates that it was damaged when we picked it up. Now for my day in court. I turned up expecting to have a bit of a fight on my hands. The police claimed that they did not have to return the computer and that they did so in good faith. Well that's a crock as the Judge is the only person who has the power to state that the goods are not to be returned and should be destroyed. It should be apparent by now that i lost the case against the police, not so much that i could not prove the claim but more that i was unable to present an expert to backup my claim. It was interesting that my witness turned up to the manukau court and was misdirected and told that there was no such case on the list. He had approached more than one person and was told the same thing by both. So where do we go from here, I'm certainly not going to drop this and have applied for a Rehearing. BUT my application will be given to the person who has already declined my original claim against the police. I think its clear that while the computer was in the hands of the police it was damaged. If it were you or I and the computer belonged to a friend and it was damaged while in our possession albeit accidental or not we would have to replace or repair it. So what makes the police any different? My faith in the legal system was not that great after being convicted of reproducing the internet username and password of 2 of my own clients, I'm afraid that the little I had left is gradually disappearing. From: Allister Jenks For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Awards Given the typical tone of your column, I would imagine the Aardvark awards would be along the lines of the following: A) Biggest government faux-pas B) Biggest corporate faux-pas C) IT 'Foot-in-mouth' award etc. I don't think there would be a huge danger of 'vote for me' campaigns. From: Adrian For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: x-mas goodie how about sprucing up the speakers a little with the logitech z-680. the reviews (www.extremetech.com) simply state ... "buy it now and thank me later". The speakers are 5.1,THX certified, DTS decoder included, Dolby Digital 2, 450 watts RMS, optical in etc ... very similar specs to the BOSE but about 20% of the price. - I'm chucking out my old whardales (anyone interested) and using them in my lounge! From: Bahu For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Backup Using a 4.7 GByte DVD writer to backup 40 Gbytes? Only one true solution for backup and that is still tape, it is 2002 and we still need it. Go figure. From: Andy For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Christmas WishList Would love a Compaq Tablet PC please Mr Santa Aardvark, http://203.202.189.27/cgi-bin/computercity.storefront/EN/Product/80369 From: Murray Baker For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Awards? - Why Not Why not do the Aardvark awards? If we weren't interested in your opinion we wouldn't be visiting the site. If nothing else it's one day you don't have to find a topic for. From: Charlie For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Christmas list Having just done my PC upgrade (woohoo!) including an Audigy 2 soundcard (has to be heard to be believed) I now wish for a set of high-quality speakers (B&W maybe?) and a decent pro-logic processor/amp. The old JVC RS-7 amp and 4 technics (yuk) speakers have had their best days... 'Course, a DVD writer that will read & write all DVD formats and CD's would be good too. Don't want to seem greedy, so that's all for now. From: Colin For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Backup Bahu states : "Using a 4.7 GByte DVD writer to backup 40 Gbytes? Only one true solution for backup and that is still tape, it is 2002 and we still need it. Go figure." As it is 2002 and the cost of HDDs are so cheap it is easier to buy an extra HDD and do a total backup with Ghost, Drive Image or Exactcopy. The cost of a disk caddy is about $20 . Slide the backup drive in . Do the back up . Remove the backup drive and store it. Now that's 2002 :) From: Hamish MacEwan For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Christmas Wish A Compaq EVO Tablet... just... awesome.Hit Reload For Latest Comments
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