You are right! Most users are not even aware that they are being tracked or that they have the ability to disable it. But whatever, they are just naive/ignorant right? Big brother knows best.

This is a pretty tall claim. Any evidence to back it up?

I hope you are talking about the Android phone?
http://blog.opower.com/2012/09/how-much-does-it-cost-to-charge-an-iphone-5-a-thought-provokingly-modest-0-41year/

Well what are we comparing here price or performance?

Well actually, none of those things are true.

To be honest, in this situation I would like the compiler to inform me that it had eliminated some code as it is probably not what I meant. Why not write it like this instead?

int foo(int a, unsigned int b)
{
a+=b;
return a;
}

Then in the calling code:
int *a;
unsigned int *b;
*b=10;
*a = foo(1,*b);

I understand that this is a simple example, but I prefer to write my code like this as it ensures that the pointers are only dereferenced within the scope in which they are declared.

I agree with most of what you are saying, however... interfaces designed by coders are usually awful.

Who needs a dislike button when censorship can be enforced?

Because it dilutes the gravy train.

I can't see how $150 billion in cash reserves will become irrelevant any time soon. For perspective, the cash reserves of ALL american companies combined is around $1500 billion.

I wonder if this is what Glen Greenwald is joining... http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/10/16/1216218/glenn-greenwald-leaves-the-guardian-to-start-his-own-site

I think you need to re-assess your attitude. Perhaps some people have not seen those links? Did you consider the possibility that the comment was not for you? Like rhetorical questions?

Lighten up or Fuck off. You are taking this way too seriously.

That's great and all but... remote administration from 2 hours away means remote access from 2 continents away. Is it really in your long term interest to want this?

That's right. If it's white collar theft (public or private), then the law is on your side. In fact, the system encourages it.

Well this isn't true, the availabilty of technology results in it being EXPECTED that you use internet banking, mobile phones with email clients, internet access. Maybe you can get by without now, but if you want to compete, you need to adapt. This is not a new thing, it is nature at work.