Meshugger

That

What you stated earlier is simply a complete misunderstanding of all elements involved. Completely ignorant that this information was not specific to a specific person and place and that there are a large number of people who readily disagree with you on your assessment of what wikileaks has been doing for the past 4 years. Wow, are you even trying? This took almost 10 seconds to Google.

Exactly. The moral thrust of civil disobedience is to do what you think is right, regardless of the cost or retribution that may come from the authorities. Evading that retribution greatly undercuts the moral authority with which you speak. That said, that doesn't necessarily mean that the U.S. has any existing legal authority to reach him. Most of the speculation I've seen centers on the Espionage Act of 1917, which seems like a pretty thin reed to go on. I've been on the record that there hasn't been anything all that newsworthy in what he's leaked. The damage to the level of secrecy required to have a functioning diplomatic system-- which is a pretty major concern when the country involved is the primary actor in dealing with the "problem" states in the world on behalf of the rest of the West-- has been the main casualty. But the recent disclosure of the US's list of essential infrastructure sites changed my mind about that. Most of those sites could be reasoned out by a sophisticated attacker, but the vast majority of would-be terrorists who'd like to damage the U.S. aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed (witness the attempted shoe- and underwear-bombing numbskulls), and an itemized target list removes a serious obstacle from their bid for martyrdom. That's the kind of leak that can get people killed. You seem to want hold him accountable for the leaks in the US. But what about Russia, Saudi-Arabia and China? Should he stand trial for civil disobiedience there as well? Should he face the consequences and retribution from their part? However, if one takes a realistic approach to this, he is what Napster was to the recording industry. It doesn't matter whether you try to hang him or shut wikileaks down, pandora's box has been opened and nothing will be the same. The days of old-style realpolitik and backroom deals has come to an end.

Pics?

Swiss bank, paypal, Visa and MasterCard has cancelled any transactions to Wikileaks now. Man, even the african dictators get away with that. We have a war on terror, war on drugs and poverty, but the biggest political-financial effort is focused on this guy. He really seems to have caused a rockus on the "establishment". However, Ron Paul summed it up nicely: "In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble." Damn straight. Also,

The US can't do jack shoot about Assange. He hasn't done anything that's illegal. I donated 20 bucks today to wikileaks btw.

i c what u did thar

Our HQ doesn't really give a shoe. We have a christmas-tree and other decorations. No one has complained about it either since they know that the argument itself is ridicolous and it would make them look stupid. Yes, it is a multinational company.

What a total GITS ripoff. Yup, i would even wager that they saw the intro of GITS: Innocence and almost copy+pastet it. Still, anyone who shows appriciation to GITS is okay in my book.

What's the matter with you? You always seemed to be have well thought-out ideas and constructive criticism. What's with the "hurr-durr-liber-ulhz"?

They still do, you can find a whole bunch of them on Youtube oddly, of all places. Scene itself is still about cracking the games, as they compete with each other etc. and have their rules and what not. But I guess "leechers" have definitely undergone what you've described (which was my mistake of your meaning, I think). I wasn't aware of that. I thought that most of the quit because they were sick of the leechers, my bad.

I would say that then it was more about cracking the game itself than pirating it. The crackers even had their own custom intros with a custom soundtrack as well, you sure do not see that anymore.

Exactly. However they are punished way more than shoplifter, which they are. Which is partly why piracy has grown from something that poor students do into a subculture of its own.

they had toilet paper in medieval europe? I though that it only occured to them in 19th century I would be surprised if a world that dabbles in all kinds of magic failed to invent a toiletpaper. It is fantasy after all

Here i thought that it was just her not having a concept of basic hygiene. Grim and dark people do not care about toiletpaper when there's a dragon to slay. Oh well.

Bingo! As long as there are govermental agencies, officials and authorities that decide what people should know, there will be a need for something like wikileaks.

Meh

The influence that piracy has on lost sales can not even be proven to begin with. Would person X have bought product Y at all to begin with if he didn't downloaded it? I sure do not know. Piracy is a side effect of technology being ahead of the business models that companies use. The only way is for companies to adapt (spotify) or to declare bankrupcty. What the question is however, is how they should be punished. The current law makes them worse than 2nd degree murder, rape and arson, and actually stealing a box of DVDs from a store. This of course, is so excessive that it is not funny, and most people can smell the b-crap. The way it is now, pirates and crackers will be considered to be rebels against a corrupt system until it is changed. But again, the question is what is the proper measure?

In a true anarcho-capitalistic society, BP wouldn't have existed in the first place. /smartass

I got to give it for EA's marketing department though. They managed to keep my interest by playing the guessing-game.

Scrap that, Sarah Palin just sworn alliegence to the Best Korea.

Nothing major will happen. Unless the new supreme leader of the Best Korea has a screw loose, there will be some minor skirmishes here and there + some silly rhetoric. The only plausible reason was that the family of Kims wishes to demostrate their power, both internationally as domestically. China, Japan and especially South Korea are not interested in an open conflict. Add the interests of Russia and the US to equation as well and there will be more "peace"-talks, more foreign aid and new trade regulations that will benefit the state of the Best Korea.

Just to clarify, while i do make more money working as an engineer in the private sector, i do miss the times from working within academia. People at work only talk about building houses, kids, the rent and more kids. At the university, we would during a coffee break speculate about what would happen in the gravitational singularity in a black hole.

Sure they do, working in academia is actually very well paid