Maybe we should let companies have these patents, but drop the protection time down to a few years. That way you can stall innovation, but not for long, which gives incentive to set reasonable licensing terms.

When the FBI is involved, it always turns out to be some disgruntled sad sack or sad sacks who they talk into some terrorist act. There is an endless supply of such broken-down, weak-willed people, which gives the FBI a steady stream of good PR to keep their budget fat. I'll hold my applause until they catch someone smarter than I am.

With Google around, plagiarists would have to be idiots to try it at this point.

What I want to do when I read a paper is learn something I can use to make my code better, or to learn that the problem is way harder than I thought and I need to find a workaround. The problem these days is actually being able to read papers without being affiliated with a university, because so many papers are behind publisher paywalls or trapped on internal-only university servers. Someone having to pay what a textbook costs to read a ten year old paper is probably not what the author had in mind when they wrote it.

Please whatever copyright you use, post the paper online so bright but indigent students can read it.

If NBC thought they were getting Wagon Train to the Stars, then they were hoodwinked. The first Battlestar Galactica was the real Wagon Train to the Stars. Star Trek was more like Have Gun, Will Travel or Bat Masterson.

Or Sinclair molecule chain.

I'm glad scientists are working on ideas like this. The reality is that we, the human race, are not going to stop burning fossil fuels. We'd best get on with figuring out how to deal with the resulting problems rather than continue dreaming that everyone is going to agree to stop.

Nope. It was bacteria in the awful novel, a gengineered virus in the Will Smith movie.

These T-cells shouldn't be a threat to you unless you, in a fit of stupidity, injected yourself with them. Or through a medical error the doctor somehow injected you with someone else's T-cells. Oops.

You still don't get it, do you? That's what he does! That's ALL he does!

Not after the crash; the phone managed to connect to a data network sometime before the plane crashed. I've (accidentally) left my phone on and later noticed that it connected to a cell network somewhere over the midwest during a coast-to-coast flight. So it's possible even at cruising altitude.

Yes, there will be unintended consequences but if they aren't worse than the situation you're trying to prevent, you win. Tackle the next set of problems. That's what humanity has been doing since the start of civilization.

The tricky bit isn't coming up with a plan or even implementing it. Rather it's getting everyone with a stake to agree on it. Climate change might be a boon instead of disaster where you live. In that case, you might consider attempts to slow global warming an act of war.

The "data collecting" code isn't just collecting data from unlicensed users but licensed users as well. So in exchange for paying the license fee you get software that phone's home about how you use it. In other words your computer now works for them in addition to working for you.

Explain to me why Win2k with Opera 10.5 would be insufficient to browse the web?

It would become part of a botnet within hours, that's why. Once your OS and web browser stop getting security updates, the clock starts ticking on the bad guys finding some unpatched vulnerability and your wandering into some trap they've set for you on the net.

Federal judges can jail you forever. Terms vary in state courts.

To jail you they will have to charge you with something, typically contempt of court or obstruction. Neither of these is a felony where I live and the prison terms are modest. Meaning that once released you'd still be young, able to vote, carry a firearm and get a job. Plus by standing up for your privacy you might help change the society we live in.

Willingless to kidnap and commit torture is not trumped if you're dealing with law enforcement. If they gotten to the point where their only remaining option is beating the information out of you, then you've won, assuming our legal system has any remaining value. Evidence that flows from that beating isn't going to be admissible in court. And why would an ordinary citizen want to hide information from law enforcement? Malum prohibitum .