Must I mention that this hypothetical modern air-lock does not have to be the size of a tray of milk bottles from three generations ago?

One random guy being sent photos does not a gender issue make. If you want to talk about gender issues maybe we can talk about the actual epidemic of female teachers raping male and female students in high schools, how about that for a conversation we need to have. Because that's what happens when you create a narrative that puts people into jobs based on their genitalia instead of their merit. You sanctimonious little pricks speak only, and I do mean only, for your revolting little cult.

Two thoughts:

1) How do you get the one-time TrackPIN to the UPS guy before the fact?

2) Way back when the milkman delivered his eponymous product, there was a small "airlock" built into many houses, with doors open both to the outside and the in. Some sort of mechanism could be developed so as to deliver the package from the airlock to the house.

Nobody's ever said harassment didn't exist. It does, as does rape, murder, fraud, and pickpocketing. Usually perpetrated by psychos and disturbed individuals.

Psychos and seriously disturbed people also exist, of course - unfortunately some of them seem to think that there's an enormous epidemic of rape and harassment.

I feel sorry for all of you south of the border. Verizon was, without exception, the worst telco I ever dealt with as far as internet goes. When Canada was rolling out DSL and cable like crazy, Verizon in Delaware was offering up 28.8 dial-up. No options. No choices. That's all you could get. You couldn't even use a 56K modem because they used the high compression voice codecs on their lines, and you couldn't get a data line. You couldn't even get ISDN if you were willing to pay for it. :(

It stayed slow after re-entering the normal environment though.

They don't provide complete functionality. Instead they put you in a position where making even minor changes that the framework developers didn't foresee usually involves far more time than you had planned on spending, and likely far more skill than you possess if you're still using frameworks.

Personally I prefer to give my clients what they ask for instead of trying to convince them they don't want something that will cause me a lot of trouble to put together. I can do that because I understand the underlying code.

And for bonus points, you don't have to relearn the underlying code over and over, as you do with ever shifting frameworks, and your knowledge doesn't become obsolete when a framework falls out of fashion.

It's not even a great sales pitch, I have zero interest in what my toaster has to say.

Yeah this is the dream of a sociopath who imagines himself a god, and I'm not even using hyperbole.

Does it scare you that such a person has so much power already? Because it scares me.

Quick, alert the YouTube idiots: the Anunnaki are returning on Planet Nibiru!!!!

Who asked for this?
The industry eagerness to bug and track everything is universal. Why? The first answer is always: money. The second, and most accurately stated: power. Knowing where everyone is, and what they are doing, is power. But that power is not for schmucks.
Pity we didn't have this universal eagerness to limit population growth, or control suburban land conversion, or to colonize free space with habitats. But power over others? No fucking limits.
Power, by the way, means Occupies are impossible to pull off. Protests. Contrary political movements, ultimately. Other words, any challenge to seated power is gonna be nearly impossible.
Hell, in England, they're already starting dossiers on kintergarteners. Just monitor what they read and do all their lives, and soon there won't be a population that even thinks of rebellion of any sort. Or could talk about it without systems monitoring and integrating the information for future suppression. And yes, I'm aware that that sounds "paranoid". But once again, I'm not predicting, I'm telling you what's already happened.
To take this back to the point of the article, there is no WAY that this eagerly sought supersaturated net of bugs - and that's what they are - will not be used for surveillance and control. I really don't need to know what is in my refrigerator that much.

What happens when two people enter the room, and they have different preferences?

Spouses already fight about the thermostat; who's preference is "the house" going to pick?

$80K in the early '90s was serious money.

Well that's half of facebook fucked.

The ascendant middle class is relentlessly plundered by the government in these countries, anytime anyone tries to get a leg up there's a queue five miles long waiting to gnaw it off. I wish I could have more faith in the benefits of capitalism in this regard but I've lived in these places, paid my dues and kept my damn mouth shut far too long to imagine it's going to end well.

Maybe you're right, but the question to ask is were there forces in the US at the time that are not present in these benighted geographical armpits today?