I understand where you're cumming from.

You hope it will work out, but there is no scientific basis for this hope, nor do they have a track record that suggests this will be doing anything more than putting additional taxes on porn sites.

As collateral damage, the side effects of a data leak are now greatly enhanced and extortionists and espionage agencies are going to be having a lot more to work with. This will make those sites even more desirable for hackers to, ah, penetrate, than they already are.

First, I'd say that you need to demonstrate that currently this is an actual issue, with 5 year olds accessing porn sites. I know I asked my son about it and he thought it was all pretty gross and far too yucky to even contemplate looking at pictures like that. But I'm sure there are some abused kids that also look at porn sites. In which case the issue seems to me that there is abuse, not that we have porn sites.

  It's always very easy to impose burdens on other people that you don't have to pay for (as the British Conservatives are so fond of saying, it goes well until you run out of other people's money) but let us first see what this brings in benefits. Oh, I know: none. This is just a cost imposed on porn sites as an extra tax to appease some of the voters who think this will improve something in their lives. Nobody can say exactly what this measure is supposed to achieve, but hey, at least the inept Conservatives are "doing something" (tm).

I have to say it's possible, but I haven't had any package disappear yet. I also don't see a lot of courtcases about it. Then again, a smart criminal only steals small things and stays under the radar so that may not say much.

Legally, in the EU, you are entitled to your money back if the product arrives damaged or doesn't arrive and the sender cannot prove you received it. But don't shop at the smaller "really cheap" sites, they are more often than not, a bunch of scammers that don't even bother sending items. They just send you the mail that they did it :)

I guess they might have one at the central post office :)

But where I live we have one at 10 minutes walking and 3 minutes by bike. And that's due to zoning, because it's all housing otherwise. China has pickup points in every little shop (they don't trust their neighbours much) in the larger cities.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Why is shitty delivery the responsibility of the customer? Whoever accepts practices like this? Doesn't work in the EU, doesn't work in China either. I doubt it would work in any other country except the USA where people seem to be amazingly gullible somehow.

You think the delivery driver wouldn't get caught after it happened more than once? Over here it's basically unheard of (Netherlands). Yes, theft happens, but it's really easy to catch because those packages are tracked and traced very carefully. They do lose a few here and there (smart criminals can get away with theft as long as they stay under the radar) but if you don't get your package you just ask the party to send it again - and they do.

This includes Amazon. They wouldn't be able to survive here otherwise.

I get an SMS telling me when the driver is expected to arrive. I also usually get a tracking link that gives a time which is progressively more accurate as the time goes by. If I'm not home, they either deliver it to the neighbours and leave a standard note in my mailbox, or take it back to a central location nearby where I have to pick it up later, or I have to give them a new date/time and they retry.

It's on me to pick a delivery day and/or time where I can accept the delivery. Not hard to do with working from home. And why do you need something delivered if you're not there anyway?

The reason this is offered is because they're going to win handily. Current court cases do not look good for the rentseekers who derive their parasitic income from copyright and IP laws, with most claims being dismissed and the last claims now having a judge that says "please demonstrate where the AI produces art that is a copy of your work". The plaintiffs can't do that, and they know it, so the court cases are going to vanish in a few months.

  And that's not even counting specific exemptions from copyright such as included in the EU laws on datamining for AI training. It's specifically excluded from copyright, so good luck sueing anyone.

No, court cases can be ignored, mostly. But that's why publishers are already trying the route through their political pets. The Disney Exeption on copyright was called that way because Disney paid for it. I'd estimate it has cost the rest of the world combined tens of billions of dollars in additional payment for IP that would not have been required otherwise.

Additionally, people are being scared into adopting regulatory frameworks. Those will entrench the current AI leaders and make it nearly impossible for incumbents to achieve the same mass. It's no accident you have people from Google, OpenAI etc. claiming that "generalized AI is a possibility soon!" or that "AI needs to be regulated in order to prevent accidents! We might do something really bad if you don't stop us!". And while the new Hiroshima agreements on AI are not that bad, there will be a lot of pressure coming out from current big AI and IP companies to stop *other* AI.

Needless to say, neither Asia, Africa nor Europe can afford to actually regulate AI until they have their own versions, uncontrolled by US interests.

They're channeling Darth Vader. That always goes down well with your customers. Not.

Only if the market provides no alternatives, which it does. But it might violate Dutch law on linked sales.

If you think India and China are crime free, or even stable, you need to get outside more and maybe visit them.

Yes, as long as you toe the line and you have nothing anyone wants, it's okay. But I know quite a few ppl that tried starting a business in China. Nothing gets you in touch faster with how life really works in country than starting a business. From fake tax collectors to fake building inspectors to corrupt officials to non- functioning government: you meet them all.

Europe may be expensive but at least its mostly functional, mostly not at war and mostly has a low level of crime.

If you still think China has a low level of crime, just ask yourself why everyone has bars on their windows and installing steel doors is the first thing you do on new housing.

Manifest destiny, but rephrased by other political parties. Nothing more.

The USSR after 1928 was basically the Tsarist empire, run mostly by the exact same bureaucrats as before, under a different flag and with a slightly different set of rules, run by a new Tsar called Stalin. Putin really wants back to those days. He has zero desire for an empire in the old style, which was unproductive and couldn't compete with the West.

Hehe... and even had you gotten the jack in place, you would have been unlikely to be able to loosen the bolts. Ask me how I know :(