Acting in your own self interest is an idea frequently misunderstood. It is often simplified to mean that one will make the rational objective choice in any situation and disregard their emotional needs. This is too simple. Humans acting in their own self interest are trying to satisfy both reasoned and emotional needs. Take a look at casino gaming. A reasonable person can study probability and tell you that the house has the advantage and if you play long enough you will end up giving them all of your money. However, the person's emotional needs will tell them that they enjoy risk taking or games of chance. Thus people love going to Las Vegas.
Another thing that confuses people about self interest is timing. People's reasoned and emotional needs change with time. Have you ever watched someone "vent" to satisfy their emotional need to express anger and then after that need was satisfied be able to discuss the problem based on reason.
Human beings are incredibly complex. We have many different interests and our actions are based on satisfying them.
To solve the problem of "vacation hold" do not have your mail delivered to your residence. Sign up for a mailbox at Mail Boxes, Etc. (now The UPS Store) and give that address for your credit cards, amazon orders, etc. If you are going to be away for a long time you can have MBE either hold your mail or forward it to you using UPS 2nd Day Air. I used this service when I was in Beijing, China (I live in Mountain View, CA, USA) and had MBE send me my mail every 2 to 3 weeks.
It is not cheap or free to get an MBE box, but if you are frequently away from your residence it will make your life much easier. MBE will also receive packages from both the post office and private carriers (UPS, Fedex, Airborne, DHL, etc.). MBE will not release a package that requires a signature to anyone except you (and they will get your signature to cover their butt). In Mountain View there are more private commercial mail receiving agencies (the term the post office uses) than post offices. I suspect it is the same in other towns.
Speeding fines are not to deter bad driving. They are to raise money for the government. Since everyone speeds this would be a great way to tax them and raise revenue for the government. As a side benefit the government could more accurately track people's location and then sell that data to interested parties. This system would also make it harder for criminals to flee the scene of a crime. People driving to a protest could be tracked and then the government could send them a letter explaining their actions so that they could learn why the government is always right. This could also help out with income tax collection from the underground economy. If the government noticed someone going to or from job and not reporting income they could investigate. With all of these great benefits I just can't wait to give up my liberty and privacy.;)
Would it not be possible to write a virus in AppleScript that took entries from the AddressBook and used them to send itself out to the rest of the world via Mail.app? Legitimate question. If the answer is "Yes" then why is Mac OS X more resistant to viruses than Windows/OutLook? Could it be that Mac OS X is only like 2% of the market and thus not a significant target?
Subpoenas and warrants are for the government, not a private company. This sort of software may invade your privacy but I would highly doubt that it is illegal. That being said, I would never write and distribute software that collected any information on the end user or his computer and sent it anywhere without the user's permission and knowledge.
Another advantage of using open-source software is that you don't have to deal with this sort of garbage.
And imagine the poor diabetic about to go into insulin shock at the pharmacy, why, they'd pay treble to stave off a medical emergency.
Supply contract. When your demand for something varies widely and you need to lock in a price you sign up for a supply contract. You do this all the time, like getting ten cents a minute for long distance. There is no reason you could not have a supply contract with a drug company (or rather pharmacy because of prescription laws) that guarantees your price for insulin each time you buy it. You can also get a drug card to go along with your health insurance card that has a pre-negotiated price for insulin that you can use at virtually any pharmacy.
You do not need to rely on business people being ethical, nice, or caring.
Iâ(TM)m not saying I donâ(TM)t want to pay you guys when you upgrade the OS. You guys put a lot of features in every release, and your staff deserves to get paid for it. Panther looks pretty damn cool, for the most part. Just do me a favor. Reward me, even with a paltry amount, for being a customer who likes to keep his OS up-to-date.
You have been rewarded. You got to use Jaguar for the last year. If it wasn't worth it then you should consider not buying Panther.
Knock $40 off the price and call it a $89 upgrade fee. Hell, even $30, and $99, would be somewhat palatable. Thatâ(TM)s really not that much to ask, considering the discounts one can find elsewhere on the OS after a few months.
Two questions:
Are you willing to pay $129?
Will you buy Panther even if you do not get a discount for owning Jaguar?
My guess is that the answer for most people is yes and yes. That is why Panther will cost you $129 just like everyone else. You should figure you will get about 1 year of use out of Panther until the next version comes. So basically you will be paying about $10.75 / month for Panther. Sounds like a fair deal to me, buy you can choose for yourself when Panther is released into the wild.:)
So it comes down to a secretive police force investigating people on behalf of corporate funding rather than allowing these funds to be spent on murder, terrorism, rape or theft charges.
Actually the FBI should not be investigating murder, rape, or theft unless they are an interstate crime. The FBI does not have the power to investigate common crimes. That power rests with state and local authorities. If there is a multi-state serial killer, you will see the FBI involved. If there is a multi-state theft ring you will see the FBI involved. Most murder, rape, and theft is local.
This tariff is a tax on the American consumer. The federal government has just raised the cost of a product by 44%. There is no rational economic justification for this tax. If the South Korean government wants to spend money to subsidize a company that is the problem of the South Korean tax payer, not the U.S. federal government. The government is interfering in the market in order to subsidize a politically well connected company. They are no better than the South Korean government. The best the U.S. federal government can do, would be to remove its military from South Korea and force the South Korean government to bear the expense of maintaining a military to defend itself from North Korea. In that scenario the South Korean government would have to decide if they should be spending their money subsidizing companies or training an adequate military.
This is a freedom of press issue. A law that requires a newspaper, web site, or radio program to provide a forum for anyone whom they criticize infringes on their rights to publish a newspaper, web site, or radio program as they see fit. The freedom of press guarantees that I can report on anything I want, publish it in any manner I see fit, and completely ignore anyone else's point of view. They , of course, are free to do the same.
If you want to be paid by the hour become a contractor. When you are salaried you get paid, no matter what. You could have nothing to do for weeks on end and you still get a pay check. You could be working 80 hours a week and you still get the same pay check. If you don't like that, then become a contractor and get paid by the hour, by the day, week, etc. When there is no work to do, go home, learn a new skill, write some open source software. I think that you will see software development become more and more of a contract position over time.
When the code is publicly developed, there is no longer any "ownership" of ideas or code. It is all a communal resource. Hence, the philosophies of ownership that were advanced by Smith, Locke and others are no longer applicable.
The developers of the software own themselves and their time. Self-ownership is one of the most important aspects of capitalist and libertarian philosophy. These developers can decide how to sell their time. Some people are actually paid to work on open source software by companies, governments, and organizations because these entities rely on the software. These groups also realize that by keeping the software open source they will be able to rely on it long into the future.
As you struggle to prepare your taxes this year, you may take some comfort in knowing that your headache is being felt across the country. The following odd and outrageous facts show how widespread income tax problems are:
The U.S. "tax army" is bigger than the U.S. army in Iraq. Income taxes are so complex that there are up to 1.2 million paid tax preparers in the country -- six times more than the number of troops in Iraq. The tax army includes legions of accountants, lawyers, and computer experts -- some of the best minds in the country. Unfortunately, their brainpower is adding little to the nation's standard of living.
A tax form for every special interest. As the income tax grows more complex, the number of IRS tax forms has jumped from 402 in 1990 to 526 by 2002. Congress hands the accountants business on a silver platter when they create special interest tax forms such as "8845-Indian Employment Credit" and "8834-Qualified Electric Vehicle Credit." When Congress penalizes an activity, we get tax forms such as "6197-Gas Guzzler Tax." It's time to end the micromanaging and adopt a simple flat-rate tax. Until then, Congress needs to supplement "6478-Credit for Alcohol Used as Fuel" with form "XXX-Credit for Alcohol Used for Drinking."
Double-tax on dividends: 60 years and still not fixed. Sixty years ago, a Treasury report noted that "double taxation of corporate profits is the principal problem raised in connection with the corporation income tax." In the 1930s, a Treasury report argued that the tax disincentive to pay dividends caused corporate management problems. Recent scandals proved them right. Congress should bite the bullet and reform dividend taxes now -- before the next round of corporate scandals begins.
Congress promotes discrimination through the tax code. The front of the Supreme Court building boldly declares "equal justice under law," yet the income tax has hundreds of discriminatory provisions. For example, homeowners are treated more favorably than renters since they can deduct mortgage interest and other itemized deductions. Consider that a higher-income homeowner can effectively deduct car loan interest by shifting around his finances but a lower-income apartment dweller cannot. Americans would not stand for such discrimination on other taxes -- imagine if each shopper at Wal-Mart was assigned a different sales tax rate!
Congress on tax complexity: Who us? Congress frequently holds hearings on tax simplification so members can denounce the tax code's complexity. Each time, congressional experts and outside think tanks provide useful simplification ideas. Then when the TV cameras are turned off, Congress promptly ignores them and votes for more special interest breaks. The result: The number of pages in the tax code and regulations doubled from 26,300 in 1984 to 54,846 by 2003, according to tax publisher CCH.
AMT designed to catch 155 taxpayers will soon catch 37 million. The alternative minimum tax is an unneeded parallel tax system alongside the ordinary income tax. It began life in 1969 after Congress was shocked (shocked!) to learn that 155 wealthy individuals were not paying tax because they used too many of the deductions that Congress had provided them. The AMT has been a complex nuisance ever since. But this dumb idea aimed at the rich is set to explode on the middle-class as the number of AMT taxpayers skyrockets from 3 million today to 36 mi
That is incorrect. Those figures include withholding. An income tax liability means how much income tax is required based on your income, deductions, credits, etc. Withholding goes towards paying this liability. At the end of the year you may still owe more money or you may have paid too much (i.e. you get a refund). In addition to withholding you can make estimated tax payments every quarter to cover the difference.
These companies have a right to sell whatever product they want. If they want to make a DRM'd DVD that can only play in a special DVD player that is their right to do so. You do not have the right to force these companies to make the product that you want. You do have a right not to buy it.
Big labels will no longer be able to charge $18 for a Britney Spears CD with, at most, one listenable song on it. If that song really is any good, they will get $1. If not they will get $0.
Or they could charge $3 for the single Britney song. I imagine that with time there will be some variability in pricing per song based on demand.
I have no specific knowledge of this project, DARPA funding, or Theo
but I have always found there to be an interesting conflict within the
federal government concerning encryption, secure operating systems, and
open source. It is the federal government's job to provide for national
defense. However, there are two fundamentally different ideas about how
to do this.
The first group are always looking for ways to increase the ability of
regular citizens and businesses to provide for their own defense. Thus, these
people welcome secure operating systems that are available to a wide range of
people and which are understood by many. They recognize that the federal
government cannot and should not be trying to secure every corporation, every
church, every home, and every fast food restaurant from attack by
terrorists, foreign armies, and international organized crime groups.
These people realize the necessity for a distributed systems approach to
national defense.
There is another group of people within the federal government who
view national defense as providing for the defense of the federal
government. As such they do not want regular citizens or anyone, other
than the federal government to have access to encryption products or
secure operating systems. They want the capability to monitor all
communications, retrieve and review any data they want, and deny people
the ability to organize in private. In their view, by keeping the federal
government strong and in power the nation is safe and secure.
I am sure there are people within DARPA that fall into both
categories. I imagine they have some heated debates on what projects to
fund. From looking at the web page (http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~dsl/POSSE)
it seems that the POSSE project would appeal to the first group and not
to the second.
I think what would work best is if we can choose how to protect our own privacy and decide what level of privacy we want to try and obtain. I am not disturbed by the fact that the pizza place knows my previous order and address from caller ID and let's me complete my order accurately and quickly. I do not want a camera in my shower so that shampoo manufacturers can see how I apply their product, even it will help them improve it. I know that other people have different preferences for privacy. As a businessperson, I think that it is profitable to respect those differences. Customers want to do business with people and organizations that respect their privacy preferences. In a free economy people can choose who to give their business to.
I am most concerned about government abuse of my personal data. The government is a monopoly and there is no choice. For that reason I support strong controls on government's use of personal data. Government, by its past action, has shown itself to be pretty nasty when it comes to respecting individual choice. For example, in California it is legal, by state law, to smoke medical marijuana with a prescription. This prescription is a piece of personal data. If the federal government gets its hands on it, you may be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.
The Cato Institute has done some great work on the difference between corporate databases and government databases. They also offer some insight on what happens when government turns to the private sector for information on citizens.
First, you have to realize that it's not the US Government that directly benefits. It's the energy industry that reaps the benefits. Cheap oil benefits refineries and power plants.
Actually the oil companies profit from uncertainity about the price of oil, not cheap oil. notice gas is cheaper after the war started and after the war ended.
IDs and trust systems should be standards based, not proprietary. They should be secure, and openly peer-reviewed or audited. And the ID should be under the control of the person being identified (or at least issued by a "neutral" government body, as passports are now).
People should be able to freely choose which ID systems to sign up for. If they want an ID issued by a government agency, fine. If they want an ID issued by a private corporation or individual, fine. Others can decide whether or not to recognize the ID as valid and/or useful.
In regards to passports being from a neutral government body, there is no such thing. If the government has a problem with you they can deny you a passport. As an example take a look at the bottom of the list of requirements for a U.S. passport. You see that if you fail to provide your Social Security Number the IRS may impose a $500 penalty on you. Government issued and mandated passports are an infringement on your freedom to travel.
Private aid organizations that do not rely on the government can see the wisdom in having a communications center and a limited number of computers, telephones, faxes, etc. This growing business allows these Africans to sustain themselves and develop their own economy. They are NOT inferior people who need your charity. They need your respect and willingness to trade with them in a free market economy. They need you to stop thinking that only more welfare (i.e. foreign aid) will end their troubles.
So why a computer on every desk? Why cure AIDS in Africa? Simple. When the U.S. government gives foreign aid in the form of computers and drugs it gets to give your tax dollars to large politically connected corporations. This is the same idea behind the E-rate program domestically. E-rate was always supported by the makers of telecom equipment because they knew that they would be the ones raking in the tax money.
If he were taking money to implement DARPA-requested features, I could see the issue. However, if all he's doing is taking no-strings-attached money to do work he'd be doing anyway, I don't see the moral conundrum.
There is no such thing as "no-strings-attached" money. When an individual or organization gives money to OpenBSD they have expectations as to how that money will be used. To the degree that those expectations are met more money will be given. The OpenBSD project should carefully consider their sources of funding and the associated expectations.
For the record, my small donation to the OpenBSD project came with the expectation that they will continue to produce high quality secure software free from the constraints of government. So far they are meeting my expectations and thus I should send Theo another check soon.
I would encourage all open source project leaders to become financially independent. That way they can more objectively look at each possible donation and decide if they want to accept it.
Unfortunately government has corrupted our industry. From prosecuting Microsoft to shutting down Napster, they have to assert their control. Apple is dealing with this the way other big companies are, by paying off one politician / or ex-politician in order to fight off the others. In addition, federal taxation is so high and the federal government controls so much spending that companies need an insider to get a piece of the pie. Apple lost to Microsoft because in the 1980s they tried to get public schools hooked on Apple computers. I.e. they went for the government market. Microsoft focused on the business customer (i.e. the free market) and won. Now the federal government is seen as the big pie, so they will all hire lobbyists, politicians, etc. to help them get a piece. Truly disgusting.
No doubt we have our own style of socialism here in the USA. However, our welfare state is still drastically smaller than that of France or Germany. France and Germany can continue to support such a large welfare state by depending on the US for military support. If France and Germany had to provide 100% for their own defense I think their welfare state would shrink as well.
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Another thing that confuses people about self interest is timing. People's reasoned and emotional needs change with time. Have you ever watched someone "vent" to satisfy their emotional need to express anger and then after that need was satisfied be able to discuss the problem based on reason.
Human beings are incredibly complex. We have many different interests and our actions are based on satisfying them.
It is not cheap or free to get an MBE box, but if you are frequently away from your residence it will make your life much easier. MBE will also receive packages from both the post office and private carriers (UPS, Fedex, Airborne, DHL, etc.). MBE will not release a package that requires a signature to anyone except you (and they will get your signature to cover their butt). In Mountain View there are more private commercial mail receiving agencies (the term the post office uses) than post offices. I suspect it is the same in other towns.
Speeding fines are not to deter bad driving. They are to raise money for the government. Since everyone speeds this would be a great way to tax them and raise revenue for the government. As a side benefit the government could more accurately track people's location and then sell that data to interested parties. This system would also make it harder for criminals to flee the scene of a crime. People driving to a protest could be tracked and then the government could send them a letter explaining their actions so that they could learn why the government is always right. This could also help out with income tax collection from the underground economy. If the government noticed someone going to or from job and not reporting income they could investigate. With all of these great benefits I just can't wait to give up my liberty and privacy. ;)
Would it not be possible to write a virus in AppleScript that took entries from the AddressBook and used them to send itself out to the rest of the world via Mail.app? Legitimate question. If the answer is "Yes" then why is Mac OS X more resistant to viruses than Windows/OutLook? Could it be that Mac OS X is only like 2% of the market and thus not a significant target?
Subpoenas and warrants are for the government, not a private company. This sort of software may invade your privacy but I would highly doubt that it is illegal. That being said, I would never write and distribute software that collected any information on the end user or his computer and sent it anywhere without the user's permission and knowledge.
Another advantage of using open-source software is that you don't have to deal with this sort of garbage.
Supply contract. When your demand for something varies widely and you need to lock in a price you sign up for a supply contract. You do this all the time, like getting ten cents a minute for long distance. There is no reason you could not have a supply contract with a drug company (or rather pharmacy because of prescription laws) that guarantees your price for insulin each time you buy it. You can also get a drug card to go along with your health insurance card that has a pre-negotiated price for insulin that you can use at virtually any pharmacy.
You do not need to rely on business people being ethical, nice, or caring.
Iâ(TM)m not saying I donâ(TM)t want to pay you guys when you upgrade the OS. You guys put a lot of features in every release, and your staff deserves to get paid for it. Panther looks pretty damn cool, for the most part. Just do me a favor. Reward me, even with a paltry amount, for being a customer who likes to keep his OS up-to-date.
You have been rewarded. You got to use Jaguar for the last year. If it wasn't worth it then you should consider not buying Panther.
Knock $40 off the price and call it a $89 upgrade fee. Hell, even $30, and $99, would be somewhat palatable. Thatâ(TM)s really not that much to ask, considering the discounts one can find elsewhere on the OS after a few months.
Two questions:
My guess is that the answer for most people is yes and yes. That is why Panther will cost you $129 just like everyone else. You should figure you will get about 1 year of use out of Panther until the next version comes. So basically you will be paying about $10.75 / month for Panther. Sounds like a fair deal to me, buy you can choose for yourself when Panther is released into the wild. :)
Actually the FBI should not be investigating murder, rape, or theft unless they are an interstate crime. The FBI does not have the power to investigate common crimes. That power rests with state and local authorities. If there is a multi-state serial killer, you will see the FBI involved. If there is a multi-state theft ring you will see the FBI involved. Most murder, rape, and theft is local.
This tariff is a tax on the American consumer. The federal government has just raised the cost of a product by 44%. There is no rational economic justification for this tax. If the South Korean government wants to spend money to subsidize a company that is the problem of the South Korean tax payer, not the U.S. federal government. The government is interfering in the market in order to subsidize a politically well connected company. They are no better than the South Korean government. The best the U.S. federal government can do, would be to remove its military from South Korea and force the South Korean government to bear the expense of maintaining a military to defend itself from North Korea. In that scenario the South Korean government would have to decide if they should be spending their money subsidizing companies or training an adequate military.
From Cato's Clyde Wayne Crews.
This is a freedom of press issue. A law that requires a newspaper, web site, or radio program to provide a forum for anyone whom they criticize infringes on their rights to publish a newspaper, web site, or radio program as they see fit. The freedom of press guarantees that I can report on anything I want, publish it in any manner I see fit, and completely ignore anyone else's point of view. They , of course, are free to do the same.
If you want to be paid by the hour become a contractor. When you are salaried you get paid, no matter what. You could have nothing to do for weeks on end and you still get a pay check. You could be working 80 hours a week and you still get the same pay check. If you don't like that, then become a contractor and get paid by the hour, by the day, week, etc. When there is no work to do, go home, learn a new skill, write some open source software. I think that you will see software development become more and more of a contract position over time.
When the code is publicly developed, there is no longer any "ownership" of ideas or code. It is all a communal resource. Hence, the philosophies of ownership that were advanced by Smith, Locke and others are no longer applicable.
The developers of the software own themselves and their time. Self-ownership is one of the most important aspects of capitalist and libertarian philosophy. These developers can decide how to sell their time. Some people are actually paid to work on open source software by companies, governments, and organizations because these entities rely on the software. These groups also realize that by keeping the software open source they will be able to rely on it long into the future.
April 15, 2003
10 Outrageous Facts About the Income Tax
by Chris Edwards
Chris Edwards is director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute.
As you struggle to prepare your taxes this year, you may take some comfort in knowing that your headache is being felt across the country. The following odd and outrageous facts show how widespread income tax problems are:
Income taxes are so complex that there are up to 1.2 million paid tax preparers in the country -- six times more than the number of troops in Iraq. The tax army includes legions of accountants, lawyers, and computer experts -- some of the best minds in the country. Unfortunately, their brainpower is adding little to the nation's standard of living.
A tax form for every special interest.
As the income tax grows more complex, the number of IRS tax forms has jumped from 402 in 1990 to 526 by 2002. Congress hands the accountants business on a silver platter when they create special interest tax forms such as "8845-Indian Employment Credit" and "8834-Qualified Electric Vehicle Credit." When Congress penalizes an activity, we get tax forms such as "6197-Gas Guzzler Tax." It's time to end the micromanaging and adopt a simple flat-rate tax. Until then, Congress needs to supplement "6478-Credit for Alcohol Used as Fuel" with form "XXX-Credit for Alcohol Used for Drinking."
Double-tax on dividends: 60 years and still not fixed.
Sixty years ago, a Treasury report noted that "double taxation of corporate profits is the principal problem raised in connection with the corporation income tax." In the 1930s, a Treasury report argued that the tax disincentive to pay dividends caused corporate management problems. Recent scandals proved them right. Congress should bite the bullet and reform dividend taxes now -- before the next round of corporate scandals begins.
Congress promotes discrimination through the tax code.
The front of the Supreme Court building boldly declares "equal justice under law," yet the income tax has hundreds of discriminatory provisions. For example, homeowners are treated more favorably than renters since they can deduct mortgage interest and other itemized deductions. Consider that a higher-income homeowner can effectively deduct car loan interest by shifting around his finances but a lower-income apartment dweller cannot. Americans would not stand for such discrimination on other taxes -- imagine if each shopper at Wal-Mart was assigned a different sales tax rate!
Congress on tax complexity: Who us?
Congress frequently holds hearings on tax simplification so members can denounce the tax code's complexity. Each time, congressional experts and outside think tanks provide useful simplification ideas. Then when the TV cameras are turned off, Congress promptly ignores them and votes for more special interest breaks. The result: The number of pages in the tax code and regulations doubled from 26,300 in 1984 to 54,846 by 2003, according to tax publisher CCH.
AMT designed to catch 155 taxpayers will soon catch 37 million.
The alternative minimum tax is an unneeded parallel tax system alongside the ordinary income tax. It began life in 1969 after Congress was shocked (shocked!) to learn that 155 wealthy individuals were not paying tax because they used too many of the deductions that Congress had provided them. The AMT has been a complex nuisance ever since. But this dumb idea aimed at the rich is set to explode on the middle-class as the number of AMT taxpayers skyrockets from 3 million today to 36 mi
That is incorrect. Those figures include withholding. An income tax liability means how much income tax is required based on your income, deductions, credits, etc. Withholding goes towards paying this liability. At the end of the year you may still owe more money or you may have paid too much (i.e. you get a refund). In addition to withholding you can make estimated tax payments every quarter to cover the difference.
These companies have a right to sell whatever product they want. If they want to make a DRM'd DVD that can only play in a special DVD player that is their right to do so. You do not have the right to force these companies to make the product that you want. You do have a right not to buy it.
Or they could charge $3 for the single Britney song. I imagine that with time there will be some variability in pricing per song based on demand.
I have no specific knowledge of this project, DARPA funding, or Theo but I have always found there to be an interesting conflict within the federal government concerning encryption, secure operating systems, and open source. It is the federal government's job to provide for national defense. However, there are two fundamentally different ideas about how to do this.
The first group are always looking for ways to increase the ability of regular citizens and businesses to provide for their own defense. Thus, these people welcome secure operating systems that are available to a wide range of people and which are understood by many. They recognize that the federal government cannot and should not be trying to secure every corporation, every church, every home, and every fast food restaurant from attack by terrorists, foreign armies, and international organized crime groups. These people realize the necessity for a distributed systems approach to national defense.
There is another group of people within the federal government who view national defense as providing for the defense of the federal government. As such they do not want regular citizens or anyone, other than the federal government to have access to encryption products or secure operating systems. They want the capability to monitor all communications, retrieve and review any data they want, and deny people the ability to organize in private. In their view, by keeping the federal government strong and in power the nation is safe and secure.
I am sure there are people within DARPA that fall into both categories. I imagine they have some heated debates on what projects to fund. From looking at the web page (http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~dsl/POSSE) it seems that the POSSE project would appeal to the first group and not to the second.
I am most concerned about government abuse of my personal data. The government is a monopoly and there is no choice. For that reason I support strong controls on government's use of personal data. Government, by its past action, has shown itself to be pretty nasty when it comes to respecting individual choice. For example, in California it is legal, by state law, to smoke medical marijuana with a prescription. This prescription is a piece of personal data. If the federal government gets its hands on it, you may be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.
The Cato Institute has done some great work on the difference between corporate databases and government databases. They also offer some insight on what happens when government turns to the private sector for information on citizens.
Actually the oil companies profit from uncertainity about the price of oil, not cheap oil. notice gas is cheaper after the war started and after the war ended.
People should be able to freely choose which ID systems to sign up for. If they want an ID issued by a government agency, fine. If they want an ID issued by a private corporation or individual, fine. Others can decide whether or not to recognize the ID as valid and/or useful.
In regards to passports being from a neutral government body, there is no such thing. If the government has a problem with you they can deny you a passport. As an example take a look at the bottom of the list of requirements for a U.S. passport. You see that if you fail to provide your Social Security Number the IRS may impose a $500 penalty on you. Government issued and mandated passports are an infringement on your freedom to travel.
So why a computer on every desk? Why cure AIDS in Africa? Simple. When the U.S. government gives foreign aid in the form of computers and drugs it gets to give your tax dollars to large politically connected corporations. This is the same idea behind the E-rate program domestically. E-rate was always supported by the makers of telecom equipment because they knew that they would be the ones raking in the tax money.
There is no such thing as "no-strings-attached" money. When an individual or organization gives money to OpenBSD they have expectations as to how that money will be used. To the degree that those expectations are met more money will be given. The OpenBSD project should carefully consider their sources of funding and the associated expectations.
For the record, my small donation to the OpenBSD project came with the expectation that they will continue to produce high quality secure software free from the constraints of government. So far they are meeting my expectations and thus I should send Theo another check soon.
I would encourage all open source project leaders to become financially independent. That way they can more objectively look at each possible donation and decide if they want to accept it.
Unfortunately government has corrupted our industry. From prosecuting Microsoft to shutting down Napster, they have to assert their control. Apple is dealing with this the way other big companies are, by paying off one politician / or ex-politician in order to fight off the others. In addition, federal taxation is so high and the federal government controls so much spending that companies need an insider to get a piece of the pie. Apple lost to Microsoft because in the 1980s they tried to get public schools hooked on Apple computers. I.e. they went for the government market. Microsoft focused on the business customer (i.e. the free market) and won. Now the federal government is seen as the big pie, so they will all hire lobbyists, politicians, etc. to help them get a piece. Truly disgusting.
No doubt we have our own style of socialism here in the USA. However, our welfare state is still drastically smaller than that of France or Germany. France and Germany can continue to support such a large welfare state by depending on the US for military support. If France and Germany had to provide 100% for their own defense I think their welfare state would shrink as well.