Do you know how tax deductions works? They still have less money at the end then if they didn't match contributions. And maybe it is to look good in public - so what? It still means more charity spread around.

While this is a good point, most restaurants use kosher salt (which is not iodized) in their cooking, as it's a lot easier to control the amount with a pinch, and some people like the taste better.

Don't count on that... the main purpose of a corporation is to protect the shareholders and employees. And they have a lot of money, too.

The purpose is to protect shareholders, but not employees. An employee that acts negligently can be tried for a crime.

Technically, you can apply at T-Mobile without using your SSN and you may get approved for more than flexpay (their fancy prepaid option), but I work in the activations/credit department, and I've never seen it get anything other than that. However, we can often find your SSN in the credit bureau system using all the other info, and then use that.

1. Most carriers will allow you to sign a 1 year contract, some will even let you sign up with no contract if you buy the phone outright. 2. A well taken care of phone will not break within 1-2 years. 3. Why should a phone be reasonable/cheap/free? If you don't like the costs, buy the phone outright and sign up with prepaid/pay as you go/flexpay/no contract service.

Compared to what? And if that covers 10,000 messages, it's pretty darn cheap per message, isn't it?

Seriously. They'd let a man die for $20?! Read it again until you realize what society is becoming.

Why the hell didn't the cops cough up $20 out of petty cash? Cleary the guy's life wasn't worth much to them either.

I think an analogous situation would be whether they could charge you for refusing to open the safe.

This seems analogous, but really isn't from the court's point of view. Cracking a safe is trivial - locksmith with torch and tools can open it in a day - the security of a safe is even given that way - time with torch+tools. And it's generally in hours. Cracking well encrypted drives, however...little bit different.

Which large retailers, exactly? I've worked for Home Depot and Walmart, two of the biggest in the world, and the most they get back on a RTV is the full cost of an item - and usually not even that.

Staples easily has thousands of employees. I would consider that public.

Can't you "opt out" by deleting cookies? Or am I missing something?

No, they don't...but if they get a call from the new president saying "gosh, I'd love to use a Blackberry, giving you rocking publicity, if only it could be nice and secure..." I have a feeling they'll work closely with the secret service on getting it right,

The town's name is "Limerick". Most common limerick? You guessed it, man from Nantucket. It wasn't all that funny, but that's the joke.