(resent) At 09:22 PM 10/4/03 -0400, Tyler Durden wrote:

I also have a firewall and a router, neither of which I have truly geek-levels of intimacy using.

True. Not even expensive. Don't even need hardware. Marcy is blaming the Redmond disco for the STDs she picked up by banging anything that smiled at her there. When she could have protected herself and even enjoyed that disco, if that's her taste. Given freedom to act, you wear a condom. You don't sue the disco for failing to dispense free condoms, or failing to screen its clients. Or even failing to prevent you from being promiscuous. Marcy is doing that. She may as well sue Postel's estate, or the SMTP RFC authors for spam. The law should not protect against stupidity, or even masochism, or their consequences. Just *nonconsensual* transactions. Pretty simple.

The tool analogy may be a weak one, though. Imagine a drill that somehow pollutes the electical supply so much that the guy next door can't use his electronics.

random while driving: it's one thing to affect the driver, but if he's going to take me out because of his tool then it's time to get that crap off

What part of "shall accept all interference and not generate interference" is difficult to understand :-) Or in the modern world, what part of "unlicensed spectrum" is? In the optical domain: My local police log had "incident: victim offended by religious sticker on vehicle" in their police log. I have written to them asking if this is a joke, or if they were being polite to some crackpot by taking a report. Accept all interference, baby. Do not sue the printer of stickers you can't handle. Or imagine a car that actually disengages the steering wheel at the

road.

Agreed. Where I grew up, a car had to have a brake exam every year. In Calif, no such test, only smog occasionally. The brake exam seems fairer, because the harm you can do to others is more focussed. Though given the pop density and atmospheric conditions, and that pollution beyond your property is a legit libertarian harm, Calif's smog check is probably reasonable. ... Some dude found that if you spin up a CD on a Dremel it will spray sharp shards when it disintegrates. Should we sue Phillips or Dremel? Maybe we should call Dana Taschner, *he'll* know. (Hint: Who has more money, Phillips or Dremel?) ... People who are willing to rely on the government to keep them safe are pretty much standing on Darwin's mat, pounding on the door, screaming, "Take me, take me!"--Cael in A.S.R.