You're right. By subscribing to Netflix I am legitimizing their use of DRM. Personally, I feel that $8/month for unlimited movie watching, with the restriction that I must be online to do so, is completely acceptable.

There are uses of DRM that I find unacceptable (I won't "buy" a movie from Google Play or iTunes) but Netflix isn't one of them.

It's called the ocean. Coastal cities often place the out fall from their waste treatment plants in the ocean or a convenient bay. As there is no one downstream of them they either have to add the treated water directly to their potable water system, or pump it back uphill into tower aquifers.

Let's see...

Public transit data? I have a pdf of the schedule saved locally.

Maps? Google Maps caches mapping data locally, and there are mapping apps that store all map data locally.

Mission critical documents? Synced to the cloud, so a local copy still exists.

Mobile games? Not all mobile games require a data connection.

Contact lists? Your example is not how Android works, does iOS really do that?

Used properly they're very useful, even without a data connection.

I'll just leave this here.

No, it's a captive market. I had one math teacher in high school get irate when I brought a TI-85 into class where the syllabus suggested we use a TI-83. She actually suggested (rather forcefully) that I go out and buy an 83 or she wouldn't be able to help me with any of the graphing calculator assignments.

Texas Instruments has gotten cozy with textbook publishers and that is why you can find the TI-x line of calculators at places like Target, not because of any technical superiority.

This, unfortunately, is not a rare occurrence.

However, the fact that they voted 94% for statehood in 1954 suggests that Hawaii's current state of affairs is quite nuanced.

A CALEA port does no good if the communication is encrypted by the parties communicating. This is why the FBI is bitching.

Right... That's why Uber is backing this regulation. It's so burdensome that Uber already complies with all aspects of it other than external markings.

Thankfully we don't have to depend on the average citizen. Any sort of backdoor has risk management people sweating. For once, big business is on our side.

The issue is that I shouldn't have to trust the escrow service. Hell, even RSA lost a master key DB, and their entire reputation is built around security.

You just copy the directory over and it runs just fine. You can even package the game directory up in your own executable zip file, if you absolutely must have an "installer".

DRM on Steam has always been optional.

Are you still using a VHF antenna? I'm about 30 miles from our local broadcasters with no line of sign (the signal has to diffract over two ridges) and I get reception with an unamplified Gray-Hoverman antenna that I built for about $25.

Isn't that exactly what producing deterministic builds during a security audit supposed to detect?

I don't get why batteries that are not readily removable Are branded as "non-replaceable" All it takes if a little work and the proper tools and these batteries can be replaced at home, by the consumer. The same thing could be said of automobile batteries.

Okay, lets try again, shall we?

1. A Stingray is not synonymous to a GPS tracker (placed knowingly or otherwise.)

2. North Carolina, stupidly made the argument that a GPS tracker is not a search, despite various SCOTUS rulings otherwise.

3. SCOTUS reiterated it's previous position on GPS trackers and sent the case back to NC.

At no point in time di the SCOTUS make any ruling that would impact anything other than the assertion that a GPS tracker is not a search. Chances are that NC will revise their argument and dude is still going to have a GPS anklet for the rest of life. This is not some revolutionary ruling from the SCOTUS.

Yes, Stingrays are a worrying technology (even more so, law enforcement's general ambivalence toward any public concern), and I certainly don't believe proper privacy safeguards are in place, but this ruling has nothing to do with them.