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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.


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