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The chips will be supplied by Kapsch ( http://www.kapsch.net/en/KapschGroup/press/articles/Pages/ktc_120810_pr.aspx ). These chips/devices are similar to the E-Z Pass in the NorthEast U.S. They are notorious for malfunctioning... http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-17/toll-poaching-ezpass/55038948/1 http://www.newstribune.com/news/2012/jun/28/e-z-pass-not-always-so-easy/ http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/49044786.html http://consumerist.com/2007/07/e-zpass-charge-you-fee-when-it-malfunctions.html The difference is that these are mandatory. If they do malfunction, how would it affect an innocent individual?

This article doesn't mention it, but a few other sites reckon that The Simpsons is to become the longest running sit-com in the world from 2005. Sadly, that crown is held by the BBC's "Last Of The Summer Wine" (1973-2003 still being filmed, 225 episodes). Although, I doubt LOTSW would ever have much political material in it!

Are you sure it's not been mentioned anywhere?

I think it has...

Mark

(I don't care if I've been trolled, that was silly fun :)

Absolutely right. In addition, if you really use a large number of disposables, you can probably cut a deal with a supplier to get a camera with the number of exposures that you need. Maybe 15, like State Farm You're probably looking at a couple of bucks per camera. Total cost of camera + developing film is probably under $10. You can buy 20-40 of these for every digital that you buy. Makes it hard to justify a digital on price alone.

Nobody who seriously trusts their life to a firearm would use one of these... the FOP membership would revolt enmasse.

Check this link... NJ put a smart gun law into effect, but law enforcement is exempt.

You may form your own theory about why that is... mine says that this technology is nowhere near ready for prime-time, and police officers know it. They have enough problems with regular guns malfunctioning, and those are simple, blow-back operated mechanical devices that any machinist can make. If the simple stuff sometimes fails, how can this complex system hope to do better?

Heh, that reminds me, heard about the St. Louis mall that tried banning black people by having a no "wearing or showing a bandanna or do rag of any color, a hat tilted or turned to the side, a single sleeve or pant leg pulled/rolled up" policy. It's true.

Why was he ever even apointed to office? Every time this man ran for office he lost miserably.

Well...not *every* time. Granted, he did get beat in the last round of elections by a corpse, but he also managed to get elected for a previous term in the Senate as well as for Governor of Missouri (twice).

Neither ABCNews nor the Slashdot write-up seem to link to the actual Privacy International site or their 2001 US Big Brother Awards page.

Also, the ABCNews article and Slashdot write-up dwell entirely on the privacy violators, while the original site also mentions that

2 awards were also given to champions of privacy. The Brandeis Award is named after US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who described privacy as "the right to be left alone." The awards are given to those have done exemplary work to protect and champion privacy.

...and awards the Brandeis Award to...

• Evan Hendricks - 20 years of publishing the Privacy Times. Hendricks goes after companies that traffic in children's private data and tells Congress how important privacy is, since they don't seem to get it most of the time.
• Julie Brill - Vermont Attorney General's Office. Brill spearheaded Vermont's litigation against the tobacco companies, and she goes after banks you sell your private data, record companies that fix prices, and drug companies that try to stamp out generics.

These are the good guys (and girls). They deserve some recognition, too.

-M

You're smart; why haven't you learned Python yet? http://diveintopython.org

However... he has given $17.1 billion to charity so far through the Gates foundation. He's also hell-bent on being the worlds greatest philanthropist, ever. Seems to be doing a pretty good job so far.

Here are a few links for further reading.

Bill Gates' foundation named nation's wealthiest
The Gates of Philanthropy Open Wide