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These companies are large enough and their fingers in enough pies that a total boycott will end up hurting the boycotters more than the company.

Does Sony make products used by the plain people? Boycott the whole steenkin' electronics industry!

Sony was boycott-worthy when they made their CD players so that they would refuse to play CDs burned on anything other than Music CD-R media so that independent unsigned artists seeking to distribute their works themselves still had to give media-attached royalties to the RIAA to ensure their disks would play.

Serious independent composers and recording artists can still collect their share of the CD-R royalties through an agency operated by the RIAA.

if people are allowed to leave, are people allowed to join?

a search on google gave me this:
http://www.800padutch.com/atafaq.shtml#join

"Can an outsider join the Amish church/community?"

"A local Amishman recently remarked, "You do not need to move here to adopt a lifestyle of simplicity and discipleship. You can begin wherever you are." Yes, it is possible for outsiders, through conversion and convincement, to join the Amish community, but we must quickly add that it seldom happens. First, the Amish do not evangelize and seek to add outsiders to their church. Second, outsiders would need to live among the Amish and demonstrate a genuine conversion experience and faith that results in a changed lifestyle. Third, it is extremely difficult for anyone who has not been raised without electricity, automobiles, and other modern conveniences to adjust to the austere lifestyle of the Amish. And to truly be a part of the Amish community one would need to learn the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect."

Do the Amish pay taxes? Yes, they do.

I always use 90210 for the zipcode (regardless of what company asks)... It either gets a double-take, a question like "can I have your real zipcode",

Yawn, BORING! More interesting Zip Codes:

96943: Yap, Federated States of Micronesia
37863: Pigeon Forge TN (Home of Dollywood)
20505: CIA
92328: Death Valley
80429: Climax, Colorado, highest elevation Post Office.
97834: Halfway, Oregon, also known as "Half.com"
12345: Schenectady, NY
10048: WTC ...and of course the infamous:

17534: Intercourse, but this being Slashdot, I wouldn't expect most to be familiar with that locale.

I can understand this for a startup company, as long as the company quickly moves to start covering the costs of its labor. But in the case of a wealthy organization, this means that the wealthy organization just *chooses* not to give economic justice. More for me, nothing for you.

I have been seeing this more and more, and it is part of what ails America. It comes from the move to give more to the investors, and comes from the blinds that are provided by corporate coverage, in which the investors can't see the plight of their workers.

But let me point out the results of economic injustice: if there is economic injustice, then the victim's investments remain unpaid, and in that case, it does not pay for the victim to invest!

In the case of inventors who can't afford to patent and defend their inventions, because the patent system only benefits wealthy corporations, the proper response is to not devote effort to inventing.

In the case where your compensation is not based upon justice, it does not pay to invest in an education that will make you a more valuable employee.

In the case where businesses are taxed to death, so that other businesses can recieve lucrative government contracts, it does not pay to start a business and help the economy: it pays to work your own garden instead.

In the case where individuals are taxed to death, to pay for more tax collectors, the farmer's strategy doesn't pay -- only the highway robber's strategy pays. If you want to see what this is like, look at Congo/Zaire.

If you think it is getting bad, and the problem is the government, then tell the government. If you don't think they'll listen, then it's better to leave, and find a better place.

Here's How.

If you think it is getting bad, and the problem is the people (yeah, they're all good people, they just, well, you can depend on them to do really evil things), then it's doubly important to find a better group of people.

Here's a hint.

If worst comes to worst, duck, cover the ones you love as well as possible, stay out of the way of wars as much as possible, and try to live with as much justice and charity as possible.

But the bible is absolutely right: when we choose to withhold a man's wages, we commit violence. When we choose economic theft as a regular diet, we commit murder. And we recreate our world to become a horror. Our spiritual failings definitely bring physical problems and death.

Just my two cents. That's all.

Ironically, yes the Amish hhave a website. Go figure.

For instance, in this era of G4 cubes and Titanium Powerbooks, some Apple loyalists still participate in Apple ][ users groups. What's the point? Working on a machine that has 128k of memory and uses an NTSC monitor is pointless; most wristwatches have more processing power than that nowadays.

Some people need to just grow up and change with the times. Nostalgia is good but living in the past will get you nowhere. Get a grip.

Just my 2c.

~wally