There really aren't any "nuke poof bunkers" anywhere. In a nuclear exchange with a world power it won't matter anyway.

It is truly a shame that he feels that way and that he believes in such a false dichotomy. If he was a little less antagonistic about the subject he'd see the massive influx of new people into the libraries that the internet has helped spur. The poor especially benefit from free access to computers and their children are put in touch with a wealth of learning (books AND electronic information) that is truly unprecedented. Library usage is up across the board, from what I can see.

The man is almost 90 years old, but he's younger than my grandmother who regularly uses email and praises it as a wonderful way of keeping in touch with her mobility-impaired friends. Age and stubbornness are not excuses for a man of his intelligence to hold such a myopic view of the world which HE HELPED CREATE. It makes me wonder if he has been to a library recently during business hours to see the throngs of people using the internet there to find jobs and better themselves.

Coming this Fall on NBC....

You were there when we lured perverts into the spotlight with Chris Hansen... You were there when the "busts" went down. Now, join us as we team up with local law enforcement in an effort TO CATCH A PREDATOR DRONE!

BigLaunch42: Oh baby, you sound HOT.
Sparkleflames12: I am, honey.
BigLaunch42: Right out of the factory, you say?
Sparkleflames12: I'm so new my sparkles are still compartmentalized top-secret.
BigLaunch42: Is your operator at home?



Chris Hansen: Why don't you have a seat right over there.

Strangely enough, the internet is pretty consistent, you're just measuring the wrong thing and calling it signal. The internet says, loud and clear,

99% PORN

1% Mindless rambling about other crap while waiting for porn to download.

The internet is a steadfast brick wall of consistency. Or perhaps a hard, throbbing rod of consistency.

There already is more of a gap than you'd like to admit or else the idea of "creating a class based society" wouldn't be so shocking to you. We have the makings of one now.

Your average low income part of town has no banks, restaurants, etc. What they do have is poor pre and post natal care, insufficient and improper diet, high crime, higher levels of birth defects and mental retardation...

Want to go to college? Sorry, your parents couldn't afford to get you to a high school where you weren't beaten every day. Also even if you do manage to retain the will and the ability to go, we estimate that your family should be contributing $X,000 to your education per year. They're not? Tough.

Want health insurance? Sure, but it's going to be more expensive because you're black and more susceptible to diabetes, heart disease, renal failure, immune system problems like lupus... Also the fact that we filled your neighborhood with fried chicken and burger places doesn't help.

No more of an ethical decision than we've already made. If these assholes would just quit being poor maybe we could make some real progress.

I agree with the GP, there is no need to specify that you have free speech online as well as in general.

If it MUST be done put it in a separate amendment similar to our Ninth. " The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." + "or restrict these rights to any particular venue, medium, technology or to any other specific means."

(Not a student of the law or constitution)

I'm not sure why you want to add anything as specific as file sharing or platform neutrality to a document like a constitution, as it will just turn into an absolute nightmare of trying to enumerate the rights and privileges of your citizens.

A constitution should be a general statement of principles and (just as importantly) an outline of how your citizens elect to be governed. I think what you're trying to do is a good thing, but you might be better off trying to stick to general concepts. If you MUST enumerate the most basic and important liberties that your people retain, be as broad as possible. When you get specific, even with the important ones, people (politicians, certain groups, etc) are always gnashing their teeth to try to find "loopholes," in a violation of the very spirit of the document. Just look at the line "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" from the American constitution. It's hard to get more blatant than that, but it has still brought us a lot of headaches from people who feel the need to interpret.

I would suggest looking to America's constitution, at the very least, for examples of broad general principles. Some of the very best (IMO) parts of our constitution are the very broadest (Amendment I, IV, VI, IX, X). We may have fallen on hard times recently, but it's still a hallowed document and there are some excellent ideas to be found there. The current state of affairs isn't a fault of the constitution, but rather as a direct result of fear / war mongering.

At least in science there is a built-in way of self-correction. Publish all the made up crap you want, but when no one can duplicate the feat don't be surprised when the community calls you out on it. Tell me where you go to find the guy double checking the work of the corrupt police officer or judge when they perjure themselves to ruin your life and your ability to defend yourself. Find me the people replicating every aspect of your grafty mayor's work to make sure he's not full of shit...

I can't think of anywhere else in life that there are as many checks and double checks and accountability as in the field of scientific research. Just because no one catches it immediately means nothing. If it was fake no one will be able to replicate it. A single study proves very little and likewise does very little damage, so if no one cares enough to replicate it chances are slim that it will cause harm.

How about disabling the wi-fi during peak times when serving food becomes priority #1? You could even post a nice little sign saying something like: "In order to better service you, free Wi-Fi is available from XX:XX to YY:YY."

Or, you know, making the access available with purchases only, for a set period of time according to dollar amount spent. How about 15 minutes for every 5 dollars, with access codes printed right on the receipt? That seems to solve the problems of everyone worth mentioning. Hell they might even make money off the deal (but that's evil and wrong, amirite?)

How about recognizing the fact that there will soon be a serious incident occurring between an armed non-employee contractor and a potentially armed paying customer? How about de-escalating the situation before the government authorities come to do your job for you (however poorly)?

How about anything at all? From what the blogger says they essentially sat on their hands. Of ALL the things they could have done to ensure the safety of their customers, contractors, and staff, doing nothing is never the right answer.

The RIAA refuses to comment on the possibility that they will no long engage in legal proceedings whilst "in" 8-year-old August Jennings of San Antonio, Texas in the hopes that they won't be mistaken for litigious, boy loving pederasts.

All other names, likenesses, locations, and periods of time associated with the term "August" are completely and wholeheartedly reserved, however.

You just have to get more familiar with the lingo, Ray. They have discontinued the practice of bringing "new" lawsuits, but will indeed continue in the finely honed craft of suing the living shit out of John Doe.

Or it could be that they will no longer initiate lawsuits in August. Company vacation time and whatnot.

Besides, does anyone REALLY want to argue that the definition of those words are really all that concrete? Those are GOOD words. Good words are like good whores--just don't think they won't put on a completely different show for the next customer at the same price.

Tears and Letters only work when there is no risk to the politician. None of the buzzed-impaired-intoxicated driving crowd are sympathetic figures, so SCOTUS (and grandstanding politicians) was happy to curtail our rights to combat it.

It's the same with CP and those who trade in it; they induce no sympathy so lawmakers happily stop at nothing to combat it, too. Hence the current witch-hunt.

Politicians are only careful about their policy decisions when there is an equitable division between registered republicans and democrats. Everything else is meaningless to them, and if they can use some extreme act to justify themselves to their voters, they'll happily undermine the foundation of our country to do it. The population as a whole is kept slow, stupid, and fearful to promote this activity.

It is in no politician's interest to really stand up for something as nebulous and all-encompassing as free speech when it is much easier to appeal to fear. Tears and letters from a small group who do care about things like that are meaningless to them.

Drug war laws have ruined MILLIONS of lives and protected almost none.

I know you're being tongue-in-cheek but CP laws amount to the same thing. The government doesn't learn from the suffering of the people, the government learns when the people start killing them. And that's the ONLY time any government learns or changes for the better.

With, you know, blood and bullets and bombs. Not with tears and letters.

Would hate to die of Swine Flu, just because of what it's called... and all that it would imply if I caught it...

Don't kid yourself, slashdot-netizen, chances are you don't get enough human interaction or even sunlight to risk infection. You're as good as immune.