Of course shipping costs exist for brick and mortar purchases. It's just that they are borne by the brick and mortar store. By the way, depending on where you live, you may be violating state law by not paying the sales tax in your state when Amazon doesn't pay it for you.

Thanks for the informative post that was on topic. One question: with 1588 what sort of hierarchy do you set up? Does everyone have a rubidium or cesium clock attached?

I don't know who in Cisco your SP has been speaking with, but even within Cisco opinions vary. What we would probably all agree, however, is that people should pay attention to what is going on with v4 run-out, and particularly service providers, whose very growth has been tied to their unhindered ability to get address space.

How customers should react, however, is a far more complex matter that requires thoughtful consideration.

(not speaking for Cisco but myself).

Many many nations have signed the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime. At least one study in Singapore showed that acceding to the treaty, or even implementing provisions without acceding to it, reduces cybercrime within borders. See http://weis09.infosecon.net/ for the paper.