Civilizations collapse when they become to complex to manage, and are no longer able to adapt to perturbations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Tainter).

The meddling of the NSA, with the resulting responses (everything encrypted, tor, darkmail, privacy protections, binning Cisco/Huawei routers, general distrust and added security overhead) has added a huge burden to the system. This unintended consequence makes the system unstable and counterproductive to the aims of the NSA.

The internet used to be a nice shiny toy until the government broke it.

I'm sure the Iranians have observed America's approach to Kim Dotcom with interest.

You left out the Supreme Court, which has completely sold out to the Tories.

Indeed, all the employees "just following orders."

This will only have its intended effect if adopted by all porn sites.

So now you know what porn is good for.

I think it's called the Constitution.

Except SCOTUS is MIA. When the justices are seen bloviating on the news networks, you know it's game over for us.

Yes, we can feel good about ourselves in comparison to just about the the most depraved people ever to live on this planet. Yay us!

"Three Felonies a Day" is sickening to read.

You forgot to mention the latest trick is to lean on the banks to close the accounts of people whose views are not in compliance.

Is weapons-bearing the same a child-bearing?

What the hell are you doing there? What is your purpose, soldier?

My guess you are just making more people hate us.

True dat. By my definition "arms" includes everything from bare knuckles to thermonuclear devices. Also, "bear" means you have to carry it yourself.

Agree with them or not, the NRA knows what is needed to protect their favorite amendment.

We need to adopt similar structures and systems. To me, the EFF is a good rallying point, so I urge you to give all the support you can. I say, without irony, "Think of your children."

er...the Pursuit of Happiness?

Comparing the internet to roads is a false analogy. A road takes up significant physical space, and has a significant impact on its surroundings. On the other hand, fiber and other internet infrastructure takes up negligible space, can be out of the way underground, on poles or wireless.

But most importantly, multiple internet "roads" can occupy the same space and terminate at the same places. If you must have an analogy, then imagine having five alternative roads from your driveway, though your neighborhood, on the highway, to your parking spot at work. This means that the internet is not a natural monopoly. The only reason it may become a monopoly is because of government intervention in the form of onerous regulations, permits and sundry protection of incumbents.

The task of government should be to do everything possible to facilitate competition, disruptive technologies and laugh when companies that are too big to fail, fail.

"no country in the world has come up with a political solution to nuclear waste" FTFY

The technology is relatively simple. But then so are the opponents.