Heck, Bluegrass pickers had a song 50 years ago that anticipated this moment: Stanley Brothers: Pa Went To Sleep & The Hogs Eat Him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH6qmCO-YzE

You guys all have short memories or just don't know the history of the CRTC. It originally had an arms-length relationship with the gov't and could pass regs as necessary to protect Canadian cuture and also bring some order to the natural monopoly of the telcos and the wild-west broadcasters. It's arguably (obviously) important given our proximity to the monster-to-the-South but mostly needs to be around to protect us from ourselves given our damned colonial atitudes in this country that will sell out everything we own here to every big country or corporation from "far away" in a blink of an eye. Well, that was then... this is now, and the CRTC has turned into a toothless cow. Various corrupt governments over the years (this time, Harper and his reptiles) have tried to reign in the CRTC but the best leash was the Broadcasting Act of 1991 where the government (Federal Cabinet) got the power to overturn CRTC decisions it didn't like. You can argue "...serves the bastards right" but it also destroyed any ability of the CRTC to stop SOPA/PIPA kind of laws or make the Telcos behave. Too bad, but the CRTC was eviscerated a long time ago and nobody remembers the time when the broadcasters bitched endlessly about the CANCON (Canadian Content) regs but I saw it give a HUGE boost to the Canadian recording industry which is all the better for it. The film industry also benefited theoretically, but who can tell with the crap that producers, who exploited the good times, ground out. The real evil of corporate concentration happened after 1991 and the CRTC can't do anything about it now. It's long since rotted from the inside and is directed from the outside by the Darth Vaders that run the government. Could be way better... but then couldn't we all.

Maybe if pre-engineers took a PRACTICAL course in ethics and put a little of it into practice in their lives, only 1 or 2 might learn that they can change politics and corporate ethics, even just by themselves. I've seen it done many times and not just with people with as many tools as engineers, just the will and the focus and a few ethics.

I notice in this looong thread that hardly anyone offered that engineers have no social/political critical thinking skills or interest which, with their tech skills makes them the perfect terrorists. OK, maybe a generalization, but I recall while in university during heavy political times, while we were immersed in rallies, protests and every get-together was full of political commentary, the engineering students were off getting shit-faced and not getting laid. (We got laid, BTW). It might be of some value to the world if schools would offer some serious practical ethics courses (not just philosophy) to engineering students so that they don't rush headlong into a terrorist cell because "Wow, that's an interesting tech problem you have there! I bet I could solve it!!"

I agree wholeheartedly! Howcum those supposed geniuses at Google are too stupid to realize that businesses and research-based organizations would probably actually PAY A PREMIUM to be able to bypass all of the "deal" "sale" and other useless link farm sites.