On the Fence About Net Neutrality?

Actually, I am not opposed to government on the local (i.e., community) level- that is where it belongs. Small enough groups that can come together with a common purpose, sharing similar cultural norms- this is where government can be effective, and allows for the citizen who feels abused by the system to relocate to another community which is more accepting of the particular peculiarities resulting in discrimination within the original community...

It is BIG government to which I am opposed. I see no reason why the functions of the FCC could not be handled more efficiently by private enterprise (with, of course, adequate safeguards to prevent the private enterprise from regulating the competition out of business- a guarantee not provided by the current regulatory regime...)

I mark this off topic because I just had a thread pulled! Accused of starting a political discussion, when all I was doing was referring people to an article about the government wanting freer access to your private information about how you use the Internet...Doesn't getting a topic pulled rank me up there with the super-gurus?

I am seeing a trend here when compared with location. It appears you tend towards having alternatives to migrate between where government can have little oversight over your own activities, and some degree of disdain for social laws. I am guessing based on the whole rant about RICO being mis-applied against non-mafioso, you are in some sort of psuedo hiding from a federal court case that the US government has not found enough motivation to pursue. RICO is after all meant for organized crime and gets applied only in the most extreme cases, else bankers, CEOs, and suchwould get prosecuted. RICO is only applied against the most obvious organized criminal ventures and the associated m,embers that they can not find substantial evidence for direct involvement (smoking gun and DNA) in the crime on the scene, and then very hard to prove in court unless the criminal activities are violent, substantial, enduring, and blue collar.

One of the first cases RICO was used against was against a Banker, I forget his name, but he gained his fame by pushing penny stocks, and got the blame for bringing down the Savings and Loan industry single handedly. CEO's? What about Enron?

No, I am not in hiding from any government, although it is generally difficult, if not impossible to live a life totally free of legal infringements, simply because there are way too many laws (I have been guilty, for instance, of jaywalking, although it is not totally clear that this is illegal here in Panama). I am not disdainful of social customs, do my best to adjust my own behavior to the norm of the community in which I live. I do appreciate the fact that I have the freedom to chose the community in which I live- a privilege not enjoyed by the majority of people in this world.

I am not all that concerned about hiding my identity- it would be very easy for someone who was interested to track my activities on the net, because I use the same ID everywhere, and there are many places where that ID is associated with my name, location, and a variety of other "private" information that others might not feel comfortable sharing. My opinions are mostly public (I do keep some opinions secret just to maintain my personal sense of identity, but that is another subject). Mostly, I am not all that concerned, because, most likely, anyone tracking my activities would most likely die of boredom...

What I am really concerned about is winding up on someone's watch list because I inadvertently migrated to a questionable site- maybe a terrorist site, or a porn site, or a music piracy site- not something I would do intentionally- but the public records of which sites I visit do not include any information about my intentions. I get enough spam from promoters of morally questionable items to understand that once on gets on a list, it is impossible to get off the list...

So, just because I see RICO and the Homeland Security Act as eroding private freedoms does not necessarily indicate that I am in fear of prosecution. I oppose such laws on principle.

But don't I get extra points for having a topic pulled???