They didn't need to do a study on this. The voices in my head could have told them about this years ago. only reason I'm still employed, I think, maybe.

This is the main reason I have never used automatic updates. I always click on "Custom". Might be a little paranoid or anal, but I like to see what I'm being delivered.

Just wondering. Will the populous at large continue to allow these small steps in the erosion of personal liberties and privacy, or when too many people have become uncomfortable, will they finally stand up and revolt. Even then it might be too late. Part of me hopes to live long enough to see the uprising, but a part of me cringes at the thought of being around if it fails. Here in the States, most people turn a blind eye, as long as their way of life is not directly affected. I realize that a blogger is much different in the eyes of many journalists, than the traditional view. But when the line becomes hazy, where will legitimate on-line journalists fall. This will slowly affect more and more people that publish on-line. Laws are more apt to be expanded to include more violations, rather then spin the other way. Just wondering.

Apparently our elected officials don't use the internet, listen to the news, or GASP, even know how to read. Certainly these continued moves towards a police state can't be tolerated by our democratic overlords. Obama and his cabinet won't allow this to happen will they?

With every new day, comes a new bit of information that they are getting closer and closer to setting up shop in your home. Paranoid? Sure I am. Does it not bother anyone that more and more agencies and corporations are doing end runs around our rights. Set me down as far to the left as possible. I no longer care what is legal and what is not. Fiske is supposed to be an educated professional individual yet he gives no second thought as to the idiocy of what he is saying with these comments.

My dog is offended. He worked hard to learn how to twitter.

I use VLC almost exclusively. Sure it's not the best looking, but I have yet to have a blue screen come back at me and tell me that I need a special codec.

Nothing new. In the Air Force back in 1973, we had Rent A Cops manning the gates, but Real MP's with Real guns guarding the flight line and nukes. There was a "no bullshit" approach to security once inside those gates.

POWER.... I have seen it turn many people into mini tyrants. I've always held that until you know and have real high level power, you can't be aware of how totally addictive it can be. Sure, money is a driving force, but Power and the control that it gives a person can be so destructive. You have to do something to justify the job you were elected to do, and as far as I can tell, here in the States, government has never really fixed anything, so lets pass a law or two to get things rolling. But then it keeps rolling and rolling and rolling. Anyway, I'm getting off topic, but power can twist a lot of good intentions into "Do as I say".

Yeah, Flash does kinda make it too easy, but VLC can bypass that to. Flash has kind of wormed it's way into our lives over time, and no one, myself included, probably gives it (flash) a second thought.

LOL, true, Flash notwithstanding.

Call me paranoid, but this is just another reason why I have never installed a plug-in, or add-on video viewer on any of my machines. If I can't get it, and view in a standalone player like VLC, then I don't use it. The battle is probably lost on DRM and taking our machines from us, so to speak, but that doesn't mean I have to be quiet about it, or just blindly download anything they tell me to. Services like HULU and their ilk, may not be the best, but I don't need a special viewer install to enjoy them, and HULU is free.

Thank God for my ebay account, and their electronic statements. Coupled with a gmail account, and she is none the wiser. NO MAAM

I maybe should have been more detailed anyway. My point was on the hidden charges, the surprise charges, and the way the cell providers milk the extra dime. It would appear at first blush that I think cell phones are a bad thing. Far from it. This will of course cause me to review my posts a little closer, even though I will not stop taking my crazy pills. :)

AH! So you did take it personal.