I find this whole idea to be utterly blasphemous and repugnant. For fuck's sake, you want people to be exposed to the works of Shakespeare? Go see a play! If they're more interested after that then they'll sit still to read the scripts later!
Plain and simple, I want to point out who else, traditionally, does not enjoy privacy:
Small children
Criminals in prison
Livestock/property
Slaves
Are you not one of the above? Then you deserve to not be spied on in your home, on the internet, in your telephone calls, emails, or physical mail. Period. The government needs to bugger off.
That's because it's not only frivolous, it's flat-out stupid. Don't know about anyone else, but I don't need or want so-called "smart" appliances or lightbulbs. I don't want someone else deciding when I can dry my clothes, or run my air conditioner, or be able to make my lights go on and off, or maybe hack my refrigerator and ruin hundreds of dollars of food "for the lulz". If I can't maintain direct control over things in my living space, then they need to go.
Arguably, the advertising asshats are using my bandwidth by putting all that extra crap I didn't request.
Hear, hear! You want me to be unable to block your ads or your tracking? Then give me the option of broadband for FREE instead of having to pay for it. Otherwise, fuck off, I'll keep using NoScript and AdBlock+ and FlashBlock and anything else I can get my hands on to keep control over what gets on my screen and what gets run on my hardware. You don't like it? Tough shit.
so long as you don't spend time and money opposing the government
Yeah, sure. Because it's not like I've read stories about Chinese citizens who tried to just have the law enforced, only to be arrested, declared insane, put in a mental institution, pumped full of drugs every day, until they recanted their legal claims and justifiable demands to have a law enforced, then were released. Or, Tiananmen Square. Or, being a Westerner living in China; talk about having a target on your back! Sure thing pal, sounds like a goddamned paradise compared to here, I'll sell everything I own and emigrate right away!
If you've been reading here regularly you know that TOR is compromised now anyway, as is pretty much all internet usage. I don't even personally believe that any form of encryption available to the general public is even safe from prying eyes anymore.
At this point in time I cannot honestly believe that even encryptions currently available to John Q. Public are not as compromised as all electronic communications have been revealed to be. You want your data to be safe? I recommend maintaining an air gap between whatever devices are storing it and any network connected to the public Internet. Consider not using any electronic means at all for conversations very important to you as apparently it's all up for grabs now by whatever alphabet-letter government agency that decides they want to know.
The word we're looking for here, I think, is "oversight" This is still supposed to be government "by the people, for the people" so there should be direct citizen oversight of the NSA, CIA, FBI, military intelligence, and any other alphabet-soup agencies within the government, preferably standing there with a big, heavy hardwood yardstick, ready to smack down hard on the knuckles of anyone of these goddamned spooks getting too nosy into what other honest, hardworking, tax-paying citizens are up to in their normal, everyday, absolutely non-terrorist lives. Of course the problem with that, is that the people involved in the oversight are going to be human beings, full of the same flaws that all other human beings are full of, and that's quite a powerful position to be in. No, I think maybe the best solution here is to have citizen oversight into the complete and total dismantlement of these surveillance networks, and make them go back to the good old days of actually doing "police work" to track down so-called "terrorists" and other wrong-doers, instead of using "protecting America" as an excuse for their blatant spying on everyone. The United States of America is not supposed to be a goddamned prison for it's citizens, where we're under armed guard 24 hours a day/365 days a year by those that are supposed to be serving us, and if these intelligence community jackasses don't like it, then they can all go to hell.
How about capital punishment, for that matter? Would certainly deter crime, wouldn't it? Oh, but there's that nasty little wrinkle of if you make a mistake and convict the wrong person. In the former case you beat and perhaps permanently scar or injure someone who was innocent. In the latter case, you can't resurrect the dead!
I could care less what technological advancements Islam has brought to the world so long as they're still beating and imprisoning people for speaking their mind, throwing acid in the faces of little girls for daring to learn to read and write, or killing people who refuse to convert to their religion instead of respecting the individuals' choice to believe in whatever god they want to, or to believe in no gods at all.
what makes you think they don't avoid us because we're not violent enough?
In that case I'd think it more likely they'd think, "Wow, what a bunch of pussies, let's kill them, enslave them, and take their resources", that's why.
If there's really a Great Whatshisname out there in the Universe who is omniscient and omnipotent and can create reality out of nothingness, then he/she/it is welcome to introduce him/her/itself to me personally, and we'll have a nice little chat about the State Of Things in his/her/it's Creation. Until such a time as that occurs, I'll just keep going about my business like I usually do.;-)
..there's very, very, very little indication that they're some sort of peace-loving, universally understanding utopian delusion-based gods
Sure, but for the sake of my sanity and that little spark of innocence and optimism I still retain, I'd rather believe that any species capable of interstellar travel, assuming there is such a thing, has evolved physiologically and socially to the point where they're better at their worst than we are at our worst. This is not to say I'd 100% assume this if 'they' showed up suddenly -- trust, but verify, I say.
Not meaning to imply that at all. The so-called 'lower animals' don't have all this messy cognitive ability futzing with their hard-wired instincts like with humans, but we're still closer to being like them than we are to being what I'd consider truly civilized.
Yes, or that. It's probably more likely some civilization will have unlocked the secret to dramatically extending lifespan and therefore could travel interstellar distances at relativistic speeds. With how we still act as a race it would be a bad joke on them if they spent centuries getting here just to discover how disappointing we can be.
I'm not so arrogant to believe that we've discovered everything physics has to offer, so I'll still hold out for the possibility of methods of travelling interstellar distances in relatively short periods of time.
Yet another prime example of why alien civilizations won't contact us openly: How can a truly civilized race possibly take us as anything other than animals when we still do things like this? Our so-called "civilization" is just as thin a patina over the animal underneath as our neo-cortex is over the rest of our brains. It's positively heartbreaking to read of things like this in this day and age when I know that the human race, at it's best, is in such stark contrast with such senseless ignorance and brutality.
No, I'm not joking, and I'm not trolling either; this is really how I feel about this, and I don't care if anyone likes it or not. Bracing for being flamed all the way down to "-1, Troll" for daring to speak my mind, which ironically enough will prove my point for me better than I can prove it myself.
Hasn't this been tried about a million times before, with the same result every single time? That's where 7334 came from, after all, to get around word filters. Are they going to ban euphemisms, abbreviations, innuendo, and implications as well? Didn't work before, won't work this time. They may as well just ban the internet entirely.
As if the powers-that-be weren't already looking for excuses to criminalize Tor, shut it down, and arrest people involved with it, now it's a certainty. Between overtly oppresive governments wishing to further tighten their grip on their citizens, and the U.S. and other Western countries wanting to destroy every notion of privacy for it's citizens and spying on everyone, this is just the excuse they all need to start black-bagging Tor operators and users. Thanks so much, assholes, for further ruining the world for everyone.
So not only did some idiot do this with his own money as a "guerilla art project", but he posts it on a public website, that was located by the/. reading public in no time at all? So this guy wants to go to jail, pay likely some enormous fines, plus be required to pay (no doubt exhorbitant) State costs for removal of said signs? How is it that someone with obviously less than an IQ of 50 can operate a website, take pictures, formulate a plan like this, etc?
No, you have our apologies, for being a world power that is, through it's actions and poor choices, setting a bad example for the other nations of the world. I always believed that the United States stood for freedom, democracy, and a high overall standard for how it's citizens (and would-be citizens, for that matter) are treated with regards to their basic human rights. As it turns out that United States never existed, it was just a fanciful dream (read as: "A pack of lies") that we were encouraged to believe in. I'm afraid that there are dark times ahead for the Western world, and a desperate fight to restore the balance here and in many first-world countries. I would hope to live long enough to see and end to the sort of fascism that is brewing here, but now being far too cynical, I will settle for hoping that I don't live long enough to see my door kicked in in the middle of the night, a black bag shoved over my head, and my life ending in some windowless cell in an American gulag.
Slashdot Mirror
I find this whole idea to be utterly blasphemous and repugnant. For fuck's sake, you want people to be exposed to the works of Shakespeare? Go see a play! If they're more interested after that then they'll sit still to read the scripts later!
Are you not one of the above? Then you deserve to not be spied on in your home, on the internet, in your telephone calls, emails, or physical mail. Period. The government needs to bugger off.
That's because it's not only frivolous, it's flat-out stupid.
Don't know about anyone else, but I don't need or want so-called "smart" appliances or lightbulbs. I don't want someone else deciding when I can dry my clothes, or run my air conditioner, or be able to make my lights go on and off, or maybe hack my refrigerator and ruin hundreds of dollars of food "for the lulz". If I can't maintain direct control over things in my living space, then they need to go.
Arguably, the advertising asshats are using my bandwidth by putting all that extra crap I didn't request.
Hear, hear!
You want me to be unable to block your ads or your tracking? Then give me the option of broadband for FREE instead of having to pay for it. Otherwise, fuck off, I'll keep using NoScript and AdBlock+ and FlashBlock and anything else I can get my hands on to keep control over what gets on my screen and what gets run on my hardware. You don't like it? Tough shit.
so long as you don't spend time and money opposing the government
Yeah, sure. Because it's not like I've read stories about Chinese citizens who tried to just have the law enforced, only to be arrested, declared insane, put in a mental institution, pumped full of drugs every day, until they recanted their legal claims and justifiable demands to have a law enforced, then were released. Or, Tiananmen Square. Or, being a Westerner living in China; talk about having a target on your back! Sure thing pal, sounds like a goddamned paradise compared to here, I'll sell everything I own and emigrate right away!
Good luck with that, it's actually worse everywhere else from what I can see.
If you've been reading here regularly you know that TOR is compromised now anyway, as is pretty much all internet usage. I don't even personally believe that any form of encryption available to the general public is even safe from prying eyes anymore.
At this point in time I cannot honestly believe that even encryptions currently available to John Q. Public are not as compromised as all electronic communications have been revealed to be. You want your data to be safe? I recommend maintaining an air gap between whatever devices are storing it and any network connected to the public Internet. Consider not using any electronic means at all for conversations very important to you as apparently it's all up for grabs now by whatever alphabet-letter government agency that decides they want to know.
The word we're looking for here, I think, is "oversight"
This is still supposed to be government "by the people, for the people" so there should be direct citizen oversight of the NSA, CIA, FBI, military intelligence, and any other alphabet-soup agencies within the government, preferably standing there with a big, heavy hardwood yardstick, ready to smack down hard on the knuckles of anyone of these goddamned spooks getting too nosy into what other honest, hardworking, tax-paying citizens are up to in their normal, everyday, absolutely non-terrorist lives. Of course the problem with that, is that the people involved in the oversight are going to be human beings, full of the same flaws that all other human beings are full of, and that's quite a powerful position to be in. No, I think maybe the best solution here is to have citizen oversight into the complete and total dismantlement of these surveillance networks, and make them go back to the good old days of actually doing "police work" to track down so-called "terrorists" and other wrong-doers, instead of using "protecting America" as an excuse for their blatant spying on everyone. The United States of America is not supposed to be a goddamned prison for it's citizens, where we're under armed guard 24 hours a day/365 days a year by those that are supposed to be serving us, and if these intelligence community jackasses don't like it, then they can all go to hell.
Electric-razor-using master-race here, I haven't had to buy razor blades for the last 5 years, and my face is as smooth as glass.
Stay pleb, bladed-razor users! xD
corporal punishment
How about capital punishment, for that matter? Would certainly deter crime, wouldn't it? Oh, but there's that nasty little wrinkle of if you make a mistake and convict the wrong person. In the former case you beat and perhaps permanently scar or injure someone who was innocent. In the latter case, you can't resurrect the dead!
I could care less what technological advancements Islam has brought to the world so long as they're still beating and imprisoning people for speaking their mind, throwing acid in the faces of little girls for daring to learn to read and write, or killing people who refuse to convert to their religion instead of respecting the individuals' choice to believe in whatever god they want to, or to believe in no gods at all.
what makes you think they don't avoid us because we're not violent enough?
In that case I'd think it more likely they'd think, "Wow, what a bunch of pussies, let's kill them, enslave them, and take their resources", that's why.
My problem with your post is your use of the words: "us", "we", "Our". This is a legitimate reason to downvote your post, and shows a lack of insight.
Why? I'm including the human race as a whole. How could I do anything different?
..when we still dont worship the Great Kztplrhw..
If there's really a Great Whatshisname out there in the Universe who is omniscient and omnipotent and can create reality out of nothingness, then he/she/it is welcome to introduce him/her/itself to me personally, and we'll have a nice little chat about the State Of Things in his/her/it's Creation. Until such a time as that occurs, I'll just keep going about my business like I usually do. ;-)
So I guess that proves you are wrong. Ironic, isn't it?
I'm perfectly happy in this instance to be completely wrong on that point, it restores some of my faith in humanity. ;-)
..there's very, very, very little indication that they're some sort of peace-loving, universally understanding utopian delusion-based gods
Sure, but for the sake of my sanity and that little spark of innocence and optimism I still retain, I'd rather believe that any species capable of interstellar travel, assuming there is such a thing, has evolved physiologically and socially to the point where they're better at their worst than we are at our worst. This is not to say I'd 100% assume this if 'they' showed up suddenly -- trust, but verify, I say.
Not meaning to imply that at all. The so-called 'lower animals' don't have all this messy cognitive ability futzing with their hard-wired instincts like with humans, but we're still closer to being like them than we are to being what I'd consider truly civilized.
or the aliens live a very long time.
Yes, or that. It's probably more likely some civilization will have unlocked the secret to dramatically extending lifespan and therefore could travel interstellar distances at relativistic speeds. With how we still act as a race it would be a bad joke on them if they spent centuries getting here just to discover how disappointing we can be.
I'm not so arrogant to believe that we've discovered everything physics has to offer, so I'll still hold out for the possibility of methods of travelling interstellar distances in relatively short periods of time.
Yet another prime example of why alien civilizations won't contact us openly: How can a truly civilized race possibly take us as anything other than animals when we still do things like this? Our so-called "civilization" is just as thin a patina over the animal underneath as our neo-cortex is over the rest of our brains. It's positively heartbreaking to read of things like this in this day and age when I know that the human race, at it's best, is in such stark contrast with such senseless ignorance and brutality.
No, I'm not joking, and I'm not trolling either; this is really how I feel about this, and I don't care if anyone likes it or not.
Bracing for being flamed all the way down to "-1, Troll" for daring to speak my mind, which ironically enough will prove my point for me better than I can prove it myself.
Hasn't this been tried about a million times before, with the same result every single time? That's where 7334 came from, after all, to get around word filters. Are they going to ban euphemisms, abbreviations, innuendo, and implications as well? Didn't work before, won't work this time. They may as well just ban the internet entirely.
As if the powers-that-be weren't already looking for excuses to criminalize Tor, shut it down, and arrest people involved with it, now it's a certainty. Between overtly oppresive governments wishing to further tighten their grip on their citizens, and the U.S. and other Western countries wanting to destroy every notion of privacy for it's citizens and spying on everyone, this is just the excuse they all need to start black-bagging Tor operators and users. Thanks so much, assholes, for further ruining the world for everyone.
So not only did some idiot do this with his own money as a "guerilla art project", but he posts it on a public website, that was located by the /. reading public in no time at all? So this guy wants to go to jail, pay likely some enormous fines, plus be required to pay (no doubt exhorbitant) State costs for removal of said signs? How is it that someone with obviously less than an IQ of 50 can operate a website, take pictures, formulate a plan like this, etc?
No, you have our apologies, for being a world power that is, through it's actions and poor choices, setting a bad example for the other nations of the world. I always believed that the United States stood for freedom, democracy, and a high overall standard for how it's citizens (and would-be citizens, for that matter) are treated with regards to their basic human rights. As it turns out that United States never existed, it was just a fanciful dream (read as: "A pack of lies") that we were encouraged to believe in. I'm afraid that there are dark times ahead for the Western world, and a desperate fight to restore the balance here and in many first-world countries. I would hope to live long enough to see and end to the sort of fascism that is brewing here, but now being far too cynical, I will settle for hoping that I don't live long enough to see my door kicked in in the middle of the night, a black bag shoved over my head, and my life ending in some windowless cell in an American gulag.