It is probably pretty easy to 'justify' this type of national security corporate espionage in the name of national security. This type of corporate espionage was probably able to help us create the Stuxnet virus as that used vulnerabilities in some pretty specific hardware to do it's job and the companies themselves are not always going to help out the US Government, especially if they are a foreign entity. So they could easily say there is a national security need for this type of information collection as it could be used for similar reasons, though there are plenty of other reasons I'm sure we could come up with to 'justify' it too. I mean, this is a country where we are able to 'justify' the need to collect everyone's phone call information even with nothing to show for it.

If these jokes are as funny as party book jokes from the 70's and computation power doubles every 18 months, it won't be long before we see the arrival of a quality Louis MB comedy routine.

Since they already can't seem to find the little utility knives I bring in I have to wonder if the real reason they aren't worrying about them any longer is simply because they are so bad at finding them. I am sure that during the internal security checks these little knives would be missed the majority of the time by screeners so what better way to solve the problem of not finding banned items than by not including them as banned items in the first place. They already can't find bomb parts during the tests so what chance do these small knives have -- http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/08/report-undercover-tsa-agent-smuggled-fake-bomb-past-security-screeners-at-newark-airport/

I usually have a swiss army knife on my keychain but didn't like the idea of them forcing me to throw away a $30 knife so I bought one of the Utili-Keys specifically so that I could carry it on a plane knowing it would never be found without a thorough search (and hasn't after many dozens of flights). And there were many many times I forgot to swap knives over the years and I only got caught once with the swiss army knife (shortly after they were originally banned) and was able to return it to my car instead of having it thrown away. I look forward to not having to swap, heck maybe now I'll keep both of them on my keychain.

... http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/02/01/1427226/public-domain-prosthetic-hand Yes. The answer is yes.

Turing surely shouldn't be the only one. But he's a damn good catalyst to get things going to pardon everyone prosecuted under such an unjust law. Do you think this would be brought up at Slashdot (or elsewhere) if the article said 'We need to Pardon Bob Smith for having committed the crime of being gay'?

Yeah, that's why I think runaway slaves should be and forever will be looked upon poorly. I mean, they knew what they were doing was against the law. Harriet Tubman was just a lawbreaker and enabler for those criminals, plain and simple. And Rosa Parks was just a troublemaker who deserved to go to jail. And those stupid interracial couples daring to love each other when the laws clearly stated that wasn't allowed. Don't you know two consenting adults can't just go around having sex with whomever they want and think that the government shouldn't be punishing you for it. (sorry I don't know British equivalents though I am sure there are plenty)

So should we also require that they record 2 years worth of our voice conversations as well? How is recording the content of a text message different than recording the content of a voice call, other than that one requires more space. Heck, who needs laws anyway, the NSA is probably doing both ways already anyway.

Great, way to make the game orders of magnitude longer.

I guess Amazon is just a One Click Pony.

I went to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for ME (they have an aerospace option, which I didn't take). What was great about their program is that you have to do mandatory co-ops. You go to school for 5 years instead of the normal 4, but over a year of that time is spent working for other companies. And you have to hunt for the jobs and apply for them just as you would for any normal job after graduation. Even though it is tough sometimes to find a place to co-op that you want and who wants you in the end it is worth it for the experience of the job hunt and quite frankly it pays much better than most summer jobs you'd find (unpaid internships aren't allowed). And since classes are designed so you don't just co-op during the summer you may have a better chance at getting an internship in the Fall, Winter or Spring at a desired company since you won't be competing with so many other applicants during the Summer. While I did find a co-op at an Aerospace company and I was excited to get it, please remember that you may not enjoy all of the types of jobs that those companies offer. The co-op I did there was more related to Manufacturing engineering, so quality control and processes and lots of tedium. No better way to find out what areas of your field you DON'T want to do than to spend a few months actually doing it. Experience is key to finding out what you really like to do but it doesn't have to be all on-the-job training. Be sure to look for hands-on extra-curriculars that a school offers, not just courses you may think will interest you. Again, I know I'm pimping RIT, but they have an Aero Club that does more than just make simple RC model airplanes (they've sent stuff to space!), but also have clubs for other Mechanical enthusiasts like Formula-1 and FIRST Robotics that often can consume large portions (sometimes too much) of your free time. And remember, if you aren't happy at one school there is no shame in transferring. Don't force yourself to stay at a school you hate just because you feel like you have to finish what you started.

The 'Colbert Nation' is a bit bigger than the 'Perens Nation' so I think that you are going to be rather unsuccessful in your venture.

I'm pretty sure this is an old idea. I believe they even had this type of station shown in that great show 'Beyond 2000'. But they did clarify 'FIRST OF ITS KIND', so of course its the first of its kind based on all the criteria which only fit this particular deployment.