except that said corporations are some of the larger threats to said privacy...
corporations are a menace (either in fact or potential, depending on various things), governments not under threat of uprising if they mishandle things are also a menace.
both rapidly get too large for individual citizens to have any meaning or value to them. feudalism or similar arrangements can mitigate this Somewhat (provided one avoids the stupidity that is serfdom) for governments, but that, of course, has it's own issues.
the USA is even worse off... you have a government that is far too large (in several senses of the word) basically acting at the behest of a collection of corporations which are Also far too large, in a system that is actively designed to prevent change.
that's the point in representative democracy by the way: stability. maintaining the status quo. ensuring the public don't NOTICE the loss of liberty as it slides in bit by bit, and cannot easily change things if they do.
the moment you introduce political parties into the equation the public good ceases to be relevant, being replaced by the public whim. introduce corporations and, in short order, that also goes out the window in favour of the corporate whim.
there was more to this thought but i realised i was starting to lose teh plot.
... perhaps i shouldn't try to make coherant points at 5am before sleeping
ya know, the simple response to this is to stop flying to the US.
if they want to kill their markets, let them BE a dead market and see how that goes for 'em.
would hurt the EU in the short term, long term would hurt less than agreeing to this sort of nonsense, and might eventually result in a shift in US policies... or at least a return to isolationism on their part so they leave the rest of us alone.
or, you know, they start invading (more powerful) places (than before). that could happen too.
you'd then lose it all to lawsuits and corrupt regulatory practices. daring to compete with monopolists who own the regulators doesn't end well unless you have some special edge.
(amusingly, we have a phone company that's started up comparatively recently(last few years) here, only does mobile so far as i can tell, seem to have used a similar bit of logic. they're Rapidly gaining customers at the expense of the old networks, AND were the only one to stay functional, if a bit funky, during the Christchurch Earthquake. (by funky i mean: you'd send a text and it would take an hour or so to turn up then show up three or four times over the course of the day. compaired to the other networks where it was 'try to send a text. your phone fails.'))
personally, i care about 3D, in that i hate it and wish it would go die in a fire.
glasses or no, if you have eye problems that cause your stereoscpic vision to be non-standard, it simply renders the product in question unuseable.
i don't give a damn about movies because i haven't bothered with them since i was a kid (they priced themselves way out of what i could justify spending on them long ago, and the effort of going isn't worth it either.) but the push to use it as the 'next big thing' in Gaming is... aggravating.
(basically, my depth perception is significantly based on mental tricks with peripheral vision and shadows. which isn't going to help me on a Screen, so all the illusion of 3D does is stuff up my ability to see the 2D image. i'm actually on an even field in this reguard on a computer or tv screen using standard 2D)
i mean, i'm already screwed in any game that assumes an ability to tell the direction a sound is coming from (even if only L/R rather than surround) due to having lost all hearing in my left ear...
I'd rather not have my hobbies impinged upon by More tech that leaves me out in the cold
Re: Re: Re: your friends at Anonymous got locked up
... 'object of worship'?
what are you referring to here?
'cause if he's worshiping some random kid, there's an Entirely different issue at hand.
(If you mean Anonymous, well... wow, gotta love those blatant falsehoods. all those 'i do not approve this action' posts would say other wise. (generally, "i do not approve this action, but the thing they're acting against IS an issue" type statements, admittedly, but still.)
... has he got to the point of 'you must go to work, even if the jobs don't exist, when your kid is 3, despite the fact that there is no way in hell any job someone who is out of work and poor enough to need a government handout is going to pay enough for the necessary childcare to cover the fact that you're NOT THERE, or we cut off your benefit so you, and the kid, can't eat, then punish you AGAIN for failing to feed the kid'?
because NZ's current administration is most of the way there already.
... of course, the USA never had as extensive a support network in the first place.
i've never understood the point in term limits, to be honest. any politician will either burn out or become so unpopular as to fail to be elected after 2-3 terms of actually having any real effect on anything.
I mean, New Zealand has 3 year terms, 120 MPs, one house, and most of the time, to even GET to a leadership position (and thus control the way the entire party votes in the vast majority of cases, and get to co-opt the lesser member's speaking time... i still don't know how the hell that works, but as a bunch of MPs pointed out at one point, while trying to get their own jobs dissolved, cardborad standees could do their jobs as well as the system allows them to. anyway, back to the main point) they have to be involved in the party for Years, generally have been an MP one way or another for several terms... then if they fail to win an election, most of the time the larger parties toss their previous leaders (in terms of the people in parliament, not necessarily the guys running the party organization.) and pick new ones. if they Win, they have to do terribly to not get two terms, and do exceptionally to get 3.
the biggest problem is the Parties. people vote for them based on things that don't have a damn thing to do with running the country, and they mute the public voice on any issue something aweful compared to having representatives be free agents. (well, not Actually free, they're beholden to their electorates, obviously...)
the Actual reason? or the supposed justification? i suspect the first is actually several, and easily figured out... the second... more than, and not so much.
On the post: NSA Power Grab: New Legislation Would Give It Broad Powers To Spy On 'Critical' Private Networks
Re: Re: Unconstitutional.
corporations are a menace (either in fact or potential, depending on various things), governments not under threat of uprising if they mishandle things are also a menace.
both rapidly get too large for individual citizens to have any meaning or value to them. feudalism or similar arrangements can mitigate this Somewhat (provided one avoids the stupidity that is serfdom) for governments, but that, of course, has it's own issues.
the USA is even worse off... you have a government that is far too large (in several senses of the word) basically acting at the behest of a collection of corporations which are Also far too large, in a system that is actively designed to prevent change.
that's the point in representative democracy by the way: stability. maintaining the status quo. ensuring the public don't NOTICE the loss of liberty as it slides in bit by bit, and cannot easily change things if they do.
the moment you introduce political parties into the equation the public good ceases to be relevant, being replaced by the public whim. introduce corporations and, in short order, that also goes out the window in favour of the corporate whim.
there was more to this thought but i realised i was starting to lose teh plot.
... perhaps i shouldn't try to make coherant points at 5am before sleeping
On the post: NSA Power Grab: New Legislation Would Give It Broad Powers To Spy On 'Critical' Private Networks
Re: Re: Pudding!
On the post: EU Parliament Urged To Reject Agreement With The US To Hand Over Passenger Data
Re:
ya know, the simple response to this is to stop flying to the US.
if they want to kill their markets, let them BE a dead market and see how that goes for 'em.
would hurt the EU in the short term, long term would hurt less than agreeing to this sort of nonsense, and might eventually result in a shift in US policies... or at least a return to isolationism on their part so they leave the rest of us alone.
or, you know, they start invading (more powerful) places (than before). that could happen too.
On the post: Big Bank CEO Who Makes $23 Million Says Press Should Stop Focusing On Bank Compensation... Because Reporters Are Overpaid?
Re: Re: Re: Holy Jebus!
(amusingly, we have a phone company that's started up comparatively recently(last few years) here, only does mobile so far as i can tell, seem to have used a similar bit of logic. they're Rapidly gaining customers at the expense of the old networks, AND were the only one to stay functional, if a bit funky, during the Christchurch Earthquake. (by funky i mean: you'd send a text and it would take an hour or so to turn up then show up three or four times over the course of the day. compaired to the other networks where it was 'try to send a text. your phone fails.'))
On the post: Big Bank CEO Who Makes $23 Million Says Press Should Stop Focusing On Bank Compensation... Because Reporters Are Overpaid?
Re: Re: Re:
wait...what colour does Napalm burn?
On the post: Funny How Sensitive Hollywood Gets When You Threaten To Mess With Its 'Fundamental' Structure
Re: Re:
On the post: Funny How Sensitive Hollywood Gets When You Threaten To Mess With Its 'Fundamental' Structure
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Funny How Sensitive Hollywood Gets When You Threaten To Mess With Its 'Fundamental' Structure
Re: Re: Re:
that was a Terrible metaphor.
('course, the use you're responding to was pretty bad, but stretching it doesn't help :P)
On the post: Funny How Sensitive Hollywood Gets When You Threaten To Mess With Its 'Fundamental' Structure
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
glasses or no, if you have eye problems that cause your stereoscpic vision to be non-standard, it simply renders the product in question unuseable.
i don't give a damn about movies because i haven't bothered with them since i was a kid (they priced themselves way out of what i could justify spending on them long ago, and the effort of going isn't worth it either.) but the push to use it as the 'next big thing' in Gaming is... aggravating.
(basically, my depth perception is significantly based on mental tricks with peripheral vision and shadows. which isn't going to help me on a Screen, so all the illusion of 3D does is stuff up my ability to see the 2D image. i'm actually on an even field in this reguard on a computer or tv screen using standard 2D)
i mean, i'm already screwed in any game that assumes an ability to tell the direction a sound is coming from (even if only L/R rather than surround) due to having lost all hearing in my left ear...
I'd rather not have my hobbies impinged upon by More tech that leaves me out in the cold
On the post: Funny How Sensitive Hollywood Gets When You Threaten To Mess With Its 'Fundamental' Structure
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Economist Notices That The US Is Getting Buried Under Costly, Useless Over-Regulation
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sarbanes-Oxley should be the first to go
On the post: How The US Trade Rep Is Trying To Wipe Out Used Goods Sales With Secretive TPP Agreement
Re: Re: Re: Re: your friends at Anonymous got locked up
missed a parenthetical.
On the post: How The US Trade Rep Is Trying To Wipe Out Used Goods Sales With Secretive TPP Agreement
Re: Re: Re: your friends at Anonymous got locked up
what are you referring to here?
'cause if he's worshiping some random kid, there's an Entirely different issue at hand.
(If you mean Anonymous, well... wow, gotta love those blatant falsehoods. all those 'i do not approve this action' posts would say other wise. (generally, "i do not approve this action, but the thing they're acting against IS an issue" type statements, admittedly, but still.)
On the post: How The US Trade Rep Is Trying To Wipe Out Used Goods Sales With Secretive TPP Agreement
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: How The US Trade Rep Is Trying To Wipe Out Used Goods Sales With Secretive TPP Agreement
Re: Re: Re: Re:
thank you.
(don't want to split the vote, after all.)
On the post: How The US Trade Rep Is Trying To Wipe Out Used Goods Sales With Secretive TPP Agreement
Re:
because NZ's current administration is most of the way there already.
... of course, the USA never had as extensive a support network in the first place.
On the post: Organic Farmers' Preemptive Lawsuit Against Monsanto Patents Tossed Out For Being A Bit Too Preemptive
Re: Re: Calling Ms. Morissette
On the post: Reddit Writes A Law: First Draft Of The Free Internet Act Emerges
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Compromise...
i've never understood the point in term limits, to be honest. any politician will either burn out or become so unpopular as to fail to be elected after 2-3 terms of actually having any real effect on anything.
I mean, New Zealand has 3 year terms, 120 MPs, one house, and most of the time, to even GET to a leadership position (and thus control the way the entire party votes in the vast majority of cases, and get to co-opt the lesser member's speaking time... i still don't know how the hell that works, but as a bunch of MPs pointed out at one point, while trying to get their own jobs dissolved, cardborad standees could do their jobs as well as the system allows them to. anyway, back to the main point) they have to be involved in the party for Years, generally have been an MP one way or another for several terms... then if they fail to win an election, most of the time the larger parties toss their previous leaders (in terms of the people in parliament, not necessarily the guys running the party organization.) and pick new ones. if they Win, they have to do terribly to not get two terms, and do exceptionally to get 3.
the biggest problem is the Parties. people vote for them based on things that don't have a damn thing to do with running the country, and they mute the public voice on any issue something aweful compared to having representatives be free agents. (well, not Actually free, they're beholden to their electorates, obviously...)
On the post: New Platform Launched To Crowdsource Better Internet-Related Regulation... With Expert Help
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Company That Issued Bogus Takedown Says It Was All A Mistake, Apologizes
Re: Perjury or wire fraud
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