Perhaps in the same way that here in the UK I pay taxes to a government that I did not vote for, nor do I support.

You forgot to mention that Thursday is the new black.

I work in online advertising, specifically I look after a major UK publisher's adservers/ad-delivery. We use the following to keep an eye on identified malware delivering domains:

http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/mdl.php
http://www.malwaredomains.com/
http://www.malwareurl.com/
http://www.anti-malvertising.com/

But this doesn't mean they aren't paying taxes! Poorer families will invariably end up paying a higher % of their income in excise/sales/indirect taxation (food, fuel, services etc).

Don't get me wrong, I hate Patent Trolls as much as the next slashdotter but this patent was filed in 1990 which would make it before Netscape/Mosaic. Not having had any experience with other hypertext based system before that I can't comment on prior art but, surely the early WIMP systems would provide more than enough prior art against this?

NB: IANAL
This article details the basis on the 1995 case which set the precedent: http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=916:westminster-council-accused-of-illegal-parking-charge-hikes&catid=64:transport-articles&q=&Itemid=8 The BBC reported our attempts to it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8470804.stm This was the basis for our inital appeal for a public enquiry to The Department of Communities & Local Government http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Demand-for-a-Public-Inquiry.pdf (151 pages long)

I wouldn't totally agree with it being 'sensationalist' however it is at times 'covert surveillance' as they attempt to hide their cars in concealed entrances. I've no problem using another word to describe this act, it comes down to basically the same thing in the end.

I'm part of a the NTBPT (No to Bike Parking Tax) demo group in London which protests at having to pay parking fees in Central London. The UK law stipulates that councils are not allowed to simply charge for parking as a revenue stream, there has to be some benefit to the local population/businesses such as relieveing congestion, and as bikes don't cause congestion we're currently fighting Westminster Counsil in the European Courts of the legality of the charges. http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Westminster Council also employs CCTV cars that roam the streets of London spying on the populace & catching any "traffic violations", but we've caught on to that and now we follow the CCTV cars and we film them & alert motorists about them and occasionally post evidence of them committing their own traffic violations to Youtube :-)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23883049-bikers-blow-cover-of-cctv-cars-snooping-on-drivers.do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHOazGC7alk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QNfeL71ojg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cztfKB8SGCI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsZb9jIfGv0

If you don't like what your elected memebers are doing then 1] try and vote them out, 2] organise, protest & demonstrate 3] take direct action to hinder their effectiveness (all legal and above board direct action mind.

I'd be interested in seeing XKCD's take on Being John Malkovic though.

http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/SES1206.php "If a NASA image includes an identifiable person, using the image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy or publicity, and permission should be obtained from the person." I think the point being'identifiable person'... peviously little heard of astronaut in full space suit takin up 1% of screen... hardly identifiable, but no doubt there's some slavering lawyer willing to take this crap on.

The City of London Corporation (the local authority for the City of London's business district) allows companies to put forward people to vote in local elections. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London_Corporation More info on who & how. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/scripts/htm_hl.pl?DB=col&STEMMER=en&WORDS=compani%20vote&ALL=&ANY=&EXACTB=0&PHRASE=&EXACTP=0&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=company%20votes&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Council_and_democracy/Councillors_democracy_and_elections/Voting_and_Registration/Voting+FAQ.htm#muscat_highlighter_first_match

Arguably the action of the bosses have brought this to a much wider audience. Far more people are now aware of the company's actions and (looking at the posts here) the majority of people seem to think it was them overstepping their authority. They have therefore brought themselves into disrepute, can we expect the bosses to be sacking themselves anytime soon? Nah, I didn't think so either. I just hope the person was in a union.

Which in itself makes it ironic.

Apart from spell 'ever' properly... bugger, perfectly decent gag knackered by my itchy posting finger.