i had ubuntu give me a
"This should not have happened"
message recently

Most of the PC thefts are for resale, and not data

Title would have been accurate if the computers had fully autonomous AI, and then messed up.
as of now, its just the logic they were programmed with that is being executed

"voluntary botnet"
why does such a thing even exist??
Did voluntary Borg exist?

theres also the issue of people not having a way to pay even a token amount..
for example, I have no way to purchase anything from outside India online, as I dont have a credit card, so for many things the choice is pirate or dont get it.
Similarly, movies(eg: the Saw series) are often not released here, and TV shows (BBT,etc..) are often many seasons behind here, so torrents it is.

Someone who uses a pirated antivirus likely has pirated windows as well..

Why not cash?

Somewhat like Openid, where all the IP's belonging to a user are linked to a master ID.. To identify a person linked to a particular ip, its respective master ID is used which gives the required information

Each user could be assigned a block of IP addresses, like a persons telephone number
Any devices owned by the user would use those IP addresses..
Quite easy to manage I guess

IMO they are just trying to copy iPhone 1's success(forgetting that was a few years back) for more explaination: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1864010&cid=34195594

Try using a thinkpad, then try a Latitude or a HP Pavillion, you'll notice the difference

thats because its in idle view
change the url from idle.slashdot.org/...
to
ile.slashdot.org/...
and it will be fine?(u cn put anything instead of ile)

if(professor thinks you have cheated)
result=cheated
As simple as that in many places
you will have to go really high up in the administration to get it reversed(if at all possible)

So true...

The burden of proof in the case of faculty vs students is also much much lower..(if its against the student) And the stakes are the students degree, which is a pretty big thing it can be seen as paying a false speeding fine to avoid getting your DL cancelled