As the targets of the program are terrorist or their affiliates, no reasonable person could argue that an enemy combatant, using domestic communications of the enemy they wish to harm, would expect that no one would listen. This may be a benefit of a U.S. citizen, but not the enemy.

If the President is as certain as you are that the people being wiretapped are genuine terrorists, then why doesn't he obtain the required FISA warrants?

your Apple hardware the day they announce new Apple hardware

I have an NEC ND-1100A drive (DVD+R/RW) that I bought for under $200. I bought a stack of 100 Ritek 2.4x DVD+Rs for about $1.30 per disc, which seemed very reasonable to me. I remember when CD-Rs were over a dollar a disc, too, and at the time I thought that was worth it for copying^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hbacking up music and games.

I've copied^H^H^H^H^H^Hbacked up 35 DVDs since I got the drive. I have a Pioneer set-top player that I'd guess is 4 years old anyway, and a Playstation 2, and both play the movies without a hitch. I've brought them to a friend's place and they played in his player as well, though I didn't note the model. I'm not sure where the impression comes from that DVD+Rs don't work in anything and nobody uses them. I didn't read the article, but before I bought my drive I did what research I could, and there was a site I found that listed hundreds of set top players and the vast majority of them played DVD+Rs fine... if there was any problem, it was with +RW, but -RW wasn't exactly universal either. And why would anybody want to burn DVD movies onto DVD+RW/DVD-RW anyway? Do you burn movies, watch them, delete them, and then record onto the DVD again as if it were a VHS tape? I mean, you're already saving $19-some dollars if you're swiping a buddy's copy to make the disc, why not pony up the extra dollar and change and have copies of all of them? (This is a hypothetical question, as everyone on Slashdot knows that nobody abuses fair use rights.)

I've used my burner for legitimate reasons too. I have ~75gb of legal mp3s that I made from my own cds (I immediately rip and encode every cd I buy and then put the cd in one of my cd books at home. A couple years ago when I was getting ready to come to college, I didn't want to risk someone walking into my dorm room and walking out with 600+ cds just by lifting my three cd books, so I didn't bring them with me) and that I don't share on Kazaa or anything similar, and I would be forced to commit suicide if I were to boot to an unrecoverable fsck error, or my drive were to set fire (did I mention I have four IBM drives? I am a master hardware buyer), or any number of other things were to happen and I was caught without backups.

And as appealing as burning 110+ cds sounds... no thanks. Though I must admit, I anxiously await the day where blank DVD+R/DVD-R (whichever format wins out, I don't care) discs can be had for $.30 a piece in retail stores.

Isn't one of the implications of the Open Source model that ESR, etc. developed that software development houses /aren't/ the natural way to profit from software? I've always thought that the best way to make money from open-source software was to work for a business who was paying you to develop for the software products that they use. A business may have a difficult time profiting from OSS, but many, many individuals, working at different companies on the same project, may make a tidy living for themselves, and the bottom line of each of those companies improves because they are sharing the cost of development. no?