|||||\Intel engineers and former engineers that post here did not study the
US Constitution, haven't got a clue what it means to be an American(as
opposed to a citizen of a totalitarian state), and do not understand the
role they are carving out for all of us with the public as enemies of
personal freedom.||||
It is this kind of idiotic drivel that makes me despair of living in a free state. You obviously know nothing of what the Constitution guarantees and what it does not. You confuse the Government and private corporations. The vague attempt to extent Constitutional protections to private citizens against private corporations always fails. It is precisely that attempt that makes a state totalitarian -- i.e. that there is no distinction between public and private. Under our Constitution a private corporation not clothed with powers of government can do anything it damned well pleases as long as there is no violation of the law. What law is broken if Intel only sells chips to people who want "caller identification?" I can understand why child abusers and thieves and others are unwilling to have their machines identities known, but I find it a terrible nuisance to have to go through a bunch of certificates to log in to a brokerage or university. I would pay extra to be able to authenticate my presence through hardware or software.
But the real problems is fascists like you insist on telling others how they shall trade and what they shall sell. No one is required to buy a PIII or Sun or any other ID machine. They can buy something, make something else, or go to hell.
Privacy is under law and the Constitution only found under the "penumbras" of the bill of rights, as my main man Douglas declared many years ago. There is no direct protection under USC as there is under many state constitutions. In any event, the protection only applies against the state. Try to protect your email from your employer's prying eyes, or your crotch from the cameras in the john. Forget about it. Our vile courts consistently rule you have no expectation of privacy. Instead of sweating computer privacy (and you can always mail through Finland if you wish) why not spend your time protecting persons against intrusion from data banks, dat warehousing, and all the neat stuff that hands you your next purchase through the door before you've even chosen it.
But most important, remember that the Constitution was not intended to protect anyone from other private persons. It was the Federal Government, and only the Federal Government that had to be restricted. Only with the 14th Amendment in 1868 were the States restricted. Never have private firms been constrained except for Prohibition. |
