I got sidetracked tonight by the rather sobering story of a UCLA student who was Tasered multiple times by UCPD police in the university’s Powell Library. Read on for the facts and an eyewitness account from the student threatened by police on tape after asking for identification.

These facts were compiled from the Daily Bruin’s initial and subsequent coverage, the official report [pdf] of the UCLA police department, a shaky video of the incident shot by a student in the library and witness accounts:

• UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was working in the library when a Community Service Officer approached and asked him to show school ID as part of a posted library policy barring unauthorized persons after 11PM. Mostafa did not have his ID and did not leave immediately. It is unclear if he refused to leave and, if so, whether he was belligerent. The CSO contacted the campus police, which have the same authority as municipal cops.
• Multiple campus policemen arrived as Mostafa was apparently exiting the library. One of them put a hand on Mostafa, inciting him to shout angrily.
• An officer Tasered Mostafa using the “drive stun” setting (i.e. via direct contact instead of shooting).
• After placing Mostafa in handcuffs, officers continued to Taser Mostafa multiple times. Mostafa yelled that he was cooperating and that he had a medical condition. Officers ordered him to “stand up” repeatedly, which he did not do.
• At least two dozen students witnessed the event. Multiple students demanded badge numbers from the officers on scene and told them that they were out of line. At least one of the students requesting the information was threatened with the Taser directly.

There are polarized debates raging on Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Digg and other sites over whether Mostafa did not stand up out of defiance or because the Taser incapacitated him, which is one possible effect of being Tasered for a prolonged period. Most people either believe Mostafa was intentionally being disobedient and got what he deserved, or that he was physically unable to stand up and was subsequently tortured by brutal or merely incompetent policemen.

I’m a firm believer in shades of gray. I do know that police work is unfathomably challenging and that many fine men and women carry it out honorably. I don’t know if Mostafa could stand up or not. I don’t know his initial demeanor toward the CSO or the cops since the video starts just after the police arrive. I don’t know if he actually has a medical condition.

What I do know is that I do not care, because irrespective of Mostafa’s intentions, there are two injustices here that no decent human being should tolerate.

The first is that a slight student surrounded by at least four policemen was Tasered at least three additional times after being handcuffed. If the cops believed Mostafa was consciously refusing to leave, they had more than enough manpower to lift him up and carry him out the nearby exit without risk of personal injury—which appears to be what they ultimately did anyway. The UCPD’s official account [pdf] neglects to acknowledge that Mostafa was restrained and also omits the number of times the Taser was actually used on him. Police Chief Karl Ross omitted this same information in his remarks to the press.

The second is that a student asking for police identification was directly threatened with a Taser—once on video, and once after the alleged “threat” of Mostafa had been defused and the situation was calmer. He’s the one in the white shirt near the end of the video.

I found this student through one of over a dozen Facebook groups that have emerged following the incident. This one was called “I forgot my BruinCard.. please don’t TASER me.” His name is Mher—he has asked that I not print his last name—and he told me his account.

You have the facts, whether or not you agree with my take on them. The UCLA police department and UCLA Chancellor Norman Abrams need to hear your opinion of how this situation was handled.

Update #2: The LA Times reports on the officer wielding the Taser.

Update: The UCPD has released its Taser policy.

(more…)

If I had a dollar for every time a magazine hyped a story to sell issues, I’d be a billionaire.

I guess hypotheticals aren’t Rolling Stone’s forte. Its current issue trumpets me as a “baby billionaire,” which, if you tally my liquid assets and exclude gross liabilities, is off by approximately a billion dollars.

The magazine knows that the entrepreneurs profiled in the piece aren’t billionaires, because for its feature sidebar it asked us the first thing we would buy if we had a billion dollars. I said “early retirement for everyone who helped get me there” (followed by donations to every cause I support) but that didn’t get published. I guess I should have said something more printable, such as “AN ENORMOUS YACHT ENCRUSTED WITH THE CRYSTALLIZED TEARS OF MY FALLEN COMPETITORS.”

I also find it strange that the same sidebar posits each company’s “buyout prospects” based on the amount of capital it has raised. For example, apparently the “buyout prospects” for Plaxo are: the company has raised $25 million. If funding is the telling metric, Friendster executives must be salivating.

This tale of a “secret society” of “baby billionaires” was originally pitched to us as a look at the ideas, principles and work habits that unite young entrepreneurs. I nonetheless anticipated the possibility of another BusinessWeek debacle and asked to see a preview of the article before publication. The editor never responded to me, but the photo editor told me that the magazine’s policy forbids previewing.

This is not surprising. Most publications don’t allow previews because it might tarnish their reputation if they’re seen to be soliciting the approval of their subjects. That’s fine if they do their job—and many do. But when they don’t, when the fact checkers are high on the scent of cash, our reputations are tarnished instead.

Is it any wonder that the pictures for this feature were shot in a Palo Alto hangout called the Nuthouse?

This month’s issue of Spectrum carries an introduction to Parakey, the new product Joe and I have been working on.

Thanks to the many people in the blog world who covered the story and offered input (positive and negative) about what we’re doing. I believe Matt Mullenweg was the first to break the story on the Web, and it was then graciously picked up by Matt Marshall, Dave Winer, Niall Kennedy, Om Malik, Aidan Henry, Ajaxian, Susan Mernit, Lloyd Budd, Alex Moskalyuk, Richard MacManus, Robert Accettura and others. Thanks as well to journalist David Kushner and Spectrum editor Steven Cherry for their tireless efforts to get the story right.

One quick note: there are two people pouring heart and soul into this project. The other is Joe. While Joe didn’t ask me to make this point, far too many people have been shafted by the media’s disproportionate focus on me with Firefox, and I don’t intend to let that happen again with Parakey.

Given how many startups these days “launch” online, many people seemed to assume this was the first public disclosure of the product. We’ve actually been demoing to users groups and adult introductory computer classes around the country for months to collect feedback directly from potential users. We then decided to move forward with a piece in Spectrum to attract engineering talent (we’re hiring) without prematurely setting expectations among a wider audience.

Let me take this opportunity to address some of the FAQs I saw this past week:

What is Parakey?

We think it’s the kind of product that takes hours to explain and seconds to “get” once you use it. The elevator pitch will be one of our greatest challenges, and while it will eventually be necessary, we would rather keep working now to get the product in your hands. As a result, the only description we are currently offering is the vague one in the article. The Parakey website will have more information in the coming weeks.

I will say that Parakey is not any of the three concepts that tend to fall under the loose banner of “Web OS” these days, which are (1) portals that aggregate information from multiple sources into a grid of draggable boxes; (2) faithful replicas of the desktop metaphor, windowing model and all; or (3) Web-based versions of Windows Explorer.

Isn’t it a kind of butter?

No, that’s Parkay, which I’d never even heard of when I came up with the name (seems to be before my time). See, I assumed that people would immediately think “parakeet” and made sure to secure the domain. I completely forgot to check the butter industry. Worse, this is apparently talking butter. How are we supposed to top that? Oh well, at least this name should stick.

When will Parakey be released?

When it’s ready. We have never promised a launch date and don’t expect to, but you can sign up on the website to receive notification if you’re interested. (If you already signed up here on this site, there’s no need to sign up again.)

It’s a safe bet that we will continue to work on improving Parakey so long as we can afford to eat. This means launch day will be somewhat bittersweet, since I’ll be hungry and emaciated.

Will Parakey be open source?

Yes. Keep an eye on the website for details (and source).

The article says Parakey can do everything a traditional operating system can. How preposterous! In my day, we…

The article says that Parakey does everything a traditional operating system can from the perspective of an average user. That is very different from matching an operating system on a technical level. There’s plenty of technology behind Parakey, but I assure you a memory manager isn’t part of it.

Can’t I already do this just by setting up a web server, a mail server with imaps for cell access, nfs and smb shares encrypted, VPN access from the outside and a firewall which does behavioral analysis of network traffic?

I don’t think so, Ronald, but even if you could, my family can’t. I mean, the web and mail servers and encrypted nfs and smb shares with VPN access and a firewall, sure. But the behavioral analysis gets them every time.

What a remarkably diverse lineage you have! What box did you check on your college application?

Okay okay, that’s not my family, and that’s not my living room. But if you look real closely, you’ll see an awfully out of place picture of a kid at a Marlins game. That’s me, from last year I think.