"it is my hope that they hire people like them who have changed their lives and are now ready to contribute to society, pay taxes, follow the law, support their families..." Maybe the companies themselves could use a bit of rehabilitation

I'd like to see the details of the case you mention where someone is being barred from showing an English flag outside their house. I've got an inkling that it's completely made up. And it's nothing to do with Sharia. Coercion within families is an issue in itself (and one that deserves attention) but what I was saying is that Sharia law doesn't affect anyone except two parties entering a dispute, and has no legal backing beyond what is granted to any ombudsman (a secular equivalent would just be any trusted 3rd party).

What aspect of 7th Century barbarism am I making excuses for? I'm pretty sure they didn't have civil legal proceedings back then.

Sharia law is only used in civil disputes - it has the same power as any ombudsman service, and in order to use Sharia law in a dispute (could be neighbours, or small businesses) both parties must agree to that method of mediation. Non-Muslims are never forced to become involved in Sharia proceedings because they aren't proper courts of law. This is just a shock tactic used to make it seem like the UK is being 'taken over' by Islam - it couldn't be further from the truth.

"The store appears to be US-only, but if you don't live there you should be able to get away with just putting in an American address." So like what Amazon does on their tax form, but in reverse?

If only the French Resistance had a couple of single-shot plastic-barreled guns! Or maybe we should give some to the Syrian rebels - Assad won't stand a chance!

I hope you're right. I'd like to see a return to the simplicity of 'casual' consoles like the N64, except with the self-starter mentality we've got with phones and tablets. Not everyone wants the next photo-realistic Battlefield of Duty Modern Ops 5 for £50 to play on their £400 console, there are some great indie developers out there who, given the right demand for their games, could make some great stuff. The only issue is whether casual gamers would adopt it: mobile games are so successful because loads of people bought smartphones for reasons other than gaming. The big consoles will always have the upper hand on marketing so that'll be the difficult part.

The first example they used in the article is a covert recording, and I assume this means on a portable device. I know very little about electricity but surely the frequency of the national grid has no effect on recordings made on battery-powered devices?

Considering this view that entertainment should be free is so prevalent on /. I was wondering how many people agree with Richard Stallman's view that software should be free, and no-one should have to pay for it. I'd wager that, since many people here work as software developers (myself included) we disagree with RMS. It's good to be content with getting a million likes instead of a million dollars, but my landlord doesn't accept likes.