We know Google sniffed the data it sniffed because they reported themselves for doing it.

If you think about this technically, there is absolutely zero useful info one could get from such data (other than using it as a source for randomness and even then...).

All these stories do is punish a company for self-reporting a perceived privacy concern - one which they quickly addressed.

Exactly! Where's the "comment must be added to article" button?

Just email your thoughts on copyright to someone who sounds foreign. The NSA will forward it to them.

Marriage is a civil institution that relates primarily to property. The US gov't has only been involved in marriage for a few hundred years because the US gov't has only existed for a few hundred years.

Yes churches and religious groups kept marriage records and performed ceremonies. "The state" has evolved over time and for quite a bit of it religious groups were part of the state. That had some flaws - go read some European history.

Marriage as a civil institution serves some very concrete situations. It handles various situations that arise for couples in terms of property rights, inheritance rights, child custody, immigration, criminal law, taxes, pensions, etc. There are problems that crop up for couples that are more complicated than if they came up (if they could come up) for individuals.

Laws relating to marriage are designed to address those situations. To provide couples with reasonable expectations that they can plan on and to simplify people's lives in terms of their interactions with the state.

The laws relating to marriage are generally there to make people's lives run more smoothly and therefore often get overlooked. But at times they crop up and when couples (both or individually) avail of them they understand the benefit those laws provide.

Gay couples can already get married in religious services in all 50 states. The debate about the religious institution of marriage is a debate each religious group can work through. Eventually all of them will recognise same sex marriage but that's up to their individual congregations so generally the point is moot for most of us.

This civil institution of marriage (it's like Java - it's a VM, it's a language, it's a beverage, it's an island!) is the issue that all citizens should be concerned about and it should respect the rights of each citizen and weigh the various concerns. You being "offended" is way lower on the scale than gay citizens having legal protections for their relationships just as straight citizens do.

This is plainly clear. And in the future - the not very distant future I might add - those who don't understand that will be viewed by decent society as hateful, anti-social bigots. Everyone's free to be a hateful, anti-social bigot, but the rest of us are also free to call that out and to shun such people. Everyone has a right to their opinion and to speak their mind. No one has a right to avoid the social consequences of doing so.

Why not have those things? Maybe his daughter likes them? Just because they're traditionally female, doesn't mean they're inferior.

They seem to be censoring it, but why not keep them busy:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Astrolabe-Astrology-Software-and-Services/52527078715

Can I just mention here that my opinion of astrology has plummeted even further? Seriously, don't you people have better things to do?

I emailed their sales department to inform them that I would be actively encouraging people to avoid their products.

http://alabe.com/contact.html

Of course they peddle astrology shit so it's not like I'd buy from them anyway.

I support going to Mars because I figure that's minimum safe distance when America eventually elects the Palin/Bachmann ticket (or its equivalent).

You're an idiot.

Seriously.

The whole idea of carbon credits and a market for trading various pollution credits is a dumb idea dreamed up by free market sycophants. Sadly some environmentalists in a desire to try and reach out to morons who whine about gov't regulation decided to go with the free market "solution." Once environmentalists got Democrats to go along with the stupid idea that Republicans/conservatives came up with, the Republicans/conservatives immediately turned on the idea and make this utterly predictable complaint.

Warren Piece?

Why is this news? Seriously, old technology lives on if it's useful. Even sometimes if it's not.