Gizmodo is not the press, nor do they intentionally commit journalism. Assuming this is a valid Twitter account, here's what Gawker's Nick Denton had to say about it: @kensweet Yes, we're proud practitioners of checkbook journalism. Anything for the story! http://twitter.com/nicknotned/status/12467349291

The irony is lost on no one. On one hand, he apparently believes in personal responsibility and economic liberty, yet believes that Steve Jobs and Apple may not have the right to prosecute Gawker/Chan? Plus, my favorite part of the post was comparing Civil Rights legislation and our history with civil rights abuses as somehow analogous to Jason Chen and Gawker Media acquiring stolen property.

So, Apple hasn't the right to economic liberty?

How is it that Gawker/Chen are being personally responsible.

And Chris, I would partly consider my political philosophy to be small "l" libertarianism, so please spare the broad brush and avoid the rancor.

The thing is, he was just stating his opinion. Maybe he should have said something like this: "In my opinion, Gizmodo is in no way a journalistic enterprise, and furthermore they most likely have committed at least one Felony in the course of their "reporting"."

Well, because I can be quite reactionary at times, maybe some of my past comments have been unintentionally "trollish".

He did however foresee this eventuality, see the following, from "The Real Frank Zappa Book" :

We propose to acquire the rights to digitally duplicate and store THE BEST of every record company's difficult-to-move Quality Catalog Items [Q.C.I.], store them in a central processing location, and have them accessible by phone or cable TV, directly patchable into the user's home taping appliances, with the option of direct digital-to-digital transfer to F-1 (SONY consumer level digital tape encoder), Beta Hi-Fi, or ordinary analog cassette (requiring the installation of a rentable D-A converter in the phone itself . . . the main chip is about $12).

All accounting for royalty payments, billing to the customer, etc. would be automatic, built into the initial software for the system.

The consumer has the option of subscribing to one or more Interest Categories, charged at a monthly rate, without regard for the quantity of music he or she decides to tape.

Providing material in such quantity at a reduced cost could actually diminish the desire to duplicate and store it, since it would be available any time day or night.

Monthly listings could be provided by catalog, reducing the on-line storage requirements of the computer. The entire service would be accessed by phone, even if the local reception is via TV cable.

The advantage of the TV cable is: on those channels where nothing ever seems to happen (there's about 70 of them in L.A.), a visualization of the original cover art, including song lyrics, technical data, etc., could be displayed while the transmission is in progress, giving the project an electronic whiff of the original point-of-purchase merchandising built into the album when it was 'an album', since there are many consumers who like to fondle & fetish the packaging while the music is being played. In this situation, Fondlement & Fetishism Potential [F.F.P.] is supplied, without the cost of shipping tons of cardboard around.

We require a LARGE quantity of money and the services of a team of mega-hackers to write the software for this system. Most of the hardware devices are, even as you read this, available as off-the-shelf items, just waiting to be plugged into each other so they can put an end to "THE RECORD BUSINESS" as we now know it.

No, it's being done because THE WEST, it's philosophy of pluralism, and tolerance of diverse views, is in fact under attack when even ONE radical religious extremist decides that he or she cannot tolerate our tolerance, our views on speech, and our civil rights. I might agree with you if there were no death threats or actual murders in these cases, but if you think for a minute that these TERRORISTS are the Bear being poked, you are sadly mistaken.

Those offended need to man up and shut up.

If I were to threaten violence every time people made fun of Progressive Rock, I would be lampooned and baited too.

Would it make you feel any better if I told you that I hate every Abrahamic faith?

What I tend to do is, if there is a song on an album that I need, I will just download the torrent, open it in utorrent, and only choose to download that particular song.

You said it, brother.

Also, RIP Ronnie James Dio, the world has lost a giant!

You are wrong.

Thank You. Bunches.

This reply is in reply to all who replied to me: The place I see "racism" is in the very idea of the assumption that anyone from the south deserves to be denigrated and disrespected automatically, as if there are no ignorant people or bigots from elsewhere. I was not trying to troll, flame, or anything, I was just pointing out what I believe to be a common hypocrisy.

Racist much?

Still disagree with the main points, but yeah, I think the moderation system here is pretty goddamned stupid. You got moddded down for language?

Fucking goddamn jesus raping shitwhore niggers!!!

You're asking the average slashdotter for understanding?
That's sort of like Microsoft offering RMS or ESR a job, blank stares and about as understanding as a brick wall.

I love using Linux, for example, I don't have a problem getting my hands dirty with a kernel recompile, fucking with BASH, etc, but at least in my personal case, I don't need to have to compile software and worry about libraries and extra points of failure on a device intended for casual use, so I will not be swayed by the DRM and "walled-garden" criticism, as I simply don't need everything device I own to be open.

It's said that this iPad is not for the more geeky amongst us, and I call shenanigans on that, as you know damn well this thing will be soon jailbroken and you will be able to install your choice of terminal emulator, telnet, ssh, not to mention all sorts of great software in and out of the app store.

So, iPad naysayers, I get it, this device is not for you.
But it is for some, and that's the kind of thing that makes the world go 'round.