Thanks for an enlightening reply. I guess I was assuming the data would be nicely segmented, but I guess these days it's all run together. Raises some interesting questions for lawyers and DBAs to get their teeth into.

It appears that the IRS had a legitimate search warrant. if the data had been appropriately encrypted, it would be impossible tor the IRS to get access to it without help. If they were shown to have got that help, then they would have been clearly in violation. As it is, the company is at least as much to blame, surely?

I made the mistake of watching Fantasia again recently; it was disappointing. I remember it as impressive and exciting - but now it appears ordinary to the point of dull. At the time it was amazingly innovative, but it's sadly obsolete now, which is a striking reflection of how things develop in culture and film especially. The same applies to the 'speed' with which things happen in films; by modern standards, the films of 20-30 years ago are painfully slow; I guess one could say that the 'language of culture' has developed, in the same way as language itself changes.

[Both of course]

So the answer is to look rather hard at the rule book - health and safety is usually a good starting point - and find all the serious infractions that are occurring in her office etc etc. It's impossible to live by the rules because they are so complex - which is a deeply scary situation for all of us; if 'the man' want to remove us for something, then he can...

But yes, the prosecutor should be shredded. The challenge is to get the jury to do it if the judge won't; a verdict of contempt of court for the prosecutor for wasting the court's time would be a great outcome but probably too much to hope for.

But the numbers required - as this incident reveals - to organise a bomb is negligible. Whereas the reported numbers of jihadis in Afghanistan and elsewhere is in the hundreds. They are all, allegedly, committed to the destruction of the US. but they aren't doing it directly. (5) just isn't enough of an explanation.

As we are reminded a few posts down, during the 80s the IRA was able to carry out a regular pattern of daily bombings of London, most of which were accompanied by warnings that ensured that noone was injured. In 2001 Arab Terrorists arranged a spectacular - but since then the number of bombings in the US has remained minute in comparison. A recent post on slashdot demonstrated how easy it is to use what's available at the duty frees at airports to make bombs. But it's not happening. Therefore some or all of these must be true: 1) Arab terrorists are disorganised incompetents compared with the Irish 2) The FBI has been amazingly effective 3) A miracle 4) The bombs really were set by 'dark forces' attempting to control the world, and not by Islamists operating independently.

Whatever else this story will do, it will further undermine any objection to CCTV cameras everywhere, especially if the bomber gets caught as a result of them.

The reality of ecology is that the pattern of biological forms is always in flux; the idea that there is a 'balance of nature' is actually a myth. The fact that we are introducing a few genes compared with the continual flow of new ones as a result of mutations, let alone the consequences of all the plants and animals that are being introduced to different habitats as a result of human action, means that the consequence of GMOs is almost certainly negligible on this scale. There may be other reasons for opposing them, but this isn't one of them.

Given that the FCC busted Google for illegally intercepting materials when they were doing their wanderings, does this mean that the FCC will now bust the FBI - or more realistically, state law enforcement agencies? And is this a hint as to why Google got off so lightly when they were busted - only $7m? Or am I just a foolish optimist....

Put in your consulting contract a call out fee of $1000 - i.e. if you pick up the phone your client is on the hook for $1000? When I was working full and went on holiday I told my employer that contacting me whilst on holiday would be at contractor rates. They never did... Or make your mobile number a premium rate number: $50 a minute might help concentrate their minds, but less blatantly

Whilst tempting, that is mostly cruel to the poor who have no alternative but to work in a call centre. However it may be justified for SOME call centre callers.