Password protect your phone, then don't give them the password until they obtain a warrant. Done.

And there lies the rub. A 4 digit code is all but worthless to secure my private data. And a proper password makes the phone to inconvenient to actually use.

For the moment, I've got my phone protected by a passphrase and fingerprint (Samsung Galaxy S5) but I don't really like Androids implementation:

a) It won't fail over to passphrase only after x failed fingerprints. It should.

b) And after x (5?) failed fingerprints there is a 30 second lockout, and I can't even enter the passphrase without waiting, which is also extremely annoying.

c) I'd like finer control over where a passphrase is needed ...I'd like to be able to look at what movies are playing, make a local phone call, use google maps, take a picture, let the kids play games, etc without needing a passphrase,

And only need an unlock to get into pictures, emails, documents, and other things which I deem private.

And a fingerprint.. there's conflicting evidence whether I could be forced to provide it to unlock the phone.

In my case I'm mostly just worried about theives and lowlifes rather than law enforcement and the fingerprint is a good balance between convenience and security for that. But I'd like to have my legal privacy protected too... but a long passphrase is just too cumbersome to have to enter into a device repeatedly all day.

To maximize the complexity of its overall system,

That isn't its goal. To maximize entropy is the goal. Complex systems are one way of generating a lot of entropy, but not the only way, and there are lots of very simple ways to generate a lot of entropy.

A nuclear bomb is a pretty good entropy machine for example. Remember when people were freaking out that the LHC would create a black hole that would devour the planet? Suppose such a thing actually could be engineered... now THAT would be a good entropy machine.

  it will need the greatest variety of complex systems, and one complex system it can't create immediately is a system that evolved over the course of billions of years.

it is black and white.

And my neighborhood kids run lemonade stands in front of their homes without cowering in fear that they'll be shut down by health inspectors, fined for their failure to display a business license, audited for tax evasion, and arrested for exploiting child labor. "The law is very clear." All those rules technically apply.

Your right, technically the regs apply in your scenario, but its well beneath the FAAs notice, and we all know it.

The point is there are a lot of actually interesting things to discuss on the subject without dredging up fringe scenarios like that.

If the government proposes stiffer penalties for unpaid labor, you'd be the guy arguing how no one will risk running a lemonade stand with those regs in place. Its a waste of time; a distraction from meaningful discussion.

"Hey, Harry Homeowner! I'll give you $10 and a cold beer if you'll fly that little camera 50' to the right, and check out my chimney for me, OK?" How does Harry's acceptance of that $10 make what he's doing suddenly more dangerous? Be specific.

Not that I agree or disagree with you. But that you think a neighbor casually offering $10 and a beer for a one time favor is a "commercial" anything speaks volumes about the way you think.

You probably report lemonade stands to the authorities too. No business license. Tax evasion. Child labor...

Excellent suggestions.

"licensed pilots" should be a different license than what you'd need to fly a commercial jet of course... or even a Cessna ... there should be a separate category for unmanned drones.

And you didn't address what the drone should do if it loses communication with its pilot and/or loses GPS positioning.
That's one of the more unique and interesting problems.

I'm not sure you know what entropy is based upon that comment.

I definitely know what entropy is.

In 1988 or whatever, while playing, and exchanging ideas with your friends, Zork was fun.

In 2014, with the internet and guides, its a massive exercise in self restraint not ruin the game for yourself.

In 2014, without the internet and guides, and without the benefit of even having friends playing and exchanging hints with, the game is all but impossible.

I recall spending weeks on end stuck in Kings Quest IV. And in Zork. And in Pyramid 2000. And countless other games. But if you kept at it and your friends were playing the same games, you'd eventually figure it out.

But IMO Internet + GameGuides etc have largely ruined that style of game.

It's not illegal to use weapons that blind, it just cannot be their primary purpose to do so

Exactly right. Nearly all weapons can blind. But if the reason the weapon was fired was to kill a target, or destroy a missile, or sink a boat... or whatever than its 'fine' if someone gets blinded.

But if your just pulling the trigger with the intention to blind people, then its against the "rules".

Assuming everything else you said was true.

By allowing humans to exist there will be more overall complexity because a greater variety of complex entities leads to a more complicated overall system, which in turn leads to greater Universal entropy.

Then it may just as plausibly eliminate them to replace them with something even more complicated and entropy producing. Are humans really the pinnacle of entropy production in the universe? No. Not even a blip on the radar.

You have failed to understand the analogy.
Deutsche Bank = Microsoft
Branch = servers in Ireland
New York Times = EU citizens using servers in EU

I got the first 2 items.
But what makes us confident the 3rd item holds true? I admit I orginally was under the mistaken impression that the warrant was for Microsofts own email documents that they'd stored in Ireland; and I see that was mistaken.

But do we actually know that the warrant is for an EU citizen, using servers in EU?

If so, then yes, I'm with you. That is quite different from what I'd originally misunderstood.

Well TFA says:

"This is in a sense the biggest break with tradition in 10 years of Ubuntu..."

Editor fail.

And what do you think of MS's rebuttal of that position?

"Imagine this scenario...."

That's a good scenario, and it raises some interesting questions that SHOULD also be looked at. But its fundamentally a different scenario.
The part where it breaks down though is that they have a warrant to seize the documents of a New York Times reporter.

The New York Times is a wholly American company.
The New York Times reporter is presumed to be an American citizen. If the "New York Times" were a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutche Bank and the New York Times employee was instead a German citizen and an employee of Deutche Bank ... THEN it would be equivalent.

Lets compare apples to apples.

I have a few good reasons for visiting my bank via Tor,

Such as? I'm genuinely curious why you would need anonymity to connect to a bank, whereupon you would immediately log into an account that has your name, address, phone number, and probably even your SSN and a copy of your signature on file.

Blocking Tor is akin to saying "many robberies were performed by blacks, so we will no longer allow blacks into the bank".

Its more like blocking Tor is akin to saying "many robberies" were performed by people wearing a disguise, so we will no longer allow people wearing disguises into the bank.

I've observed that flaws in Apple products seem to most affect those who do not use Apple products.

Did it really never occur to you that the ones most likely to be affected by a 'flaw' in something would also be the ones most likely to avoid using that something?

Here are other examples:

The people most allergic to peanuts refuse to eat peanut products.

The people who got a hair in their food at a restaurant are far less likely to eat at or recommend that restaurant to others.

By definition the people using products are either relatively unaffected by the flaws, or unaware of them. The people most aware of or most affected by flaws are among the least likely to use the product.

That's just common sense.

Doing the science is the right answer every time, it's who you are going to test on, us or them.

I'd like to do science on you for hours in my basement.

You can't anticipate what we'll learn as a human race from it. Can we really afford not to?