Just because it's posted on Slashdot doesn't make it true.

Wow, Troll? Really? Just because other people go off topic from one word I put in my profile I'm a troll? I stand by what I said. Whoever modded me is abusing their power over their political position.

I feel like requiring users to opt in and fully explaining to them what they are opting into is a better solution. I liked this technology (as a Facebook and Blockbuster Online user), and having it taken away because some vocal minority of paranoid privacy advocates are worried someone will find out that they watched Wild Things 2 last night is not American. This is a free country, if I want to open myself up to this, that should be my choice. Then again... obamacare, bailouts... I guess this isn't America anymore anyway.

Yes... but...

These groups even want compensation for iTunes' 30-second song samples.

This is the only ridiculous part of the request. As far as downloaded movies and TV shows go, if the same royalties are paid for DVD sales, they should be paid for the purchase on iTunes, Xbox live, playstation store, etc.

There definitely is. The perfect media player has...

1. Streaming On Demand Music (Zune/Rhapsody)
2. Streaming Radio (Last.FM/Pandora)
3. Subscription and Purchase Licensing Support

In other words, the iPhone needs subscription WMA support and a Zune Marketplace App. ;-)

Not to troll, but I think you missed the second part - "stuff that matters."

I don't see how this could possibly go wrong. Environmentalist question: What effect will sending all of this energy through the atmosphere have on the o-zone layer?

Where was this article when I was playing Tetris in the library during my free periods in high school and getting crap for it?

That or it has just enough cow bell.

They have video games in Venezuela?

Yes, but $29.99 for Leopard to Snow Leopard. I would hardly consider the changes from Vista to 7 a "full species." Maybe that's just personal opinion.

Not to mention that "patent trolling" is a gross misuse of the term "trolling." The term "trolling" comes from the fishing term. In fishing, trolling is "a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines ... are drawn through the water." (Source: Wikipedia) This strategy is essentially just playing the odds - you have as many lines as possible in as many places as possible and thus increase your chance of encountering a hungry fish.

In internet slang, rather than fishing the "troller" is posting as much as possible in as many places as possible without getting called out for being a troll in an attempt to elicit an emotional or radical or amusing response from another individual.

I have difficulty seeing how this analogy applies here. I hereby mod this article -5 for meme abuse.

The price to upgrade from the previous version. If I ever switch to Mac OS, this will be the reason.

Solving world hunger would be easier than "fixing" the internet. Not only would you need someone to be willing to take on the task of regulating the internet, they would also need to have the authority to enforce their regulations around the entire world. Who would be able to do that? Those owning the technology that needs to be updated, replaced, or implemented differently would need to have the extra funding to do so. Where is that going to come from? When the changes finally are implemented, how is it going to be coordinated on such a huge scale? Look at how IPv6 implementation is going for an example of how difficult this becomes.

My point? Even if you come up with a solution that's better than a band aid, you'll never be able to implement it. Applications that require a better infrastructure should be run on Internet2 or another controlled network. Perhaps the author should become involved in that project?