There are plenty of more important points already given in this discussion (the most important being that family members need to know not to bug you unless there are flames or blood involved), but one I haven't seen was a good "No Solicitors" sign, especially if you're working at home alone. Seriously, you have to be that grumpy "get off my lawn" guy. Those little b@stards have some sort of ESP and can tell when you're home... BTW, there's no law that says you "have" to answer the door.... even if you're right there in the window to see.

In addition to what Scutter said, this also leads to departments outsourcing and hiring Bob's Neighbor's kid who's taking a class on web design at the community college, so he would obviously be perfect to set our our Sharepoint site...

Please, name 3 companies for me that do NOT handle security issues in a manner similar to this. Go ahead, really...

Disclosures required by law don't count, those were forced.

The simplest and most likely explanation is that the dictator originally told the cell company "if you want to do business in this country, I need the ability to wiretap". Another explanation is that depending on who you call, a cell call likely routes over land lines at some point (especially in a third world country). Anyone with physical access to the lines has the theoretical capability to tap.

Terry Childs didn't have any criminal intent either, and he caused a lot less harm. Look where that got him... I no longer have any faith in the "justice" system.

My wife works at a Credit Union and gets these types of things all the time. There are a few things you can do.

1. Get a Bank or Credit Union that gives a damn. Investigate before you choose one. A good one will monitor your activity and shut it down and call you when something goes wonky (like charges from all over the place or charges from known fraudulent organizations). When it does go wrong a good one will either fix it quick or possibly give you provisional credit to get you buy until they do fix it.

2. Use a real Credit Card for most items and have the discipline to pay it off each month. Credit Cards are held to a higher standard than debit because it's *their* money and not *yours*. If you challenge a charge they have to credit you right away while they research it, and the burden of proof is on them. As a side benefit you might get mileage or an annual rebate.

3. Use your debit card for small ticket items -- lunch, gas, etc. Don't keep more than you're willing to lose in the account, a few hundred maybe.

Show me where it says anything remotely like that in the US Constitution. The only one covering your ass is you. They do have powers to regulate monopolies in interstate commerce, but until Verizon is declared one that doesn't apply.

Besides the above point, I wouldn't call it "intercontinental" because he didn't leave from a continent. He left from a plane 6500 feet above the continent. Hell, starting from that high you could probably sail an unpowered glider across the straight of gibraltar.