Police agencies from coast to coast are furious with a new website on the internet. RateMyCop.com has the names of thousands of officers, and many believe it is putting them in danger.
Huh.
They're not "furious" when "Authorized Journalists" list names of concealed carry permit holders.
They're not even "furious" when college students rate their professors.
But try to establish a "Consumer Reports" of sorts for public serv...uh, excuse me, "The Only Ones," and, why that's outrageous!
Not to worry. It looks like the site is down. The Google cache version contains no information, and even The Wayback Machine can't access it.
Maybe Dave Meyer had a message passed along to them.
Freedom of speech. It's what distinguishes us from a tyranny!
[Via Jeffersonian and Zachary G]UPDATE: Cowed into silence?
Something like this could actually PROTECT the good cops out there. Oh, wait. Nevermind.
ReplyDeleteIt's back now, at least it is for me.
ReplyDelete1:19PM, Eastern: site is up and running. It's got my County Mounties, but not the city PD listed....
ReplyDelete1:40 PM Eastern--I get a GoDaddy default site with the message: OOPS! This site is currently unavailable.
ReplyDeleteIf you are the owner of this site, please contact us at 1-480-505-8855 at your earliest convenience.
And I refreshed the browser, still no luck...
As of 1:40 pm Central I get the same OOPS! message as David.
ReplyDeleteBounty Hunter
I get the same thing you do, David. Wasn't it just a few months ago that cops put up a site where they berated other cops who enforced the law against them? They didn't seem too furious about that, did they?
ReplyDeleteAnd this quote from the article I think is most telling: ""Having a website like this out there puts a lot of law enforcement in danger," he said. "It exposes us out there."
And exposure elicits the same reaction cockroaches have to it, funny thing, that.
Has anybody called that number to see who answers?
If that site is getting a lot of press, it simply may not be able to handle the sustained load at times.
ReplyDeleteFor the moment, it appears to be up and running at noon PST.
Oops! According to Wired, my above comment appears incorrect.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/godaddy-silence.html
(Anyone else catch the "Brazil" reference in the URI above? :D
27B-Stroke-6.
ReplyDeleteI knew it because I'm a bit of a stickler for paperwork...:)
Server never went anywhere, just too many hits. I can still get into it and use it.
ReplyDeleteHow dare we citize- er, servants hold accountable our public serva- er, masters?
ReplyDeleteIf this isn't evidence of the Police State, nothing is.
I just got on the site and it was up (5:30 Central.) Any bets on how long it takes before the Only Ones get it taken down with some sort of bullying tactic?
2356 PST, site is unavailable.
ReplyDelete