Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Yup.
The alternative is not worse, except to people who are too paranoid about losing control, and who don't understand that they've already sacrificed loads of it for the sake of convenience.
Have you cracked open your cellphone lately?
Fact is, every TV, radio and cellphone has to meet FCC standards before being legally used in the U.S. Every electrical device has to meet UL standards before being sold. Every scrap of food has to meet FDA regulations before being eaten. Every doctor has to meet AMA standards before they can see you. And every bank and credit card company needs your name, social security number, home address, age and next of kin before you can exchange a single dollar with them. Think about what all that implies. (Take all the time you need.)
Worried about laws getting strict? Dude, we're already there. And guess what? The world isn't descending into a Dark Age because of it. So you might as well stop moaning about some extra paperwork that you've already forked over to a half-dozen entities already, and the fact that you can't buy a Razr from the drunk on the street. Stricter copyright laws aren't going to kill anyone... they're only going to make the paranoid more paranoid.
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If you don't understand the difference between goods having to meet
real security standards before being sold (such as food not being poisonous or radio not exploding because you looked at it crossly) and a so-called security standard that really means that a public or private body can spy on you at will, I'd say there's unfortunately no hope for you to understand what my point is about.
What was that quote attributed to B. Franklin about security and liberty?..