Posts by Richard 68

'Draw Mohammed' call prompts Pakistan Facebook ban

Respect for the beliefs of others....

.... is a bit of a funny concept in itself. Respect should be shown for people, no doubt- but also for any half baked idea they not only have, but can't justify? Surely not.

Respect for people should be automatic. Their ideas on the other hand have to earn respect the hard way, by standing up for themselves in the cold light of rational criticism. Or even of irrational criticism, for that matter.

No idea or belief merits respect simply because someone holds it. Otherwise we just fall into weak kneed relativism, and have a hard time knowing what to do with the various Pol Pots, Hitlers - and Ayatollahs - whose ideas really merit very little.

Microscope-wielding boffins crack cordless phone crypto

Why?.... because

@Sean O'Connor 1: Your post reminds me somewhat of a comment heard from the Pope when they told him about Galileo's telescope and ideas: "All very clever stuff, but who gains from this work, other than the atheists?"

Google fined for book copyright

why should they copy my work without my say-so?

@ Roger Pearse: As a writer who feeds and clothes his family by putting pen to paper, and then selling the things I write, permit me to disagree. I *don't* consider that protecting my copyright is 'third world'- whatever that means. And - for the record- the Society of Authors (which is the nearest thing we British hacks have to a trades union) agrees with me.

Government claims on immigration ignore IT industry

I've always believed I was British, ever since birth...

...but since I failed the citizenship test I suppose I must be missing something.

I suppose that would explain a lot.....

Jim Hacker's comment here applies: Round objects!

Mine's the one with a new nationality in the pocket.

Amazon sued for sending 1984 down Orwellian memory hole

Easy Peasy

It seems to me there's an important ethical distinction here: Amazon sold the books illegally, but our friend DIDN'T buy them illegally, in the ethical sense, because he did it in good faith. So if Amazon were simply forced to pay royalties to the author's estate, out of their own pockets, a) everyone would be happy except Amazon- but the mistake is theirs- and b) none of this ruckus would have happened.

Easy Peasy.