Yes, it is called 'language'.

Water can ruin most books, and water covers 78% of the planet.

no, and why should there be?

I think you mean... "replace the middle man" I doubt it but maybe we'll get lucky and be able to buy the content from the producers ourselves. It is already happening with music to some degree.

That is awesome.

Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't digital music play from RAM anyway?

Then don't install apps from the app store DUMBASS. You can get the same apps without using the app store, and Google can't delete them.

You do have a choice with Android where your apps come from and who has control over them. Stop blaming some one else for your uninformed choices.

We are Americans... Stories about Australia are kinda like watching the show Cops. http://bash.org/?262417

Water you talking about????

Your definitions are not correct. Anonymity can provide privacy. If you do something anonymously, you are doing some thing that other people don't know about (you doing). They may know that it is being done but privacy is not about concealing actions, it is about concealing identity.

Secrecy is doing something that other people don't know about (whats being done).
Privacy is doing something that other people don't know about (you doing).

Adding a tax to consumer electronics to support actual investigative journalism isn't a horrible idea, but bailing out newspapers is just ludicrous. I do think we need real investigative journalism, but not from dead tree newspapers. Things like FOX "Nuz" (cause that's not fucking news), just don't inform people. Now a govt. funded news agency? I'm not quite ready to say that would be a good thing either, but how can we get back real journalists? Bloggers, if you repeat news, do more to credit your sources.

This is a suit over a software patent. This is what makes CSIRO a troll. Do any of these companies MAKE the hardware their selling? This sounds like a cash grab to me. We need to fix the system and get rid of software patents altogether.

Why do people think this? This is stupid. This idea is ANTI-Freedom. "People" or "Users" shouldn't be able to dictate by force (law) that a company must make a product that has the features they want. That is ludicrous. If you don't like it don't buy Apple, geez is that so f'ing hard? It's not like you can't find out BEFORE you buy an iPhone that it doesn't run flash. Don't be an imbecile.

The iPad/iPhone are not general purpose computing devices. They are platforms to deliver content.

This is what Eben Moglen says about platforms,

If you don't like that don't buy a platform.

I hate to mention this because another crowd has co-opted the identity, but wasn't the Boston Tea Party pretty much a revolt against this kind of thing?

This is what Eben Moglen calls for in his lecture about freedom in the cloud http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA

This is Santa Clara County. You know... Silicon Valley. Home of Google and Yahoo! and scads of other Internet companies. Maybe all the googlers and yahoos are out of the loop since they get to eat for free at work.