"Blackberry will now learn what it means to it's bottom line to ignore user privacy"
Nah, they won't learn a thing. If that was a learnable lesson for them, they would have learned it back when they were RIM after they got caught assisting oppressive governments in their efforts to spy on political dissidents and were unapologetic about it.
It was shortly after that when they lost their dominant market position.
That's more or less correct, but doesn't really contradict my assertion. When companies make the shift from private to public, they rarely change their business practices quickly. The risk of losing customers is too high. Instead, the usual practice is to wait for a couple of years for things to settle down a bit. It's the same thing, for the same reasons, that happens when one company buys another: they usually leave the purchased company alone for a couple of years before transforming it.
"The more we see of American police, the more we understand why so many minorities refuse to talk to them."
This can't be overstated. I find it a pretty grim commentary that all of these police behaviors have been a problem for longer than I've been alive -- but weren't taken at all seriously until the cops started treating middle class white people in the same fashion.
About your point #3: that would do nothing to address the primary reason that I block all the ads that I can: spying. I object in the most strenuous terms to the tracking and analysis that ad agencies engage in.
There is exactly zero chance that I will stop blocking ads unless ads stop tracking me.
I'm older than you by a couple of presidential cycles, and I think that it has been impossible to get a decent president since before I could vote.
Well, I would say that it's not technically impossible to get one elected, but it's impossible for one to remain a decent president after getting into office.
The problem is less the specific people in office than the institutionalized corruption of the political system as a whole.
"According to Jerry Henry: "And, it is amazing how friendly people are when standing next to an obviously armed person. An armed society is truly a polite society.""
I stand next to obviously armed people a few times a month. I can't honestly say that I've seen them treated with a greater degree of friendliness than unarmed people.
Instead, the effect that they have is nervousness and an active attempt to avoid interacting with them.
John Henry is another of the surprisingly large group of people who confuse "respect" and "friendliness" with "fear".
Re: Re: Re: Re: Military tech doesn't belong with police.
Hostage situations seem like the worst ones to use military weaponry in.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be a SWAT with specialized equipment. I'm saying that the equipment needed for those situations is rather different from the equipment that cops are getting from the military.
I do agree that even if they were correctly trained and equipped, the way they are currently being used would still constitute an abuse of the public.
There actually are better places. The problem is that they won't take American immigrants unless they are wealthy or have a special skill the nation is in dire need of.
But personally, I think the responsible thing to do is stay in the US and work as hard as possible to improve it.
"The problem is no one ever reads the fine print."
That's certainly a problem, but there's an equally bad problem that happens when you do actually read the fine print: you probably don't understand it properly.
Those agreements are full of deceptions and obfuscations, and if you aren't an attorney qualified in this field and you haven't hired one to review the agreement, the odds are very high that you think the agreement is saying things that it is not saying.
"Does that mean the IEEE plans to sue anybody who dares to make a Xerox of the page?"
I have been an IEEE member for decades, and I have always interpreted that notice to mean exactly that: an overt warning that they have lawsuits on a hair trigger.
On the post: BlackBerry: We're Here To Kick Ass And Sell Out Users To Law Enforcement. And We're (Almost) All Out Of Users.
Re:
Nah, they won't learn a thing. If that was a learnable lesson for them, they would have learned it back when they were RIM after they got caught assisting oppressive governments in their efforts to spy on political dissidents and were unapologetic about it.
It was shortly after that when they lost their dominant market position.
On the post: Pure Bullshit: AMC Threatens Huge Fan Community With Copyright Claim Over 'Spoiler' Predictions
Is there a clearer example
On the post: Mitsubishi Outlander Just The Latest 'Smart' Car That's Trivial To Hack And Control
Re:
It's not the smarts that are the problem -- it's the connectivity.
On the post: Newspaper Association Thinks FTC Should Force Readers To Be Subject To Godawful Ads And Invasive Trackers
Re: Re: Adblocker blocking costs real paper money
On the post: Google Comes Down On The Wrong Side Of The TPP
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Homeowner Sues Police After Pursuit Of Shoplifter Leaves Him With No Home To Own
Re:
Well, obviously the government can do exactly this, since they just did.
On the post: Homeowner Sues Police After Pursuit Of Shoplifter Leaves Him With No Home To Own
Re: Re: Flattened
This can't be overstated. I find it a pretty grim commentary that all of these police behaviors have been a problem for longer than I've been alive -- but weren't taken at all seriously until the cops started treating middle class white people in the same fashion.
On the post: Newspaper Association Thinks FTC Should Force Readers To Be Subject To Godawful Ads And Invasive Trackers
Re:
There is exactly zero chance that I will stop blocking ads unless ads stop tracking me.
On the post: Google Comes Down On The Wrong Side Of The TPP
Re:
That one's easy. Google became a publicly traded company in 2004. Once that happened, the rest became all but inevitable.
On the post: Google Comes Down On The Wrong Side Of The TPP
Re: "The company is wrong" is wrong. Are dog's "wrong" to bark?
On the post: Google Comes Down On The Wrong Side Of The TPP
Re:
On the post: Google Comes Down On The Wrong Side Of The TPP
Re: Re: You can't be surprised now, can you ?
On the post: Watch The President Use Fair Use To Support A Trade Deal That Undermines Fair Use
Re: Decent presidents
Well, I would say that it's not technically impossible to get one elected, but it's impossible for one to remain a decent president after getting into office.
The problem is less the specific people in office than the institutionalized corruption of the political system as a whole.
On the post: Latest Absurd Moral Panic: Parents Complain Amazon Echo Is Creating Rude Children
Re: A solution avails
I stand next to obviously armed people a few times a month. I can't honestly say that I've seen them treated with a greater degree of friendliness than unarmed people.
Instead, the effect that they have is nervousness and an active attempt to avoid interacting with them.
John Henry is another of the surprisingly large group of people who confuse "respect" and "friendliness" with "fear".
On the post: California Still Looking To Copyright All Sorts Of Government Works, Despite Protests
Re: What's with the Democrats?
On the post: Yes, Getting The US Government Out Of 'Managing' Internet Domain Governance Is A Good Thing
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Homeowner Sues Police After Pursuit Of Shoplifter Leaves Him With No Home To Own
Re: Re: Re: Re: Military tech doesn't belong with police.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be a SWAT with specialized equipment. I'm saying that the equipment needed for those situations is rather different from the equipment that cops are getting from the military.
I do agree that even if they were correctly trained and equipped, the way they are currently being used would still constitute an abuse of the public.
On the post: Homeowner Sues Police After Pursuit Of Shoplifter Leaves Him With No Home To Own
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Reading insurance policy
But personally, I think the responsible thing to do is stay in the US and work as hard as possible to improve it.
On the post: Homeowner Sues Police After Pursuit Of Shoplifter Leaves Him With No Home To Own
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
That's certainly a problem, but there's an equally bad problem that happens when you do actually read the fine print: you probably don't understand it properly.
Those agreements are full of deceptions and obfuscations, and if you aren't an attorney qualified in this field and you haven't hired one to review the agreement, the odds are very high that you think the agreement is saying things that it is not saying.
On the post: New York Times Says Fair Use Of 300 Words Will Run You About $1800
Re: This is being blown out of proportion:
I have been an IEEE member for decades, and I have always interpreted that notice to mean exactly that: an overt warning that they have lawsuits on a hair trigger.
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