Good luck lying to Israeli customs/immigration officers. They'll sniff you out a mile away, and they won't assume you're lying because of theoretical concerns about privacy.
If you checked the box "please send me a daily postcard" when you ordered from a mail order catalog, then yes you can't call it junk mail. You now, like you did with a newegg order at some point.
You could try clicking the "Manage your e-mail subscriptions" or "unsubscribe" links on any of those emails to and tell them you've changed your mind about getting mail from them, but whining on slashdot is probably more fun I guess.
Yes, we all know how well emailing "unsubscribe" to someone who wants to verify it's a genuine email address works.
Israel has every right to require you show just cause why they should let you in. Just like the US has that same right.
Israel has no rights, nor does the US. Rights belong to people, not governments. Governments have powers, and to say that no government should have this particular power is right, proper, and objectively correct.
Any country's government has the power (and duty) to protect its citizens from outside threats.
The only people with the right to complain about this are Israeli citizens. Everyone else is free not to go to Israel if having their emails/bags/rectums searched is beyond the pale.
the term "racist" means a person who demonstrates prejudice, whether from race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation
No, that's just silly. There are other terms for people with irrational prejudices for reasons other than race (e.g. xenophobe, sexist). Anti-muslim sentiment is generally driven by racism, even if they're not identical, simply because most muslims have brown skin.
Do you still equate speaking German with being a Nazi?
I think the point was that it's now an option, rather than a requirement to avoid being sent off to a work camp. I don't think the OP had anything particular against German as a language.
I download a whole lot of music, a whole lot, as there's an endless supply of free legal music available.
Yes, in the same way that there's an endless supply of free fanfic available, i.e. utter shite composed in someone's bedroom while they're half drunk and masturbating to Japanese child porn.
"Home Movies". Nudge nudge. Wink wink. Know what I mean? Say no more, say no more. "Home Movies" eh? Are you keen on videos? Eh? Eh? Got any videos of your wife naked in your "Home Movies"? Like to buy some?
I've gotten odd looks from my co-workers when I mention that I use bit torrent to download ISOs because it's faster. In most people's minds, bit torrent is synonymous with piracy.
That's because bit torrent is mostly used for piracy.
The percentage of the population that downloads Linux ISOs is tiny.
Utter bullshit. If you want to consume only mainstream media, fine, go ahead and do it, but don't pretend there has been some massive restriction on freedom of the press and that there are no alternatives. If you are happy just watching Fox and Disney, fine, but you have no right to moan about what it costs or how restricted it is.
There is nothing stopping you starting your own YouTube channel, blog, forum or whatever. There is nothing stopping you making music and films and releasing them for free, unrestricted download. Lots of people already do this.
The simple fact is, that people want to watch Fox and Disney. No one's forcing them. People like crap TV, crap films, crap magazines, crap books, crap clothes and crap music.
Short of banning anyone from reading anything except Shakespeare or listening to Mozart (or whatever) that's just life.
But unlike when the government tells me I have to eat Gub'ment-Mac-n-Cheese
As someone on the left, I would classify this as right wing behaviour. In a proper socialist democracy, any government laws would only arise if the majority of people democratically voted on them, and I don't see how enough people would care enough about Mac-n-Cheese (whatever that is) to make a law enforcing it.
It is far more likely that in a rightwing fascist/corporatist society Kraft would be able to apply pressure on the government to mandate Mac-n-Cheese.
And I have the right to use something I bought however I want. You really think their rights trump mine?
When you buy a DVD you don't buy the content. You buy the physical disk (which you can do what you like with) and a licence to view the content under certain restricted conditions. For instance, in the UK at least you're not allowed to show it to paying customers.
To watch a movie in Netflix on my laptop that is running Linux, I have to jump through a large number of hoops... Or, I can fire up my Xbox 360, or my PS3, or another machine running Windows.
Or your iPad, iPhone or Android phone.
Sorry, it's a question of economics, not some hideous conspiracy. If a company like Netflix decide to ignore Linux it's because they've worked out they're not losing that many potential customers. Whether that's right or not is their problem.
You are totally missing the point that the "rights" belong to the owner not the consumer. As a consumer, you have the right to not buy something you don't like (and the right not to be defrauded and so on). You do not have the right to demand free products from people.
You probably don't have much contact with people under 35. Watching DVDs (or, more recently, streaming services) on a laptop is something that has been very common among students for around a decade. Around 2000, it was still a pretty geeky thing, but it became mainstream very quickly.
That's probably because most people under 35 don't have nice big houses wih nice big rooms and nice comfy sofas to put a nice big TV in.
Seriously, do you think Mark Zuckenberg watches films on a fucking netbook?
Now it's my turn: Your personal desire for an Internet that resembles 1960s television has no relevance to the goals of those who are actually doing something interesting and/or useful with the Internet, as opposed to using it for the mere making of money.
Who's stopping you doing interesting and/or useful stuff on the internet?
Hint: illegally downloading a film to watch at home is neither interesting nor useful, neither is copying large chunks of something and passing it off as your own.
some corporation's sense of entitlement trumps basic human rights to obtain, process and share information.
No, you're the one with a sense of entitlement, thinking you should have free access to anything you want. A movie is not "information", it is a product. Why do people here find it so hard to understand? It cost money to make, the producer wants to make a profit on it.
If you want to make everything in the world available to everyone equally, that's fine by me. It's called socialism/communism/anarchism. But I don't think all the free market rugged individualistic tough guys here would want that somehow. But there's nothing magical about digital products: they don't appear from nowhere for zero cost.
Hollywood films and major studio singers/groups are entertainment products. If you don't like the product, don't fucking buy it. But you have no more "right" to get it for free than you do a designer suit, house or car.
Saying "it's his Achilles's heel" would make it sound like you were drunk. As always in English, there are exceptions to almost any rule you can think of. You would still say "Odysseus's pigs" for example, there's nothing magical about it being historical/mythological/bibilical.
Slashdot Mirror
Good luck lying to Israeli customs/immigration officers. They'll sniff you out a mile away, and they won't assume you're lying because of theoretical concerns about privacy.
If you checked the box "please send me a daily postcard" when you ordered from a mail order catalog, then yes you can't call it junk mail. You now, like you did with a newegg order at some point.
You could try clicking the "Manage your e-mail subscriptions" or "unsubscribe" links on any of those emails to and tell them you've changed your mind about getting mail from them, but whining on slashdot is probably more fun I guess.
Yes, we all know how well emailing "unsubscribe" to someone who wants to verify it's a genuine email address works.
"Targeted marketing" is what spammers call their spam. Just like cold-calling is "direct marketing".
There are plenty of countries that actually want American tourists.
*tumbleweed rolls*
*the wind whistles softly*
Can you prove that if the USA wouldn't have taken part in WWII Germany will still be occupying France after 70 years ?
Germany is already the economic powerhouse of Europe. In 50 years time, most Europeans will be speaking German voluntarily so they can get a good job.
What did I say that implied such a thing? Nothing whatsoever.
What I said was that making "give us your personal correspondence" as a condition of entry is not a power any government should have.
Then the citizens of Israel should take that power away. Whiny foreign tourists have no say in the matter.
Israel has no rights, nor does the US. Rights belong to people, not governments. Governments have powers, and to say that no government should have this particular power is right, proper, and objectively correct.
Any country's government has the power (and duty) to protect its citizens from outside threats.
The only people with the right to complain about this are Israeli citizens. Everyone else is free not to go to Israel if having their emails/bags/rectums searched is beyond the pale.
Oh, so terrorism was a good thing back then?
The terrorists won, so they became freedom fighers. That is how it always works. It's like the ANC in South Africa.
If Germany hadn't lost WW2, the French Resistance would have been remembered as a bunch of deluded terrorists.
the term "racist" means a person who demonstrates prejudice, whether from race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation
No, that's just silly. There are other terms for people with irrational prejudices for reasons other than race (e.g. xenophobe, sexist). Anti-muslim sentiment is generally driven by racism, even if they're not identical, simply because most muslims have brown skin.
I take it you're a neo-nazi Yank who's disappointed Hitler lost and has a large collection of swastika armbands?
Do you still equate speaking German with being a Nazi?
I think the point was that it's now an option, rather than a requirement to avoid being sent off to a work camp. I don't think the OP had anything particular against German as a language.
I download a whole lot of music, a whole lot, as there's an endless supply of free legal music available.
Yes, in the same way that there's an endless supply of free fanfic available, i.e. utter shite composed in someone's bedroom while they're half drunk and masturbating to Japanese child porn.
"Home Movies". Nudge nudge. Wink wink. Know what I mean? Say no more, say no more. "Home Movies" eh? Are you keen on videos? Eh? Eh? Got any videos of your wife naked in your "Home Movies"? Like to buy some?
You folks that torrent movies and stuff that is not in the public domain are crazy in my book.
"You black folks that ignore corrupt laws and sit at the front of the bus are crazy in my book!"
I think you've hit a new low in the old slashdot game of "let's make a stupid fucking analogy".
Likewise.
I've gotten odd looks from my co-workers when I mention that I use bit torrent to download ISOs because it's faster. In most people's minds, bit torrent is synonymous with piracy.
That's because bit torrent is mostly used for piracy.
The percentage of the population that downloads Linux ISOs is tiny.
Sometimes you're forced to watch commercials on the web too.
Luckily, you can always close the tab and open up something more interesting.
There is nothing stopping you starting your own YouTube channel, blog, forum or whatever. There is nothing stopping you making music and films and releasing them for free, unrestricted download. Lots of people already do this.
The simple fact is, that people want to watch Fox and Disney. No one's forcing them. People like crap TV, crap films, crap magazines, crap books, crap clothes and crap music.
Short of banning anyone from reading anything except Shakespeare or listening to Mozart (or whatever) that's just life.
But unlike when the government tells me I have to eat Gub'ment-Mac-n-Cheese
As someone on the left, I would classify this as right wing behaviour. In a proper socialist democracy, any government laws would only arise if the majority of people democratically voted on them, and I don't see how enough people would care enough about Mac-n-Cheese (whatever that is) to make a law enforcing it.
It is far more likely that in a rightwing fascist/corporatist society Kraft would be able to apply pressure on the government to mandate Mac-n-Cheese.
And I have the right to use something I bought however I want. You really think their rights trump mine?
When you buy a DVD you don't buy the content. You buy the physical disk (which you can do what you like with) and a licence to view the content under certain restricted conditions. For instance, in the UK at least you're not allowed to show it to paying customers.
If you don't like it, don't buy it.
To watch a movie in Netflix on my laptop that is running Linux, I have to jump through a large number of hoops... Or, I can fire up my Xbox 360, or my PS3, or another machine running Windows.
Or your iPad, iPhone or Android phone.
Sorry, it's a question of economics, not some hideous conspiracy. If a company like Netflix decide to ignore Linux it's because they've worked out they're not losing that many potential customers. Whether that's right or not is their problem.
You are totally missing the point that the "rights" belong to the owner not the consumer. As a consumer, you have the right to not buy something you don't like (and the right not to be defrauded and so on). You do not have the right to demand free products from people.
You probably don't have much contact with people under 35. Watching DVDs (or, more recently, streaming services) on a laptop is something that has been very common among students for around a decade. Around 2000, it was still a pretty geeky thing, but it became mainstream very quickly.
That's probably because most people under 35 don't have nice big houses wih nice big rooms and nice comfy sofas to put a nice big TV in.
Seriously, do you think Mark Zuckenberg watches films on a fucking netbook?
Now it's my turn: Your personal desire for an Internet that resembles 1960s television has no relevance to the goals of those who are actually doing something interesting and/or useful with the Internet, as opposed to using it for the mere making of money.
Who's stopping you doing interesting and/or useful stuff on the internet?
Hint: illegally downloading a film to watch at home is neither interesting nor useful, neither is copying large chunks of something and passing it off as your own.
some corporation's sense of entitlement trumps basic human rights to obtain, process and share information.
No, you're the one with a sense of entitlement, thinking you should have free access to anything you want. A movie is not "information", it is a product. Why do people here find it so hard to understand? It cost money to make, the producer wants to make a profit on it.
If you want to make everything in the world available to everyone equally, that's fine by me. It's called socialism/communism/anarchism. But I don't think all the free market rugged individualistic tough guys here would want that somehow. But there's nothing magical about digital products: they don't appear from nowhere for zero cost.
Hollywood films and major studio singers/groups are entertainment products. If you don't like the product, don't fucking buy it. But you have no more "right" to get it for free than you do a designer suit, house or car.
Saying "it's his Achilles's heel" would make it sound like you were drunk. As always in English, there are exceptions to almost any rule you can think of. You would still say "Odysseus's pigs" for example, there's nothing magical about it being historical/mythological/bibilical.