Right, because other countries don't search you at the border.

You have NO privacy rights at customs. Anything you have with you can be searched. This is the way it works in any country in the entire world. The only way to avoid it is to not travel across borders.

Ever since late 2001, anything that falls under the Homeland Security umbrella (a LOT of stuff) might as well have an unlimited budget. Even now its hard for an expense to be denied under the guise of "national security". In 2004 you could get as much money as you wanted if you were a government contractor doing something that might fight "evildoers".

The last paragraph of your bullshit post drastically contradicts the first. You do not strike me as a compassionate person at all.

As recent revelations have shown, the NSA ban on domestic spying exists only on paper. The NSA does regularly and knowingly spy on Americans with impunity. It's only a problem if they get caught.

Learn to deal with it indeed. It won't be changing anytime soon. It's part of the price you pay for a sweet government gig.

Aww, too bad so sad. Did they think the days of virtually unlimited budgets could go on forever?

Sure. License them all. Want to write Hello World? That will be $1 million to cover all patent license fees plus attorney fees. Anything more complicated will be many millions more for all the relevant patents. Bye bye future innovation.

The main purpose of modern Slashdot is to air paranoid stories about "rights online" that border on conspiracy theory alarmism, or sometimes cross the line completely.

POTS service in the last 5 years is NOT what it was 15 years ago. Reliability, resilience and call quality have taken a hit in favor of cost cutting. Customers don't care enough to complain anymore since they are all using cell phones or Voip anyway. POTS is already on life support and not coming back - might as well go ahead and pull the plug.

Given the same scenario today, I doubt your POTS line would be working, not to mention you wouldn't be able to call any neighbors since they wouldn't have POTS lines anymore.

While your post is factually correct, it is logically inconsistent. If the standard for safe driving is complete and total sobriety and 100% motor control, there are many people who are on the road today, completely sober, who need to lose their license permanently. I have better reflexes and reaction time after a couple of beers than many people do when completely sober.

Either its safe for me to drive or they need to be off the road. Which one is it? In this politically correct country of ours we refuse to make this important distinction.

Great idea, make it free. Then it would be even more of a rolling homeless shelter / psych ward than it already is!

YOU try developing software without infringing anyone's patent. Can't be done. In fact we are all no doubt violating numerous patents right now just by posting a message on a public forum.

You don't think Yahoo also plunders your personal information for corporate gain?

Did you just get back from a showing of Hunger Games?

It's called differentiation between good gun owners and bad gun owners, dipshit. Yes its more complicated than that but I had to dumb it down sufficiently for you to even begin to understand. Here's a hint: it isn't hunters and target shooters that are shooting up elementary schools.