You mean like the Euro ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...

and the real problem is not the currency but the technology, I can pay with Dollars or Euros in a street market in Africa, but not with a device they don't have a reader for ...

They provide a single service, an internet connection, continually reclassifying this depending on if it is Copper, Cable, Broadband, DSL, Fios ... etc is a red herring they provide an internet connection and nothing else ...

They are already a common carrier, they just don't want the service they provide to be classified as this as it would introduce the possibility of competition into the market ...

"... we are optimistic that there will be a way to do this in Europe"

We are optimistic that with the DCMA or Canadian equivalent this is not as simple as you think

Iceland almost manages to be the same at 0.2, and be a democracy ...

The rates for the USA are 4.7, the same as Latvia (Semi stable, recently independent from USSR), Yemen (Terrorist training ground), Niger ( lowest-ranked in the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI) ... also until recently the Ukraine

Why does the USA consistently have the same murder rate as semi stable, struggling economies ...?

If this patent has not been used in a real product in all this time, then it should be thrown out as either unworkable, or just a patent troll

Most of the ebook industry uses either ePub or is an Amazon Kindle, many if not most DRM on ePub is from Adobe

Note this will also affect some unexpected devices - iPhone, iPad iPodTouch ...

DRM cannot work (Except in the USA) the logic is, here is a locked box, and here is the key, please only use the key how we say ... (in the USA it can be illegal to use the key except how specified! )

The fashion industry is an perfect example of why copyright is not needed... there is no copyright on clothing design, yet the fashion industry still exists and makes lots of money ... but is forced to continually come up with new ideas, which because there is no copyright quickly propagate around the entire industry

All cars are deathtraps, just go and look at the figures ... most are caused by driver error (as this was)

It's only news because rather than the engine catching on fire as is usual in cars it was the batteries ...

The NSA's job is to spy on anyone and everyone who might be a potential threat to the USA .... the only limit on this is when they are specifically told not to ...

The NSA only spies on enemies, or potential terrorists, or people linked to potential terrorists, or people linked to people linked to potential terrorists etc ...... oh that appears to be everyone ...

Which will break as well ..."IE 11 Breaks Rendering For Google Products, and Outlook Too"

How much do you pay to use Google's search engine ... how much do they make from it ...

Could this just be that Android users are more wary of ads... or that iPhone users click on the ads not knowing they are an ad ....?

Some religions are strictly non-violent, but not perfect and have still harmed their followers, and families ...

Some Atheists are violent, just as some people are violent ... and remember most 'Communists' are/were Socialist republics and the atheist dogma was anti-religion mostly because then the only religion was the state, and the leader was the leader of a cult ....(Stalin, Mao ...)

Most/All religions say that killing is wrong, but almost all of the allow killing of certain people in the right circumstances ....