The rest of the world has known for a long time that their data isn't safe in the US, in fact they legislate that personal data cannot be stored in the US (various data privacy acts relating to multinational corporations).
When I worked at a multinational insurance company our international data storage was in Canada, UK (we served data to/from India from the UK, insanity from a performance perspective), South Africa, and Australia. No data regarding foreign citizens could be stored in the US.
This has been the case for at least 7 years or so, probably longer.
I was wondering the same thing, each paragraph is about 2 pages printed... And I hate that, much easier to read short paragraphs (and no room for notes/comments).
If you only shared with friends and family you would never get caught (and even if you were I doubt they would pursue you). The issue is sharing to the public.
I've shared my physical copy of All My Friends Are Dead with over 50 people (it takes 90 seconds to read, but it is fabulous). I'd have to work to share it with thousands of people (maybe open a library for it...). Online sharing makes it trivial to share to the masses.
It wouldn't be criminal court, it would be civil court where the burden of proof is much lower. More than likely it would never reach a court room, there would be a settlement demand and then negotiations. This approach (massive settlement demand operations) started with satellite pirates, then eventually moved into music and movies, and, apparently now books.
If the work was materially changed, in that characters or punctuation were altered, one could potentially argue that they didn't receive the original work. But probably not as their copy would still be over 99% the same as the original (or 99.999% the same for a Stephen King or George R. R. Martin novels given their length...).
The $20 temporary cell phone will never be brickable. Unless mandated by a Federal governmental agency. At that point, discontinue any sales to said country.
Especially if it is in the Middle East or North Africa and in a state of unrest. Europe, Asia, and the Americas are the biggest markets anyway ($$$).
Maybe all carriers stop selling to the public (or almost everything is bricked), and the government/military is the only entity with cellular communications abilities. The public would destroy the cellular towers. Or the US or UN, but probably the US with UN approval, drones are perfect for such tasks. As much as I hate drones, they can provide very accurate asset destruction. I have to think this through some more.
If the government is bricking everyone's phones, I have to assume that internet and physical phone connections will also be targeted. Nature of the beast. The UN will certainly be involved at or before that point, thus there is a control factor. Europe has mostly handled the Arab Spring in terms of troops on the ground, hugely to theirs and the UN's credit. The US has had primarily aid missions to allies. Syria is probably going to be another story altogether.
Only if the police take a cell phone theft seriously. If the perp was armed it might take SWAT to safely arrest said perp and recover the phone.
Recovery is the issue. Apprehending a known criminal (the person with the phone he/she stole) is dangerous.
How much human time is worth even an $800 phone and a potential violent encounter? If you consider a minimum of 3-4 cops to handle "recovery", then almost none is the answer. Even if the phone was worth $2,000 the time allotted value barely changes (and should the cops discriminate based on phone value?).
So you brick the phones (dramatically reducing the value of the phone). It may result in activists being silenced though.
Solution: Only implement the bricking option on specific models, or sell mirror-models that either brickable or not, permanently.
Those with expensive phones (geeks and yuppies, yes, I said the word yuppies, sorry for the younger crowd...) can guarantee they brick. Everyone else, not so much.
I carry a phone purchased recently, but released in 2011. It could get stolen, but the value from a fence wouldn't cover a decent dinner. Things like concealed-carry help to deter this sort of thing as well...
Interesting idea. How about using the bugs (properly prepared and ground) as an additive to ground animal meats?
The result would be a higher protein/lower fat meat that, with the animal meat would look and probably taste similar to pure animal meat.
I'd be fine with something like that (labelled accurately of course), but I've eaten grasshoppers in the past (combining them with animal meat would go a long way to making it a more pleasant experience, but that's just my cultural bias...).
There won't be a default (or a delay in interest payments). All players in the game know that would be disastrous. The Republicans in question are just trying to make a name for themselves (this is actually why it wouldn't happen, if we did delay some interest payments those same people would be political pariahs - this is all just lip service).
In fact, this article (http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/idINIndia-57573120110608) has a funny statement regarding this: The Republicans' theory is that bondholders would accept a brief delay in interest payments if it meant Washington finally addressed its long-term fiscal problems, putting the country in a stronger position to meet its debt obligations later on.
To think that a brief delay in interest payments would help our debt situation at all is laughable at best, leading to impeachment for incompetence at worst.
Interesting idea, the none of the above option for a Presidential election.
At the same time, voting for anything other than Repub or Dem is a "none of the above" vote, because we have a two-party system.
What I feel is needed is a true 3rd party, not 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th parties, such as Green, Tea Party, Libertarian; we need an agreeable third party that can compete against the two majors without a lot of interference from small parties. We need a consensus third party.
For example, my views. I'm libertarian when it comes to freedom, pro-gun rights (self and family defense), the drug war should end, and people should generally be allowed to do what they want without being monitored. I'm an old-school Republican when it comes to small government (none of the current Republicans are nothing like the old-school). I'm Democratic (liberal) when it comes to a social safety net, the poor and homeless should have a living standard above those in prison, raise their living standard or lower prison standards, many people are unfortunate beyond their ability to control things. Volunteer at a food bank to witness this (food = time, not money). Abortion should be legal, it is an unfortunate facet of civilized society, allowing for mistakes to be corrected and preventing unwanted children from entering the world (only women should be allowed to vote on the legality of such a topic). And, due to my poor versus prison population views, there should be a minimum level of health care for everyone, but without the Obamacare "tax" for not having insurance. Canada and Europe have proven approaches to medical care, we stick with the profit above all else model.
The splintered state of 3rd parties is our primary problem, there isn't enough support behind any single party for it to be effective. We need A 3rd party, not a dozen. Divided we stand, united we fall and all of that...
The Uniparty system we are under is the problem, so swaying the vote would be ineffective. The Repubs and Dems are basically the same, at least when it comes to power and surveillance. Both parties like the power. And abuse it.
The problem is getting access to high level elections, and coalescing people on a third party. It is a difficult problem.
The NSA can record all communications. They use back-scatter X-ray and medical imaging to read all physical mail correspondence (honey, have you notice the mail delivery has been slower lately?). They know how the unpublished Stephen King novel ends (and begins). And of course all electronic communications are captured. And your phone calls, got it.
But their saving grace is their Public Service Announcement: Yes, the TSA may be collecting everything, but this isn't Total Information Awareness. We have the Total Information part covered, but we're having a hard time with the Awareness part. So don't worry, be happy.
Preface: For the record, I didn't vote for either of the last two Presidents (or their major opponents), but I can and will defend another's record if I feel it is misstated.
I not only searched for but I RTFAs to research this... Obama's military history, before this bit of research, was passe to me, no really big news like wars, no unusually high troop deaths or such.
First, from what I can find, the PDF below (military intervention in Arab Spring uprisings, published in 2011) below shows US military intervention in the Arab Spring has consisted of:
* Bahrain – None.
* Libya – UN forces led by France and the UK (with UAE and Qatar air force involvement), US involvement involved some naval assets firing Tomahawk missiles to disable the Libyan air defenses. After that we provided aid to our European allies but no combat forces.
* Syria – Some aid to the rebels up to this point.
In no way am I disparaging your comment, my intent is to determine the true measure of Obama's military intervention history, and we can certainly have differing opinions as of things that have happened. I know my sources are a couple of years old, so I could be missing something (even something obvious that I already know....), is there more to the story than this?
Oh, and Congress was the problem with Guantanamo Bay, it is the most blatant bit of human indignity and torture in our recent future. I'm sure it has created 100 times the number of terrorists as their are captives. Solution: Send everyone to the country of their citizenship, or birth. No returns accepted. Give Cuba the base for free, they'll probably make a museum out of it...
6th degree of Bacon related, open up relations with Cuba for heaven's sake...
I'll give you some justification on Afghanistan, and yes, the way it has been handled is pretty bad, but I'm not sure how else it could have been handled (Iraq seems to be on the verge of civil war, Afghanistan will probably be once we leave - this would making leaving early the best decision, instead we stay for years trying to make a "more perfect union" out of groups that don't like each other). I think history will show that the wars were largely futile because they won't be truly stable for some time (they were wars of attrition the entire time, and people in their homeland will fight forever...).
I feel that Saudi Arabia should have gotten a lot more scrutiny, only 19 out of 20 terrorists were from there. That blows my mind statistically. Not a war of course, but maybe some UN sanctions. Of course they are off limits from even criticism due to their oil.
I have seen those, a bit pricey given I have no opportunity to backpack these days. Once the kids are 5-6 and can go on shorter trips I might have to get one.
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Regarding the heroin, does one not "possess" the contents of one's body?
Could be pedantic, but given the potential invasiviness of police encounters (you certainly own the alcohol in your blood) I don't think it is.
As well, public intoxication is illegal where I live, regardless of how you act (although acting normally shouldn't get you caught).
Anyway, interesting thought.
I would be interesting if Monsanto was also working on insects/plants that can defeat their products as they come off of patent protection...
Of course nature is doing this already (for patent protected products), Roundup resistant weeds are spreading very quickly it appears (25% expansion in 2011, 51% in 2012, per the link):
http://farmindustrynews.com/herbicides/glyphosate-resistant-weed-problem-extends-more-species-more-farms
Such policy only really applies to the time around Valentine's Day:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/20000-tons-of-pubic-hair-trimmed-in-preparation-fo,2909/
That's right, 20,000 tons...
The rest of the world has known for a long time that their data isn't safe in the US, in fact they legislate that personal data cannot be stored in the US (various data privacy acts relating to multinational corporations).
When I worked at a multinational insurance company our international data storage was in Canada, UK (we served data to/from India from the UK, insanity from a performance perspective), South Africa, and Australia. No data regarding foreign citizens could be stored in the US.
This has been the case for at least 7 years or so, probably longer.
I was wondering the same thing, each paragraph is about 2 pages printed... And I hate that, much easier to read short paragraphs (and no room for notes/comments).
What she meant to say was that they are subject to sufficient SECRET legal oversight.
The plebes don't care anyway, they are watching TV.
Here's a handy link to the Gutenberg Project version of The Trial by Kafka:
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7849/pg7849.html
I've never read it, at least until now.
Fascism actually seems like a centrist position at this point...
If you only shared with friends and family you would never get caught (and even if you were I doubt they would pursue you). The issue is sharing to the public.
I've shared my physical copy of All My Friends Are Dead with over 50 people (it takes 90 seconds to read, but it is fabulous). I'd have to work to share it with thousands of people (maybe open a library for it...). Online sharing makes it trivial to share to the masses.
It wouldn't be criminal court, it would be civil court where the burden of proof is much lower. More than likely it would never reach a court room, there would be a settlement demand and then negotiations. This approach (massive settlement demand operations) started with satellite pirates, then eventually moved into music and movies, and, apparently now books.
If the work was materially changed, in that characters or punctuation were altered, one could potentially argue that they didn't receive the original work. But probably not as their copy would still be over 99% the same as the original (or 99.999% the same for a Stephen King or George R. R. Martin novels given their length...).
Makes me want to watch Kill Bill again...
Replying to myself to expand a bit.
The $20 temporary cell phone will never be brickable. Unless mandated by a Federal governmental agency. At that point, discontinue any sales to said country.
Especially if it is in the Middle East or North Africa and in a state of unrest. Europe, Asia, and the Americas are the biggest markets anyway ($$$).
Maybe all carriers stop selling to the public (or almost everything is bricked), and the government/military is the only entity with cellular communications abilities. The public would destroy the cellular towers. Or the US or UN, but probably the US with UN approval, drones are perfect for such tasks. As much as I hate drones, they can provide very accurate asset destruction. I have to think this through some more.
If the government is bricking everyone's phones, I have to assume that internet and physical phone connections will also be targeted. Nature of the beast. The UN will certainly be involved at or before that point, thus there is a control factor. Europe has mostly handled the Arab Spring in terms of troops on the ground, hugely to theirs and the UN's credit. The US has had primarily aid missions to allies. Syria is probably going to be another story altogether.
Only if the police take a cell phone theft seriously. If the perp was armed it might take SWAT to safely arrest said perp and recover the phone.
Recovery is the issue. Apprehending a known criminal (the person with the phone he/she stole) is dangerous.
How much human time is worth even an $800 phone and a potential violent encounter? If you consider a minimum of 3-4 cops to handle "recovery", then almost none is the answer. Even if the phone was worth $2,000 the time allotted value barely changes (and should the cops discriminate based on phone value?).
So you brick the phones (dramatically reducing the value of the phone). It may result in activists being silenced though.
Solution: Only implement the bricking option on specific models, or sell mirror-models that either brickable or not, permanently.
Those with expensive phones (geeks and yuppies, yes, I said the word yuppies, sorry for the younger crowd...) can guarantee they brick. Everyone else, not so much.
I carry a phone purchased recently, but released in 2011. It could get stolen, but the value from a fence wouldn't cover a decent dinner. Things like concealed-carry help to deter this sort of thing as well...
He won't be saving anything. It will be a movie about a old cyborg trying to keep the younger generation off his lawn.
Interesting idea. How about using the bugs (properly prepared and ground) as an additive to ground animal meats?
The result would be a higher protein/lower fat meat that, with the animal meat would look and probably taste similar to pure animal meat.
I'd be fine with something like that (labelled accurately of course), but I've eaten grasshoppers in the past (combining them with animal meat would go a long way to making it a more pleasant experience, but that's just my cultural bias...).
There won't be a default (or a delay in interest payments). All players in the game know that would be disastrous. The Republicans in question are just trying to make a name for themselves (this is actually why it wouldn't happen, if we did delay some interest payments those same people would be political pariahs - this is all just lip service).
In fact, this article (http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/idINIndia-57573120110608) has a funny statement regarding this:
The Republicans' theory is that bondholders would accept a brief delay in interest payments if it meant Washington finally addressed its long-term fiscal problems, putting the country in a stronger position to meet its debt obligations later on.
To think that a brief delay in interest payments would help our debt situation at all is laughable at best, leading to impeachment for incompetence at worst.
Interesting idea, the none of the above option for a Presidential election.
At the same time, voting for anything other than Repub or Dem is a "none of the above" vote, because we have a two-party system.
What I feel is needed is a true 3rd party, not 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th parties, such as Green, Tea Party, Libertarian; we need an agreeable third party that can compete against the two majors without a lot of interference from small parties. We need a consensus third party.
For example, my views. I'm libertarian when it comes to freedom, pro-gun rights (self and family defense), the drug war should end, and people should generally be allowed to do what they want without being monitored. I'm an old-school Republican when it comes to small government (none of the current Republicans are nothing like the old-school). I'm Democratic (liberal) when it comes to a social safety net, the poor and homeless should have a living standard above those in prison, raise their living standard or lower prison standards, many people are unfortunate beyond their ability to control things. Volunteer at a food bank to witness this (food = time, not money). Abortion should be legal, it is an unfortunate facet of civilized society, allowing for mistakes to be corrected and preventing unwanted children from entering the world (only women should be allowed to vote on the legality of such a topic). And, due to my poor versus prison population views, there should be a minimum level of health care for everyone, but without the Obamacare "tax" for not having insurance. Canada and Europe have proven approaches to medical care, we stick with the profit above all else model.
The splintered state of 3rd parties is our primary problem, there isn't enough support behind any single party for it to be effective. We need A 3rd party, not a dozen. Divided we stand, united we fall and all of that...
Awesome, and thanks for not posting a Facebook link....
The Uniparty system we are under is the problem, so swaying the vote would be ineffective. The Repubs and Dems are basically the same, at least when it comes to power and surveillance. Both parties like the power. And abuse it.
The problem is getting access to high level elections, and coalescing people on a third party. It is a difficult problem.
Someday in the future:
The NSA can record all communications. They use back-scatter X-ray and medical imaging to read all physical mail correspondence (honey, have you notice the mail delivery has been slower lately?). They know how the unpublished Stephen King novel ends (and begins). And of course all electronic communications are captured. And your phone calls, got it.
But their saving grace is their Public Service Announcement:
Yes, the TSA may be collecting everything, but this isn't Total Information Awareness. We have the Total Information part covered, but we're having a hard time with the Awareness part. So don't worry, be happy.
Terrible fail, "recent future"... Obviously, "recent past".
Preface: For the record, I didn't vote for either of the last two Presidents (or their major opponents), but I can and will defend another's record if I feel it is misstated.
I not only searched for but I RTFAs to research this... Obama's military history, before this bit of research, was passe to me, no really big news like wars, no unusually high troop deaths or such.
First, from what I can find, the PDF below (military intervention in Arab Spring uprisings, published in 2011) below shows US military intervention in the Arab Spring has consisted of:
* Bahrain – None.
* Libya – UN forces led by France and the UK (with UAE and Qatar air force involvement), US involvement involved some naval assets firing Tomahawk missiles to disable the Libyan air defenses. After that we provided aid to our European allies but no combat forces.
* Syria – Some aid to the rebels up to this point.
http://cdn.www.inss.org.il.reblazecdn.net/upload/(FILE)1359898292.pdf
As well, looking over the various Arab Spring movements, there are many that didn't have any external military intervention (more countries than I thought):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Arab_Spring
And for a summary, from late 2011, it's a good summary that opines his military intervention record isn't bad:
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2011/10/26-obama-ohanlon
In no way am I disparaging your comment, my intent is to determine the true measure of Obama's military intervention history, and we can certainly have differing opinions as of things that have happened. I know my sources are a couple of years old, so I could be missing something (even something obvious that I already know....), is there more to the story than this?
Oh, and Congress was the problem with Guantanamo Bay, it is the most blatant bit of human indignity and torture in our recent future. I'm sure it has created 100 times the number of terrorists as their are captives. Solution: Send everyone to the country of their citizenship, or birth. No returns accepted. Give Cuba the base for free, they'll probably make a museum out of it...
6th degree of Bacon related, open up relations with Cuba for heaven's sake...
I'll give you some justification on Afghanistan, and yes, the way it has been handled is pretty bad, but I'm not sure how else it could have been handled (Iraq seems to be on the verge of civil war, Afghanistan will probably be once we leave - this would making leaving early the best decision, instead we stay for years trying to make a "more perfect union" out of groups that don't like each other). I think history will show that the wars were largely futile because they won't be truly stable for some time (they were wars of attrition the entire time, and people in their homeland will fight forever...).
I feel that Saudi Arabia should have gotten a lot more scrutiny, only 19 out of 20 terrorists were from there. That blows my mind statistically. Not a war of course, but maybe some UN sanctions. Of course they are off limits from even criticism due to their oil.
I have seen those, a bit pricey given I have no opportunity to backpack these days. Once the kids are 5-6 and can go on shorter trips I might have to get one.