Given Apple's attitude toward certain apps that don't fit their "vision", and toward modding of their products, does anyone else think it's awfully ironic that this is the same company that produced that famous 1984 commercial about breaking free from a software monoculture? I know, it was just marketing, not what they actually believe. But still.

This is completely insane. Under this standard, Dan Savage could be prosecuted in Arkansas for writing about sex in California. A large percentage of the professional musicians in the US could be prosecuted for their lyrics. Everyone on 4chan could be prosecuted. (There had to be a silver lining somewhere.)

They may send it to SCOTUS, but that doesn't mean SCOTUS will grant certiorari. They could just let it stand.

I don't know if it's the Reserve Bank of India or PayPal who's most at fault for this situation, but regardless, it's certainly a great way to extend the recession. How many Indian entrepreneurs will go out of business waiting for this to be resolved?

What, you don't think China, Inc. is one huge abusive monopoly?

Okaaaaay...so, if the feds aren't making a copyright claim, then on what other basis can they limit usage of the photos? If the photos are in the public domain, as the law says they have to be, then they can't do that. If the photos are not in the public domain, they must be copyrighted. Who holds that copyright? The feds would appear to be the only possible copyright holders.

Aaaand the Democrats continue their almost-perfect record of being totally clueless and draconian on copyright issues.

In related news, approximately 90% of the cells in the human body are bacteria. Fortunately for us, the human body has an effective immune system. When are computers going to get one?

In human terms, the majority of computers have AIDS. And we all know where they caught it.

The Internet is very nice, but I would prefer that they award the prize to Liu Xiaobo.

Regarding the wider issue of being able to trust one's own hardware, given that some government is in a position to corrupt it, I wonder if FPGAs would be a solution? Of course, you'd have to trust the software you use to program them, and the hardware on which it runs. But there are limits to how complex malware can reasonably be.