Facebook can merge with Pinterest in a 50/50 merger, then it can justify the 100B valuation!

Note to publicus: it looks like this comment was flagged or downvoted enough to get your account algo-killed. Your subsequent comments are dead.

If you provide a service people wants, they will pay. Is it really that surprising?

Jury nullification will be at play here.

Voir dire will be used to make sure nobody who's ever downloaded anything sits on the jury, just as with Thomas-Rasset.

Do such people actually exist this day and age? Someone might not have downloaded anything themselves, but how likely it is they don't enjoy watching a downloaded movie with their grandkids from time to time?

I don't doubt that many of them exist, or at least don't know they don't exist.

After tossing out four jurors (the ones who had the most experience with file-sharing friends)... - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/jury-selecte...

Judge Gertner repeatedly sided with the plaintiffs, who objected to the presence on the jury of those who essentially admitted to the same activity of which Tenenbaum, a 25-year-old Boston University graduate student, stands accused. - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/tenenbaum-tr...

So much for "trial by a jury of your peers"...

Our descent into fascism continues.

It's not what you know, but who you know. Welcome to capitalism.

I've been waiting for retina desktop display for years, my wallet is open

My wallet is open for a 5120x3200 monitor, but I don't think it opens far enough.

There is a reason Goldman claims to be doing God's work on Earth...

Interesting that they'd choose the Greek flag as the next Windows logo...

It's the flag of Shetland, Calais, a historical flag of Iceland and some place in Estonia, but the Greek flag looks different.

Most Goldman exec should be executed already for crimes against the United States if that guy get's 8 years.

Recruiters are great at getting you bunch of practice interviews (at companies you don't care about).

Then you can go to the real interviews prepared ;)

Should not be surprised, we don't have real democracy after all.

There is still democracy. Join the pirate party. You'll get materials, information, etc, to present to other people.

If there's enough mass of people realising that the government and copyright cartels are bullshitting and using pirates as a bogeyman for economic problems, then the people will vote them out.

Its amazing, how many people you talk to who thinks all this is BS and the system is totally screwed, however it always translates to fuck-all votes at the polls.

You don't get real choices at the polls. We need to get rid of the winner take all system and replace it with a percentage based system.

For clarity: The upper house (the House of Lords) is appointed, rather than elected. The instant runoff voting was used to select which hereditory peers would be allowed to remain sitting in the house after the number of sitting hereditory peers was reduced to 90 in 1999, with the electorate being other members of the house.

What is real democracy if not representative democracy? Direct democracy?

Of course. Study how the Athenian Democracy worked for example, for, after all, this is the origin of our notion of democracy (and take the exclusion of slaves and women aside, as this was a historical accident --everybody did so then-- and not the essence of the Athenian democratic process --which nobody did like them then, or even now--).

But besides direct democracy (which has many forms), there are forms of representative democracy far more democratic. Like every percentage matters, so if a party gets 3% nationwide he gets 3% of the seats, instead of losing it to a "winner takes all" scheme.

You dont even have to go that far back in history. Switzerland has a thriving, functioning democracy where anyone can get into politics, the will of the people is what counts most and all actions by politicians can easily be overturned by a referendum.