Having the software as open source at least addresses issues with what the computer does behind the screens. The computer does what it is programmed to, and the code is available. The issue is in trying to ensure that the program is not altered before it is installed on the machine.

Paper ballots are not without their own problems including stuffed ballot boxes and lost or altered ballots. For that matter, there have been issues with voters being able to get to the polling places in the first place.

If the procedure for installing the software and reporting the results is sufficiently secure, I don't see any reason not to trust the open source software as well as a paper ballot.

I'm not suggesting that you need to believe the same things I do, or that you should do as I say. Not every christian sees things that way (although, admittedly, some do). Frankly, if you are an Athiest, Pagan, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, or whatever makes no difference to me.

Personally, I find the world around me far too intricate and beautiful to write it off as just some chance happening. I find it much more probable to be the result of some intelligent design. By all means, you believe what you want.

On the other hand, if you think in terms of the laws of society, just because you have no proof that you'll get caught doesn't mean you should go around breaking the law. By extension, just because there is no law against something doesn't mean you should disregard ethical considerations.

In the end, religion is primarily a guideline for how we should treat others. In that regard, one is (for the most part) just as good as the next.

The problem is, by the time you have proof it's already too late!

All of our government officials are sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. "Exceptions" to the bill of rights such as NSLs, particularly when they are abused, weaken the Constitution as a whole, and officials responsible should be held responsible, preferably with criminal charges of their own.

Without enforcing the protections provided by the bill of rights, those principles become mere historical curiosities as the "antiquated" ideals of the founding fathers.

is to develop a way to eliminate all the space junk orbiting the planet. No I didn't RTFA (go figure :P), but it seems like that would be money well spent. If a flock of birds can take down a jet, all that trash up there has to be hazardous for the space program!

I had been thinking about this aspect - and although I believe the facial recognition systems aren't yet ready for prime-time, at least if you're subjected to this hack, it could save your face!

I don't know about you, but when were talking about light traveling 1m vs. "instantly", I'd be pretty impressed if they could actually measure a difference.

I suspect this has been in the works since the release of the movie Toys. Sure the general in the film was a nut case, but the idea was a good one - low cost weapons that keep soldiers out of harm's way. We only had to wait for the tech to catch up to make it effective and reliable.

First of all, I would not seriously suggest suspending income tax all together.

That being said, how do you suppose the government has gotten into such a large debt in the first place? It is because when faced with deficit spending, they simply borrow more money from the "Federal Reserve" (which is neither federal nor a reserve - go figure!). We must even use the term "borrow" loosely as the Fed doesn't have more money just sitting around, rather they print it on demand with nothing of value to back it up save the good faith and credit of the US gov't...but I digress...the point is, just because the government wasn't bringing in more money doesn't mean they'd stop spending.

The government might have prevented this crisis brought on by greed with effective regulation and oversight, but it's too late for prevention now (although we must address the underlying issues if we do not want a repeat performance in the future).

At this point the damage is done...people are afraid for their economic futures and for the most part are holding on to every spare dime. All the government can do to help the economy recover now is to stimulate spending, and there is no way that I can see to do that without the government taking on more debt (I'd be more than happy to know what ideas you might have).

They could put money into infrastructure projects (thus improving infrastructure, creating jobs, and putting money back into the economy - my personal favorite idea). Alternatively, they could pass another "W"-style economic incentive to put money in people's pockets (which then gets "spent" sending it back into the economy) or use federal funds to prop up failing industries (which will keep many people employed - at least for now, but maybe not for long). In any case, the government looses money in the short term. The trick is to get something of value out of it that the people can use.

Folks would still need to file a return to get whatever refunds of their payments, etc. that are due. It would surely boost the economy, but not help with the security issue.

There's more to a person's tax record than how much s/he makes. The tax man knows WAY more than most people would want to be common knowledge.

If just anyone could have it mix a drink for them, some way to pay, and even tip (I'd tip a robot, wouldn't you?), would be good.

Liquor isn't cheap!

I know most people here don't, but try reading the actual paper. Clearly they were analyzing the risks and suggesting ways to put privacy back in the hands of the people.

how many people will be surprised about Google being the champion of privacy?

(this bird has flown?)

If they wanted to push it, they could always rebroadcast the program. I don't blame them for not doing so in light of Apple corp. objections, however.

Not all Beatles fans were around when the music was new (myself included), but it seems to me that if the rights-holders don't get with the program, the next generation could very well be Beatles free.

Wouldn't that be the real tragedy in all this?