Uninstalled the app, gave a negative review referring to this grand jury investigation, and upvoted all the other negative ratings for this privacy issue. I'm sure the damage has already been done, but this at least makes me feel better and hopefully hurts Pandora's reputation a bit.

Time to get a Faraday cage cell phone bag to prevent random unauthorized charges if I happen to walk in the wrong place. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the phone though if nobody can contact me... FML.

That's why you download through "alternate means," means that involve pirates and bays. That way, you get an "extended trial version."

Okay. Just tell Nintendo and etc. to stop releasing games in Japan before they get released in the US, and then maybe we can talk.

<off-topic> Looks like your signature worked. </off-topic>

America is a sovereign nation. We shouldn't be entangled in excessive treaties with foreign governments anyway.

I've been trying to find some way to play blu ray disks on my new PC build without having to buy PowerDVD 10 (why should I have to buy some software I don't want in the first place just to play a disk I already own? Not happening). I know these disks are loaded with DRM, but Is there any free alternative out there? I know of libbluray http://www.videolan.org/developers/libbluray.html , but to be honest I'm not sure how to get it working. Does anyone out there know how to A) get this to work, or B) know of a different opensource/free solution to play blu ray disks? Feel free to note me if the method would make the MPAA go into a conniption fit. ;)

I'm from Utah. Two things:

1) Why are there political pieces featured on /. that have nothing to do with technology? This isn't the first time this has happened either. I realize most people on here seem to lean to the left. Great; I don't really care. What does bother me is that I come here to read about TECHNOLOGY and not POLITICS (unless the political issue in question at least vaguely has something to do with technology).

2) No, that law wasn't created because "democracy" contains "democrat." It was created because we are not, in fact a democracy, but a REPUBLIC. It's an attempt to undo the years of people inaccurately referring to the United States as a democracy and having everyone start to parrot the misinformation. Remember how the pledge of allegiance says "and to the Republic for which it stands"? Yeah.

Let me guess; you erroneously suppose MSNBC to be a real news channel?

It's true; I lived in Costa Rica for a couple years (one of the countries on the list), and the whole time I was there, I don't think I saw a single legitimate DVD store. People would hang out around bus stops to sell burned DVDs (with printed copies of the title inserts) for around 2000 colones (roughly the equivalent of $4). There were even stores dedicated to "renting" these bootlegged DVDs, and I always laughed when the owners would complain about people just taking the movies they'd rented and not returning them.

There were also stores where you could fill up your mp3 player with thousands of popular songs for just a few dollars.

While I'm not a fan of MPAA or RIAA and etc., there is a legitimate cost associated with shooting a film, and I think it's wrong to make a profit from selling unauthorized copies that the studio will never see a cent from. Same goes for recording a track (though I sometimes download an "extended trial version" of a song myself). ;)

+1

*A Republic

I was thinking the same thing. Bad idea.

Interesting:

U.S. Has Secret Tools to Force Internet on Dictators

And CALEA?