It's a synecdoche. It represents everything that's wrong with Apple.

Firstly, my understanding is that the German case was a civil matter, so it comes down to two tort lawyers having a pissing contest. I would suggest this is not very relevant a discussion of criminality; it's more akin to patent wars.

Secondly, this has not happened in the UK. In the UK Straszkiewicz was found guilty of entirely the reverse; he took advantage of an open network that was intended as private domestic infrastructure, and THE OWNER OF THE NETWORK was not even charged with an offence in the first place, never mind found guilty. The rogue user was fined and received a criminal record. NOT the owner.

Furthermore the user was charged with a specific offence under the Communications Act 2003, "dishonestly obtaining an electronics communication service." Hard to argue with that. (One of the problems with that Act is it's very weak on "intent" in general.)

Similarly, in the UK this invalidates an insurance claim for theft, in most cases.

Perhaps there is some correlation between religion and gullibility?

You need a BlackBerry Curve then; at least in the UK you can get one for half your $50 a month.

Yeah. I looked for the April Fool post yesterday and concluded that ALL of the stories were the Fools.

I consider a duty based on sales to be a sales tax. It's the same in practical terms for the buyer.

"In 2011, on average 60% of the pump price of petrol and diesel in the UK was made up by excise duty and VAT."

http://www.ukpia.com/files/pdf/ukpia-briefing-paper-understanding-pump-price.pdf

You're welcome.

Yes. Which is a pity, because the principal function of Government should be to mitigate AGAINST mob rule and the Tragedy of the Commons.

I know I logged in for something...

Since this is taxpayer money, it does indeed make sense to spread the load over time, which is free, rather than spread it across capacity, which is not.

Wow. Pop. 4 885 240 (source: World Bank)

23 bits will do nicely then.

I think the UK has Local Authorities bigger than that. :-)

Wait, I forgot the part where you personally are taxed on what your landlord's property was worth in 1993.

Ah no, we've cunningly combined the worst of all systems.

- We have VAT (regressive, and CHARGED ON ESSENTIALS for far too much of the time.) Yesterday's annual announcement "rationalises" this by charging it on even MORE food items.
- We have Income Tax which is then largely credited back to low earners in an incredibly complicated and time-consuming way, rather than just taking them out of the system initially.
- We have National Insurance which is a regressive flat tax in everything but name. If you overpay it effectively takes 18 months to get the credit back. If you need the £2000 you overpaid to spend on food in the meantime, that's your problem.

The UK government forces employers to do the calculations for all employees and for VAT. You'd think this would be ultra-efficient for the Revenue services as there's therefore nothing left to do but spot cock-ups and conspiracies, and yet it is still THE worst organisation in public or private life in the UK.