There's Security Theater, and now we have Legislative Theater. Arguing about whether the law could have been "better" or "stronger" is just playing their game. IT DOESN"T MATTER what the law is. The ruling class--like every minority ruling class in history--will do whatever it needs to to stay in power.

If that's true, then why is the blockade still in place (and it's real, btw)? Why can't U.S. residents travel freely to Cuba? Why can't Cubans easily get US visas to travel here (from the US govt, not the Cuban govt)? Why is it illegal to send money to a Cuban in Cuba?

"Castro" didn't expel anyone. When the wealthy lost the sources of their wealth--ie, it became the property of all instead of the property of the few--they voluntarily left and went to a country that values getting rich at the expense of others, chiefly the U.S.

About the US cyberattack on Cuba. First of all, it failed, as every US attack on Cuba has failed. Second, the US puts form over content--the idea that if you get people to follow your Twitter feed sports scores, when you say "OK! Everyone out to the Plaza to overthrow the government!" that hundreds of thousands of people will show up and try to overthrow the government, even if they didn't know they wanted to (which in Cuba most people don't). Third, the continuing destruction of internet trust on the part of the US. And fourth, their willingness to put people at risk without telling them they're putting them at risk.

Or no evidence at all beyond what the cops invent. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03...

The real point is not whether you think you have anything to hide or if you have inadvertantly committed your daily three felonies. When it suits the police, you will get caught up in a net. The evidence will appear, or else they will convince you that they have so much evidence against you anyway (whether you believe it's real or made up) that you will end up pleading guilty. An excellent film that shows how this works is "Sins of the Father." It takes place in the UK but happens here--and there, and a lot of other places--every day.

Maybe they'll explain to TV producers that facial recognition software doesn't work by showing each face it's checking. Yet somehow get through ginormous databases in minutes.

There are laws, there are always laws, there always have been laws. But the supersecret govt spy agencies--and this is true in Canada, too, and the UK, France, etc--just ignore the laws. The laws are on the books so liberals can claim that there is "oversight." But there isn't any oversight.

The best way to fight trolling and character assassination is not to engage in it yourself. And to totally discount anyone who does. And to demand evidence. It hardly seems necessary in /. to remind people how easy it is create fake web sites, blogs, whatever. This kind of sabotage only works if you let it.

If the interface is "so much better" why are you using Thunderbird? I won't use gmail because I think the interface is very hard to use. If all you want to do is send mail, it's even hard to find the "send" button.

This is a total crock. The purpose is to blame the victim. If you don't have a job, if you can't pay your mortgage or your student loans, must be because you didn't pay attention in your "personal finance" class in high school. How about a program that provides decent-paying jobs? Wouldn't that do a lot toward ending personal financial crises?

Wrong, totally and completely. It may not be a "spy agency" but it does collect "intelligence" and always has--and frequently by spying.

Let the country without sin cast the first stone. US? Can you spell Guantanamo, napalm? UK? Ask Gandhi. Etc.

As a Marxist, I reject OP's claim that the protests in the Ukraine are "ultra-right" or "manipulated" by anyone. Ukrainians have a very just grievance with centuries of Russian domination, first the czars, then Stalin, with only a brief reprieve for about ten years from 1917. Also--what does it say about fifteen years of the Chavez program if the "neo-nazi" opposition can get 44% of the vote?

I think someone pointed this out already but let me emphasize--hacking the VFW for getting "military intelligence" suggests that the hackers know approximately zero about what the VFW is. First of all, a huge percentage of anyone with access to worthwhile military intelligence is not in the military at all. Second, the VFW--rtf initials--Veterans of Foreign Wars--and since very few Iraq or Afghanistan veterans ever joined, the average age is about 90. My first thought at reading this was that the hackers are from some very foreign country using MS Word for translation from English.