I think your aluminum pouch example really makes the point. I mean if people who commit crimes can simply do that or use burner phones then who are we going to inconvenience and violate with interviews for happening to be near the crime scene. I'd prefer that as a society we just decided that collectively we'd prefer to have our privacy protected.

Every new administration comes in and wipes away the plans for Nasa from the previous administration. Until I see a president pass something through congress that says, "Here's a bazillion dollars transferred into an account that a consortium of scientists at Nasa have control over." I'm going to ignore any and all things Nasa or any politician says they are gonna do.

We have the technology to adjust clocks by seconds every day, automatically. Why not have our clocks adjust a fraction of a minute every night at midnight, so that we get optimal sunlight exposure (according to the sleep docs).

You're right. It's not abuse unless it's real photos. I think of those YouTube videos where these amazing artists draw photorealistic images by hand. If this horny kid had such a talent would they arrest him and ruin his life for putting to paper what was in his mind?

Funny how they did an old Romeo and Juliet movie which had underage nudity in it and at the time everyone thought it was tasteful, but now the actors are suing and people are calling it child porn.

Same here with the now mandatory disclaimer. Also, not pro-child porn or pedo, but people defending free speech are going to get grouped in with them, just like those defending LGBTQ library books being called groomers.

I’m in academia and I can attest to the corporate take-over. Much like how the NFL has compelled high schools and colleges to propagate a brain damaging sport as part of education, it is the case that research is mostly geared to producing the low hanging fruit that big-tech feeds upon. The solution is to mandate some federal standards that are tied to accreditation whereby donors have to support the principles of higher education through some slice of their “largess” going to furthering things like humanities and empowering the academics to decide what is worthy. The alternate ideology is Randian bullshit.

This! I’m still amazed that democratic socialists haven’t clearly detailed a plan to handle all the endless bailouts with government stock buy ins. Don’t other countries recognize that when companies reach a certain size they become systemic risks and automatically require some worker shares be distributed at a certain point. This is Merica so we would have to wait for things to break first, but when they do the first response should be, “Ok, you weren’t responsible enough to steer this big ship anymore, so if you want help you have to give up some power.”

So if he has all these British supporters why didn't they do a Thomas Crown Affair flash mob outside the embassy with a bunch of white-haired, suited guys?

He coulda just walked out and disappeared into the crowd.

But seriously, I instructed physics in a public school setting for a couple years and I agree that lectures are almost useless, but that is just one small part of what is wrong with our education system. If you have cultivated genuine interest in a student, either by media or hands on exercises, they will listen to a lecture (but most likely turn it into a discussion, which is better).

Two situations to track in use of smart guns:

A. Someone dies because a cop's gun doesn't work when used by cop.
B. Someone (not cop) dies when cop's gun is wrestled away from him.

If A is less than B then it is a good idea.

Also, curious as to whether there might be situations where smart guns might be more effective because you don't have to shut off a safety. Don't know if cop's guns have safeties or if there is any data on how many times someone has been hurt when they were trying to defend themselves and forgot to switch off a safety.

Isn't this the same process developed a while ago by academic material scientists who, most likely, were funded by government grants? Not exactly the Randian ideal.

It could also mean that someone could propose something that everyone should be against (a gun that can only kills kids) and expect people to use rhetorical devices (attacking the motivation of the person proposing the extreme example) instead of conceding that maybe someone could rightfully oppose the legality of such a weapon. But thanks for proving my point.

Just use some facial recognition algorithm that recognizes juvenile features. Then sell the hacked version as the "Kinder Killer" and wait for the NRA to come to your defense as various evil, gun hating liberals try to have it banned. Enjoy the political spectacle that inevitably ensues because in Murica we are incapable of having reasonable discussion regarding guns.

Carl Sagan once commented (can't recall where) on the general aversion people hold toward the government conducting experiments in public policy. He then detailed how every change of law was an experiment of sorts, although often without proper controls.

If Facebook should be required to inform consumers of how they experimentally manipulate them then should Kellogg's reveal the details of how they use marketing to manipulate kids into buying Fruit Loops?

I think there was a Big Bang Theory ep where Sheldon tried to solve the "Isreal Problem" or however it is put. Since this is slashdot I wish someone would really explore some possible tech solutions being proposed. I've always wanted someone to put the problem in monetary terms. If it were possible to give every resident of gaza a million dollars to move to another country you could just buy them out. Obviously that is not possible, but there might be a number below that which would buy out enough of the population to be effective.

Not saying money is all that is at play here, but it certainly seems like something a bit more objective than all these fuzzy arguments about human rights or religious mandate.

IANAL, but I believe the FBI (and law enforcement in general) is free to try and crack encrypted hard drives obtained with warrant, they just can't make you give up a password (until now).