I'd probably not use such a machine for everyday computing but if you want to have some fun, try building Linux from scratch on it and try out how well the current kernel handles the old hardware.

I fucking care.

I'm sick and tired of everybody here cheering that "Internet routes around such damage etc." and proposing that we should just let them do that to us.

That's just idiotic. Every day I'm hearing of tougher and more unjust laws being proposed by these people and every now and then these laws are accepted and become parts of our justice system. Every time a law like this gets passed we move closer and closer to the point in time where your explanation that you just "routed around damage" will no longer save you from going to jail or becoming bankrupt.

They are changing the world for the worse and I do not intend to sit and let that happen. You say they are already defeated. I do not see that. I only see that they are interfering with my life more and more each day while still making tremendous profits and gaining more power.

I'm afraid that in ten years I can be put in jail for downloading tor or for refusing the media companies to take my computer in for a compulsory check for illegally downloaded media.

Open you fucking eyes.

I expect that if it really happens enough to weight out on the benefit of the organs then someone would have got caught by now.

Got any citations of any case where someone was sentenced to death for the reason that their organs were needed? I have to agree with the grandparent, it is a horrible waste of good organs.

Protip: Movies do not actually cost tens of millions. Most of the money goes for supporting spoiled Hollywood actors who for some reason are considered necessary for a profitable films and special effects that can actually be accomplished for a lot less. You don't really need that much money for a good film. You just need talent and skill and motivation.

Meanwhile you can just use I2P and the torrents available there. Not as big of a choice but your anonymity as well as the one of whoever keeps the tracker up are guaranteed.

If you would like to have a t-shirt from the pirate bay for a little less then millions of dollars then they do sell some here. Would be a nice way to support their cause.

Let's not forget they've made the public get used to being watched.

The fact that she is attempting to sue someone because she was insulted in the Internet is plenty of proof for all three.

If it's underground you can just dig around and show it's not there. An invisible untouchable shed on the other hand...

It's a funny law in this case, as you can be arrested and convicted for not letting the police into that shed in your back yard even if you have no shed in your back yard. Everyone with a back yard (hard drive) could be convicted to jail without any proof. Convenient.

I'm afraid to travel to the U.K. even with my laptop's harddrive overwritten with /dev/urandom because if they say it's an encrypted drive, how will I prove it's not?

You can always write a single text file containing something that looks like encryption keys and then when they discover that none of the keys work, you can say that they have corrupted the disk. Whatever, write a corrupt disk in the first place. I have a half-broken cd-writer that writes half broken cds all the time.

For now.

I believe the GP's point was that freedom does not provide that many pros for the users who might not feel compelled to swich based on that alone. Wave has it easy here, it doesn't have competition.

Wait a second. Didn't the whole story start with Microsoft releasing the driver with the violation story coming after? I mean they certainly did infringe on GPL but it seemed to me, that they decided themselves that they should release the thing before shit hits the fan. Could you cite anyone who threatened them before the release?