I am not a U.S citizen and have had problems with U.S foreign policy. For once I understand the U.S government to some degree.

In greater scheme of things sometimes even more sensitive information moves over diplomatic channels than over the spy network. One of the first things that spring to mind is diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia. As a close U.S ally but with a government that the U.S can't really condone I guess some of those cables can be too candid for public consumption. Also many governments in the area can't work with the U.S if the U.S goverment is disclosing secrets as it would lead to embarrasment at home or worse. Compromised diplomatic cables would be an embarrasment to any country.

I like Wikileaks and it fills an important role in exposing the will of politicians to shroud the transparency of government. But to say that in a free and democratic society that secrets shouldn't exist... Is childishly naive.

There is another thing. In whatever situation with a woman dressed like a slut... Will you totally loose control... It is an excuse... Like I was drunk... People should be held accountable for their actions. Unintentional seems more like an gray area. And it should be.

Sadly... there is a benefit to the end user of not having an open platform.... So that is where we are heading I belive.

You made a very good point. And it is not like it will replace the backup systems.
But on the other hand we have had a lot of ships running aground here in my part of Europe. By the failure of the GPS. What is important is that training does include the backup systems.

You can not switch to this system solely. First there is the fact that most pilots fly under much worse conditions outside the US. You wouldn't strip planes of this capability... Hell many planes still carry an magnetic compass... What worries me are that the ATC equipment is ages old. Most likely from the 60:ies or 70:ies on most airports...

I might be offending some people. But botnets are not made by users who are technically proficent. Sometimes I find it interesting that you find Linux imperviuos to this threat... You would have to defend Linux like any other system... Just because, well most often than not it exploits the user. Not the os. I am a user like no other. I use Windows 7 and many microsoft os:es. And I can never think of any time in my 25 years of using a computer I really caught a virus... Finally after 10:s of years I got a virus scanner, haha. But to this date I have never had any use for it. But I always recommend a virus scanner to my friends. Virus operators just have to influence you personally to have a virus on your computer. Social engineering works much better than any technical exploit :( All you can do is to inform people of the dangers. And still we have people playing street games... :D