I'm pretty sure you'll find that meets the definition of 'medical device'.
I think that the thread is getting lost because nerds are arguing over what is or isn't a medical device, which seems sort of tangential to the real question: Is the mood altering effect anything more than the placebo effect? I am a little dubious about the benefits of running a low voltage current into the side of your skull. Wait, lets go back one step further, is there even any medical theory that would suggest that adding additional current to a person's brain would do something positive?
This whole thing sounds like some decided to lick a 9 volt battery and stick it to the side of your head for a healthy mark up charge....
I get the arguments that they don't host anything and they're just a medium for people to exchange files. But their name is literally The Pirate Bay, their business model is about as close to explicit piracy as you can get.
I'm frankly shocked they've remained open this long.
You yourself agree that they are nothing more than a directory, yet you are suggesting that they are responsible for the content that is posted. If I can use an analogy to demonstrate how crazy that is, You might also suggest that the yellow pages is responsible if any business that advertises using their directory deals in stolen goods.
I don't care if they call themselves, 'The throwing nuns and puppies in wood chippers bay', linking to content is not a crime, and that is all they do. Should Google be responsible for indexing and linking illegal content?
Moreover, this sort of legal action is just stupid, for purely practical reasons. TPB users aren't breaking copyright law for financial reasons, so even if you could completely stomp out this sort of behavior, organized crime would pick up the slack. This is a grey goods market, and good luck trying to shut it down.
If the DoJ was smart, they would just focus anti-piracy operations on organized crime where they can do some real good, and just let sites like TPB slide.
The far better way to view it is "companies are shifting assets and income out of our country because of the ridiculous tax penalties here."
Spoken like a selfish right wing ass hat, good on you sir!
Companies are using infrastructure and resources that were paid for or are the property of the people. They have to follow the laws set down by the people, and in exchange they get to set up and do business. If they start to cheat the system and break the spirit of the law by using all sorts of legal tricks to avoid paying their legally mandated share of the taxes, don't be surprised if the government imposes new taxes to remove loopholes and punish dishonest behavior.
Companies are shifting assets out of the country because they are being run by dishonest ass stains that want to maximize profits by letting others pay taxes to support government and maintain infrastructure. Roads, bridges, laws and stability have a cost that someone has to pay. You want to keep 100% of your profits without paying taxes? Move to Somalia or some other anarchy ridden shit hole and do business there.
'Taxes == slavery' is just a selfish person's way of saying they want the benefits of a modern society without paying the costs.
For all you Republicans out there, there will NEVER be another Ronald Reagan.
I find this to be rather Ironic, as RR wasn't that great of a republican leader. If people are going to idolize a former conservative president, why aim low? Ike was the last great conservative. Reagan with a numb witted twit in comparison. If you look at the republican presidents since Ike, it has been a steady slide into the gutter.
; if I did think that someone "official" would take note, I would click that box.
Why bother? Do you really think that if the federal government wanted to scoop you up, they couldn't? The NSA has spent billions on their Internet Big Brother project, and has every message your IP address has sent or received cataloged. Don't delude yourself into thinking that posting AC does anything but keep your karma from being hammered when you are posting dickish comments.
On a side note, can you imagine the United Nations agreeing to a planetary geoengineering plan? I can't.
Yes I can, actually. And they will. The question is, how many billions of people are going to die before this happens. Climate change is occurring, this is a hard fact. Most times in nature, change doesn't precipitate gradual linear effects, but rather a tipping point where things happen very rapidly. Sooner or later, we are going to cross an environmental tipping point, and you will see some sudden massive flooding or crop failure and a lot of people will die.Hopefully, not too many, but I suspect that it is going to be a lot. You might even see some wars of extermination fought over critical resources, such as potable water supplies.
The simple fact is, people cannot continue their current behavior. The way you live with a planetary population of 1 billion isn't the same when you have a planetary population of 10 billion. Either we will come to some global consensus about how we will fix this problem, or vast numbers of people will die and the population will be reduced to the point where change isn't needed. Nature will 'find its level' in any event.
The one day you'd sell your soul for something, souls are a glut.