Potentially, but not inherently so. You assume - invalidly - that the consequences do not and cannot change regardless of the conditions.

Generally speaking, I'd be inclined to agree. I was just correcting teambpsi's error (based on not even reading the summary, which is accurate on that point) in claiming there was a threat of a lawsuit.

It's illegal, but it's illegal under entirely different laws than threatening a bullshit lawsuit. And when you want to start a fight over something like this on the internet, it helps to make that distinction.

Which is an entirely different issue. People have rather more expansive rights regarding their jobs than students (or minors in general) do, and political activities (on one's own time) get special protection that few other activities do.

Plus, of course, good luck getting the party to actually spend that kind of money, unless you have some real connections to begin with, but it's certainly possible.

While that is arguable, in theory, in practice, you're not going to find an attorney who would take that case on a contingency. Which means writing a five figure check as a retainer just to get it started. And collecting legal fees is virtually impossible, no matter what some cop show you saw on TV tells you.

In all likelihood, the second the kid shows up with an attorney in tow, the school board will consult with their own attorney, apologies will be offered, and the idiot principal will be reeducated (preferably in a camp in Siberia). If not, odds are, the whole thing will be settled quickly after the suit is filed, at minimal cost to both sides. But counting on either of those is foolish, at best.

If the school board is as stupid as their principal, and it goes to trial, then, in fact, $100k is about the average to get to a jury decision in most states. Depending on the state, it would also take six months to several years to get to that point.

Particularly if they do not post - and enforce - a general prohibition against photography by everyone else, including the press.

If you bothered to read the article, or the summary above, you might notice that there's no threat of a lawsuit, only of a suspension. The burden (and expense) of filing a lawsuit would be on the kid (and his parents). And while they might win, odds are, they couldn't possibly hope to recover the $100k+ in legal fees.

"We realized even Appleheads won't buy a TV that only lets them watch programs through the iTunes store, and we can't figure out how to insert ads in to your cable feed."

Since the overwhelming majority of the web is useless trash, that would be called "improving the signal to noise ratio."

If the service is free - and ad supported web sites generally are - you're not the customer, you're the product.

No, he understands exactly what he advocates. He's not ignorant at all. His viewpoint isn't ignorant, it's . . . sociopathic.

If you find advertising that does not involve a realistic threat of physical violence against your person to be coercive, then advertising isn't the problem, your broken mind is.

Toxic bean waste. Smells good, though.

Don't say I didn't warn you. I won a bet on that, on Usenet, with a guy who claimed that it wasn't possible for Bruce Campbell to make a movie so bad it was just bad, since he's the all-time master of so bad it's good. I sent him a copy of the DVD from Amazon[1], on the condition that he watch every frame, and write us a review. His review started, "Wow. I was wrong. Bruce Campbell made a movie so bad it was just bad."

[1]My personal Scale of Suckage for DVDs is a fraction, the bottom of which is the retail price on Amazon for a brand new copy, and the top of which is the cost of shipping. When that number exceeds one - the shipping is more than the price of the DVD - you know you have a real turkey. It's also a bad, bad sign when used copies are selling for more than new copies.

Also, I'm told Man with the Screaming Brain, made with the same people at the same time, is actually worse, but Alien Apocalypse aired first, and my momma didn't raise that big a fool.

Alien Apocalypse, with Bruce Campbell and Renée O'Connor, made for the Syphilis Channel's movie of the week. So bad even Bruce Campbell couldn't make it so bad it was good.

IMO, you won't miss much. I was bored before it actually started, by the director's monotone, talking about how wonderful a film it was, and how Lucas copied him in one of the SW movies. Yawn. Then, the opening credits took about five minutes (which is to say, five minutes of Scottish scenery, with bland music, followed by a few seconds of the title), then about five minutes of the protagonist riding his horse though Scottish scenery, with bland music. So you're nearly halfway through before anything happens at all, including dialog.

And whoever choreographed the fight scene has never been in the same room with an actual sword - they couldn't even cut the scene well enough to hide the fact that the protagonist is staring constantly as the stunt man's hands to avoid breaking his fingers.

So, as I said, you won't miss much. Unless you like Scottish scenery and bland music.