EFF-fans and electronic freedom groupies have a new poster boy who comes from an unlikely profession. They’re normally attracted to open-source code-a-holics, or white hat hacker, but this one’s a judge.
On Friday, Judge Harry Edwards tore a few strips off the associate general counsel, Jacob Lewis, representing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He was one of three judges at a hearing of the federal appeals court, investigating whether the US government have the same right to tap VoIP phone conversations as they currently have with ‘normal’ phone lines.
The quotes that Reuters are reporting are pretty choice. In a response to hearing their arguments, he replied, “This is totally ridiculous. I can’t believe you’re making this argument.”
He didn’t stop there, later letting them have it with both barrels.
“Your argument makes no sense,” Edwards told Jacob Lewis, an associate general counsel with the FCC.
“I’m sorry I’m not making myself clear,” Lewis said.
“You’re making yourself very clear. That’s the problem,” Edwards replied.
Wow, that is cutting.
The ride wasn’t so rough from the other two judges, with the second, David Sentelle, appearing to side with the FCC, especially for Internet phone services. The last, Janice Brown kept her thoughts to herself.
We await the T-shirts flooding the market.