They (any party) would be able to tell if you really were on their side or just faking it ... with appropriate consequences to follow. They could ensure there are only True Believers in the Inner Circle. If you're not with us, you're not necessarily against us, but you'll certainly be blocked from anything important.

Darn! I just threw out my old Windows 10 computer with only 128 GB RAM because it wouldn't run Windows 11 well ... maybe that RAM could have been re-used in another machine somewhere.

Of course they did ... they learn from humans. We set the example.

If the reality is that ICE can shoot you at pretty much any time, without any real penalty, then you have no 'rights'. Rights are not something someone gives you, they're something that no one can take away.

Obviously not under government control, because they had no access to it, and it wasn't theirs anyway.

If it had a face and body (like a pokemon or a teddy bear, dog, or cat), people could relate to an 'assistant' more personally. Not sure if it's sad that people are supposed to relate better to robots than to other people, or simply that people are becoming so machine-like in modern life that they're attracted to anything other than people.

"they would have been crushed or acquired or worse by some bigger and meaner, dare I say more evil, corporate cancer".

Nope, nobody more evil.

I too hate the surveillance, but the good guys need tech at least equivalent to the bad guys to stand any chance of catching the bad guys. The bad buys will use whatever tech they can to get away, regardless of the rules.

How about this: The cops can have and use the tech to track people, but if it is shown to be unjustified (ie: privacy invasion does not prove guilt) that person can sue for a large amount, enough to discourage misuse. "Fruit of the poisonous tree" evidence would be allowed (if it proves the crime), but would be very costly to cops if it does not prove the crime.

The catch: the penalties would have to be enforced, and at present we don't even enforce the penalties for the crimes that are caught, so I don't know of a way to actually apply this. I'm open to suggestions.

It does help fish out the incompetent ones, the others are careful and good enough not to be caught.

Minor correction: signatories to the Budapest Memorandum were Ukraine, US, UK, and Russia... France and China gave individual assurances in separate documents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/....

Trump had two assassination attempts (July 13, 2024 – Butler, Pennsylvania rally and September 15, 2024 – West Palm Beach, Florida), they just happened to miss. Whether he deserved it or not is a matter of your viewpoint, but I suspect the threats and negative feelings increased only because of the times, nothing to do with the Meta speech rules. There are other channels to express viewpoints, and I suspect they're also increasingly against current politicians.

Trump is a businessman, that's how he runs his businesses. He's experienced, he declared bankruptcy six times, and he plans to do the same with the American economy (hey, it worked six times already, why not?).

Think how dumb the government agencies are. Now think about how you voted in the government and put them there.

Already solved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

.. All your base are belong to us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...