Comment Re:False Flag Reasoning. (Score 2, Insightful) 228
Comment Re:Is that server ...around 150 years from now? (Score 1) 209
Brewster Kahle of Internet Archive fame has indeed worked upon addressing your concern. His solution is a multi tiered approach. Adapted here, it becomes: First, volatile copies would be available from local nodes such as p2p & torrents. Second level medium copies are available from volunteer archives whose function is to coral cache / distribute loads for spot questions and curious onlookers.
Then the higher level copies are the universities themselves, whose servers are more focused on heavy users. At the final level a few people do extinction checks and if too many sources go down they would repopulate the web with the text again down the layers.
Comment Re:Responsible for his acts (Score 1) 279
It is a fascinating defense though. Psychological conditions are indeed correlated with troublesome behavior. He may in fact currently be in that social skill difficulty range. I agree with you that he is indeed responsible for his actions.
Suppose he believed some of the arguments we have seen defending such activities as the path of last resort to raise awareness of both security and the growing unrest among the people. His legal team may have chosen this defense in an attempt to lend credibility to those beliefs to the jury.
The question I ask of you is this: Do digital Robin Hoods deserve leniency if their intentions appear to be sufficiently instructive?
Comment Re:Applying math to society. (Score 1) 153
I like math too, but I like it for it's purity. Applying simple Algebra to society seems like a simplistic model.
Hello. I enjoy applying simple mathematical models to help clarify complex situations. As long as the limits of the model are kept in mind, modeling can reveal insights.
For example, I regard current affairs as a fairly simple variant on the Prisoner's Dilemma. As long as we are yet unable to move swiftly as a united populace upon political matters, the current incumbents can maneuver into retaining abusive advantages for themselves.
However, soon we will have a social *voting* service, which has the potential to devastate politics as we know it. 100 million instantaneous simultaneous votes coordinated unanimously can vote out the *entire* federal government, all at once. Then with a new President, some 530 new members of congress, and other elected officials, we can start over and make ourselves a new country. Then at last the corporations will be put back into their place.
Comment Re:Economy (Score 1) 153
I have not studied the topic of secession, so I ask of you: presuming those funds are not emergency-locked by Washington DC, how would such an entity survive the wrath of the military?
Comment Re:Airports, of all places (Score 1) 178
Comment Re:Failings (Score 2) 178
...Cops are people too, with all the usual failings.
I disagree. Quality officers are supposed to be beyond the *usual* failings. It is quite clear than an officer who absconds with something feels differently about it than a civilian. The difference flows from their duty to honor. Low level officers who cannot maintain their duty are indeed people, sometimes nearing the limits of their capacity.
Comment Re:up to speed (Score 1) 178
...I'm not confident the people they hire to run those checkpoints are fully up to speed.
I agree. We must also remember that agents may push the boundaries to enhance their image. Then when they are called to task, they cite a gap in training. Always assume malice. Errors are a gift.