Two things sort of on topic: first, I remember that AT&T U-Verse had some issues in one of the states due to its privacy policy (want to say that it was WI and there was a big deal with that a couple years ago). Second, according to what they use in the training materials, they do indeed need to have your SSN due to government regulations (same reasons why you're supposed to have a physical address and not just a P.O. box for things like credit cards and cell phones). That being said, I see exactly where you're coming from and am afraid of losing what little privacy we have left. There's also the little cameras that Comcast at least was thinking about putting inside their set-top boxes along with "body recognition software" to further data-mine what you watch. I remember that that was a selling point for U-Verse when that was leaked from Comcast.

Well, when I first downloaded linux, it was in the form of a simple text file encoding of where to punch the cards...okay, maybe not, but it sure seems like there's a competition for that one, and I don't really have a chance considering I first downloaded Knoppix (3.2 if memory serves) for my first taste of linux. Since then, I've definitely downloaded >50 linux isos. If you count BSD's, then it goes even higher (but still higher than >50 is still >50). Since that first Knoppix, I've downloaded several versions of Knoppix, various forms of Fedora, Mandrake\Connectiva\Mandriva, been with *buntu since the beginning, etc. My favorites from the early days after branching out from Knoppix were College Linux, BeatriX (which I can't even count how many times I downloaded isos for, but was using that in cheap PCs without HDDs), and Libranet (was actually considering purchasing 3.0 when they died). If I were home instead of at work, I could list off a long list of burned isos, as I still have ~90% of the ones I've downloaded over the years (though I recently did clean out my disc binder...even though the discs removed still haven't made it to the trash). Also, do isos pulled off of magazine DVDs count? If so, then again, my number goes higher...

How disappointing that love has not come out of your mouth yet

Wait, you mean it's not spelled "Micro$oft"? I thought that Gates changed the spelling to further his "evil nerd" persona...

So do phrases