Clearly fools and their money are easily parted. Can't fault the guy for seeing the opportunity though. I guess the question is: Is it immoral to make a buck from irrational fears when you didn't create the fears in the first place?

Well - other than speed you are going to need some kind of kick-ass obstacle avoidance system. If you hit even the tiniest object at light speed, you are pretty much toast!!

Hmmm - that does not appear to be the case when the PATRIOT act comes into the picture. Or maybe I got that all wrong? Surely if the US can make laws that forces companies like Google to give up data help under EU privacy laws to the US government - well - then surely they can find a way to tax said companies too....

No need to waste money on something like that. Buy a Jalapeno, slice it open with a knife and rub it along the length of cable. Our cat used to chew into cables. Not anymore.... Poor thing soon learned that chomping on a cable meant a very quick trip to the water bowl. May sound cruel, but is sure better than a dead cat.

Hmm - funny that. I once got that too after complaining to an American Airlines check-in lady about a checked luggage fee. Qantas passengers are exempt from such fees, as I tried to point out to her, but she wanted to hit me with it anyway. After a long debate and a visit from her supervisor the fee was waived - but - surprise surprise - SSSS appeared on the boarding card. This was on one leg out of 10 flights around the US, so it could not have been on the basis of any kind of passenger profiling. Maybe some slashdotter in the airline industry can enlighten us here...

Actually - for many years when I was traveling in the US, if (and only if) my boarding pass had SSSS printed on it, I would be subjected to extra screening. The SSSS would be printed in large clear letters on the document. I don't know what genius came up with that advance warning, but it sure as hell would tell a wannabe terrorist not to go through with his plan and try again some other time. The people managing these processes really need to think such things through a little bit better.

On the other hand, if you are a terrorist cell, you are probably not terribly concerned about U.S. law...

Hmmm - I think the GP was refering to prepaid cards such as VISA or Mastercard that you can pick up at your local 7-Eleven and load with balances up to $1000. I use those cards myself when I want to purchase something from a web site that I don't completely trust to be PCI compliant. The cards costs about $3, can be bought and loaded using cash and there are no identification taking place whatsoever. I use them to avoid fraud, but they are equally useful to make purchases completely anonymously. As for cashing out your savings.... you could conceivably do this by visiting a number of different branches. Most banks will at least allow you to cash out around $10K without too many questions. Do that 2 or 3 times and you should be able to comfortably survive for at least 6 months.

Honestly, I am surprised they tried again this quick. Normally the politicians let such a controversial issue die down and then slips it under the radar when no-one is watching. This will be interesting to watch....

Yeah - a couple of years ago I was on a Malaysia Airlines flight out of Mumbai. We were still on the ground when all of a sudden the PA system went: "This is an emergency. Oxygen masks will drop from the compartment above your head. Please place one over your face and ensure that the is securely fastened before assisting other passengers and children". The next thing that happened was the PA playing "The Girl from Ipanema". My only thought was that in a genuine emergency the last thing I will hear while "going down" is a piece of elevator music. How thoughtfully ironic!!!

Rather than get involved in pointless litigation and risk travel restrictions on their executives, all those companies should just get together as a group and say: OK, no more services to India. It will be interesting to see how long it will last before the general populace gets extremely pissed when they can no longer access Facebook, gmail, Google search, hotmail, Bing, Yahoo search and mail or YouTube. It might be enough of a wakeup call for the politicians to change the law.