The police tailing a person without a warrant isn't illegal, but them breaking into someone's car and hiding in the back seat to do so (with no warrant) would be illegal. If the tracking device could follow the car without actually being affixed to it in some way, it would likely be completely legal to do this with no warrant. I don't see little "miniature drone cars" happening anytime soon, though.
Going further than this: Everyone with hands has the ability to beat a person to death so we should all lose our 4th amendment rights as potential murderers. I'm not even going to go into the potential everyone with genitalia possesses. We are all awful, horrible people (potentially).
This is one of those "in theory" vs "in reality" things.
In theory, this could be good because the "pre-screening" information they use could mean people won't need to go through horrendous security theater checks. Only people who actually pose a threat would be stopped.
In reality, though, the security theater checks will go on with some loosening of them, perhaps only temporarily though. to get people to accept this program. Also, reality shows that the TSA isn't exactly a trustworthy organization and this leads to questions about who has access to this data and what is happening to it after you board.
In theory, this could be very good. Unfortunately, we live in reality, though, and there are far too many potentials for abuse for me to support the program.
I actually do think this could be good, but given that this is coming from the TSA: the folks who pat down crying kids because "TERRORISM!", I'm skeptical. I'd also want to know where this information goes and who can see it. There have been many instances of TSA workers being caught doing shady things (like selecting certain women for pat downs or ogling the "naked scanner" photos). Will bad TSA workers branch out into identity theft now? What precautions do we have that the people who are supposed to be protecting us from Bad Guys won't wind up helping another set of Bad Guys?
It's the same tactic that the RIAA/MPAA will use to get legislation they want. If they want a law that will do X and know it will cause a backlash, they'll get one drafted that does 10*X. Once the inevitable backlash ensues, they'll "compromise" with just X. This way they can spin it as "We're giving up 9*X. Aren't we so nice?" In reality, they're getting just what they wanted from the outset.
In the TSA's case, like many government agencies, they want power. The more power they have, the bigger their departmental budgets and the more things they can do without those pesky critics getting in the way. (Ultimately, they would love to be checking people everywhere in the US: malls, staduims, busses, trains, subways, etc.) Over the past decade, they've ramped up the "security" (as opposed to security - sans quotes) to the point that it is really annoying. So now they show how "nice" they are by giving travelers an "easy" way of avoiding it: Just give up a ton of personal information to their "highly qualified" staff (read: minimum wage workers who ogle the "naked scanner" images, subject pretty women to additional pat downs, and riffle through checked luggage to take out "security risks" like electronics equipment. The TSA gets exactly what they want and we get the illusion of compromise. Everybody wins. (Where "everybody" is defined as "The TSA.")
They will get a vicious finger wagging by the federal government perhaps with a "big fine" (that they pay with the money they make during 2.3 seconds of normal business operations). They will hang their heads in shame until the news cycle about this is over (a day or two), promising to completely revamp how they operate.... and then they'll go back to normal business operations until they are caught doing this again. (At which point, start reading from the beginning of my comment again.)
Not that mother's maiden name is any protection. When someone opened a credit card in my name, they had my name, address, social security number, and date of birth. They got the mother's maiden name wrong, though. It wasn't even close. Didn't stop Capital One from approving the card application, though, and almost giving the people a line of credit in my name. (The only thing that stopped them was a fluke where they paid for rush delivery of the card and immediately changed the address from mine to theirs. The two processes crossed paths and the card arrived on my doorstep. Had it worked as intended, they would have gotten the card and run up a huge bill under my name.)
Sadly, the people whose identity was stolen will also be punished by having to spend time, energy, and money restoring their credit files and getting the bogus accounts removed. In some cases they will have to prove that they really didn't open the lines of credit to Experian - the very company who is responsible for the mess they are in. They will also need to watch their credit closely for the rest of their lives wondering when the next line of credit will open up or deal with the hassle of freezing their credit and not being able to open new lines of credit when they want. (Though, as an ID theft victim who did the latter, it's really not that much of a pain. Just stinks that it is necessary.)
Experian, on the other hand, will face a vicious finger wagging by Congress. At the very worst. Maybe a token fine that they can make back in 2.3 seconds of doing their normal business.
My youngest loves Mo Williams books and is constantly asking if there are new Elephant and Piggy books to read. At one point, my boys would shout out random quotes from Elephant and Piggie books as private jokes and laugh to themselves.
Of course, my oldest is now 10 and prefers fact-based books. His latest obsession is a Doctor Who encyclopedia he got for his birthday. He reads and re-reads every entry and then, after seeing an episode, reads the relevant pages again.
I've found quite a few plugins to help secure WordPress. One of the ones I really like is Apocalypse Meow. This locks people out from even trying to log into your site after X attempts. (You define what X is but it defaults to 5.) If they go over the attempts, they get banned from trying to log in for a day (or however long you define). It also removes the WordPress version information from your site's HTML code which has no purpose except to tell hackers "try these methods to get into my website". It can stop direct execution of PHP scripts from inside wp-content and more.
Having it on my site for awhile, I've found that hackers predominantly try one of three usernames. The first, of course, is "admin", the default WordPress administrator username. If you have your admin account named "admin", rename it at once. Even if you do nothing else, you've increased your security a ton. The next account they try is the name of the site. If you run "example.com", they'll try the username "example". If you run "SomeOtherSite.com", they'll use "SomeOtherSite". The last one they'll use is "administrator" (an obvious choice people might change "admin" to).
The real shocker here is that there's a "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" reference on Slashdot! Proof that not all us Slashdot readers are unmarried single guys. Some of us are married with kids. I'm proud to have read all of the "If You Give A _____ A _____" books to my kids. Not high literature by any stretch of the imagination, but little kids like them and reading to your kids is a very good thing.
It's proof that dogs will eat anything regardless of whether it will make them sick or not. Or whether it is edible or not.
My parents once got a chocolate cake and thought it was safe sealed in plastic wrap (from in the store) and put in a plastic bag. Our dog got into the bag, ripped open the plastic wrap, and ate half of the chocolate cake before we found her. Needless to say, she suffered from severe chocolate poisoning, had to go to the animal hospital, and needed charcoal treatment for awhile. She was lucky and survived. That cake could have easily killed her. Yet, put the same exact cake in front of her again and she likely would have eaten it again.
And before anyone makes a crack about how dumb dogs are, I'll note that plenty of humans do the same thing: ingest something, get sick, recover, and ingest the thing that made them sick in the first place.
Nutella is disgusting. I won't claim that it doesn't taste good, but have you ever read the ingredients? It's basically a sugar spread with some hazelnuts and cocoa added in. I prefer getting Dark Chocolate peanut butter, especially from Peanut Butter & Co. Tastes much better and is better for you. (Though I'd still hold off on the rice cake and just eat the dark chocolate peanut butter.)
The issue isn't the method of collection, but the justification for it. This isn't exculpatory evidence that they're withholding; it's evidence that they're using, but was obtained through improper means.
Actually, it's both. From the article:
FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce recently revealed to Congress that the FBI had also conducted another investigation into Moalin's activities in 2003 and ultimately concluded that there was “no nexus to terrorism.” This evidence was kept from the defense during trial.
So not only didn't they collect evidence wrongfully, but the evidence they collected showed that he was innocent and they hid this from the defense. This isn't just slippery slope, this is greasing the slope and then shoving the American people down it!
One of the big corner stones of the criminal justice system is that both parties have equal access to the evidence and witnesses. If you were charged with murder, the prosecution couldn't have a surprise witness appear, give testimony, and then leave without your lawyer having the ability to cross-examine. If the prosecution has a potential witness, they need to disclose this to the defendant's lawyers ahead of time so that the defense can prepare.
What the government is essentially saying with this is "we can present 'a witness' (the phone records) but won't allow the opposing side to 'cross-examine' said evidence to cast any doubt that it isn't true." So the jury will be left with the government's side ("these phone records show he's guilty") and the defense's side (shrugs). Who do you think they'd go with?
Even worse, the article states that the government looked into the defendant's actions again and concluded he had no link to terrorism. This was done before his trial and was kept from the defense. Going back to the murder analogy, this would be like the police finding a gun with prints on the scene, realizing the prints were NOT the defendant's, and then hiding said gun so that the defense couldn't use it to acquit. Actions like this undermine our criminal justice system.
I would have opted for E) Reducing the crushing load by phasing in users.
For example, starting on 10/2, everyone with a last name beginning with the letter A will get access to HealthCare.gov. Then, on 10/16, everyone with a last name starting with A or B. Then, on 10/30, last names starting with A, B, or C. And so on. Yes, full roll out would have taken a year (and perhaps some legal points would need to be addressed for this), but it would have meant that:
1) Glitches would have happened with the A folks, and gotten fixed by the time the C or D folks signed in. 2) The load would have been vastly reduced. By the time B's could sign up, A's would be mostly done. By the time C's were logging on, A and B traffic would be at a minimum. Yes, certain letters would cause more traffic than others (e.g. S likely would cause a bigger rush than Q) but overall it would mean the load would be reduced to a more manageable level.
If they didn't want to do one letter every two weeks, they could have at least broken it up into "letter chunks." A-G on 10/2, H-N on 10/16, etc. This roll out would take only two months but would still mitigate some of the server crush.
How about $1.99 per episode? ($1.89 if you subscribed to the whole season.) Amazon VOD had that price. I didn't check, but I'm sure iTunes was similar in cost. Add a Roku box or AppleTV (depending on where you get your shows) and you could get the shows legally for much less than your stated price of $5 per episode.
I often joke that my kids are the "On Demand" generation. They watch shows via Netflix or, if from cable, our DVR. They get the shows they want to watch WHEN they want to watch them. Tuning into a channel just to see what that channel has in store for them is a rarity. It's to the point that, if they are watching a show live and a commercial comes on for an upcoming special they want to watch, my 6 year old has a hard time understanding that Daddy can't load it on Netflix or the DVR *right now.* If my kids grow up along the path they are currently on, I really don't see them paying for cable TV.
In fact, in our household, cable is hanging on by its fingertips - and only that much because they gave us a great deal. It would cost us more to buy the limited shows we watch but can't get from Netflix from Amazon VOD than it would cost to keep cable. Apparently Time Warner Cable isn't making those deals anymore, though, so once the deal goes and TWC demands $150 a month or some ridiculous figure, we'll be saying bye-bye to cable.
Documentary Narrator: Fortunately, our handsomest politicians came up with a way to combat government corruption. We simply arrest anybody who talks about government corruption. Of course, because the corruption still takes place, we need to arrest more and more people for speaking out against it, solving the problem once and for all. Suzie: But... Documentary Narrator: Once and for all!
Being able to do so much more with a phone is the big deal... but it also makes a phone into a toy and a huge distraction.
You could say the same about computers in general. Being able to play games on your computer makes it into a toy and not a business tool... except that other programs you run on your computer can help your business. In the same way, there are apps for smartphones that at pure fun and games and there are other apps that can help you run your business more efficiently.
If BlackBerry just sticks to "this is our core BB experience, no apps or it'll be a toy", they're doomed to failure. (No third party apps means functionality will be greatly limited.) On the other hand, opening apps up to just anyone (see a recent Slashdot story which showed how a significant amount of BlackBerry apps were simple apps mass generated by one person) might water down the BlackBerry brand to "just another smartphone" - a race they have no hope of winning.
Honestly, I don't know how BlackBerry can stay relevant at this point beyond, perhaps, occupying an ever-shrinking niche market. I feel bad for whoever is appointed to turn the company around. They've got their work cut out for them.
To be fair, the situation with Doctor Who episodes not being kept was far different than a producer not keeping an episode today. Back then, tape was expensive and limited in supply so old episodes were wiped to reuse the tapes for new episodes (or other TV programs). They kept things that they thought would have long lasting value, like news clips. Doctor Who was thought of as a fun show but one that wouldn't last long. They had no idea that people would be enjoying it 50 years later. Today, all that's needed to keep a show is some extra hard drives or backup discs - a minimal cost investment Don't judge people from 50 years ago based on technology from today.
We might have a ways to go before women and men are on equal footing in America, but we're light-years ahead of Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, a woman can't drive a car. She can't vote. She can't even go outside without a male relative tagging along to "supervise" her. This last one strikes me as closer to how you'd treat a pet (sans leash) or a child than an adult human being. In America, a woman might not get the same salary a man does - and that should definitely be fixed - but she can drive to work without any male relative after voting in any election she wants to and nobody thinks that's out of the ordinary.
As far as abuse goes, yes women get abused by private individuals but the justice system for the most part punishes those people. No, it's not perfect and abusers sometimes go unpunished, but a woman reporting abuse in Saudi Arabia would likely get punished for being a "troublesome female" instead of the abuser being punished.
I'd also add that there's the problem of being punished for not voting a certain way. It could be a McCarthy level scare where you voted for Politician X and he's just been branded "the enemy" as well as all of his supporters. Your vote being public could mean that you are swept up in the hysteria and jailed or ostracized by the public for voting the wrong way.
Or it could be that your employer really wants Politician Y elected. They've invested quite a lot and your vote for Politician X "troubles" them. Perhaps they don't even outright tell you to vote for Politician Y but "strongly suggest" you do so. Maybe they don't even try firing you for voting the "wrong way", but now you're on a hit list and the first excuse they have you're out the door.
There are just too many ways that public voting can be abused. Yes, our voting system is broken, but no, public voting won't fix it.
It's interesting to see how many of those "get the government out of our lives" red states draw more federal funds than the blue states do: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/26/blog-posting/red-state-socialism-graphic-says-gop-leaning-state/
If the red states were to secede tomorrow, they'd find themselves unable to maintain their budgets without federal funding. Meanwhile, the remaining blue states would find their federal government suddenly having a lot more money (since they wouldn't have to support the "welfare red states").
Slashdot Mirror
The police tailing a person without a warrant isn't illegal, but them breaking into someone's car and hiding in the back seat to do so (with no warrant) would be illegal. If the tracking device could follow the car without actually being affixed to it in some way, it would likely be completely legal to do this with no warrant. I don't see little "miniature drone cars" happening anytime soon, though.
Going further than this: Everyone with hands has the ability to beat a person to death so we should all lose our 4th amendment rights as potential murderers. I'm not even going to go into the potential everyone with genitalia possesses. We are all awful, horrible people (potentially).
This is one of those "in theory" vs "in reality" things.
In theory, this could be good because the "pre-screening" information they use could mean people won't need to go through horrendous security theater checks. Only people who actually pose a threat would be stopped.
In reality, though, the security theater checks will go on with some loosening of them, perhaps only temporarily though. to get people to accept this program. Also, reality shows that the TSA isn't exactly a trustworthy organization and this leads to questions about who has access to this data and what is happening to it after you board.
In theory, this could be very good. Unfortunately, we live in reality, though, and there are far too many potentials for abuse for me to support the program.
I actually do think this could be good, but given that this is coming from the TSA: the folks who pat down crying kids because "TERRORISM!", I'm skeptical. I'd also want to know where this information goes and who can see it. There have been many instances of TSA workers being caught doing shady things (like selecting certain women for pat downs or ogling the "naked scanner" photos). Will bad TSA workers branch out into identity theft now? What precautions do we have that the people who are supposed to be protecting us from Bad Guys won't wind up helping another set of Bad Guys?
It's the same tactic that the RIAA/MPAA will use to get legislation they want. If they want a law that will do X and know it will cause a backlash, they'll get one drafted that does 10*X. Once the inevitable backlash ensues, they'll "compromise" with just X. This way they can spin it as "We're giving up 9*X. Aren't we so nice?" In reality, they're getting just what they wanted from the outset.
In the TSA's case, like many government agencies, they want power. The more power they have, the bigger their departmental budgets and the more things they can do without those pesky critics getting in the way. (Ultimately, they would love to be checking people everywhere in the US: malls, staduims, busses, trains, subways, etc.) Over the past decade, they've ramped up the "security" (as opposed to security - sans quotes) to the point that it is really annoying. So now they show how "nice" they are by giving travelers an "easy" way of avoiding it: Just give up a ton of personal information to their "highly qualified" staff (read: minimum wage workers who ogle the "naked scanner" images, subject pretty women to additional pat downs, and riffle through checked luggage to take out "security risks" like electronics equipment. The TSA gets exactly what they want and we get the illusion of compromise. Everybody wins. (Where "everybody" is defined as "The TSA.")
They will get a vicious finger wagging by the federal government perhaps with a "big fine" (that they pay with the money they make during 2.3 seconds of normal business operations). They will hang their heads in shame until the news cycle about this is over (a day or two), promising to completely revamp how they operate.... and then they'll go back to normal business operations until they are caught doing this again. (At which point, start reading from the beginning of my comment again.)
Not that mother's maiden name is any protection. When someone opened a credit card in my name, they had my name, address, social security number, and date of birth. They got the mother's maiden name wrong, though. It wasn't even close. Didn't stop Capital One from approving the card application, though, and almost giving the people a line of credit in my name. (The only thing that stopped them was a fluke where they paid for rush delivery of the card and immediately changed the address from mine to theirs. The two processes crossed paths and the card arrived on my doorstep. Had it worked as intended, they would have gotten the card and run up a huge bill under my name.)
Sadly, the people whose identity was stolen will also be punished by having to spend time, energy, and money restoring their credit files and getting the bogus accounts removed. In some cases they will have to prove that they really didn't open the lines of credit to Experian - the very company who is responsible for the mess they are in. They will also need to watch their credit closely for the rest of their lives wondering when the next line of credit will open up or deal with the hassle of freezing their credit and not being able to open new lines of credit when they want. (Though, as an ID theft victim who did the latter, it's really not that much of a pain. Just stinks that it is necessary.)
Experian, on the other hand, will face a vicious finger wagging by Congress. At the very worst. Maybe a token fine that they can make back in 2.3 seconds of doing their normal business.
My youngest loves Mo Williams books and is constantly asking if there are new Elephant and Piggy books to read. At one point, my boys would shout out random quotes from Elephant and Piggie books as private jokes and laugh to themselves.
Of course, my oldest is now 10 and prefers fact-based books. His latest obsession is a Doctor Who encyclopedia he got for his birthday. He reads and re-reads every entry and then, after seeing an episode, reads the relevant pages again.
I've found quite a few plugins to help secure WordPress. One of the ones I really like is Apocalypse Meow. This locks people out from even trying to log into your site after X attempts. (You define what X is but it defaults to 5.) If they go over the attempts, they get banned from trying to log in for a day (or however long you define). It also removes the WordPress version information from your site's HTML code which has no purpose except to tell hackers "try these methods to get into my website". It can stop direct execution of PHP scripts from inside wp-content and more.
Having it on my site for awhile, I've found that hackers predominantly try one of three usernames. The first, of course, is "admin", the default WordPress administrator username. If you have your admin account named "admin", rename it at once. Even if you do nothing else, you've increased your security a ton. The next account they try is the name of the site. If you run "example.com", they'll try the username "example". If you run "SomeOtherSite.com", they'll use "SomeOtherSite". The last one they'll use is "administrator" (an obvious choice people might change "admin" to).
The real shocker here is that there's a "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" reference on Slashdot! Proof that not all us Slashdot readers are unmarried single guys. Some of us are married with kids. I'm proud to have read all of the "If You Give A _____ A _____" books to my kids. Not high literature by any stretch of the imagination, but little kids like them and reading to your kids is a very good thing.
It's proof that dogs will eat anything regardless of whether it will make them sick or not. Or whether it is edible or not.
My parents once got a chocolate cake and thought it was safe sealed in plastic wrap (from in the store) and put in a plastic bag. Our dog got into the bag, ripped open the plastic wrap, and ate half of the chocolate cake before we found her. Needless to say, she suffered from severe chocolate poisoning, had to go to the animal hospital, and needed charcoal treatment for awhile. She was lucky and survived. That cake could have easily killed her. Yet, put the same exact cake in front of her again and she likely would have eaten it again.
And before anyone makes a crack about how dumb dogs are, I'll note that plenty of humans do the same thing: ingest something, get sick, recover, and ingest the thing that made them sick in the first place.
Nutella is disgusting. I won't claim that it doesn't taste good, but have you ever read the ingredients? It's basically a sugar spread with some hazelnuts and cocoa added in. I prefer getting Dark Chocolate peanut butter, especially from Peanut Butter & Co. Tastes much better and is better for you. (Though I'd still hold off on the rice cake and just eat the dark chocolate peanut butter.)
Actually, it's both. From the article:
So not only didn't they collect evidence wrongfully, but the evidence they collected showed that he was innocent and they hid this from the defense. This isn't just slippery slope, this is greasing the slope and then shoving the American people down it!
One of the big corner stones of the criminal justice system is that both parties have equal access to the evidence and witnesses. If you were charged with murder, the prosecution couldn't have a surprise witness appear, give testimony, and then leave without your lawyer having the ability to cross-examine. If the prosecution has a potential witness, they need to disclose this to the defendant's lawyers ahead of time so that the defense can prepare.
What the government is essentially saying with this is "we can present 'a witness' (the phone records) but won't allow the opposing side to 'cross-examine' said evidence to cast any doubt that it isn't true." So the jury will be left with the government's side ("these phone records show he's guilty") and the defense's side (shrugs). Who do you think they'd go with?
Even worse, the article states that the government looked into the defendant's actions again and concluded he had no link to terrorism. This was done before his trial and was kept from the defense. Going back to the murder analogy, this would be like the police finding a gun with prints on the scene, realizing the prints were NOT the defendant's, and then hiding said gun so that the defense couldn't use it to acquit. Actions like this undermine our criminal justice system.
I would have opted for E) Reducing the crushing load by phasing in users.
For example, starting on 10/2, everyone with a last name beginning with the letter A will get access to HealthCare.gov. Then, on 10/16, everyone with a last name starting with A or B. Then, on 10/30, last names starting with A, B, or C. And so on. Yes, full roll out would have taken a year (and perhaps some legal points would need to be addressed for this), but it would have meant that:
1) Glitches would have happened with the A folks, and gotten fixed by the time the C or D folks signed in.
2) The load would have been vastly reduced. By the time B's could sign up, A's would be mostly done. By the time C's were logging on, A and B traffic would be at a minimum. Yes, certain letters would cause more traffic than others (e.g. S likely would cause a bigger rush than Q) but overall it would mean the load would be reduced to a more manageable level.
If they didn't want to do one letter every two weeks, they could have at least broken it up into "letter chunks." A-G on 10/2, H-N on 10/16, etc. This roll out would take only two months but would still mitigate some of the server crush.
How about $1.99 per episode? ($1.89 if you subscribed to the whole season.) Amazon VOD had that price. I didn't check, but I'm sure iTunes was similar in cost. Add a Roku box or AppleTV (depending on where you get your shows) and you could get the shows legally for much less than your stated price of $5 per episode.
I often joke that my kids are the "On Demand" generation. They watch shows via Netflix or, if from cable, our DVR. They get the shows they want to watch WHEN they want to watch them. Tuning into a channel just to see what that channel has in store for them is a rarity. It's to the point that, if they are watching a show live and a commercial comes on for an upcoming special they want to watch, my 6 year old has a hard time understanding that Daddy can't load it on Netflix or the DVR *right now.* If my kids grow up along the path they are currently on, I really don't see them paying for cable TV.
In fact, in our household, cable is hanging on by its fingertips - and only that much because they gave us a great deal. It would cost us more to buy the limited shows we watch but can't get from Netflix from Amazon VOD than it would cost to keep cable. Apparently Time Warner Cable isn't making those deals anymore, though, so once the deal goes and TWC demands $150 a month or some ridiculous figure, we'll be saying bye-bye to cable.
Documentary Narrator: Fortunately, our handsomest politicians came up with a way to combat government corruption. We simply arrest anybody who talks about government corruption. Of course, because the corruption still takes place, we need to arrest more and more people for speaking out against it, solving the problem once and for all.
Suzie: But...
Documentary Narrator: Once and for all!
You could say the same about computers in general. Being able to play games on your computer makes it into a toy and not a business tool... except that other programs you run on your computer can help your business. In the same way, there are apps for smartphones that at pure fun and games and there are other apps that can help you run your business more efficiently.
If BlackBerry just sticks to "this is our core BB experience, no apps or it'll be a toy", they're doomed to failure. (No third party apps means functionality will be greatly limited.) On the other hand, opening apps up to just anyone (see a recent Slashdot story which showed how a significant amount of BlackBerry apps were simple apps mass generated by one person) might water down the BlackBerry brand to "just another smartphone" - a race they have no hope of winning.
Honestly, I don't know how BlackBerry can stay relevant at this point beyond, perhaps, occupying an ever-shrinking niche market. I feel bad for whoever is appointed to turn the company around. They've got their work cut out for them.
To be fair, the situation with Doctor Who episodes not being kept was far different than a producer not keeping an episode today. Back then, tape was expensive and limited in supply so old episodes were wiped to reuse the tapes for new episodes (or other TV programs). They kept things that they thought would have long lasting value, like news clips. Doctor Who was thought of as a fun show but one that wouldn't last long. They had no idea that people would be enjoying it 50 years later. Today, all that's needed to keep a show is some extra hard drives or backup discs - a minimal cost investment Don't judge people from 50 years ago based on technology from today.
We might have a ways to go before women and men are on equal footing in America, but we're light-years ahead of Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, a woman can't drive a car. She can't vote. She can't even go outside without a male relative tagging along to "supervise" her. This last one strikes me as closer to how you'd treat a pet (sans leash) or a child than an adult human being. In America, a woman might not get the same salary a man does - and that should definitely be fixed - but she can drive to work without any male relative after voting in any election she wants to and nobody thinks that's out of the ordinary.
As far as abuse goes, yes women get abused by private individuals but the justice system for the most part punishes those people. No, it's not perfect and abusers sometimes go unpunished, but a woman reporting abuse in Saudi Arabia would likely get punished for being a "troublesome female" instead of the abuser being punished.
Don't worry I've got this landing taken care of: Up ,Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
What? That didn't work? Impossible! Video games would never lie to me!!!!
I'd also add that there's the problem of being punished for not voting a certain way. It could be a McCarthy level scare where you voted for Politician X and he's just been branded "the enemy" as well as all of his supporters. Your vote being public could mean that you are swept up in the hysteria and jailed or ostracized by the public for voting the wrong way.
Or it could be that your employer really wants Politician Y elected. They've invested quite a lot and your vote for Politician X "troubles" them. Perhaps they don't even outright tell you to vote for Politician Y but "strongly suggest" you do so. Maybe they don't even try firing you for voting the "wrong way", but now you're on a hit list and the first excuse they have you're out the door.
There are just too many ways that public voting can be abused. Yes, our voting system is broken, but no, public voting won't fix it.
It's interesting to see how many of those "get the government out of our lives" red states draw more federal funds than the blue states do: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/26/blog-posting/red-state-socialism-graphic-says-gop-leaning-state/
If the red states were to secede tomorrow, they'd find themselves unable to maintain their budgets without federal funding. Meanwhile, the remaining blue states would find their federal government suddenly having a lot more money (since they wouldn't have to support the "welfare red states").