The place this is guaranteed is the 4th amendment.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
You'll note that this doesn't say "Congress shall make no law", "by the government" or any other POS argument that's been made against Free Speech, religion, etc.
What is privacy except the right to be secure in your effects against unreasonable searches?
L.E. Modesitt has a pretty decent SF adventure novel that deals directly with this topic.
The Octagonal Raven is mostly a (attempted) murder mystery revolving around a "pre-select" human who's being hunted down by a vast conspiracy, so if that type of book doesn't appeal, don't bother.
The undercurrent of the book is essentially just this. The people with "pre-selected" genes are simply superior, which leads to more wealth, which leads to more pre-selected genes in the next generation.
No more than anything else they do. You'll note it said "transponders" not "transmitters". These things generally only speak when spoken too (by a properly authenticated signal).
I know "military intelligence" is an oxymoron, but give them credit for a tiny amount of common sense.
Unfortunately for this theory, the government would have to pay the fair market value for the patent.
If they are going to do that, why not just by the drugs themselves and distribute them?
Eminent domain only is efficient if an owner has an inflated opinion about the fair market value of a piece of property. Otherwise, the government could just buy it.
Now, you might argue that drug companies have an inflated opinion about the fair market value of their patented life-saving drugs, but I think you'll find that this is untrue. They know *exactly* what the fair market value is (otherwise they couldn't know how much it's worth investing to invent them:-).
Except for the fact that putting money in the bank for your brats is investing in new business, because that money is only making money because it's loaned out as an investment.
The only things you can do with your money that doesn't create new business investment is to a) put it in a matress, and b) spend it on something with no margin (i.e. that costs nearly as much to produce as to purchase).
The idle rich by definition create vastly more new business investment than the poor.
Whether that's a good thing or not may be debatable, but the fact of it really isn't.
Perhaps you always thought that General Relativity was a complicated idea that you never would have a hope of understanding. This post is the most succinct and clear description of (a large portion of) it that I have ever seen.
The above statement is fundamentally the way the universe works. There is gravity (modulo quantum gravity:-) because both of these statements are basically true.
You move towards a mass because it distorts spacetime so that the "straight line" you're travelling in actually goes towards the mass.
The people's right to be free from unwarranted searches is as inalienable as their right not to be slaves.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot legally sell yourself into slavery, because freedom is inalienable. Any such contract is illegal and void.
I would claim that this kind of privacy is equally inalienable.
Otherwise, we end up with a police state by proxy.
I can only hope that this proves to be true in court. There's nothing that can stop eBay from reporting what they think is a crime to police (in fact, I think that's fine). However, that's very different from having the police request that they release your private information.
Maybe that seems like a narrow legalistic distinction to some, but it's a very important one.
The reason it's impossible to have a career as a programmer is that programming is a dime-a-dozen job.
If you want to have longevity in the IT field, learn how to solve problems first, then how to do it in software.
I don't have any worries, myself, because there will always be a place for people who can cut to the core of a problem and have insights into the key issues, in a broad range of fields.
Actually coding up the solution, though, is a S.M.O.P.
The article says: "For most users, missing legitimate email is an order of magnitude worse than receiving spam, so a filter that yields false positives is like an acne cure that carries a risk of death to the patient."
The thing I find amusing/interesting/whatever about this is that there is exactly such a drug, and that it is wildly popular.
If you like Bujold, another good example of the "character driven but adventure oriented" science fiction category is the Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
The do a lot of world building on the way, but what really gets you is the character development.
Also, if you happen to have a girlfriend (having read 4000 SF novels is sometimes contradictory:-), it's possible to pass them off as Romance Novels set in space. Don't let that turn you off, though... the Balance is such that either kind of fan can legitimately like them.
If it weren't for the lack of WAAS support and the lousy patch antenna, I'd love one of these things for caching. Currently, I use both my Palm (for cache pages, bigger map display, etc.) and my GPSr very actively while caching. It makes the experience so much less aggravating.
The price isn't all that bad, considering that you're getting most of the features of a PocketPC, and a GPS, in addition to Palm stability.
Only thing is, I wonder what the battery life is like with the color screen. I understand people liking color for the "cool" factor. But greyscale is almost as functional and has much better batter life.
If you can't get used to the idea that one's cellphone is part of the "actual surroundings", I'm afraid you're destined for the ash-heap of history, my friend.
I haven't noticed this mentioned in any of the (modded up:-) articles posted so far, but the reprinted letter doesn't make me feel like they necessarily have the slightest idea where the IP address is.
My guess is that they have some big automated tool that does a whois lookup of the domain, and sends an automated letter (or is this email... even more likely then).
You're forgetting that spam has all the "substance" of an electron on a diet.
You'd be lucky to light a match with the energy released by even a million spams a day colliding with anti-spam.
Slashdot Mirror
It takes a ton of energy to make the things.
Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
You'll note that this doesn't say "Congress shall make no law", "by the government" or any other POS argument that's been made against Free Speech, religion, etc.
What is privacy except the right to be secure in your effects against unreasonable searches?
The Octagonal Raven is mostly a (attempted) murder mystery revolving around a "pre-select" human who's being hunted down by a vast conspiracy, so if that type of book doesn't appeal, don't bother.
The undercurrent of the book is essentially just this. The people with "pre-selected" genes are simply superior, which leads to more wealth, which leads to more pre-selected genes in the next generation.
This has the predictable result.
I know "military intelligence" is an oxymoron, but give them credit for a tiny amount of common sense.
If they are going to do that, why not just by the drugs themselves and distribute them?
Eminent domain only is efficient if an owner has an inflated opinion about the fair market value of a piece of property. Otherwise, the government could just buy it.
Now, you might argue that drug companies have an inflated opinion about the fair market value of their patented life-saving drugs, but I think you'll find that this is untrue. They know *exactly* what the fair market value is (otherwise they couldn't know how much it's worth investing to invent them :-).
Without a doctrine of equivilents, patents would not protect inventions.
With it, patents clearly cover ideas and not inventions.
All patents are software patents.
Whatever your personal definition is, it's almost tautological that success is what maximized happiness.
This is why free market capitalism maximizes happiness. It offers the opportunity for success on more fronts than any other extant or proposed system.
The only things you can do with your money that doesn't create new business investment is to a) put it in a matress, and b) spend it on something with no margin (i.e. that costs nearly as much to produce as to purchase).
The idle rich by definition create vastly more new business investment than the poor.
Whether that's a good thing or not may be debatable, but the fact of it really isn't.
The above statement is fundamentally the way the universe works. There is gravity (modulo quantum gravity :-) because both of these statements are basically true.
You move towards a mass because it distorts spacetime so that the "straight line" you're travelling in actually goes towards the mass.
That 12 molar glacial acetic acid is hell on the tastebuds.
(i.e. the vinegar and lemon juice you refer to are 95% water).
As funny as this idea is, I think taking the rap for impersonating a police officer is taking civil disobediance a bit far...
No matter how hard you try, you cannot legally sell yourself into slavery, because freedom is inalienable. Any such contract is illegal and void.
I would claim that this kind of privacy is equally inalienable.
Otherwise, we end up with a police state by proxy.
I can only hope that this proves to be true in court. There's nothing that can stop eBay from reporting what they think is a crime to police (in fact, I think that's fine). However, that's very different from having the police request that they release your private information.
Maybe that seems like a narrow legalistic distinction to some, but it's a very important one.
Seriously, though, there's some really cool stuff on here. I've always been a far of hypergolic reactions :-).
Govmint's gonna get you all for reading this website :-).
If you want to have longevity in the IT field, learn how to solve problems first, then how to do it in software.
I don't have any worries, myself, because there will always be a place for people who can cut to the core of a problem and have insights into the key issues, in a broad range of fields.
Actually coding up the solution, though, is a S.M.O.P.
In case it isn't obvious to some of the above described individuals, this is satire. Let me rephrase that: a joke.
The thing I find amusing/interesting/whatever about this is that there is exactly such a drug, and that it is wildly popular.
The do a lot of world building on the way, but what really gets you is the character development.
Also, if you happen to have a girlfriend (having read 4000 SF novels is sometimes contradictory :-), it's possible to pass them off as Romance Novels set in space. Don't let that turn you off, though... the Balance is such that either kind of fan can legitimately like them.
The price isn't all that bad, considering that you're getting most of the features of a PocketPC, and a GPS, in addition to Palm stability.
Only thing is, I wonder what the battery life is like with the color screen. I understand people liking color for the "cool" factor. But greyscale is almost as functional and has much better batter life.
If you can't get used to the idea that one's cellphone is part of the "actual surroundings", I'm afraid you're destined for the ash-heap of history, my friend.
The kinds of people that would do this are the exact same kinds of people that would have obnoxious phone conversations in public places themselves.
Thus arises a paradox.
My guess is that they have some big automated tool that does a whois lookup of the domain, and sends an automated letter (or is this email... even more likely then).
I very much doubt they look at all of them...
Nuf said.
You're forgetting that spam has all the "substance" of an electron on a diet. You'd be lucky to light a match with the energy released by even a million spams a day colliding with anti-spam.
Given its size, maybe it should just be "Dot".