So, what is the punishment for twelve accounts of computer fraud these days?

Maybe all protests are censored as well.

Oh, you meant that the computers were 20 years old as well? In that case, yes, since no current proprietary OS or IDE would run on a 486, and Emacs on Linux probably isn't what you want to give an absolute beginner, they're out of luck. (On the other hand, I learned to program on worse hardware than a 486, so if they can just get the computers to run...)

But there is no way that a 486 can run today's web browsers or display today's javascript-heavy websites. I seem to recall those thingies struggling to run Netscape.

Reading, writing and math hasn't changed that much in twenty years. And those are the only subjects you need to know in order to learn to program.

Ah, yes. Good old "A robot shall take no action, nor allow other robots to take action, that may result in the parent company being sued."

Ah. So he's looking for the download tab?

My favorite are the ones that loads and displays all the content, and then after about a second second blanks the page and pops up a dialog about how my browser doesn't support javascript and this page absolutely needs javascript to function...

Why must senior researchers have "tenure"? Why is it important that they can't be sacked if the university no longer wants to keep them on?

No, of course not. But it sort of baffles me how Americans (or the entire English-speaking part of the world?) do not differentiate between wrong and illegal, and I wonder what would happen if I accepted that an act was illegal but did not agree that it was wrong. Would it be important to my questioners that I say that I did something "wrong" (rather than just illegal)? Would the they even understand the difference?

"Well, not wrong. Illegal, sure, but not wrong in any moral sense."

Now what?

So don't then. But why must you also forbid me, who would and am prepared to take the consequences if I turn out to be wrong, from deciding this for myself? (Also, if you change your mind later then you should be allowed to change your instructions. Of course. Something like this should not be a once-and-then-cannot-be-changed-ever decision.)

It is actually quite possible for normal people to discern if others are suffering, through methods like observation, empathy and introspection, even if the subject cannot speak.

Are there pain medication that alleviates the symptoms and suffering of hunger and (especially) thirst?

Everyone says that all the time, dude. But for some reason the Chinese never seem to actually use this stranglehold they have the US in, even a little.

You're in luck then. With NSA and the constant attacks on freedom and rule of law, soon we will certainly live in DDR Online.