That company could be located outside the US, which is no longer a bastion of freedom.

The world should rightly see the US as an obstacle to be routed around. The American public will also benefit from foreigners renouncing being controlled by the US globalist elites. As the Snowden revelations confirm, the United States government is toxic, anti-democratic, and no longer merits any respect or admiration whatever.

End the global reach of US law and you strike a blow against the masters. War is now too expensive for building empires, so treaties are used instead.

...something both Demublicans and Repocrats may decry in public but can't resist using once in power.

In that respect Obama is Bush III.

"is known for its cowtowing to the intellectual property holders. That is why they try to go to that particular court if they sue for copyright infridgement."

How wonderfully American of them. (barfs)

"So Slashdot is just NORMAL news now?"

That turns a greater profit for its owners, and the user base contains far fewer techies.

What sites do "OG" Slashdotters visit nowadays?

You fail to explain why covering it HERE is better than the massive coverage it already gets elsewhere. Slashdot adds nothing to the political and historic coverage of Nelson Mandela.

PRECISELY why does it belong on Slashdot? "Importance" alone isn't justification, for if you follow that logic many things are more important than the relatively trivial tech coverage of Slashdot. In that case, scrap the site or sell it to Dice....oh.....wait....

Slashdot is NOT a geek site. That's gone.

Now its posters want it to feed News From Everywhere Else even if they would get MORE of that by opening another tab in their fucking browser.

They can't articulate WHY it should be here when its covered in greater depth elsewhere.

  Slashdot is a cross between Fark and 4chan, but 4chan is often MUCH better.

The Cold War was on at the time, compared to which little countries didn't matter but the strategic location of South Africa certainly did. With the survival of the West at stake, all of South Africa and it people were wisely considered expendable.

In serious conflicts, it may be expedient to support one evil against another. We don't have serious wars any more because the world has been largely at peace since the Cold War ended. A few recreational neocolonial squabbles aren't much at all, but things were different not so long ago.

"Uncle Joe" Stalin was as bad as the Nazi leadership, but few people quibble about support for the Soviet Union when that was expedient.

South Africa was not more important than the Cold War. It was and is a backwater, and now the Boes don't run it no one outside cares what happens there.

Precision targeting has reduced casualties to tiny levels, though the general public don't have a clue about that.
In the old days of artillery and aerial bombardment, a large majority of ordnance MISSED its target and created enormous "collateral damage". Look at post-attack recce photos from WWII. Lots of craters, and many nowhere near the target.
Now we can put a missile or bomb through a window. Sure, they miss now and then, but OTOH war doesn't looke like Verdun any more.

OTHO if they do die they won't jump and beat anyone else. Sometimes it's not just about the victim.

I'm fine with wishing a horrible death on robbers. I don't fucking rob people. Likewise home invaders. If I invade your home, feel free to give me a "Colombian necktie" for my bad behavior.

"Epson makes some serious printers and scanners"

Their consumer shit is horridly unreliable.

Stupidity is often painful. If you buy highly capable equipment (many sorts of equipment) it is often a Fuckup Effects Multiplier.

That said, stupid shit kills plenty more people in ordinary sedans. Nothing to see here.

"2: If used on a motorcycle, it can mean the rider can lose control, causing a crash, fatality, and lawsuits."

MC mechanic of many years here.
Not especially likely. MCs aren't drive-by-wire other than EFI and engine shutdown takes out no control systems. Manual steering and brake make for simple stopping when your engine quits.

"3: If used on a car, most cars are drive-by-wire."

No, they are not. Most have power-assisted but mechanically linked steering and brakes. If you are trying to stop someone in a high-speed chase shutting them down is far safer than chasing them until they crash.

"If you have to bypass UEFI just to have a working computer you might as well buy some other restricted device. Talk about killing the goose..."

The percentage of PC users who even know what that means is vanishingly small.

They DO know what malware means and are often tired of hassling with Windows.

Most people just need an Internet Appliance combined with a Phone. Previous "internet appliances" were crippled. Netbooks were crippled. People want RELIABLE systems which are CONVENIENT and "less crippled".

LOTD is coming in a roundabout way. As phones are (grudgingly) offered with enough features to replace desktops, they will. We are nearly at the point where you can dock your phone, toggle the interface, and use it as a desktop.

"Doesn't matter, you WILL step on the Lego."

Good thing anti-personnel mine designers never figured that out.

The information was deliberately left in the shit by the person who, BY CHOICE, abandoned the turd in question.

If I filled your lawn with my household garbage would you not be justified in opening the bags to find the source?