Now that's a clever comment. Wish I had some mod points.

I am very offended by slashdot adding some bullshit time between postings "feature." Maybe I'll find a new forum where my freedom of speech isn't subject to the whims of software developers.

Or, in more plain language: FUCK YOU FOR FILTERING SLASHDOT. WTF ARE YOU THINKING?

Everyone does realize that the OS of their smartphone has no relation to dick size, right?

What the hell are folks arguing about, anyways? I would figure it's pretty awesome we live in an age where we can decide from multiple choices what advanced operating system will run our phone. That actually gets toward shit I wouldn't have expected growing up.

But I guess folks have been getting pissed about other people's choice of OS for years. I really wish I understood why people get so pissed about that sort of thing. Operating systems are tools, not cults.

Good IT guys don't want to go through the nonsense associated with these positions. They can get jobs with private industry that don't have the headaches. I live in the Washington area and there are plenty of IT jobs here. You just have to have a TS/SCI or plan to get one. I'm much happier not having the FBI asking my neighbors questions and crap like that.

A good point, but today's xkcd was a real winner. Perhaps there are a few unenlightened souls that visit /. but not xkcd who needed a push in the right direction.

Myself and another admin at my company remarked that hostage situations were unlikely in our data rooms, but not an impossibility.

Because our laws are written by corporate interests, not the people.

The software that circumvents encryption or copy protection mechanisms is a circumvention tool, not the hard drive. The hard drive is simply a storage device.

It's a class action. That means the payment is to all members of the class, possibly even potential members of the class who have not yet joined it. Class action suits are very lucrative for the attorneys involved because the payouts are so large.

Um, where in the United States is it illegal to take photographs?

and often photos of the property are included in tax records. if there isn't a photo of the property there is at least an exact description. i can very easily pull those up for my county online. before that it was simply a matter of going to the courthouse. all these folks talking about privacy really don't seem to know the law at all.

Considering the explosion of surveillance in British cities, I'd think they've made it clear they don't expect any privacy in public. I fail to see how living in an "affluent area" allows you some extra privacy rights others do not have.

But hey, I guess rich people really feel like they're entitled to special treatment. You'd think having the money would be enough.

Try telling a user who has had a pirated application on their computer you can't provide it -- that's no fun at all. They've gotten used to using it and most won't accept another program in its place. Even worse you'll get nonsensical crap about free/open-source software not providing appropriate output.

And management isn't always helpful. You'd think telling them "you are breaking license agreements and exposing yourself to legal liability" would be enough, but sometimes that isn't enough. At least in this case you have someone (old fake IT guy) to blame -- that's more or less all you can do.

And let me chime in on the ZOMG install FOSS tip -- this is a great opportunity. You've already got a tailor-made excuse. "X user is using X software and we do not have a license. We can either pay X dollars for a license or use this freely available alternative that will provide the same functionality." In this economic climate, they won't even consider the pay software in most cases.