An EMP works for me.

I have occassionally downloaded my info and noticed on April 14th that the wall posts were missing.

It doesn't justify comparison with 1984, but it and its ilk do get us closer to it. A step on the way.

Quite correct. They are following the same logic as has been used in the past to justify the introduction of identity cards. If they get away with this one, we'll see ID cards return to the agenda.

Yes - that's what I do. Mind you, I wouldn't put it past the bastards to find a way around that one day. Eternal vigilance is needed, if you're really paranoid about it.

My own experiments show that the facebook cookie is transferred by the site to Facebook even if you have logged out. The only way to ensure that facebook doesn't follow you around is to delete its cookies before going anywhere else.

When this first came up I checked with Wireshark and confirmed that nothing is sent to cannonical or amazon if on-line search results are turned off.
However, you're right that the wording does not preclude this in the future, so I wouldn't trust them.

They missed out an option in the 'real name' dialog - "I don't know - I'm actually a dog/cat/dead person.".
If they continue with this I'm sure they'll find that their real userbase is actually a fraction of the fiure they currently claim.

An excellent expression of the fundamental point about human rights. Too many people seem to think that the need of society to constrain the expression of one's rights (for the good of society) means that those rights are confered by society and do not exist otherwise. If that were a valid viewpoint, then I would be forced to conclude that there is nothing wrong with the freedoms inherent in, say, Iranian or Chinese society.

No, not really.
At least if there were Black Boxes we could hope that the data would go only to GCHQ and not be subject to ad hoc perusal by any old public body. This 'back-tracking' takes even that benefit away.

I sort of understand where IcyHando'Death is coming from - I was 10 when I woke up to the real world and realised that the flying cars and spaceships I had been reading about in comics didn't actually exist. But I got over it and I am not as depressed about the lack of progress since 1969 as he is.
However, I do agree with his last few sentences, including "This last one has reached higher than any other, boosted by an enormous non-renewable energy supply, but that supply is now in decline and so are we, like all the others." Our global civilisation is using up all of the resources that were needed to start the industrial and technological revolutions. If we miss this chance and civilisation declines too far, the possibility is that we may never be able to rise to this level again.
For that reason I don't give a damn who promotes expansion into space, or the politics of it all. As long as someone does it.