The answer to that is obviously and unfortunately "Yes!".

How do you know what I do or don't do? Just because you're a selfish son of a bitch does not mean that I am, too! I don't drive because I think it is bad for the environment. 30 years ago when I wanted to have 3 kids I decided to have none after reading a UN sponsored report about overpopulation. I recycle, installed all kinds of water- and energy-saving devices in my home and have been a founding member of a political party promoting environmental awareness and societal changes towards a more sustainable behaviour in my country. I know many Americans don't believe in planning for the future unless it's their own immediate personal one but that does not mean that all other people feel the same way. (My apologies for the non-anthropogenic global warming denying non Tea Party morons in the US, I know there some of you out there!) My entire adult life I have tried to live in a way that when I look back on my life I don't have to feel guilty for how I lived. Ultimately I feel I would have no right to criticise anybody else unless I try to set a better example. Yes, there is much more I could do, but, I would say I am way ahead of the curve on this one!

Assuming your numbers and the scaled up to the world population we'd have 24 tons * (7/.3) equals 560 tons. And I don't accept the argument that people in most countries may not use them. We all have to behave in a sustainable way. To me that means that we have to ask: What if every person on our planet behaved the way I did?

So what does "So you are argument" mean? Sorry, I am not a native English speaker but that just sounds very strange to me!

That is utterly irrelevant if you want more security right now!

Huh?

I didn't have any question! I believe the original (not mine) question was:

And I would claim that Apple was not cloning anyone because they came up with the first OS that truly works well on a tablet. If you look at the numbers of iPads sold and compare that to the numbers of tablet computers sold before the iPad became available you'd have to live under a rock to not also call that "a real game changer"! I don't necessarily disagree that it might have been the "next logical step". But before I got my first iPad, I would have also thought that it wasn't such a big deal but now I only use my iPod Touch for music and not much else because the iPad is so much more enjoyable to use for reading and browsing on my bus rides and for movie watching on my flights. I am sure any UI has room for improvement and where did this

come from?? Who in their right mind would think that? Do you think I'm retarded?

And that's where the epic fail resided before Apple came out with the iPad! An OS wholly unsuited for a tablet device! Only the tight integration of OS and hardware that Apple provided is what made a tablet computer a useful! Yes, not for all the same things as a laptop, but, partially the same things and some other things for which a laptop is not ideally suited, such as reading or watching video on a plane. I love my MacBook Pro, especially with MacPorts giving me a lot of the unix-y command-line tools that I love, but I would never use it or even a much smaller laptop (mine is 17") to replace my iPad for my lengthy bus rides or even on my plane rides. And yes, for me it is primarily a media consumption device and fantastic web browser. (I know, no Flash, and good riddance to it, too!) But, so what? The right thing for the right job is what I say. It may not work for you and I don't see it replacing my laptop for a long time, or even ever, but I get about 2 hours of solid use out of it every week day and for non-geeks, I am a programmer, it may well work as the only device they need. Especially when paired with a bluetooth keyboard.

I think his point is that you can have both communism and capitalism with a democracy or a dictatorship. I know in the US many confuse capitalism and democracy and think it is somehow the same.

I use my iPad2 for roughly 2 hours per day Monday through Friday on my bus commute. It is far more comfortable to use for reading and browsing than a laptop. Other than that I use it when I fly. Again, much more comfortable to use than the 15" laptop that I used in the past. It is also great during boring meetings that i am forced to attend once a week. I know a lot of clueless morons claim that netbooks are so superior but I have never seen anyone hold up a netbook to their face or even keep it on their lap to read an ebook for an hour on the bus. Hmm, I wonder why that is? Could it be that it is incredibly uncomfortable and awkward? I do see students use a laptop very briefly on the bus maybe once or twice a year. But, I have seen other people use a Kindle or an iPad for extended periods of time. I also use my iPad occasionally with Skype to communicate with friends or coworkers while I am on the bus. I have used an iPod Touch before to read but it just doesn't compare because of the tiny screen. Also browsing is an even better experience on my iPad than on my laptop. And it will only get better. The improvements that I am looking for are, a higher resolution screen, a lighter device, more battery life even though it is not really an issue for me, it just would be nice, and lots more storage because I love to fill the thing up with movies when I travel and more choice is always good and I just love to keep some shows like Cowboy Bebop and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya permanently. I should add that I commute to and from a major US university where I work as a software developer. I am the stereotypical UNIX nerd: I am overweight, dress poorly, have long grey hair and generally couldn't give a rat's ass as to what others think about me. The operating systems I currently use are Linux, Mac OS/iOS and Solaris. I hate Windows!

I guess I poorly expressed what I wanted to say. I did mean to say that he/she does not have an expectation of privacy while being on the job but does have one while off the job. And yes, I do think that is a trade-off because the otherwise reasonable expectation of having privacy is being restricted. Nonetheless I think this is the right way to do things.

Of course he has this right, but not when he is executing his public duties. There frequently have to be trade-offs. Different societies will make different choices. In this particular area I am happier with the choices that mine made than, for example, the choices that were made in the US.

I am not entirely sure, but I believe it is legal to observe and record officials while engaging in their public duties. At least I have never come across anything in the news that would have indicated this not to be the case and I would be greatly surprised if a case like that would not have been front-page news if it ever did happen.

...

a) It's not "anyone" but typically a very small subset of "anyone", and b) you're wrong when there are applicable laws! ...

Easy -- because we elected politicians that actually implemented our expectations of such rights. Yes, the electoral process works every now and then! ;)

While I understand your point, I don't see everything as black and white as you do. I think that what we are dealing with are two rights that are conflicting here. The right to free speech and the right to privacy. When you have two rights conflicting like this it is always a judgment call as to how to resolve this for any given situation. Obviously we differ on this!

Also, I find it kind of ironic that you keep calling me and/or the German state authoritarian because of this because a large area of what German privacy laws are about is protecting the individual from the state, but not only the state, tracking them and correlating data about them. I, for my part, think of that as the exact opposite of authoritarian! I don't want a Big Brother, whether it is my government or large corporations!

There is a huge difference between a few people seeing you in public and anyone, word-wide being able to search for pictures of you in various public situations. I don't see how anybody can equate those things! Also laws in probably every country restrict the ability of various people to engage in their craft. My gripe, for example, is not with people taking pictures of something where I may appear in the background, but in making these pictures available to a broad public. I'd like to add that I am a German national living in the US. And, I am frequently appalled by how US corporations can share and sell personal data about me just so they can try to more effectively harass me with their advertising garbage and/or use it to potentially discriminate against me, based on medical conditions etc. that I may or may not have! While I may not be a typical German in a lot of ways (I am not a soccer fan, for example), I sure am in terms of valuing my privacy!