I don't think people have a problem with them metering. People are just concerned that AT&T will try and change the cost of their existing data plans. I would feel abused if AT&T promised unlimited (without restriction) bandwidth and then decided that they couldn't meet this promise and cut or changed the terms of the agreement. A renegotiation would be acceptable. However, if the plan does not adequately account for the huge difference in usage patterns (usage encouraged by AT&T) then AT&T should be responsible and not the users who are simply using the device as it is capable of being used and as agreed to.

The tragedy of the commons as you put it was created by implicitly claiming a finite resource can be drawn upon without limit. The best compromise from my perspective would be to throttle bandwidth after X bytes of data are downloaded. This allows users to not be concerned over losing access to essential, but low bandwidth, services but prevents the network from being saturated. This would have been a sane plan, but doesn't advertise well. Unlimited makes sense, but in order for users to appreciate a cap they have to understand what a unit of data is and how much data various applications transfer. Additionally, application writers need to make sure their applications transfer minimal amounts of data making application writing difficult.

Thank you for the memories. I wanted to post something similar.

Why shouldn't a parent be allow to decide what their child should see? Perhaps I disagree with a group or individual who judges all sexuality to be perverse. Perhaps, I want my child to be exposed to it when s/he is younger than 18 so he can understand it with maturity later on in life. I'd rather my daughter or son be exposed to the topic in a creative medium where s/he can ponder the consequences of a character's mistakes without having made them. Yes, as I parent, I could conjure up a great story myself but I feel that that is an artist's job. Of course, artists may choose to not accurately reflect the consequences of a teen pregnancy. However, if there are enough producers of art it is likely someone will, especially if the market demands it. As a parent, I want to guide my child in her/his exploration of the topic and I can't do that effectively if there isn't anything else to turn to but my limited perspective on my limited set of experiences. An artist can draw from the experiences of a thousand people across a thousand years of recorded human history if s/he wishes.

It is sad to think that in the United States we have to assuage the police in order to make sure they don't go ballistic on you. Why can't people have normal dialogs with them in a professional manner in non-violent confrontations of course. I wouldn't expect them to try and open up a dialog if someone is flinging a maul at them.

That's a great panoramic.