It better not be for WoW... you can run WoW on just about any old junker.

LUCYMONO: Brawl FC = 3694-9743-2148

@icepick314: yeah, that's what i want to know too.

nabils6

our tax dollars at work?

nabils6

@LoopyChew:I went to the web page and had my comuter scanned to see if it would play Assassins Creed, and I passed everything completely. I was so far in front of recommended specs, that it was pegged at the end of the chart.

If anyone else thinks that the game has insane requirements you should go to the site 'can you run it' and that will prevent the rampant FUD about computer specs required to play modern games. Crysis is an anomaly.

On topic. This guy should really get it being the DA and busting people for doing less than he apparently is doing in a position of authority.

homernoy

Seven fans and UV glowing cables don't make you a gamer, they make you a douche.

KilllerBee

So they'll go after misappropriation of funds for this guy but Spitzer refuses to step down? Impeachment folks! It's not just for presidents anymore! Besides, could Spitzer really hold his office from a jail cell?

Eville1

I never understood the glowy lights phenomenon for PC rigs. My PC is in my room and sometimes I leave it on at night for "stuff". I'd hate the lights to bug me when I'm sleeping, the power, HDD light and blurtooth light are annoying enough already (I put tape over them).

RPGr

@avconsumer: Those cables cost 5 dollars. They spend more of our money on gum for road trips. What he should have done is bought the PC with his own money and then written it off as a business expense. I definitely see the misappropriation of tax money but this is downright minuscule compared to some of the other ways tax money is wasted.

"A recent audit revealed that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense Department purchased and then left unused approximately 270,000 commercial airline tickets at a total cost of $100 million. Even worse, the Pentagon never bothered to get a refund for these fully refundable tickets. The GAO blamed a system that relied on department personnel to notify the travel office when purchased tickets went unused.

Auditors also found 27,000 transactions between 2001 and 2002 in which the Pentagon paid twice for the same ticket. The department would purchase the ticket directly and then inex­plicably reimburse the employee for the cost of the ticket. (In one case, an employee who allegedly made seven false claims for airline tickets professed not to have noticed that $9,700 was deposited into his/her account). These additional transactions cost taxpayers $8 million."

That 1-2k dollar computer doesn't look that bad anymore.

DasKonstruct

bah...forget Assassin's Creed!

does it run Crysis?

icepick314

When a DA needs to steal money to buy a gaming PC, then you know it's too expensive

T3kNi9e

Please let it be Crysis. Its one thing to have a game so powerful it melts the very silicon it runs on, its yet another to actually be so powerful the lust for it destroys a man's life

These are heady times indeed.

DaiMacculate

=/

is equipped with two hard drives
-Lawyers want to keep records of ALL documents

, seven fans,
-Texas, in fact, gets quite hot. Amazing.

high-end video and audio cards,
-Define 'High End'. I'd guess gaming high end and reporters thinking it's high end are two different things

a wireless Internet connection
-Gasp! Not wireless!

and cables that glow under ultraviolet light.
-...Okay, I got nothing. Other than the fact that these aren't expensive.

And personal email and a game cheat sheet? So he checked out GMail and Gamefaqs. So? Coulda been his lunch break.

I'm calling shenanigans on dallasnews.com

Setzer IIDX

What's Word of Warcraft? Is that lik some online word scrabble game?

nxp3

Cables that glow under ultraviolet light. What a legend!

pylon_trooper

yea i live near rockwall too. He could have avoided this and just built his own pc for half the price he paid for that one.

funkpanda

I'm all for tax money well spent... but, I draw the line just before "cables that glow under ultraviolet light."

avconsumer

Rockwall is right next to me, that's wild...I wonder what the Ebay stuff was?

Islandkiwi

Stealing? Fret not.

At least he didn't have sex with it. Only then would our children's futures be threatened.

Heliophage

The sad thing is, even THAT computer can't run Assassin's Creed.

LoopyChew

No, it's 7 fans... are they all 120mm? Sunons? How hard core are you sir? I live in Texas, do want my votes?

Derigor

Can you say hardcore gamer? That's dedication.

Quasimodo X

Wowzers.

What if he used his own money for the pc to play wow on?

2 hard drives is evidence against the guy for using tax payers money?

Shit.....I've got 4.

ManjiKengo

Considering the fact it is going to cost at LEAST 10 times as much to try and convict him.....I can shrug it off.... It isn't a whole lot different that State and Federal employees using thier Blackberries that were issued to them for personal calls, texts, and emails. That alone costs thousands every year...

Mr.SithNinja

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB:The law is what binds us all in this country. If we take your morality, and mix it in with Billy Bob in Alabama, along with the preacher trying to 'save', we would be nothing more than Pakistan with better weapons.

Everything is flawed. Nothing is perfect. There is nothing wrong with being idealist, but you have to remember every single person sees things slightly differently. By definition YES if it is legal it is OK. At least you can bet your not going to jail for doing something known to be legal.

homernoy

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB: While you may have had a point... reading the article kinda voids it.

"Mr. Sumrow is being tried in Dallas on charges of forgery, theft and records tampering. As part of the case, prosecutors allege that he used office funds to buy the computer for personal use."

But also... just because everyone sucks doesn't mean we let people off for varying degrees of "suck". I mean... what message does that send? Hardly an inspiring call-to-arms for we the people.

"Hey government guy... we know you steal and lie to us... just do it 'less' than him and we're okay with that."

Yeah... I get where you were going... but no, it's still unethical and wrong.

dv8godd

What I want to know is how did those investigating him know that his PC cables would "glow under ultra-violet light"? Were they maybe investigating his office on some other terms?

NinjaBurg3r

But could it run Crysis at full spec is the real question ;)

-EDGE-

What gamer use wireless?, so always that some dude open his microwave, you will get a huge ugly lag spike?.

tei

@Scipher:

haha, well.. my pc glows blue and has a window on the side.. so you can see my two bfg 8800 gtx 768 mb video cards chug away are crysis at 20 fps on vista.

relax_guy

@Witzbold:
@Homernoy:
@Scipher:
I'm of the opinion that all politicians and government workers are corrupt, and regularly commit illegal acts. That doesn't even factor into my opinion of them anymore.
Now, for me, it's how extreme what they did is.
And honestly, petty theft is pretty, well, petty. Like I said, compared to most of the assholes we have in office, this guy, from this alone, seems pretty morally righteous.

@Homernoy, again: "So because Swartzenegger legally takes a jet to work, and we happen to be in a war right now makes it OK for a D.A. to to spend money that isn't rightfully?
Becuase it's legal it's okay? I say that logic fails a lot more than my logic fails. Legality means jack shit to me. It depends on whether or not it's morally wrong. And while stealing moeny to buy a computer is morally wrong, there's a hell of a lot more out there that's worse, and we don't seem to care about that.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

@godot: Good points, all.

dv8godd

@godot: Indeed that is a good point.

Witzbold

@Setzer IIDX:
@DasKonstruct:
@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB:

There are no degrees. He misappropriated funds through excessive and unnecessary purchases for either personal use or vanity (UV cables? wtf?). That's unacceptable for a person in his position, acting as a leader, role model, and primarily a prosecutor, and executor of the law. Pitiful.

Now if he used his own money, I've got no problems at all...except...how do you see the cables through the case?

;-D

Scipher

If not for the forgery, theft and records tampering charges against him I could give him the benefit of the doubt for having a higher spec rig. In fact, we'd probably all be better off if more attorney's inspected game content firsthand for themselves instead of acting on opinions from Jack Thompson or Fox News.

godot

You know, somehow I simply cannot seem to blame the guy. Sure, I'd vote him guilty, but I can't say I wouldn't consider doing the same in his shoes.

Fluffums

@SigmundTheSeaMonster: No the building would be up in flames if that happened.

Witzbold

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB: Your logic really fucking fails here bucko.

Theft is still theft if he is proven guilty.

Do you even know what a District Attorney does for a living son?

Witzbold

But does it play Doom?

JulleSwe

Is it me or did someone take his red stapler?

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Ray be kickin' it Crysis style!

SwedishChef

just wait till you get home from work before getting your game on

BigChiefSmokem

damn you kotaku post system!!!!!!

JackTretton

Clearly this guy just wants to run several, several instances of MS word at the same time. Nothin wrong with that.

JackTretton

@homernoy: *Rightfully his? . If it was some other guy in another branch of the government I would be inclined to cut the person some slack.

homernoy

thats very subjective. Truly this man just wants to run several instances of microsoft word at one time.

JackTretton

DA, you should have just waited for Fallen Legions. That's pure, under-the-radar gear right there.

pylon_trooper

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB:
So because Swartzenegger legally takes a jet to work, and we happen to be in a war right now makes it OK for a D.A. to to spend money that isn't rightfully?

I love to rationalize, but..................this guy puts people in jail for a living.

homernoy

The guy does require a computer to do his job, right? What I'm trying to figure out is how they figure this is a dedicated gaming machine if there are no games on it! Personal emails, ebay, and a game cheat sheet on a work computer doesn't equate to gaming machine.

Here are the things I guess they could accuse him of:
A) Using funds to buy a computer for personal use (only if this is in addition to his office computer)
B) Spending a lot more on a computer than needed for the work. (But that's merely wastful, not fraud.)
C) Using work resources for personal use. (they'd have to bust everyone else who browses the web at work)
D) Just goofing of instead of working. (Really more of a performance issue than a crime)
E) The heinous crime of wasting a gaming rig on emails and web browsing!

I'm not against throwing the guy under the bus if he's a criminal, but all this seems pretty nitpicky (except for E; that's a capital offense)

PhaserBait

come on, he's a gamer, cut him some slack.

Waka in Japan

That's despicable. Politicians -shakse head-

September

High-end video card. World of Warcraft. HAHAHA! Yeah, that is a waste of money.

The prosecutors do know that wireless Internet connections doesn't have to have anything to do with gaming, right? Or do they just see a fancy word and file it under gaming peripherals?

Malmer

So...at tops, he spent, what? $2,000?

Our Governor here in California spends more on his daily commute in his private jet.
We spend more during 1/10th of a second in Iraq.
My high school loses more a day from students who ditched that day.

if spending a couple of grand on a computer is the worst thing he's ever done, I'd vote for him in a second.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

SEVEN fans!?! THAT'S a guy that's serious about his gaming!!!

eduardjm

@KilllerBee: Another good point.

Similar to running lights and a large muffler doesn't make you a racer. More of a jackass.

Setzer IIDX

The lengths people will go to in order to run Crysis.

Cigol

7 fans???? damn !!!! that was one hell of a machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

freespeech

I really, really doubt that he'd need 7 fans to play wow.

monkey_87

@QuickPick: In my experience of working with many different businesses across many different industries, the standard time to replace a computer is more like 4 or 5 years.... and those are the good ones.

Especially outside computer-based industries. I've seen more clients running 5 year old equipment than anything... and very, very rarely run into a business that has anything newer than a year.

Not sure what your experience is... but I don't see businesses in general upgrade with anywhere near that frequency, even when it's obvious that they should.

dv8godd

That means his computer will last at least 4 years. Unlike most work pc's that get repleaced yearly.

QuickPick

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB: This whole argument is becoming a bit blown out of proportion, but I did see where you were coming from in your initial statement.

It was, however, very irresponsible for a public political figure to take advantage of his position to steal. And this is a gaming website. Reports are game-related. The war in Iraq, the CA governor's oil usage, not so much.

This sort of argument I'm sure has more pertinence on a college campus or political web forum. I don't mind reading these sort of comments, but we don't come here (to Kotaku) to argue non-game-related politics. Rather, to escape them.

JohnnytheFuture

UV reflective cables are white cables, by the way. Yes, they're just plain white cables. Ever been to a club that has UV lights in a white shirt? It'll glow!

Seriously folks, "UV reflective" cables are just a fancy way of referring to white cables.

SolInvictus

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB: Its stupid comments like these which gets you the heat.

See what happens when you dont think before actually commenting.

Witzbold

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB: Actually, he just hates my fucking guts. It's pretty obvious.

Oh shit.

Insinuating Nazism into the discussion probably isn't going to help that... no sir, I don't think it will help this to end well at all.

Besides which, it really isn't the same thing. Genocide may have been a secret law of the land, but it was hardly voted upon as the popular ethical choice... thus, though law, yes, it was unethical.

But theft of public funds, fraud, etc... are all unethical AND unlawful. So... kinda different. We're really in an apples and oranges phase here, even when talking about misuse of public funds in legal capacity to fly jets around. Not seeing the governor exterminating half the population of California yet, even with all those jets. :/

Beyond that... applying Nazism as an argument against things we find distasteful is pretty much overkill in every single case. It's the ultimate meme offense anymore. Don't do it.... it'll always end in tears, man... always.

dv8godd

@homernoy:
@Witzbold:
You know, now I understand how Nazi Germany occurred.
"Why are we burning these Jewish kids?"
"It's the law."
"Oh. Okay. That makes sense. Smell the barbecue."
That may be an extreme case, but it's still true. Genocide and mass discrimination was the Law. Before, the US Law said it was wrong for black people to believe that they were human.
For that reason, the law means jack shit to me. I'll obey it, as long as it appears to make sense to me. There's no attempt to "fight teh powar". I'm simply doing what I think makes sense. If you guys want to do it simply because somebody said so, go ahead. I'd rather have a clear mind and conscience than abide by the law.

@DaiMacculate: Actually, he just hates my fucking guts. It's pretty obvious. I mean, it's even clear here on this thread. He threw more shit at me for voicing my opinion than he did when Mr.SithNinja made a total ass of himself. Mind you, I know Mr.Sith usually is nothing like that, but Witz makes sure to single me out whenever I say anything that he can possibly argue with in any way.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Wow. *Munches popcorn* (in his best Jon Stewart voice) Go oooooon...

Spoony Bard

@KM91: You can order them like that depending on who you buy it from. It just costs extra.

Witzbold

I guess I'm a noob when it comes to computers. I didn't know that computers come with multiple hard drives packed into it.(The idea seems to make sense, though.)

KM91

2 hard drives? sheesh. i've got seven, three externals, four internal.

what does that get me?

Death Row? as long as i still get my 8mBit torrent, i don't care!

Onizuka-GTO

@dv8godd: Kewl. We are all good then.

[Skips off through teh internets holding hands with dv8]

(kidding...or am I???)

Mr.SithNinja

@dv8godd:
You my friend, are a good man.

-EDGE-

BTW... I'm gonna slink away too... I'm being unlike myself and snapping at people a lot today.

Well... unlike my "online" self... my offline self is a volatile bastard 24/7.

dv8godd

@dv8godd: Here's some more about Ray, for those who don't want to register for the articles:

[www.wfaa.com]

The other story I linked to was a bit old... but it is actually a part of this case, from what I gather. They began investigating him as part of the original $68k in "oops, I made a mistake and deposited it in my personal account... I'll pay it back within 10 years" money.

Not sure what the other two possible charges are... but this seems to be all a part of the same investigation, if not all the same trial, at least.

@Mr.SithNinja: Damnit... I really wanted a Sith arch-enemy too.

Yeah, well... I'm an asshole too, so no worries, mate. I really didn't intend my first comment to be an attack... but wow, I'm a dickhead in my second.

And yeah... penis joke... man, i'm clearly in a foul mood today, that's pretty sad on my part. It's not you, other people have me riled today, obviously.

[shakes Sith's hand]

dv8godd

@Witzbold: yeah that went horribly wrong..... we will just chalk it to a bad day at the office....

Mr.SithNinja

@dv8godd: You know what, I have to admit you are right. I missed that last part about his checking account. I obvioulsy mistook you for one of those people who try to pick apart other people's post with out any basis. I have to respect someone who actualy knows what they are talking about and from reading your other posts on other stories you clearly do. Sorry I went personal on you. In the shit slinging match you scored a nice, corn filled strike to the forehead.

......slinks away in shame.......

Oh BTW.... I am perfectly happy with my penis, sir......

:D

Mr.SithNinja

@Mr.SithNinja: Looks like you are in the total wrong here mate, after having looked over both statements along with the original stories.

Btw its "damage" not "dammage".

Didnt exactly help that closing line of yours there eh?

Witzbold

@TOCATL: You forgot to mention dont get caught. ;D

Witzbold

@-EDGE-: That would require people with intelligence, -EDGE-... I'm a moron, remember?

I made up everything and "came at him".

dv8godd

@Mr.SithNinja: Nice attitude, asshole. Coming "at you"? You twist my comment into THAT?

Sorry about your penis there, junior... but I didn't make you into such an angry dipshit. I didn't attack anyone, merely pointed out the obvious since it seemed to be getting missed. But since you've taken it upon yourself to turn this into a personal shit slinging match...

Oh, what's this at the end of the article? "Mr. Sumrow could face two more trials related to the alleged misuse of money dedicated to operating his office."

Oh, what's this related article from the same site?

[www.dallasnews.com]

"Rockwall County's criminal district attorney for the last two decades stands accused of having nearly $68,000 in taxpayer money deposited into his personal checking account and spending it on living expenses for about a year before paying the last of it back.

If convicted on the charge of abuse of official capacity, a third-degree felony, Criminal District Attorney Galen Ray Sumrow could face two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000."

You, sir, are a fucking tool.

dv8godd

@Mr.SithNinja:
Whoa, dOOd no need for name calling. This is supposed to be intelligent debate, is it not?

-EDGE-

@dv8godd: Hey moron how bout YOU read the damn article! The "under investigation for a slew of misconduct" refers to the multiple chargers he is facing for the same damn crime! Each action he made in order to build his machine is actionable and punnishable seperately. Did you bother to read the article that this post was based on before you formulated your brilliant responce?? Obviously not. You should probably pull your head out of you a$$ before coming at me again. The lack of oxygen to what you call a brain could cause permanent dammage.

Mr.SithNinja

If you are going to steal cash for a gaming rig, at least get a triple 8800 in SLI and the most powerful intel quadcore you cand find,8gb of ram and a 1 terabyte hdd, at least make it worth XD...

TOCATL

@DaiMacculate: haha so true. quotable shit, indeed

kw4k

@DasKonstruct: You didn't pick up the sarcasm?!? My bad.

avconsumer

@homernoy:
I can't open the article without a membership now, but it also said that it was entirely up to the DA to determine how those funds are spent, which IMO doesn't conflict with the idea that office purchases could go through it normally. Perhaps it would be added to another fund if not used by year's end.

@Witzbold:
No need to repeat, I agree entirely. Actually I'd said all of that in this thread already. All I'm saying is that the focus on the PC seems really insignificant. I'm not at all saying it should just be overlooked or anything. They could just focus on much worse parts of the case.

But I will restate that having 80% personal info on the computer is wholly meaningless. Everyone in my department knows I have about the same on mine. We're not corrupt, I just like to watch TV while having lunch...

fuchikoma

@mariospants: "Now, how did they discover that the cables glow under UV light?"

Well he must have had an ultraviolet light in his case, don't you think? This is probably one of the things that gave away the intended use for the PC. Just a guess though.

homernoy

Good grief, any decent government department uses a document management system, which means that up to 100% of his work files are gonna be on a central server, so even if he had 30 "personal files" on his PC it would come up as something like "80 percent of the content he found on the computer appeared to be personal rather than work-related."

Now, how did they discover that the cables glow under UV light? Was it specced on the invoice? Maybe the chump didn't even know he had fancy cables? Maybe that's all they had at the store he bought it from?

Anyway, by the time this goes to court, today's "high-end gaming PC" is "yesterday's pocket calculator" so it's all subjective. He could have spent $10-15k on a copier/printer and nobody would have batted an eyelid.

mariospants

Seven fans? Goodness. My big 'ole fancy gaming PC only has 4.

Cathaoir

Could've been worse - He could've been moving money around to pay for prostitues or something...

BTW - What the hell is 'Hot-Check Writing'?
Is that like 'Bad-Check Writing' (Bouncing) ???

Or is that why he needed the 7 fans?

NYC Armor Guy

@fuchikoma: Allow me to repeat myself.

"Mr. Sumrow is being tried in Dallas on charges of forgery, theft and records tampering. As part of the case, prosecutors allege that he used office funds to buy the computer for personal use."

Now the computer is just adding to that list of offenses he has. Which is a legitiment reason to have it in the article itself. Even more so if the PC contains information that was not relevant to his work itself. Which is also stated within the original article.

"Rod Gregg, an FBI senior forensic examiner, said 80 percent of the content he found on the computer appeared to be personal rather than work-related."

Granted he said its a backup computer in his defence, that still does not excuse the fact that it was bought with money that was not his own.

Witzbold

@fuchikoma: "he could have just been using up spare office purchasing budget"

Taken from the newspaper article:

"Mr. Sumrow paid for the parts with a check drawn on the district attorney's "fee fund," which contains fees collected from hot-check writers"

homernoy

@Witzbold: I really should write shit like that down somewhere.

Kotaku needs a comment history search function that works well, you, DV8 and others are always saying quotable shit and I'd love to have a better way to reference it quickly.

DaiMacculate

@Witzbold:
And I agree that what he did wasn't right, and his other charges are probably meaningful. I'm just amused by the reporting of his backup server.

I see things a bit more like HurricaneDave and patd. The computer alone would hardly raise an eyebrow at most workplaces I know of, and like Dave said, he could have just been using up spare office purchasing budget. We just gave several people in the company quad-core Xeons with 4GB RAM and 20+" LCD screens to do floor plan drafting in Autocad! Before that some of them were doing the same on P4 800MHz systems with 512MB!
If you tacked a couple of zeroes onto the price tag of the DA's PC it would be upsetting. It gets to me when someone will fly a jet across the country for a meaningless social function or pay 10,000 times the MSRP for some mundane item, but if he didn't at least have a nice computer it'd even be weird. I'm used to seeing execs at companies using fancy high-end PCs that they only use to check mail.

It's kind of like catching a kid taking a cookie and running the story in the newspaper. I could take it more seriously if they just left the computer out of the story and listed forgery, theft and records tampering which are quite serious. Maybe for some of these "other expenditures" he bought $5 pens when $0.50 ones would do?

fuchikoma

@patd:
@Mr.SithNinja:
@fuchikoma:
Not to try to throw your comments back in your face, but please: read the article. This is just one piece of a puzzle of a number of suspected criminal activities.

Even read the first line of the Kotaku post makes this clear:

A Texas District Attorney under investigation for a slew of misconduct is being accused of using public money to buy a "gimmicky" computer designed to play computer games in his office.

Despite "innocent until proven guilty", this doesn't look to me like some poor gamer caught up in over-zealous government prosecution of his hobby. Looks more like the guy was an asshole and this is just another example of it.

dv8godd

RTA
It says he bought stuff with office funding then sold them on ebay for personal gain. If that's not fraud, what is?

with_a_pH

@patd: Hes already in deep shit for this little clip taken from the original article.

"Mr. Sumrow is being tried in Dallas on charges of forgery, theft and records tampering. As part of the case, prosecutors allege that he used office funds to buy the computer for personal use."

Now the computer is just adding to that list of offenses he has.

Witzbold

Clearly, he should have bought an overpriced 2000$ Dell Laptop and left it locked to his desk permanently.

That's what pretty much everyone else does.

Koztah

@DaiMacculate: Some folks just need to be put in their proper place.

This happens to be one of those occasions.

@-EDGE-: Indeed that is a great saying. I really should write shit like that down somewhere.

@fuchikoma: I do agree there are worse folks out there, but the problem is until they are caught and brought under scrutiny like this fellow it will continue on. At least though there are times when we the "civies" can have our day and see them get busted or at least put under trial. Until then its just going to be one of those facts that we will have to live with.

Corruption and money just go hand in hand, then we know the saying money makes the world go round, so have enough of it and you can get out of pretty much any mess you make. Even more so if you are somebody important to another person in power. Unless you do something really stupid you will be out of hot water in no time with a mere slap on the wrists. As sad as that may sound its the real world we live in, much to our dismay.

Hell just look at the Bush Administration as a current example. But we dont need to get into details there.

Witzbold

@Witzbold:
/Agreee

I have a favorite saying, and I'm sure someone much smarter then I said it first. If I knew who, I'd give them proper credit. Anyhow, here goes…

Morality and ethics are like packing your own lunch, they are yours, I don't have to eat them.

-EDGE-

He needs a backup computer in his office. He has 2 options. Buy a pre-built one, or buy parts and assemble it himself. If anyone has priced out a self built system against any name brand pc, its going to come out much cheaper to do it yourself every time regardless of the number of fans and UV cables.

Trying to vilify the fact that it contained so much personal data is a stretch. It is a backup server. If his primary work machine contained that much personal data that would be more of a concern, but this is a backup computer that sits there doing backups. He also used it to backup personal documents such as ebay transactions, personal emails, and game walkthroughs. What exactly is the crime here?

If this is the best evidence they can throw out they must have a very flimsy case.

patd

@Witzbold: Heh, Kirby starting to rub ya the wrong way just a bit Witz? ;)

Totally agree that this guy needs to be nailed though, whether its a hyper-fast gaming PC or a new car anything bought with public funds not authorized is illegal. That others do it to varying degrees does nothing to change that fact.

Also he needs to get sent to the toughest prison in the state, not some fancy white-collar dorm masquerading as a prison. Maybe if we sent more corrupt Politicians there (real, butt-pounding Jail) and barred them from working in Lobbying/Public Speaking/Etc for a decade or so after their release we'd see less of this crap and Kirby's generation might be a trifle less disillusioned with the system.

Probably not though, incarceration of any severity as an effective deterrent is statistically questionable, its more useful as a restraint for the truly dangerous than as a deterrent to those not yet imprisoned.

DaiMacculate

I know for a fact the state that I live in has Dell servers at atleast 30 users desks functioning as desktop computers, for no reason what so ever except to spend money in the budget.

It sucks for hime because everyone plays that game, you have to spend the money in the budget or you will lose it. It seems someone just had it out for him.

HurricaneDave

Really? That's all? That has to be the tiniest misuse of funds by a politician I've ever heard of. He didn't fly a personal jet somewhere to have a gourmet lunch? He's not rocking a $100,000 luxury car?

So he got a nice PC instead of a glorified word processor. How much would that cost now? $3000? As a lowly IT guy if I could think of a good justification I could probably get that thing by asking for it directly... And if I copied a few eps of a TV show to the PC then 80% of the data on it would be personal here too since the rest is basically Windows and Office.

Now if he was really selling the parts for profit that would change it a bit, and it's "wrong" in the first place, but if he was just using it on his desk it has to be the smallest such expenditure by any politician to be noticed by the media.

Also, UV cables must cost like $5, and I'm weary of the term "high end video card" from an industry that would regularly call something like an SKS an "assault rifle."

fuchikoma

@dv8godd, homernoy: Now this is what I call proper comments, and not some angsty childs attempt to FIGHT TEH POWAR.

Heres a perfect example of what your train of thought is in an even more compressed manner for those who dont want their minds tainted with that wonderful logic of yours.

Kirby: "Legality means jack shit to me."

Btw since you are so concerned with "eithics" vs "leality", you can't say "legality doesn't matter... only ethics".

It's a catch-22.

Let me ask you this, whose ethics?

Yours? Ours?

How do you define "our" ethics? by something other than law?

What is the ethical way to enforce ethical behavior?

Oh... wait... that's LAW

@Mr.SithNinja: Im guessing those are a bit more hard to prove without having to actually dig into the peoples phones / call records to extract that information which would go against their "privacy" and all that. But Im guessing they signed some sort of contract (if well written) would forfeit those rights in the case they do need to do an investigation in relation to abuse of govt issued equipment.

Witzbold