"OS X can't be compromised if you're not stupid"
I can say the exact thing for a Windows box. I personally never have had malware of any kind since 3.11. MS has had a bigger user base and thus a better probability of people doing something stupid like not setting the most basic security settings, running everything as an admin user, clicking on links in e-mail from anyone, and not being diligent in keeping their system updated with service packs. All basic common sense precautions and second nature for the technically adept.
The Palestinians are not breeching the wall I am referring to. They dig tunnels in other areas closer to the other borders which are not protected by this beast of a wall. I don't know if you can find any pictures online but that wall looks like a combination of the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line, and outer walls of a super max prison. It was built for the sole purpose of preventing attacks against their major population centers and it has fulfilled that objective.
We can just the Israelis to give us the plans for creating an effective border barrier. I have seen that wall in person and I don't think anything short of a nuke could breach it. Or we could just enforce our current immigration laws starting with the businesses who rely on basically slave labor rates. There is no problem with legal immigration and I don't support a big hunt for exisitng illegal aliens to take place either. That doesn't mean I am against illiegal aliens who get found out by the authorities. I also believe there can be cases where automatic deportation is not warranted under certain conditions but the wholesale run on the border should be stopped. "The rich want to turn the middle class into peasants?" With that loser attitude you might as well go down to welfare office now to avoid the rush. That will give you a lot of time to make posters and attend rallies and shout slogans so you can prevent this tragedy. Or you could try being a productive citizen who takes control of his own life and someone who takes the blame for your own failures instead of blaming someone else for all your troubles.
When large groups of people try to agree on issues the bigger the group the harder it becomes to formulate an agreement that even the majority will accept without complaint. The best you can hope for is electing someone who will at least not make anything worse than it already is while at the same time at least trying to address and fix a few of the more managable problems. Radical changes require time. People tend to igonore the simple fact that it takes time to implement meaningful changes. The US has only been an ongoing concern for 250 years yet in that time we have faced and abolished slavery, inacted a constitution and bill of rights that still stand the test of time today, provided equal rights and protections to women, instituted protections in the workplace, implemented a minimum wage standard, and basically succeeded in insuring that opportunities for success is available for all. These just represent a few things the US has had to deal with. 50 years ago would anyone have believed that the US would ever have a black man for President. There has not been a time in the history of the US when there has not been big problems and turmoil to overcome. We have survived the Revolutionary War,Civil War, Robber barons era, The Great depression, WW1,WW2, Womens Rights struggle, Korea, Civil Rights struggle, President Assasisnations,OPEC boycotts, rotating economic highs and lows, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There has always been some crisis going on in the US that someone was upset about and shouting warnings that the sky is falling or that there is no more hope. The problems and ills we face today are nothing any worse than those we have already overcome and it really pisses me off when people don't take time to put things in prospective. Copyright laws? Please.
We can solve or at least slowdown the descent to a 3rd world country by doing something about locking down our boarders. However if you can't succeed and lead a decent life in the US you damn well won't have an easier time any where else. Your whole peasant class BS makes you sound like a loser looking for reasons to explain your own worthlessness.
Apple has decidied to get involved? Well good for them. Up to yesterday if you called their user support help line the people answering the calls were specifically told to downplay the whole McDefender problem. They were specifically told to not give out instructions on how to manually remove the malware or even really aknowledge it as a problem while basically jerking the customer around until they gave up. People have been saying for years that the MS security problems were a result of their large market share thus making a big target and that the other OS's would be just as vulnerable if anyone thought it was worth the trouble to target. Sort of looks like that idea is going to be put to the test. Android also presents a juicy target today and if you think that OS can't be compromised you are living in fantasy land.
Yes obtaining justice in their own system is really, really hard but if they are not able to over come their own problems by themselves why should anyone else be burdened by their failures? It's all fine and dandy manning the barricades, shouting slogans, and firing AK-47's into the air but after the fun is over the hard part starts. It seems to me that all the revolutionaries in the world would be better served if they actually had a plan on what to do after they finish bringing down the system. If the protesters don't have a plan you can rest assured that other segments of their society do and they are usually worse than the leaders they have just booted. Just ask the Iranian student leaders in 1980 what happens when you take your eye off the ball. If they hadn't been so concerned with poking the US in the eye with the hostage standoff the mullahs would not have had the time to organize the real takeover. I have yet to see any indication of social progress being made in any of the countries under going upheavals in the middle east. No new policies put forward to address the economy, elections, employment issues, or even basic civil rights. All you hear about are lawsuits and criminal prosecutions of the fallen regime leadership figures and parties which do nothing but increase animosity and internal conflict which in turn does nothing but prolong the misery. Sometimes the easiest way to move forward is to let go of retribution and hatred and just move forward. There is always time to revisit the wrongs of the past after things get put back on track. If the people wanting change in the middle east can not put their hatred on the back burner and move forward they never will succeed in creating a better life for themselves.
It makes me happy to know that there are people in the world today that are not only capable of theorizing about and testing the universe around us but there are also those who will fund these types of activities without expecting a normal return on their investment.
The exceptions to the 4th amendment dealing with national security issues do provide a free pass for someone to gain access to your papers however any prosecutions are still subject to judicial review before prosecution. Whether this is done using a FISA warrant or no warrant at all the enforcement agency will need to provide justification showing that the warrantless action was executed in good faith or the request proves itself after the fact. Such as a notebook containing the activation and location of a nuclear device that is about to detonate. The law enforcement agencies say the hell with a warrant and bust in to get the notebook to locate and disarm the device. In this situation the 4th amendment is clearly being violated. Is this justified? If the police busted into your house today without a warrant and seized your diary containing all the details of the 20 people you killed they would not be able to use it against you in court, however they may have prevented you from claiming another victim. There are several ways around the 4th amendment in a situation like this but if the prosecution cannot avail themselves to the other remedies (such as inevitable discovery) you could not be prosecutred on the diary evidence alone. As far as supreme court judges go they have the freedom to ignore any and all political pressures after they are appointed to the court. Out of all of our government positons of power their position doesn't require them to bend their will to anyones politics except their own. A president and congress have no leverage against these people after they get confirmed. This doesn't mean they can't make bonehead decisions on their own and they probably do go through the motions of at least listening to other opinions but I just can't see them as politically driven power mongers looking to usurp the citizens rights. If there is any undue influence peddling in this area of government I would focus on the clerks who manage and provide all the information a judge uses when analysing a case and rendering a decision. These people are usually the ones looking for future federal court appointments and for that they do need political support.
What evidence do you have that the 4th Amendment is not being applied as intended today? The 4th amendment is used by the Judiciary to ascertain if the enforcement agencies collected the evidence legally. You might get arrested by someone violating your 4th amendment rights but actually convicting you of a crime is something else. Most domestic enforcement agencies go out of their way to obey the laws because they know they end up looking like idiots when their actions get over turned by the courts. The system isn't perfect but I don't see the wide spread corruption of the Consititution you claim. All I see is a country struggling to adjust it's laws and attitudes concerning data and information issues that were not around when the constitution was first written.
I'm sorry but I must have missed the proof that the US or Israel was responsible for Stuxnet. But of course actual facts are old fashion and can be quite problematic when the don't support your world view.
Unless the extra-terrestrials are the ones who introduced the whole God scam so they could produce some pay per view shows similiar to Jackass to sell back home showing the goofy neo-barbs behave.
Add to the fact the 99% percent of the users could give a shit about the problems surrounding the source code used in their phones. This issue resonates in the techie community but has little impact on which phone a person chooses.
This discussion was originally about the government suppressing political discussion. Allegations of the government hiding political mechanization's from the American people like the Chinese government tries to do. And it's not only China, hell the people in Egypt and Syria actually think they won the 73 war against Israel when in fact Israel beat back the Arab attack and ended up taking control of even more land than they did in 67! In return for a peace treaty Israel gave Egypt back the Sinai along with the thousands of Egyptian soldiers they had cutoff and surrounded in the desert and a promise not to broadcast the actual truth to the Egytian people. That was some speedy negotiations too because the soldiers were running out of water. Now that is effective censorship in action. If you look at the TV, Radio, newspapers, and the web you can't get way from the political discussions. Media organizations do have their own editorial slants and bias but there are no shortage of organizations or individuals that hold differing editorial positions and they attack each other incessantly. The trick is trying to identify the BS both sides are spouting and somehow dig for the truth.
US high tech manufacturing is one of the sectors showing growth over the past 2 quarters. Companies like AMD and Intel are increasing their US manufacturing rates. Most of the big chip foundries and component assembly plants are located in the far east because companies are basically taking advantage of slave labor rates. However that advantage is slowly going away. China is showing some vulnerability because competitors in other low wage countries are starting to undercut their prices. China actually reported a trade deficit in the 1st quarter after years of trade surpluses. Their government is also struggling high inflation rates which is making their exports cost more. They will only be able to tweak their currency rates so far to try an remain as price competitive as they have in the past . More competitive international markets are good for everyone.
"I'm not sure we actually "could" produce a computer now"
Then you should look into the situation a little more and you will realize how uninformed you are on this point. By the way the US is still the number 1 manufacturer on the planet. The US got a head start on most countries that resulted in establishing a disproportionate percentage of the markets. It's only to be expected that other countries will work towards organizing themselves to compete on the international level and the US numbers will slowly go down until a new equilibrium is established.
When has the government censored the political discussion? How in the hell does a government even succeed in censoring political discussion. There are just too many other ways to obtain the information. And no matter how hard the Chinese government tries to censor the information some of information does get around their imposed restrictions.
Protect IP, like the existing Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a proposed enforcement tool supposedly developed to protect IP , Trademarks, and Copyrights. These measures are not "firewalls", If you go around re-defining terms when rendering your opinions you weaken your argument. Firewalls are preemptive measures to protect network integrity. The IP ACT rules and regulations do not inhibit any information until after you have violated the laws spelled out in the law. I personally believe that this is not a matter the government needs to get involved with because determining what is valid IP and what is not goes right over the heads of our incompetent legislative bodies. Expecting them to understand this issue would take them longer than most of their terms in power. That being said I do believe there is legitimate IP and Copyrights that should be protected up until the IP and Copyrights expire. Those who spend the time and money to create something new deserve to compensated for their efforts. The number of people crusading against all patents and copyrights seem to think you can just make everything public the moment it is released. How many big Hollywood movies would get made if you took the potential profits out of the equation? How many books or songs would get published without the potential of profits to at least re-coup their development costs. Abolishing the IP and copyright protections would lead to such a situation over time. If you walk into a bookstore and steal a book it is against the law. Why is it not applicable to put similar restrictions for online content? I do believe the current patent situation is out of whack. The shear number of baseless patents granted shows that the people approving these types of patents are clueless about what the hell is being patented.The first change I would lobby for is a rule that states the patent holder needs to have actually built or used the patents in the commercial world thus getting around all the firms who do nothing but buy up patents to use in collecting royalties or court judgments and rewards.
When has the US government expressed an interest in implementing a "great firewall"? The US government and ICANN has been remarkably competent,fair, and conscientious when it comes to the management of the root DSN servers. Any politician or political party even suggesting anything like this would be eaten alive. The real threat of Internet censorship is the UN. They have been agitating for years to replace ICANN.
"The concept of Intellectual Property is fundamentally abhorrent, and severely infringes on peoples intellectual liberties. " This declaration wins the BS of the week award. Oh wait, I take that back this "it is about the liberty to think freely" that tops the list.. What IP is preventing you from thinking freely? Some IP restrictions are beneficial and there are those of a more questionable nature but people or companies should at least be able to re-coup their expenses when developing and distributing their IP. Same deal for copyrights for those who produce the books and movies.
There is a alot of BS going on in the tech industry with regards to source code and algorithm patent claims. As well as the methods used in to handle certain ordinary and obvious actions like the "1 Click sales button". These kind of actions deserve to be criticized and dealt with but I seriously doubt they are inhibiting people from thinking up new stuff.
I am not doing any of your research because the truth is I don't really give a shit what the CIA does or how they do it. I have no interest in international money laundering, terrorists operations, weapon sales, drug trafficing, or any other area which the CIA might have an interest. However, my original statement about the over dependance on hearsay, anecdoctal evidence, and rumors have made the truth hard to find today. And I am not talking just about anything the specific to the CIA or any other organization. And I still say that if your sources were as reliable and truthful as you make out their information would be taken seriously if they had actual proof to back up their claims. We live in a "Conspiracy our Us" universe today so I am going to actually need some hard evidence before I believe someones great tale of intrigue and wrong doing.
How do you know? Your part of the big problem in society today. You and others like you never look at any issue facing society today without predetermined biases and a remarkable lack of perspective. Right and wrong no longer matter, it's only about your side being "right" and the other side being "wrong" on any subject be that political or technical. People make grand pronouncements without any assemblence of proof and then the quantity over quality effect takes hold as the bullshit goes viral across the web. Truth is lost and facts are swept under the rug and when violence and chaos finally breaks out everyone looks around for someone to blame and the cycle starts all over again. Wire tapping a US citizen still requires a warrant. There has not been a single conviction in US courts that relied on illegal wire taps as the only evidence. The US legal system multi-tiered to help make sure a person is treated fairly in a criminal prosecution. The system is not perfect and there have been incidents of wrong doing but no system is perfect and trying to apply anecdotal evidence to trash the entire legal framework is a fools game.
You have endicted the entire law enforcement community with your overly broad accusations. If you want people to really see your side of things you should be a little more balanced when complaining about having your rights abused. No system is perfect and there will be those who abuse and manipulate the system but your complaints need more than ranting hyperbole, useless anecdotal evidence presented as facts, and weak moral equivilency arguments.
Do you know that right before the US got into WW2 FDR unilaterally instituted wire tapping across the country. At the time both political parties had just passed a law to specifically prevent wire tapping and they also passed the neutrality act at the same time. FDR was able to barely skirt around the neutrality act with the lend lease program even though it was obvious to everyone exactly what he was doing. For the wire tapping he did not even try to cover it up. He wrote a letter to the Justice Department basically directing them to use wire tapping, Congress be damned. He performed these acts because he personally believed the US was going to have to fight in the war and as President it was his responsibility to make sure the country was prepared. The political parties and ideology of that era were dead set against getting involved in the war. The anti-war protesters back then makes today's anti-war protesters look like full blown war mongers. FDR made these decisions even though he knew it was a impeachable offense. The animosity he attracted against him make today's Bush 2 detractors and critics look like hearty supporters. Chances are if the US had not gotten in the war he would have been impeached and certainly would not have been be elected to 4 terms. The bottom line is that the outcome of the war validated his actions and turned him from being called a dangerous law breaking no good President who was violating the constitution into being called one the best Presidents of all time. The amazing thing, at least to me, was that Carter, Bush1, and Clinton were asked if they would have would have made the same decisions and accepted the same risks that FDR made and all of them said they would. Even Carter!! I guess the point is that the constitution should be adhered to but it is not a suicide pact and some situations call for bold actions and today's complaints about us losing our rights is not anything new.
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"OS X can't be compromised if you're not stupid" I can say the exact thing for a Windows box. I personally never have had malware of any kind since 3.11. MS has had a bigger user base and thus a better probability of people doing something stupid like not setting the most basic security settings, running everything as an admin user, clicking on links in e-mail from anyone, and not being diligent in keeping their system updated with service packs. All basic common sense precautions and second nature for the technically adept.
The Palestinians are not breeching the wall I am referring to. They dig tunnels in other areas closer to the other borders which are not protected by this beast of a wall. I don't know if you can find any pictures online but that wall looks like a combination of the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line, and outer walls of a super max prison. It was built for the sole purpose of preventing attacks against their major population centers and it has fulfilled that objective.
We can just the Israelis to give us the plans for creating an effective border barrier. I have seen that wall in person and I don't think anything short of a nuke could breach it. Or we could just enforce our current immigration laws starting with the businesses who rely on basically slave labor rates. There is no problem with legal immigration and I don't support a big hunt for exisitng illegal aliens to take place either. That doesn't mean I am against illiegal aliens who get found out by the authorities. I also believe there can be cases where automatic deportation is not warranted under certain conditions but the wholesale run on the border should be stopped. "The rich want to turn the middle class into peasants?" With that loser attitude you might as well go down to welfare office now to avoid the rush. That will give you a lot of time to make posters and attend rallies and shout slogans so you can prevent this tragedy. Or you could try being a productive citizen who takes control of his own life and someone who takes the blame for your own failures instead of blaming someone else for all your troubles.
When large groups of people try to agree on issues the bigger the group the harder it becomes to formulate an agreement that even the majority will accept without complaint. The best you can hope for is electing someone who will at least not make anything worse than it already is while at the same time at least trying to address and fix a few of the more managable problems. Radical changes require time. People tend to igonore the simple fact that it takes time to implement meaningful changes. The US has only been an ongoing concern for 250 years yet in that time we have faced and abolished slavery, inacted a constitution and bill of rights that still stand the test of time today, provided equal rights and protections to women, instituted protections in the workplace, implemented a minimum wage standard, and basically succeeded in insuring that opportunities for success is available for all. These just represent a few things the US has had to deal with. 50 years ago would anyone have believed that the US would ever have a black man for President. There has not been a time in the history of the US when there has not been big problems and turmoil to overcome. We have survived the Revolutionary War ,Civil War, Robber barons era, The Great depression, WW1,WW2, Womens Rights struggle, Korea, Civil Rights struggle, President Assasisnations,OPEC boycotts, rotating economic highs and lows, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There has always been some crisis going on in the US that someone was upset about and shouting warnings that the sky is falling or that there is no more hope. The problems and ills we face today are nothing any worse than those we have already overcome and it really pisses me off when people don't take time to put things in prospective. Copyright laws? Please.
We can solve or at least slowdown the descent to a 3rd world country by doing something about locking down our boarders. However if you can't succeed and lead a decent life in the US you damn well won't have an easier time any where else. Your whole peasant class BS makes you sound like a loser looking for reasons to explain your own worthlessness.
Apple has decidied to get involved? Well good for them. Up to yesterday if you called their user support help line the people answering the calls were specifically told to downplay the whole McDefender problem. They were specifically told to not give out instructions on how to manually remove the malware or even really aknowledge it as a problem while basically jerking the customer around until they gave up. People have been saying for years that the MS security problems were a result of their large market share thus making a big target and that the other OS's would be just as vulnerable if anyone thought it was worth the trouble to target. Sort of looks like that idea is going to be put to the test. Android also presents a juicy target today and if you think that OS can't be compromised you are living in fantasy land.
Yes obtaining justice in their own system is really, really hard but if they are not able to over come their own problems by themselves why should anyone else be burdened by their failures? It's all fine and dandy manning the barricades, shouting slogans, and firing AK-47's into the air but after the fun is over the hard part starts. It seems to me that all the revolutionaries in the world would be better served if they actually had a plan on what to do after they finish bringing down the system. If the protesters don't have a plan you can rest assured that other segments of their society do and they are usually worse than the leaders they have just booted. Just ask the Iranian student leaders in 1980 what happens when you take your eye off the ball. If they hadn't been so concerned with poking the US in the eye with the hostage standoff the mullahs would not have had the time to organize the real takeover. I have yet to see any indication of social progress being made in any of the countries under going upheavals in the middle east. No new policies put forward to address the economy, elections, employment issues, or even basic civil rights. All you hear about are lawsuits and criminal prosecutions of the fallen regime leadership figures and parties which do nothing but increase animosity and internal conflict which in turn does nothing but prolong the misery. Sometimes the easiest way to move forward is to let go of retribution and hatred and just move forward. There is always time to revisit the wrongs of the past after things get put back on track. If the people wanting change in the middle east can not put their hatred on the back burner and move forward they never will succeed in creating a better life for themselves.
It makes me happy to know that there are people in the world today that are not only capable of theorizing about and testing the universe around us but there are also those who will fund these types of activities without expecting a normal return on their investment.
The exceptions to the 4th amendment dealing with national security issues do provide a free pass for someone to gain access to your papers however any prosecutions are still subject to judicial review before prosecution. Whether this is done using a FISA warrant or no warrant at all the enforcement agency will need to provide justification showing that the warrantless action was executed in good faith or the request proves itself after the fact. Such as a notebook containing the activation and location of a nuclear device that is about to detonate. The law enforcement agencies say the hell with a warrant and bust in to get the notebook to locate and disarm the device. In this situation the 4th amendment is clearly being violated. Is this justified? If the police busted into your house today without a warrant and seized your diary containing all the details of the 20 people you killed they would not be able to use it against you in court, however they may have prevented you from claiming another victim. There are several ways around the 4th amendment in a situation like this but if the prosecution cannot avail themselves to the other remedies (such as inevitable discovery) you could not be prosecutred on the diary evidence alone. As far as supreme court judges go they have the freedom to ignore any and all political pressures after they are appointed to the court. Out of all of our government positons of power their position doesn't require them to bend their will to anyones politics except their own. A president and congress have no leverage against these people after they get confirmed. This doesn't mean they can't make bonehead decisions on their own and they probably do go through the motions of at least listening to other opinions but I just can't see them as politically driven power mongers looking to usurp the citizens rights. If there is any undue influence peddling in this area of government I would focus on the clerks who manage and provide all the information a judge uses when analysing a case and rendering a decision. These people are usually the ones looking for future federal court appointments and for that they do need political support.
What evidence do you have that the 4th Amendment is not being applied as intended today? The 4th amendment is used by the Judiciary to ascertain if the enforcement agencies collected the evidence legally. You might get arrested by someone violating your 4th amendment rights but actually convicting you of a crime is something else. Most domestic enforcement agencies go out of their way to obey the laws because they know they end up looking like idiots when their actions get over turned by the courts. The system isn't perfect but I don't see the wide spread corruption of the Consititution you claim. All I see is a country struggling to adjust it's laws and attitudes concerning data and information issues that were not around when the constitution was first written.
I'm sorry but I must have missed the proof that the US or Israel was responsible for Stuxnet. But of course actual facts are old fashion and can be quite problematic when the don't support your world view.
Unless the extra-terrestrials are the ones who introduced the whole God scam so they could produce some pay per view shows similiar to Jackass to sell back home showing the goofy neo-barbs behave.
Add to the fact the 99% percent of the users could give a shit about the problems surrounding the source code used in their phones. This issue resonates in the techie community but has little impact on which phone a person chooses.
This discussion was originally about the government suppressing political discussion. Allegations of the government hiding political mechanization's from the American people like the Chinese government tries to do. And it's not only China, hell the people in Egypt and Syria actually think they won the 73 war against Israel when in fact Israel beat back the Arab attack and ended up taking control of even more land than they did in 67! In return for a peace treaty Israel gave Egypt back the Sinai along with the thousands of Egyptian soldiers they had cutoff and surrounded in the desert and a promise not to broadcast the actual truth to the Egytian people. That was some speedy negotiations too because the soldiers were running out of water. Now that is effective censorship in action. If you look at the TV, Radio, newspapers, and the web you can't get way from the political discussions. Media organizations do have their own editorial slants and bias but there are no shortage of organizations or individuals that hold differing editorial positions and they attack each other incessantly. The trick is trying to identify the BS both sides are spouting and somehow dig for the truth.
US high tech manufacturing is one of the sectors showing growth over the past 2 quarters. Companies like AMD and Intel are increasing their US manufacturing rates. Most of the big chip foundries and component assembly plants are located in the far east because companies are basically taking advantage of slave labor rates. However that advantage is slowly going away. China is showing some vulnerability because competitors in other low wage countries are starting to undercut their prices. China actually reported a trade deficit in the 1st quarter after years of trade surpluses. Their government is also struggling high inflation rates which is making their exports cost more. They will only be able to tweak their currency rates so far to try an remain as price competitive as they have in the past . More competitive international markets are good for everyone.
"I'm not sure we actually "could" produce a computer now" Then you should look into the situation a little more and you will realize how uninformed you are on this point. By the way the US is still the number 1 manufacturer on the planet. The US got a head start on most countries that resulted in establishing a disproportionate percentage of the markets. It's only to be expected that other countries will work towards organizing themselves to compete on the international level and the US numbers will slowly go down until a new equilibrium is established.
When has the government censored the political discussion? How in the hell does a government even succeed in censoring political discussion. There are just too many other ways to obtain the information. And no matter how hard the Chinese government tries to censor the information some of information does get around their imposed restrictions.
Protect IP, like the existing Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a proposed enforcement tool supposedly developed to protect IP , Trademarks, and Copyrights. These measures are not "firewalls", If you go around re-defining terms when rendering your opinions you weaken your argument. Firewalls are preemptive measures to protect network integrity. The IP ACT rules and regulations do not inhibit any information until after you have violated the laws spelled out in the law. I personally believe that this is not a matter the government needs to get involved with because determining what is valid IP and what is not goes right over the heads of our incompetent legislative bodies. Expecting them to understand this issue would take them longer than most of their terms in power. That being said I do believe there is legitimate IP and Copyrights that should be protected up until the IP and Copyrights expire. Those who spend the time and money to create something new deserve to compensated for their efforts. The number of people crusading against all patents and copyrights seem to think you can just make everything public the moment it is released. How many big Hollywood movies would get made if you took the potential profits out of the equation? How many books or songs would get published without the potential of profits to at least re-coup their development costs. Abolishing the IP and copyright protections would lead to such a situation over time. If you walk into a bookstore and steal a book it is against the law. Why is it not applicable to put similar restrictions for online content? I do believe the current patent situation is out of whack. The shear number of baseless patents granted shows that the people approving these types of patents are clueless about what the hell is being patented.The first change I would lobby for is a rule that states the patent holder needs to have actually built or used the patents in the commercial world thus getting around all the firms who do nothing but buy up patents to use in collecting royalties or court judgments and rewards.
When has the US government expressed an interest in implementing a "great firewall"? The US government and ICANN has been remarkably competent ,fair, and conscientious when it comes to the management of the root DSN servers. Any politician or political party even suggesting anything like this would be eaten alive. The real threat of Internet censorship is the UN. They have been agitating for years to replace ICANN.
If you were responding to my comment I specifically said patenting common methods is wrong and should be fought.
"The concept of Intellectual Property is fundamentally abhorrent, and severely infringes on peoples intellectual liberties. " This declaration wins the BS of the week award. Oh wait, I take that back this "it is about the liberty to think freely" that tops the list.. What IP is preventing you from thinking freely? Some IP restrictions are beneficial and there are those of a more questionable nature but people or companies should at least be able to re-coup their expenses when developing and distributing their IP. Same deal for copyrights for those who produce the books and movies. There is a alot of BS going on in the tech industry with regards to source code and algorithm patent claims. As well as the methods used in to handle certain ordinary and obvious actions like the "1 Click sales button". These kind of actions deserve to be criticized and dealt with but I seriously doubt they are inhibiting people from thinking up new stuff.
I am not doing any of your research because the truth is I don't really give a shit what the CIA does or how they do it. I have no interest in international money laundering, terrorists operations, weapon sales, drug trafficing, or any other area which the CIA might have an interest. However, my original statement about the over dependance on hearsay, anecdoctal evidence, and rumors have made the truth hard to find today. And I am not talking just about anything the specific to the CIA or any other organization. And I still say that if your sources were as reliable and truthful as you make out their information would be taken seriously if they had actual proof to back up their claims. We live in a "Conspiracy our Us" universe today so I am going to actually need some hard evidence before I believe someones great tale of intrigue and wrong doing.
How do you know? Your part of the big problem in society today. You and others like you never look at any issue facing society today without predetermined biases and a remarkable lack of perspective. Right and wrong no longer matter, it's only about your side being "right" and the other side being "wrong" on any subject be that political or technical. People make grand pronouncements without any assemblence of proof and then the quantity over quality effect takes hold as the bullshit goes viral across the web. Truth is lost and facts are swept under the rug and when violence and chaos finally breaks out everyone looks around for someone to blame and the cycle starts all over again. Wire tapping a US citizen still requires a warrant. There has not been a single conviction in US courts that relied on illegal wire taps as the only evidence. The US legal system multi-tiered to help make sure a person is treated fairly in a criminal prosecution. The system is not perfect and there have been incidents of wrong doing but no system is perfect and trying to apply anecdotal evidence to trash the entire legal framework is a fools game.
You have endicted the entire law enforcement community with your overly broad accusations. If you want people to really see your side of things you should be a little more balanced when complaining about having your rights abused. No system is perfect and there will be those who abuse and manipulate the system but your complaints need more than ranting hyperbole, useless anecdotal evidence presented as facts, and weak moral equivilency arguments.
Do you know that right before the US got into WW2 FDR unilaterally instituted wire tapping across the country. At the time both political parties had just passed a law to specifically prevent wire tapping and they also passed the neutrality act at the same time. FDR was able to barely skirt around the neutrality act with the lend lease program even though it was obvious to everyone exactly what he was doing. For the wire tapping he did not even try to cover it up. He wrote a letter to the Justice Department basically directing them to use wire tapping, Congress be damned. He performed these acts because he personally believed the US was going to have to fight in the war and as President it was his responsibility to make sure the country was prepared. The political parties and ideology of that era were dead set against getting involved in the war. The anti-war protesters back then makes today's anti-war protesters look like full blown war mongers. FDR made these decisions even though he knew it was a impeachable offense. The animosity he attracted against him make today's Bush 2 detractors and critics look like hearty supporters. Chances are if the US had not gotten in the war he would have been impeached and certainly would not have been be elected to 4 terms. The bottom line is that the outcome of the war validated his actions and turned him from being called a dangerous law breaking no good President who was violating the constitution into being called one the best Presidents of all time. The amazing thing, at least to me, was that Carter, Bush1, and Clinton were asked if they would have would have made the same decisions and accepted the same risks that FDR made and all of them said they would. Even Carter!! I guess the point is that the constitution should be adhered to but it is not a suicide pact and some situations call for bold actions and today's complaints about us losing our rights is not anything new.