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Old 06-18-2008, 02:07 PM   #257
Steven Lyle Jordan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tirsales View Post
Okay. You, the shopkeeper, install a team of security guards in front of your shop doors. Then you throw everybody out and let only people enter your shop who you explicitely trust and who sign a contract to not use the stuff purchased at your shop in the following ways (enter long list) and let you the shopkeeper enter their flat and keep track of their (that is the customers) phone calls so you can control that contract.
Guess what - you will not have a single customer.

...They are based on hysteria, on an unreasonable fear of change.
You would seem to have an unreasonable fear of security (and of change) yourself. You're speaking of something as if it is a threat to human rights... when it's really only a threat to your buying a book, and someone else making a buck. That's a bit of an over-reaction, I think, and (only) one of the reasons this issue has gotten nowhere for so long.

You're suggesting that security must be extreme to the point of ridiculousness... and it does not. Security is as simple as having your cash register before the exit. It's as simple as a security camera watching for shoplifters unobtrusively from the ceiling. It's as simple as requiring a signature for a credit card process. All of these methods are standard practices, satisfactory for the majority of shopkeepers' security issues, and it doesn't lead to customers screaming "Anarchy!" and rushing into the nearest orchard to steal apples from a hapless farmer.

(And the internet IS anarchy. People do what they want, say what they want, lurk about anonymously, hack into and attack other people's computers without fear of punishment, tap into forbidden networks, post other people's property illegally, and take things for free that they are not entitled to. Like it or not, that is anarchy. The internet was designed by idealistic scientists and technicians who couldn't imagine anyone would want to intentionally do something bad on their network. Guess what? Their opinion of human nature was a bit off-base.)

I'm a liberal, too. But I'm also a realist. And as a realist, I can accept that some things have to come with caveats, in order for them to work. Houses come with doorlocks. Cars come with registrations. Driving requires a license. Credit cards require monthly payments. How well would these things work without their caveats? Not well, and everyone knows it. So we accept the caveats, and we can get along with our lives and some sense of security... not 100% perfect, but there nonetheless.

This is why I say some security would be a help. And I refuse to accept the notion that any and all forms of security are EVIL, ABHORRENT, and ultimately futile.
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