If that were the case, I can see how it would promote the introduction of invasive species. That is, if you have a fishing lodge on Lake Somechamacallit, and you have to pay for a license to fish native species, why not then just import a breeding pair of invasive species, let nature run its course for a few years, and then fish all you like?

However, what's particularly weird, when I hear about software-based automotive recalls like the Toyota accelerator stack overflow bug, is that automotive companies don't seem to have to be certified to anything near the machine safeguarding standards we use to certify factory-floor automation. Nowadays a piece of equipment on the plant floor is pretty much provably safe to operate assuming you don't start disassembling it with a screwdriver. I don't see any such methodology being applied to vehicle control systems.

Umm. I'm pretty sure it's open source.

Or Congress, which has oversight authority.

Just like 2013,...,1995 (when I first installed RedHat 2 from a CD)

As good as any other theory, I guess.

Agreed, if Google wants to do this, maybe they should also become a free Certificate Authority. Wouldn't that tick off the Verisigns of the world...

HTTPS isn't about logging in, it's about encrypting the data between the server and the client with a one-time key. So it isn't about proving you're a cat, it's about preventing an eavesdropper from knowing which cat pictures you looked at (they still know you went to a cat picture blog).

what Panama is to the US, then fine, go for it.

My significant other deals with teenagers all the time in schools, and it's amazing how many of them get irate when parents/teachers/police start to question them about stuff they posted on Facebook. The content usually comes to light because one of their "friends" have showed the authorities the content, or in some cases the teen actually friends the teacher/police officer. Their typical response is, "that's my private Facebook page!"

There is a many to many mapping of those. (Should be many to one, but nothing is perfect.)

That is, my slashdot user name is one "name", so is my "real" name that people call me, which is not the full name on my birth certificate. So that's three names for one person.

Also, not all terrorist groups are in the middle east, or Muslim. Several are right here in the US, and Christian. (Or Jewish, not sure if any atheist groups are in the US).

In which mathematical system is 40>60?

Pullleeeze. To even suggest that is to suggest that the persecution of nerds is equivalent to the persecution of African American minorities in the United States. Certainly nerds are persecuted, particularly in high school, but they are in no way equivalent. Besides, it's not like the show doesn't make fun of people who are "smart and good looking".

Just because I'm sure that *somebody* is talented enough to do that and get away with it doesn't mean I think that *I'm* talented enough to do it. :) If I were, why would I be worried about online voting?

Which is why I don't understand how you could go on to making your 3rd comment after your 2nd comment calls it a fallacy.