By that logic, Germany is probably not a true friend of the US

Hardly any state is a true friend of the US these days - apart perhaps the UK, and even that is far from certain.

'Spying among friends is not at all acceptable,' Merkel said

And I doubt very much Turkey is a true friend of Germany: it's a economical, immigration and to a certain extent, religious threat to Germany - or at least perceived as such by a sizeable part of the German population. It's also a liability, as it's capable of singlehandedly dragging Germany into the huge Iraqi and middle-eastern quagmire if it starts to get involved and calls on NATO members to provide help.

Turkey just happens to be a member of NATO like Germany, is all. That doesn't make the two friends.

...nation states are always a bunch of hypocritical jerks.

Oh please, don't be disingenuous. It's been well known by everybody for decades that every state in the world spies on all the other statse, and that to a certain extent, every state spies on every one of its citizens too.

The real problem comes when a certain state is outed, and flat out lies about its domestic and international spying activities to the representants of its own people.

Specs are nice, but what does the thing WEIGH? One of the major advantages to chromebooks etc. is that they're light enough for you to carry around without feeling like you're strapped to a gold brick.

browse at 2+, and threads look like a coherent discussion of the issues broached in TFA.

Only if you agree with the overall tone of the thread. Moderation re-enforces the party line, and the choice of articles and/or post content are catered to generate interaction. Unpopular threads get pushed down pretty fast and hard, or (worse) are barely moderated at all.

> Rushing a red light is bad, but it is not always more dangerous than exceeding the speed limit.

This is true, but what is really most annoying about this whole issue is.... there is already, and has been for MANY YEARS a better solution, and its very simple.

All you need to do to virtually eliminate the kinds of accidents that happen from light running is.... to delay the green slightly. Put in a 2 second delay between one road getting the red and the other getting the green. Done. Do people still rush lights? Yes they do....but.... a lot less collisions.

Once again showing where tightening regulations and enforcing them even more strictly is not always the best solution in fact, its a bone headed one.

Well, I agree there is probably little of value there, however, I think you are missing what documents of value they do have. Specifically, information about their inspection program and any investigations they may be doing. That is data that, at least theoretically, has value to the subjects of any investigation or inspection.

Whether it is of real value or whether they would actually pay for it (or hire someone to get it) is another question entirely. I would have no problem believing that a few times a year someone breaks into their systems hoping to find something like that which they could turn around and sell... I am more doubtful that its a very profitable endeavor.

No the fallacy is yours in assume I made a claim I didn't. Yes it would be fallacy to claim that because it happens here it must happen everywhere but, there is ample evidence this sort of corruption has happened everywhere humans have had the chance to be corrupt. My own evidence of it going on is only one small confirmation in a several thousand year long history of people using whatever power they are given to their own advantage.

You know, in a way, Facebook is the best thing to happen to web communities in years - the threads are incomprehensible and move so fast but the audience is so large that it's basically flypaper for wingnuts.

Then again, comment blockers and Ghostery make this largely a non-issue for me anyway.

I'm not surprised. A local municipality pushed these through (which I'm not staunchly for nor against the cameras), and there was a bit of public outcry. To be fair, intersections were not configured consistently, and stops often could have been handled as yields, but anyway.

The council proposed putting the item up for vote, Redflex thought it would appropriate to sue the city.

This. I live in MA, and its no different here. Hell, they caught one of our state reps on camera actually stuffing an envelope of cash in her bra. A business my wife used to work at owned the building they were in, right in south boston. They applied for a permit to get a roof deck; and were asked straight out for a bribe to make it happen, when they refused.... so was their permit. This shit goes on everywhere.

You know, if it were a house boat that might make more sense, a friend of mine bought one we liked to refer to as "A one bedroom apartment with a top speed of 20 MPH"

Though, would need to be at least 2 apartments to condo it out.

Reference?

None. The librarian is dead...

Well quite: I share plenty of DNA with the missus regularly, but there ain't much conversation involved.

[...] but given China's track record with censorship and privacy, the explanation rings hollow for some skeptics.[...]

Given the United State's track record, I think the skeptics should worry about data collection at home too.

Why always focus on China when it comes to human rights and privacy issues? Just look at your own navel for a change...