Hello? Where have you been the last couple of years? Google is already censoring and self-censoring, as in taking down content with no external prompt to do so. They are most definitely censoring their search engine as well.

And to former federal employees in many more cases than it should be. You are kidding yourself if you think that is not a closed ecosystem. It is a monopoly, and one that is much harder to see through.

I'm a developer. I use Windows 7 at work and at home. Nothing fanatical or religious about it, I just do.

Nice to meet you.

Netflix lacks the appeal of similar services for music, since it lags severely behind other venues for movies. I'm not going to pay for Netflix when I have to torrent half the seasons of a series regardless. The Netflix vs torrent comparison will only be valid once the studio mafia yanks their collective heads out of each other's asses. I know many here in Europe feel the same way, Netflix is money out the window for no gain at all. Rectify that, and movie piracy could go the way of music piracy.

Really? I can understand a piece of software both being one of a kind and severely overpriced, such as Windows, being pirated. In that case I think it's correct to almost equate piracy with a lost sale. Granted you would have to assume that people would have bought it without the cracks being available. More likely potential buyers remain on an older version, or in extreme cases find an alternative.

I've also worked at places where a piece of software was integral to running the business, but gouging via license fees forced them into creative setups to work around it.

I've not actually heard of a software company going out of business due to piracy. Mismanagement or other bone headed crap, sure. Piracy tends to follow popularity, and in my experience money follows that.

Except a pirated item does not equate to a lost sale. Further, those hypothetical people who would then download the pirated game have already paid, again not hurting sales. You'd be surprised how quickly people turn back to the monkey that kicked their teeth in for another treatment.

Event Y is going to hurt the profits of X - bullshit. Time and time again we're shown that prior reputation has absolutely nothing to do with future profits, contrary to common belief. My personal hypothesis is that marketing machines are just too good at hyping whatever game the company is putting out, making gamers want to fork over money to a disreputable company rather than wait for the pirated version to become available.

Facts? Here? How DARE you?

They don't just wait. They let the actual plot play out. If there were no random acts of terrorism, how would they go about arguing for increased capabilities? The mass murderers in France were well known and were allegedly also being watched. They found an ID in the car? How convenient.

There is no difference. How do you propose to censor speech if not by the threat of consequence?

Yeah that is going to work well for people who don't replace their devices every six months.

That book is not going to support your argument, and you know it.

There is a fuckton of a difference between a high taxation and a corrupt taxation regime.

Our (Denmark) gas price is somewhere along the lines of DKR 11/L (DKR 6.23 = $1) so $1.77/L ~ $6.68/gallon (3.78541 L = 1 US gallon). Very few of us are on rafts. High taxation as a cause of the fall of civilization is a myth.

They didn't even 3D print anything. I call bullshit on this whole thing.