Sales Tax in Texas applies to most forms of computer consulting. And it is complex enough that almost everyone just charges it all the time...

Yep. The saving of all of your data transmitted over the internet, or on a cell phone. Lots of saving going on.

Check out Retroshare. It does exactly this. http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/

A quick article about it. http://www.linuxadvocates.com/2013/06/retroshare-for-paranoid-in-you.html

Victims passing out in alleys in high crime areas with a Rolex on the wrist? Yes.

Victims leaving boxes of expensive electronics in the back seat at the mall over the hollidays? Yes.
Blame the criminal as well, but take precautions. For example, leaving the keys in your car or leaving your car running, is a crime in several staes. When it is stolen, you get a fine, and insurance may not pay out.

Next time you are on TOR look and see where your exit node is. Surprisingly often is it Virginia... Hmm... Is my tinfoil hat on tight?

But how do you safely burn the rom every 4th Tuesday?

No need... Cheap server hosting with little tracking was plentiful. Now, not so much... You see, as they develop new methods, lots of people study and find ways to defeat those methods. So in a small ammount of time, there will be many hackers finding a way to shatter annonomity in TOR. The NSA could not have planned it better.

Forget the fact that his "service" is still better than any of the competing app stores out there. He is focused on seervice and price, and you are focused on access control. His opnion is that access control (DRM) done will is not poor service. And, as much as I hate DRM, he is doing it very well. Unlike Google Play that gives me loads of problems.

Only if you look at it as a sale, rather than a service. With DRM, it is never really a sale.

Much as I hate DRM, Gabe has worked very hard at keeping his DRM out of the way of paying customers. He has also worked very hard at building a platform for delivering content is a very easy and trouble free way. Not very RMS friendly, but VERY customer focused, and I can respect that. (Enough, actually that I have the Linux Steam client on my machine right now.)

I agree that you are looking at the wrong numbers. Who cares how many people are reading (pirating) it? You should only care about how many people are paying for it, and work to increase that number. One thing that comes to mind is special deals with advertisers that are keyed off the individual user name. Don't have a paid account? Don't get 15% off a widget... This could also be more advertising revenue.

And if you take a survey are an F1 drivers meeting, they may be correct.

For example, do you measure quantity? (Reality television) or Quality? (Blade Runner) Finding a widely a accepted benchmark might prove to be a challenge...

That and the fact that the slashdot audience is heavily skewed towards geeks, (or at least it was) And the best geeks are not only intelligent, but able to put things together in new and interesting combinations... So it would be more than average here. And less than average on a Jersey Shore forum.

I have seen a correlation as well. I have always had a knack for spatial relations, and some of the best IT folks I know do as well. I know it is anecdotal, but a large collection of anecdotal evidence is called data. :)