Yes.

Now when you say Smarties, I have to ask, are you from the US or Canada/Britain?

Because to me (Canadian) this is what you mean when you say Smarties, but to my wife (American) you would mean this.

I doubt it's a problem. An Asteroid is not a Meteorite.

"A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface" - Wikipedia - Meteorite

So unless someone plans on mining an asteroid by slamming it into the planet, they probably don't have to deal with laws pertaining to meteorites. There is also the fact that US law does not extend to the Asteroid Belt.

Honestly, no, I believe the average person would be in favor of hiding this as the reason given was 'national security.'

'National Security,' 'For the Children,' and whatnot are magic words that make the average person go along with anything the government says.

I can't wait to see this modded 'Insightful.' Slashdot truly is in decline if it doesn't happen.

I often buy my video cards second hand off ebay. I wonder who's accounts I'd be able to get into one day doing that.

Very good, and I did not intend to suggest that scientists deserve anything special. The GP however, went the other way, scientists getting pubic funding deserve no privacy.

Scientist 1 email: "I don't see how this supports your hypothesis"
Scientist 2 email: "Ya, it was a little messy, I didn't explain it clearly. Here you go"
Scientist 1 email: "A yes, I see what you're seeing now."

Group opposed to Scientist 1 and 2's work subpoenas their emails, public hears this:
Group releases only Scientist 1's first email.
Group: "See Scientist 1 says the data doesn't support their claims. They're lying, follow the money" and so on.

I put AVG Free on the wife's computer. Just make sure to turn off (or don't install) that damn safesearch thing they have.

Meh, screw the whole thing.

I use CentOS, Fedora and Slackware. Where do they fit into your simplified future?

Not very faithful then are they.

Malware authors are content creators too. Don't they deserve the recognition and profits for their hard work?

Twenty years ago if you wanted to put your pictures online you had to run your own server.

You already can run your own web server free of any corporate oversight. Guess how many people do.

You can already run your own mail server free of any corporate monitoring. Guess how many people do.

Diaspora failed because they thought people cared about these things. Guess how many people do.

People use Facebook/G+/Twitter and whatnot because:
1. Everyone else is.
2. They don't have to run it.