Re: lots of people do it

Lots of people smoke dope too.

Not yet ...

but bear in mind the "designer high" model, the UK has "pioneered" and which has sparked the interest of other countries (so we are told).

You'll soon hear the record companies wailing that new sites are springing up faster than they can go to court over, and pushing for new laws which allow the government (probably the Home Office, who are feeling a bit low after having to split off the Justice Department) to block given sites *before* they have been deemed """"illegal"""", "just in case".

And, like the new powers to ban substances before they have been analysed, how many sites do you think will be unblocked after proven to be innocent ?

Growing up in the 80s, with "just say no" and Grange Hill warbling away in front of Nancy, it seemed then the "war on drugs" was a pathetic joke, and the few civil libertarians who criticised it were just secret tokers. However, it's clear in hindsight, that they were right. It has allowed the government to amass power over the population that it just can't resist using elsewhere now. First the child protection industry cottoned on, and now look at how many laws there are to "think of the children".

I predict, before the year is out, some MP will call for powers to block websites without scrutiny - in the name of "rights holders". The only good thing, is we know how impossible that is.

Re: Haa haa haa

I wonder if there are any laws being broken by chaning your DNS servers away from your ISPs ?

Or if your ISP could add a clause (prompted by UK law) to make it a breach of contract to change your DNS servers ....

Re: Double standards

The thing is, for the average Joe, on PAYE* it is pretty damn IMPOSSIBLE to avoid paying tax. Even if you wanted to. But as soon as you move into the league of the Masters Of The Universe, you can set up companies, pay yourself in dividends, in foreign currencies (and accounts) etc etc etc.

That is why the man in the street hates tax evasion so much.

*UK-based refererence

Please stop stealing my thoughts

... Maggie Philbin ...

Re: Keep the population scared

It's quite chilling to read Nazi statements, and realise how far we have gone down that road.

Goebbels:

"Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose."

"The war made possible for us the solution of a whole series of problems that could never have been solved in normal times."

Goering:

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

Hitler:

"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it... Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty."

"What luck for the rulers that men do not think"

Re: Is what he found

Wasn't there a story a few months ago, where researchers suggested that the clitoris was actually a much bigger structure, that went deep inside the vagina ? Sort of 9/10 below the surface ?

Re: Bad news?

On planet earth.

*Some* people will do a cost/benefit analysis, and decide that a free service that is 50% as good as a paid service is - for them - a good deal.

Re: JimC

... which is why US courts are *very* protective of the 4th amendment.

Re: Unfortunately, the UK courts are now in a bind

The problem with *your* stance is that it eventually gets morphed into "the end justifies the means".

Presumably, you'd be happy for people to be tortured to get at the truth ? Or are you not willing to go that far ? If so, where's your line.

Mine is where the law is.

They can include a "report this link"

but that would imply a resource dedicated to analysing the reports and assessing the validity of each one. Quite aside from the fact that such a feature would be held up as a tacit admission that RS *is* capable of vetting content.

Amazon ..

"Amazon may be big but it's not big enough to support innovation and experimentation on its own..."

having used Amazon happily since 1997, I would say their innovation has been an exemplar to all online suppliers. No overnight rebrands, organic and intuitive introduction of features, and a steady emphasis on informing the customer as much as possible.

no, but

video killed the radio star.

I think.

given cannabis is non-toxic

what would you die of ? Boredom ?

Common sense and government policy

have never been comfortable bedfellows. Alcohol kills 30,000 a year, tobacco >100,000. Cannabis 0.

Now, place those substances in order of penalties for possession and distribution.

You see ?

Delicous irony

The delicious irony, of the past decades of political snobbery towards any form of technical or scientific learning, is that the current crop of politicians, and their bondsmen civil servants, just simply do not "get" the internet. I suspect some of them think it's just a bigger, better version of the old dial up bulletin boards, from the 80s.

If I were a politician, to be honest, I really wouldn't worry about the dangers of the internet. Like modern day TV and music, there is so much shite out there, you get tired of looking ....

Isn't it about time we taught the people we already have to think?

Depends what you think is going on around you. If you believe that the state acts in a rational manner, for the good of all it's citizens, then you'd be right. If, on the other hand, you believe the state acts to maintain a very self-selected elite in the style to which they have become accustomed, then you'd be wrong.

The powers that be have always been terrified of a populus that has any degree of learning. Because once you realise that most of the world around us can be explained in rational, sensible terms, you start asking why you need politicians (or, in days of yore, priests and shaman) to manage it on our behalf.

The howling irony is that given the tools of instant communication, and sharing of ideas and beliefs that the internet has given us, instead of becoming MORE enlightened, we are, as a nation, becoming LESS so. Those select few have realised the risk that open debate poses to their standing, and have manipulated the public into rejecting anything remotely approaching rational debate. Look at the ChildPornTerroristCopyrightInfringingAdultcontentPublicdisorder "initiatives" that are being tabled right now.

So the roadmap is clear. Dumb down the indigenous population, so they are docile and compliant, and come to heel when the dog-whistle words of "terrorism" or "child abuse" are mentioned. Then exploit (as you have done for hundreds of years) people from less-developed countries into being serfs here.

Re: No precedent for programming language copyright?

BUT, IIRC, the Z80 was completely compatible at the *binary* level with the 8085. So much so, that I was able to take a project I wrote for an 8085 at Uni, and load it into a Spectrum (using a self-written Hex editor) and it worked perfectly.

Depends on Canadian law ...

the UK position would be just because the T&Cs says so, don't necessarily make it so. There are many big companies who have tried to use T&Cs to disadvantage consumers, only to see the Office of Fair Trading shoot them down in court. It's entirely possible a UK court could find one, some, or all of Facebooks T&Cs unfair, and therefore invalid.

Re: What have you missed ...

OK, why the downvotes ?

What have you missed ...

A FALSE NEGATIVE could result in a real atrocity.

Re: "Possible" is not the same as "Possible in my lifetime"

Most succint is:

Works

On time

Within Budget

pick any two.