The bigger issue for me is that from a user perspective - my android phone is still locked down. I need to root the phone if I want to uninstall the bloatware Verizon insists be on my phone.

For a number of reasons, but I bet search is up there. Either for users trying to locate each other, or for ad targeting.

It doesn't matter who you say it to - it's flat out wrong and impractical. We have a public education system for a reason, and expecting parents to pick up the slack if theocratic fundamentalists cripple the education system is insulting.

I will "get up off my ass" and help campaign to vote religious conservatives out of office though ;).

If the majority of people in your state decide to remove math from the curriculum, will you just tell yourself "I don't like, it, I'm going to change it?". How practical is that? How practical is it to expect parents with full time jobs to also function as teachers for whatever topics the religious right decides to remove from the public education system? It's ridiculous, and we don't have to stand for it.

I don't want to have to uproot my family, find a new job, and start a new life in another state just because the state I happen to live in wants to push religious beliefs onto my kids through the public school system. It's abusive and violates separation of church and state. I don't give a damn about state's rights, rights ought to be fundamental - not based on the invisible lines people draw to separate one bit of land from another.

This. The "shortfall" sounds like spin. There's plenty of programmers - but they have enough experience to want fair compensation. It's not black and white, there's fantastic upside to helping more people learn to code. At the same time, we need to see the potential for abuse.

Exactly. They aren't getting the top notch people, and this would scare them away. What this might do is put more pressure on employees already hired - something the company appears to be interested in and adept at doing. If I worked there I'd be putting my resume out there as quickly as possible.

What comedic timing: Is Ruby Dying.

It amazes me that I'd get dinged with mod points over calling you out in a polite fashion. What awful butthurt to live with, that you feel the need to be so vulgar. Your pro-tip is one I happily ignore. I'm polite with people even to the extent of not automatically assuming laziness, or considering not knowing a given fact a sin.

Ah, the famously friendly linux community! Hahahaha seriously though, if someone doesn't know something and you do, it doesn't hurt to be friendly about it :)

Is it bad that my first thought when reading this was "cool, when will Mint get this"?

Except some of the same idiocy in the rest of America also exists in CA. CA politicians have supported some of the more awful stuff to come out of DC as much as they have opposed it. And locally you still have the same struggles. One mix that has been proposed before was splitting CA into a North and South - but even that is problematic.

Every time a website censors users, someone trots this out on slashdot. Maybe some of us believe corporations shouldn't have the right to deny services based on political, religious, etc beliefs? Not saying I agree with the software project at all, or github's handling of it. Simply saying "they own it so they can do what they want" is a dangerous argument, especially when so much of the web is managed by private companies.

Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it isn't there. (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jan/14/google-praised-human-rights-activists as one example). Another might be their investments in green tech (http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/11/16/1655232/googles-wind-solar-power-investments-top-1b). Positive press for the company is out there.

As for the feature itself - Google has an easy PR move here. "The feature was released early without sufficient testing, however we are actively looking at ways to protect user privacy". Instant win.

Why does it bug you when a company gets crap for being abusive? They also get praise for when the fight the good fight, and criticism for when they are on the wrong side of things. That strikes me as a good thing.