As a Londoner myself, I think I'm allowed to take the piss out of Americans who habitually bring up that stereotype, even though it's blatantly not true. As somebody who's lived in a few places around the world, my chief complaints about the weather are that it doesn't get hot enough in summer and the winters are pretty mild and boring too! It doesn't stop the locals whinging like a bunch of babies.

He must have thought it wouldn't be a problem in London, what with all the pea soupers and drizzle.

Where was all this outrage and demand to bomb when the rebels used nerve gas back in May?

Both sides in the Syrian conflict are baddies. It's a bit hypocritical to bomb the Syrian government for using chemical weapons when we ignored the rebels doing the same.

I would fscking hope so, all of these things being Microsoft products.

However, the original bulletin does not seem to contain such language, judging from the auto translation.

how is it that common standards make so much sense for html, programming languages, engineering but not for human communication?

I know this one!

It's because everyone has been talking for as long as they can remember and they confuse that with communication.

After that it becomes a question of what they want to communicate versus what communication you expect to receive. Ever met a manager who talks during the entire meeting even though nothing he is saying applies to the subject of the meeting?

From the article:

It is queried for phone numbers of interest mainly using what are called “administrative subpoenas,” those issued not by a grand jury or a judge but by a federal agency, in this case the D.E.A.

In other words, no, there's no oversight. The DEA issues its own legal requests. The AT&T "contractors" who issue the queries sit next to the agents and are paid for by the DEA (in other words, they're employees of the government). Elsewhere the presentation makes a reference to routing requests via Washington state which somehow converts them into court orders, not sure what that's about.

Also, the presentation tells agents to cover up the fact that it exists and how to do so, so we're back into "parallel reconstruction" terroritory.

That said, I actually care less about this sort of thing than what the NSA is doing, as it's (a) not classified and apparently can be learned about via the regular channels despite their requests for secrecy and (b) it's being used to catch more ordinary, every day criminals like people who rob jewellery shops or make bomb threats. The almost total blurring between corporation and state is very concerning because it implies there's nothing stopping it from stepping over the line and becoming used for petty political activism or worse, but at least they try to actually justify the programs existence with examples (unlike nearly all NSA training material, it seems).

Not only that, but actually current cell-site data for any phone is publicly available for a small fee (1 cent). The GSM Home Location Register is a worldwide database which all carriers need access to for roaming to work, the fact that somehow some companies are able to sell access to it perhaps should not really surprise anyone. What you get back are cell tower IDs, not co-ordinates, but I guess it may be possible to build a map of tower IDs to physical locations (or obtain one) if you're determined enough. For many uses it's not even that hard, as you don't need all of them but just the small set of locations where you expect your target is likely to be.

I guess the next step for drug dealers and other people who don't want to carry a portable tracking device would be to use VoIP via VPNs or other proxy services. I anticipate that over time proxying traffic will become illegal ("packet laundering" anyone?). No way are governments going to give up this wonderful gift society gave them in the form of knowing everyones location, all the time.

Current laws already recognise it's not all or nothing - that you can ride a bicycle does not mean that driving a car is exactly the same, so bicycles are treated differently than cars (here bicycles have a right to operate on the highway, cars do not - they and their driver must be licensed and insured).

As for responsiblility, you're going to need rules for that too I'm afraid. When your untrained unlicensed driver runs over some pedestrian, and does not have enough money to pay for the pedestrian's health care, someone has to enforce that they have financial responsibility.

Any speed limiter probably won't control the brake, it'll probably only control the gas.

That's fine to the safety nazis. They would say "Well just don't overtake and be more patient".

We already see this with motorways with lorries. You get one lorry with its limiter set to 55.9999998 mph and another lorry with its limiter set to 56.0000001 catches it up and starts to overtake. 15 miles later it's finally past after causing all of lanes 1 and 2 to be going at 56 mph for the last 15 miles, and lane 3 bunched up nose to tail traffic doing about 60.

But first off, don't be stupid. Sanitize/Sterilize ALL of your data PRIOR to starting your trip.

They cannot find what you are not carrying.

And it doesn't take more then two Buckyballs to kill you. The whole problem with Buckyballs is that their danger isn't obvious. They look like a toy, play like a toy, are packaged like toy and when swallowed might kill you.

Lego blocks don't kill you when you eat them.

I personally find the concept kind of odd.

I'm going to guess that you've never been in the military.

Think about a conscript. His country is at war because of his politicians. His personal beliefs don't matter. He either fights or he, at best, is in jail. Remember the kids who went to Canada instead of being drafted to fight in Vietnam?

So the least that the professional soldiers and responsible politicians can do is to make basic rules so that that kid can get back to his pre-war life with as much of his body still intact as possible.

Chemical weapons are a problem because they usually do not kill. It takes a LOT of chemicals and the right environment to kill. But they do tear up lungs and eyes and nervous systems. So the casualties may be able to move themselves but they cannot pick up their old lives again.

Now imagine the impact that has on a country AFTER the war. Thousands and thousands of disabled citizens that have trouble working.