"......these people aren't going to be won over no matter how hard you try......" You can do nothing about this people above what you have to handle criminals. There will always be crime and there will always be groups of people who decide that terrorism/violence is a tactic that is useful.
How you hinder/cripple the terrorist is by removing the sympathy he needs to operate in. SO in the North of Irerland, kicking down the doors of ordinary innocent people houses led to MORE support of the terrorist - " Hey Mick, could you mind this _bag of tools_ for a week for me - wink wink" - OK Paddy, no problem.
However, if Mick had not had his door kicked in he would probably tell Paddy to fuck off, he might not call the police, but he would no co-operate so easily.
and this is how terrorists grow successful, they need rich soil of disaffected people who have been touched in bad ways by the supposed good guys. DO we believe that there is any Iraqi who has ANY ties to Fallujah will say no when Ahmed asks to store a "bag of tools" for a week?
So is we remove this "soil" of support, then the terrorist has no nore teeth than the ordinary criminal, the core of the terror movement remains small, the core has difficulty moving and acting wothout being reported by good happy citizens.
When you fuck off the entire population of Arab Muslins by kicking in doors, bulldozing houses, supporting your own forms of terror and lawlessness, then you will never lose perhaps, but you will never eradicate the terrorist, because too many people have empathy for the terrorist.
It is not just the billing cost of data......what about applications that can "phone home" for whatever reason that does not include your knowledge or permission? Applications that make voice calls to porn lines? etc etc.
We might not like having to certify apps, but I am sure for exmple Nokia do it because they do not want to gain a rep as a phone that fucks the user via the voice or data function. The user of course is not going to blame his pretty little ulility he got for free, he is going to blame Nokia or Apple or whomever created an environment that allowed rougue apps to have full access to stuff.
In any case, you unlimited data plan I am sure is not unlimited while roaming in Europe. I have often had 1000 Euro GPRS data bills while roaming.
I am involved with the launch of some new phone applications for a European mobile operator. To get the application onto Nokia, for example, requires a third party testing organization to test the app and they then certify to Nokia that they are happy with the app behaviour. Nokia then allow the app to flashed and shipped on the phone with a cert. This is expensive.
There is a point to all this: Rogue applications can make calls and rack up your phone bills. Fancy a 5000 euro roaming data bill that was not expected and made via connections you did not know about?
I am hoping that there will be layers: who needs a signed app if the data connection is wifi? It is possibly better for the user if crappy shareware/malware cannot make EDGE data calls without users pushing the Yes OK Do It button.
"......ne who thinks its artisitc to recreate a WWII era germ warfare experiment by shooting (even "harmless") bacteria at gunea pigs off the isle of lewis desreves everything they get in my opinion......."
How nice of you to believe in Laws and Justice. So if your neighbor thinks you are a whack job and calls the police, should we defend you or agree with your neighbor that you deserve whatever the law can dish out.
At some point in everyones they could perform some action that some other person classes as "whackjob".
That is why we have the rule of laws, not the rule of your personal opinion.
"......It's common knowledge that that attack was the most successful terror attack in history...."
You have a very poor grasp of history. You also have a poor grasp of the defintion of the word terror.
".........After 2 hours of bombardment, Tokyo was engulfed in a firestorm. The fires were so hot they would ignite the clothing on individuals as they were fleeing. Many women were wearing what were called 'air-raid turbans' around their heads, and the heat would ignite those turbans like a wick on a candle. This was the worst disaster for Tokyo since the 1923 earthquake. The death toll was at least 80,000, and perhaps exceeded 100,000.[4] This may have been the most devastating single raid ever carried out by aircraft in any war including the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the firebombing of Dresden......."
Curtis LeMay later said: "I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal."
Tokyo marks a world record at that point in time - the most people died in the shortest amount of time from an act of terror in the history of mankind.
Don't bother with your tired crap about war. Osama believes he is in a war. People here believe we are at war. Me? I belive war has rules. I believe if you kill 100K women, children and babies you are a terrorist.
well said. Anyone with the slightest logic can see that the Airport bullshit has no logic. it is just some obtuse PR effort. And anyone with half a brain can think of many ways to beat the security system.
The reality is the threat is way overstated.
I spent some time in Afghanistan. Our driver was a former soldier ( started killing at 16, stopped at 21). If this guy wanted to kill someone - he would. They are thousands and thousands of smart people who have proved they are capable of killing and killing with expertese. if these guys want you dead, you would be.
The reality is there is a tiny group of people who want to blow up an airport, and when they try we might have a 50 / 50 chance of stopping them. Or a million to one chance. It all depends on the method they adopt.
Grow up everybody. Assess the threat. You are NOT going to die in a US airport. That sugar and fat and booze you suck in will kil you for sure.
Sure Ahmed and Mohamed and others hate you as much as you hate them. But they want to live. Just like you do.
:.....She's a dumbfvck and deserves whatever she gets......"
Ignorant Saudi Tribes Men looking at girl in Minskirt: "She should be stoned to death"
Ignorant American Asshole looking at girl wearing Art: " She deserves to be shot"
I was born in America. My father taught me about freedom. He taught me common sense. He taught me how to assess risk. He never told me that Americans would be chicken shit and shoot people in Airports for wearing Art. If she can wear art in a footbal stadium, or an art Gallery or a Rock concert, then why can she not wear it in an Airport doing what people do everyday - pick up a friend?
She is not the dumbfuck - you out there who are afraid are dumbfucks. You dumbfuck will die of heart disease, you will be killed in car crashes, you will be killed crossing the road, you will be killed by........lot's of things.
You will not be killed by a suicide bomber in an American Airport. Grow some balls. Learn to judge risk. I am not willing to give up MY freedom because you dumbfucks have no mental ability to ue common sense and judge risk. EVERYTHING in an Airport could be a bomb. Got it? EVERYTHING. But statistics tell us otherwise. And if there is a bomb there is a billion to one probability that it will be delivered outside a jacket by a white female student.
You are all dumbfucks if you are afraid. Someone, every day somewhere dies.
"....The majority of people who died in crashes - 56 percent - were not wearing seat belts......" So 40,000 Plus Americans die every year in a crash. So lets allocate all those dumb fucks in Airports to spotting Americans with no seatbelts.
Ummm......bullshit. In Munich, when you connect, you pass though one security check between connecting flight. Not 4. Unless you left the secure zone several times. The Germans actually take a lot of verbal abuse without arresting people. They are better than the Swiss. In Europe you might get arrested, but your probability of being beaten or shot is much less.
By your criterion, everything in the airport could conceal a bomb. And you know what - this is true. So essentially the whole exercise of trying to spot the bomb via visual means is futile.
The reality is this says more about how so many Americans are ready to dispense with civil rights and freedom.
Osama - 2 US - 0
( one point for 9/11 and one point for convincing Americans to give up freedom)
".....In short, while the policies are completely ridiculous at times, there's no reason to push your luck. If you have to travel by plane (and I avoid it at all costs these days), don't give them any excuse to give you a hard time. Doing so won't change anything and it's liable to make your day much more difficult as well. If you intend to protest airport security policy, pick a different venue. That is, unless you have a *lot* of time on your hands...."
You are so wrong. Traveling should not be a function of luck. We are a nation of laws. Speaking words is not suppsed to be a crime. Some of us have no choice bacuse of our job - we have to travel. I do not recall any amendment to the constitution that said I am giving up my rights because I am flying and the staff are idiots and the process is ineffective.
As I posted above, travelling now via western airports is no different than travelling via Saudi Arabia.
Freedom does not disapear in one day, it starts with lack of attention to the fact that a lot of what we fear has no real basis in law. I recently had a guitar swabbed in a German airport, while I waited ten minutes for the result. The stupid lady then told me there were no problems with my guitar - Itold her she was a fucking idiot because if I had packed explosives, I would have know about it regardless of her swab, thus there was no point in announcing to me that the guitar was safe. Should I be arrested? In Saudi Arabia - why not? In the west?
Sure I am rude. I am rude to idiots who carry out pointless processes. But in a free society I should be free to be rude.
Ask me the ways I have figured out to avoid security and get a bomb on plane. The whole exercise is pointless. Always has been.
Are we different? Are we free? People die every day by the thousands doing things risky. Who decided a drunk driver can kill me, yet a terrorist is not supposed to kill me on an airplane, but he can kill me on a train, in a bus station, at a rock concert, pretty much where he wants - IF he wants.
My fellow Americans are a race of insane scared pussies
".......ou need to go pick up a news paper and read what has been going on in the world for the last couple of years. Once you're up to speed with the rest of the adults, you'll understand why she is oh so lucky to be alive to talk about her stupidity......"
How many Americans have died from a drunk driving incident since 9/11? Car crash? Maybe the newspapers are stupid and you are also stupid to not have the context to understand what the word hype means.
I fly all the the time every week, for the last 12 years.........and trust me airport security has nothing to do with security. It is all a PR effort, but sadly all the little dweeb power hungry fuckers with uniforms love it because it allows them to become the true fascists that they have always dreamed of becoming.
You sir are the one out of touch with reality.
If these terrorists really wanted to blow up shit, you would know a lot about it.
This incident is all about a nation that is no longer free because fuckers like you let Osama win.
I used to travel all the time in the Middle East, and going to Saudi Arabia was always a bit tense, because they were lawless fuckers who could do what they wanted.
Now? It struck me that the west is no different. Who the fuck know the rules anymore? So. Osama has won. He has taken away our freedoms and made all Western airports the same as Saudi Arabia.
Now we have men with guns at airports who can arrest you for pretty much anything thay want, and they have minds slaves nodding their heads, while meanwhile 300 bodies a week of innocent Americans are buried after the demon booze put them there.
The reality is that most people hre including you have no idea about risk. But you force people like me to live in your slave reality.
Intent in this case is difficult to prove. I carry a laptop everywhere as many people do, so this cannot support intent to steal access. I OFTEN connect to open networks as I travel all the time, I often pay to connct as well. If I find a free one, I just use it. This does not make me a TRUE criminal.
We are losing the distinction to regulations and crimes. Everything is becoming a crime.
The reality is that most computers automatically connect to a network, so it becomes difficult to not connect. The reality is very few people set out with true INTENT to steal access.
Intent must be proved in this case to convict. It should not be that difficult to show lack of intent. Any rartional judge should allow leeway in obvious lack of intent.
You quote the law but you did not perhaps read it:
(1)A person who-- (a)dishonestly obtains an electronic communications service, and (b)does so with intent to avoid payment of a charge applicable to the provision of that service,
In this instance, there was no intent to avoid payment of a charge, because there was no notification of a charge being applicable. It is obvious the person had no INTENT to avoid payment.
"......The ability for phones to surf the web in the eyes of the webmasters have been observed to be more of a fringe benefit, rather than the standard......"
Which comes first chicken or egg? People do not surf the web exactly because the sites out there do not support the billions of phones. In the mobile world we struggle to produce content in a multi-device world. But this is the issue - IT IS a multi-device world. The days of a PC only web are over. We need technology that is better able to construct not just optimized content, but allow for applications to fall back to simplicity when faced with a phone device.
The phone has an incredible advantage - that of contextual clues ( never mind that cretinous mobile marketing people have no idea of context and applications and services )that are not being used in any mainstream fashion, This is because application developers always think about a mouse and a keyboard as the only way to derive contextual input.
Everyone might have 3G, but how many customers are on it? Vodafone globally has 100+ million customers, but I doubt that more than 3 % have a 3G contract and use it, 3G is still a niche and not mainstream. UNtil operators launch realistic data plans, customers are not going to bite ( the joys of having received 1000+ euro phone bills for roaming data charges - no thanks,,,,,)
I work in Europe these last 7 years in the Mobile Portal Space, and I have never seen anyone try to lock out a phone at the network level. Once it has a valid SIM.....it works. We have NO idea what phones are out there, and if mobile operators were doing this, they would lock out their own customers, because marketing never talks to the network guys, they just do stuff. In any case all operators sell SIM only contract.......so contractually how would we explain to them that we are locking THEIR phone out. Governments and the GSM association validate phones. Mobile Operators assume phones are legal and will work.
I am racking my brains and too lazy to troll via the standards, but I SUSPECT that even f there is a part of the GSM spec to validate a certain phone model it is never used.
So in your wisdom specify your source for this ( I have worked for Vodafone Global, Orange Global, Swisscom, BT Cellnet H3G etc etc etc)
In the Portal space, via a WAP gateway, we can reject this or that model of phone if we want. The theory of Vodafone Live is that only specific handsets can use the service, but some of the OpCo's let any handset in not just Vodfaone Live approved handsets.
Please take into account that you are using an average density, Recalculate based upon the fact that the majority of Americans now live in an Urban setting. Also in any country , they plan carefully radio coverage NOT to include very remote places with no traffic.
So your example does not have a huge amount of validity. It is far to simplistic.
The real issue is a state of mind, Americans do not WANT mobiles and features the same way Europeans do.
".....The vast majority of them are the children of immigrants and refugees who moved to Europe from countres in Africa, Central Asia, India and the Middle East. Of course, there are domestic "happy slappers", but they tend to be in the minority......"
And you have supporting statistics for this assertion? I doubt it very much. What a statement. Please provide evidence for this or withdraw the assertion. I suspect but have no fact that it is the opposite. I suspect but cannot prove that you might have some racist leanings
Why is it that Israel - who is quite belligerent has nukes for ever and no one blinks? If anyone bleats about Iran - when were they bleating about Israel and Nukes?
Nukes are simple. No one has them or everyone wants one and everyone will try to aquire them.
In essence all this crap about Iran is just a smokescreen for the bigger issue of falure of the NPT. I mean really - Pakistan and India flout the NPT and we kiss their ass. This is about power and who can sit at the table and have power.
Perhaps economically speaking actors should stop getting 20 million for several months work. The underlying issue that needs to be debated is that copyright as a monopoly is used to drive up the rates of popular artists pay - both muscians and actors and writers..........
As such copyright is a monopoly and this is what we expect to see - the consumer gets screwed. I would pay 5 Euros for a digital copy of a movie - I would buy loads of films. I refuse to pay 15-30 Euros for a DVD so the only ones I ever bought were for the kids.
I would pay 3-5 Euros for albums in digital format but I would want supporting lyrics, photos and information about the making of the album.
So really copyright is just being used to do price gouging and maximizing profits.....
"....Stealing a copy of something leaves behind no evidence...."
Over and over.....copying is not stealing. It is copying. There is a difference. The powers that be LOVE when people call copying stealing. If I steal an object - you no longer have the object. If I copy an object, you still have the object. Copyright is a givernment granted monopoly so what I am doing in copying is ignoring your monopoly. What I actually do with that copy then defne the damage that potentially could occur to your income from that copy.
I grew up copying my friends albums on tapes. We all bought stuff, but no one bleated then about stealing. We called it sharing.
How many people out there are buying NOYTHING and only aquiring music via copying. Very few I would imagine.
Slashdot Mirror
PLus the fact that the post will be shipped from A to B by an airplane. Duh! Security? I think not.
"......these people aren't going to be won over no matter how hard you try......" You can do nothing about this people above what you have to handle criminals. There will always be crime and there will always be groups of people who decide that terrorism/violence is a tactic that is useful.
How you hinder/cripple the terrorist is by removing the sympathy he needs to operate in. SO in the North of Irerland, kicking down the doors of ordinary innocent people houses led to MORE support of the terrorist - " Hey Mick, could you mind this _bag of tools_ for a week for me - wink wink" - OK Paddy, no problem.
However, if Mick had not had his door kicked in he would probably tell Paddy to fuck off, he might not call the police, but he would no co-operate so easily.
and this is how terrorists grow successful, they need rich soil of disaffected people who have been touched in bad ways by the supposed good guys. DO we believe that there is any Iraqi who has ANY ties to Fallujah will say no when Ahmed asks to store a "bag of tools" for a week?
So is we remove this "soil" of support, then the terrorist has no nore teeth than the ordinary criminal, the core of the terror movement remains small, the core has difficulty moving and acting wothout being reported by good happy citizens.
When you fuck off the entire population of Arab Muslins by kicking in doors, bulldozing houses, supporting your own forms of terror and lawlessness, then you will never lose perhaps, but you will never eradicate the terrorist, because too many people have empathy for the terrorist.
It is not just the billing cost of data......what about applications that can "phone home" for whatever reason that does not include your knowledge or permission? Applications that make voice calls to porn lines? etc etc.
We might not like having to certify apps, but I am sure for exmple Nokia do it because they do not want to gain a rep as a phone that fucks the user via the voice or data function. The user of course is not going to blame his pretty little ulility he got for free, he is going to blame Nokia or Apple or whomever created an environment that allowed rougue apps to have full access to stuff.
In any case, you unlimited data plan I am sure is not unlimited while roaming in Europe. I have often had 1000 Euro GPRS data bills while roaming.
I am involved with the launch of some new phone applications for a European mobile operator. To get the application onto Nokia, for example, requires a third party testing organization to test the app and they then certify to Nokia that they are happy with the app behaviour. Nokia then allow the app to flashed and shipped on the phone with a cert. This is expensive.
There is a point to all this: Rogue applications can make calls and rack up your phone bills. Fancy a 5000 euro roaming data bill that was not expected and made via connections you did not know about?
I am hoping that there will be layers: who needs a signed app if the data connection is wifi? It is possibly better for the user if crappy shareware/malware cannot make EDGE data calls without users pushing the Yes OK Do It button.
My father worked on the Nike system, I would ask him, except he is no longer alive......he as convinced his cancer came from the radar........
"......ne who thinks its artisitc to recreate a WWII era germ warfare experiment by shooting (even "harmless") bacteria at gunea pigs off the isle of lewis desreves everything they get in my opinion......."
How nice of you to believe in Laws and Justice. So if your neighbor thinks you are a whack job and calls the police, should we defend you or agree with your neighbor that you deserve whatever the law can dish out.
At some point in everyones they could perform some action that some other person classes as "whackjob".
That is why we have the rule of laws, not the rule of your personal opinion.
"......It's common knowledge that that attack was the most successful terror attack in history...."
You have a very poor grasp of history. You also have a poor grasp of the defintion of the word terror.
".........After 2 hours of bombardment, Tokyo was engulfed in a firestorm. The fires were so hot they would ignite the clothing on individuals as they were fleeing. Many women were wearing what were called 'air-raid turbans' around their heads, and the heat would ignite those turbans like a wick on a candle. This was the worst disaster for Tokyo since the 1923 earthquake. The death toll was at least 80,000, and perhaps exceeded 100,000.[4] This may have been the most devastating single raid ever carried out by aircraft in any war including the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the firebombing of Dresden......."
Curtis LeMay later said: "I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal."
Tokyo marks a world record at that point in time - the most people died in the shortest amount of time from an act of terror in the history of mankind.
Don't bother with your tired crap about war. Osama believes he is in a war. People here believe we are at war. Me? I belive war has rules. I believe if you kill 100K women, children and babies you are a terrorist.
well said. Anyone with the slightest logic can see that the Airport bullshit has no logic. it is just some obtuse PR effort. And anyone with half a brain can think of many ways to beat the security system.
The reality is the threat is way overstated.
I spent some time in Afghanistan. Our driver was a former soldier ( started killing at 16, stopped at 21). If this guy wanted to kill someone - he would. They are thousands and thousands of smart people who have proved they are capable of killing and killing with expertese. if these guys want you dead, you would be.
The reality is there is a tiny group of people who want to blow up an airport, and when they try we might have a 50 / 50 chance of stopping them. Or a million to one chance. It all depends on the method they adopt.
Grow up everybody. Assess the threat. You are NOT going to die in a US airport. That sugar and fat and booze you suck in will kil you for sure.
Sure Ahmed and Mohamed and others hate you as much as you hate them. But they want to live. Just like you do.
:.....She's a dumbfvck and deserves whatever she gets......"
Ignorant Saudi Tribes Men looking at girl in Minskirt: "She should be stoned to death"
Ignorant American Asshole looking at girl wearing Art: " She deserves to be shot"
I was born in America. My father taught me about freedom. He taught me common sense. He taught me how to assess risk. He never told me that Americans would be chicken shit and shoot people in Airports for wearing Art. If she can wear art in a footbal stadium, or an art Gallery or a Rock concert, then why can she not wear it in an Airport doing what people do everyday - pick up a friend?
She is not the dumbfuck - you out there who are afraid are dumbfucks. You dumbfuck will die of heart disease, you will be killed in car crashes, you will be killed crossing the road, you will be killed by........lot's of things.
You will not be killed by a suicide bomber in an American Airport. Grow some balls. Learn to judge risk. I am not willing to give up MY freedom because you dumbfucks have no mental ability to ue common sense and judge risk. EVERYTHING in an Airport could be a bomb. Got it? EVERYTHING. But statistics tell us otherwise. And if there is a bomb there is a billion to one probability that it will be delivered outside a jacket by a white female student.
You are all dumbfucks if you are afraid. Someone, every day somewhere dies.
"....The majority of people who died in crashes - 56 percent - were not wearing seat belts......" So 40,000 Plus Americans die every year in a crash. So lets allocate all those dumb fucks in Airports to spotting Americans with no seatbelts.
In MY America wearing Art is not a crime.
Ummm......bullshit. In Munich, when you connect, you pass though one security check between connecting flight. Not 4. Unless you left the secure zone several times. The Germans actually take a lot of verbal abuse without arresting people. They are better than the Swiss. In Europe you might get arrested, but your probability of being beaten or shot is much less.
By your criterion, everything in the airport could conceal a bomb. And you know what - this is true. So essentially the whole exercise of trying to spot the bomb via visual means is futile.
The reality is this says more about how so many Americans are ready to dispense with civil rights and freedom.
Osama - 2
US - 0
( one point for 9/11 and one point for convincing Americans to give up freedom)
".....In short, while the policies are completely ridiculous at times, there's no reason to push your luck. If you have to travel by plane (and I avoid it at all costs these days), don't give them any excuse to give you a hard time. Doing so won't change anything and it's liable to make your day much more difficult as well. If you intend to protest airport security policy, pick a different venue. That is, unless you have a *lot* of time on your hands...."
You are so wrong. Traveling should not be a function of luck. We are a nation of laws. Speaking words is not suppsed to be a crime. Some of us have no choice bacuse of our job - we have to travel. I do not recall any amendment to the constitution that said I am giving up my rights because I am flying and the staff are idiots and the process is ineffective.
As I posted above, travelling now via western airports is no different than travelling via Saudi Arabia.
Freedom does not disapear in one day, it starts with lack of attention to the fact that a lot of what we fear has no real basis in law. I recently had a guitar swabbed in a German airport, while I waited ten minutes for the result. The stupid lady then told me there were no problems with my guitar - Itold her she was a fucking idiot because if I had packed explosives, I would have know about it regardless of her swab, thus there was no point in announcing to me that the guitar was safe. Should I be arrested? In Saudi Arabia - why not? In the west?
Sure I am rude. I am rude to idiots who carry out pointless processes. But in a free society I should be free to be rude.
Ask me the ways I have figured out to avoid security and get a bomb on plane. The whole exercise is pointless. Always has been.
Are we different? Are we free? People die every day by the thousands doing things risky. Who decided a drunk driver can kill me, yet a terrorist is not supposed to kill me on an airplane, but he can kill me on a train, in a bus station, at a rock concert, pretty much where he wants - IF he wants.
Freedom. Use it or lose it.
My fellow Americans are a race of insane scared pussies
".......ou need to go pick up a news paper and read what has been going on in the world for the last couple of years. Once you're up to speed with the rest of the adults, you'll understand why she is oh so lucky to be alive to talk about her stupidity......"
How many Americans have died from a drunk driving incident since 9/11? Car crash? Maybe the newspapers are stupid and you are also stupid to not have the context to understand what the word hype means.
I fly all the the time every week, for the last 12 years.........and trust me airport security has nothing to do with security. It is all a PR effort, but sadly all the little dweeb power hungry fuckers with uniforms love it because it allows them to become the true fascists that they have always dreamed of becoming.
You sir are the one out of touch with reality.
If these terrorists really wanted to blow up shit, you would know a lot about it.
This incident is all about a nation that is no longer free because fuckers like you let Osama win.
I used to travel all the time in the Middle East, and going to Saudi Arabia was always a bit tense, because they were lawless fuckers who could do what they wanted.
Now? It struck me that the west is no different. Who the fuck know the rules anymore? So. Osama has won. He has taken away our freedoms and made all Western airports the same as Saudi Arabia.
Now we have men with guns at airports who can arrest you for pretty much anything thay want, and they have minds slaves nodding their heads, while meanwhile 300 bodies a week of innocent Americans are buried after the demon booze put them there.
The reality is that most people hre including you have no idea about risk. But you force people like me to live in your slave reality.
Intent in this case is difficult to prove. I carry a laptop everywhere as many people do, so this cannot support intent to steal access. I OFTEN connect to open networks as I travel all the time, I often pay to connct as well. If I find a free one, I just use it. This does not make me a TRUE criminal.
We are losing the distinction to regulations and crimes. Everything is becoming a crime.
The reality is that most computers automatically connect to a network, so it becomes difficult to not connect. The reality is very few people set out with true INTENT to steal access.
Intent must be proved in this case to convict. It should not be that difficult to show lack of intent. Any rartional judge should allow leeway in obvious lack of intent.
You quote the law but you did not perhaps read it:
(1)A person who--
(a)dishonestly obtains an electronic communications service, and
(b)does so with intent to avoid payment of a charge applicable to the provision of that service,
In this instance, there was no intent to avoid payment of a charge, because there was no notification of a charge being applicable. It is obvious the person had no INTENT to avoid payment.
"......The ability for phones to surf the web in the eyes of the webmasters have been observed to be more of a fringe benefit, rather than the standard......"
Which comes first chicken or egg? People do not surf the web exactly because the sites out there do not support the billions of phones. In the mobile world we struggle to produce content in a multi-device world. But this is the issue - IT IS a multi-device world. The days of a PC only web are over. We need technology that is better able to construct not just optimized content, but allow for applications to fall back to simplicity when faced with a phone device.
The phone has an incredible advantage - that of contextual clues ( never mind that cretinous mobile marketing people have no idea of context and applications and services )that are not being used in any mainstream fashion, This is because application developers always think about a mouse and a keyboard as the only way to derive contextual input.
Everyone might have 3G, but how many customers are on it? Vodafone globally has 100+ million customers, but I doubt that more than 3 % have a 3G contract and use it, 3G is still a niche and not mainstream. UNtil operators launch realistic data plans, customers are not going to bite ( the joys of having received 1000+ euro phone bills for roaming data charges - no thanks,,,,,)
I work in Europe these last 7 years in the Mobile Portal Space, and I have never seen anyone try to lock out a phone at the network level. Once it has a valid SIM.....it works. We have NO idea what phones are out there, and if mobile operators were doing this, they would lock out their own customers, because marketing never talks to the network guys, they just do stuff. In any case all operators sell SIM only contract.......so contractually how would we explain to them that we are locking THEIR phone out. Governments and the GSM association validate phones. Mobile Operators assume phones are legal and will work.
I am racking my brains and too lazy to troll via the standards, but I SUSPECT that even f there is a part of the GSM spec to validate a certain phone model it is never used.
So in your wisdom specify your source for this ( I have worked for Vodafone Global, Orange Global, Swisscom, BT Cellnet H3G etc etc etc)
In the Portal space, via a WAP gateway, we can reject this or that model of phone if we want. The theory of Vodafone Live is that only specific handsets can use the service, but some of the OpCo's let any handset in not just Vodfaone Live approved handsets.
A strong smell of bullshit emanates.
Please take into account that you are using an average density, Recalculate based upon the fact that the majority of Americans now live in an Urban setting. Also in any country , they plan carefully radio coverage NOT to include very remote places with no traffic.
So your example does not have a huge amount of validity. It is far to simplistic.
The real issue is a state of mind, Americans do not WANT mobiles and features the same way Europeans do.
In space, no one can hear bacteria scream
".....The vast majority of them are the children of immigrants and refugees who moved to Europe from countres in Africa, Central Asia, India and the Middle East. Of course, there are domestic "happy slappers", but they tend to be in the minority......"
And you have supporting statistics for this assertion? I doubt it very much. What a statement. Please provide evidence for this or withdraw the assertion. I suspect but have no fact that it is the opposite. I suspect but cannot prove that you might have some racist leanings
Why is it that Israel - who is quite belligerent has nukes for ever and no one blinks? If anyone bleats about Iran - when were they bleating about Israel and Nukes?
Nukes are simple. No one has them or everyone wants one and everyone will try to aquire them.
In essence all this crap about Iran is just a smokescreen for the bigger issue of falure of the NPT. I mean really - Pakistan and India flout the NPT and we kiss their ass. This is about power and who can sit at the table and have power.
".....The real is that if Iran gets nukes, then the rest of the Middle East is going to start arming itself with nukes. ....."
...."
Perhaps you you could have said "....Since Israel has nukes, then the rest of the Middle East wants to start arming itself with nukes.
Perhaps economically speaking actors should stop getting 20 million for several months work. The underlying issue that needs to be debated is that copyright as a monopoly is used to drive up the rates of popular artists pay - both muscians and actors and writers..........
As such copyright is a monopoly and this is what we expect to see - the consumer gets screwed. I would pay 5 Euros for a digital copy of a movie - I would buy loads of films. I refuse to pay 15-30 Euros for a DVD so the only ones I ever bought were for the kids.
I would pay 3-5 Euros for albums in digital format but I would want supporting lyrics, photos and information about the making of the album.
So really copyright is just being used to do price gouging and maximizing profits.....
"....Stealing a copy of something leaves behind no evidence...."
Over and over.....copying is not stealing. It is copying. There is a difference. The powers that be LOVE when people call copying stealing. If I steal an object - you no longer have the object. If I copy an object, you still have the object. Copyright is a givernment granted monopoly so what I am doing in copying is ignoring your monopoly. What I actually do with that copy then defne the damage that potentially could occur to your income from that copy.
I grew up copying my friends albums on tapes. We all bought stuff, but no one bleated then about stealing. We called it sharing.
How many people out there are buying NOYTHING and only aquiring music via copying. Very few I would imagine.