Wow! Just, wow. Such a detailed & complete database of interesting knowledge that I fully appreciate, but will never use. I commend you in the highest form.

At that level buyers & sellers are likely drug agnostic. They buy whatever sells & sell whatever is being bought. Profit margins are likely what’s driving the transition. However, & somewhat to your point, why not both?

Not Google bad. Google app bad. Expanding the statement from a specific app to an entire company is unnecessary & waters down the statement to an ideal. Ideals are fine & all, but they’re based on opinions rather than facts. There’s no reason to make the transition in this case.

That has nothing to do w/ the topic of operating a business in the EU. Essentially, you’re suggesting that people should be educated to avoid devious behavior rather than holding companies accountable to existing laws. Sure, education could make existing laws unnecessary, but that’s not really the question. You either operate a business lawfully or you don’t. Society is irrelevant in that conversation.

Sound argument, & ultimately I agree, but doing nothing isn’t, & will never be, the answer. However, in this case, there is a very clear arbiter. It’s the EU. That’s just how it is, right now, for operating a company in their region.

Sure, common & logical belief, but not how major corporations are allowed to operate under various forms of regulatory bodies across the globe. You may have an opinion, but your opinion holds 0 value. Welcome to the actual world of global commerce. Glad to meet you!

I would say it’s about as difficult as golfing. Try doing it a few times & maybe you’ll hit the ball. Keep at it & you can play the game on a course. Is there a learning curve? Yes, of course. Is it worth it? Yes, of course. Only you get the upside of the effort so nobody is going to do it for you. I mean, unless you pay handsomely for it. In the end…do whatever you feel is appropriate, but getting things that only benefit you w/o effort isn’t the world we live in.

It’s not just them, it’s everyone, just say different times. The moment the world allowed, & even heralded, wealth extraction over wealth creation everyone lost. Well, not everyone, a small number of people won impressively, like generational wealth levels, but we speak of them fondly. We assign labels like entrepreneur & genius to those folk.

Doing the (insert omnipotent being here)'s work! In these situations I always wonder if there’s a page, or something, that I should know about that describes all kinds of format/syntax requirements in 1 place. So, ugh, does that exist?

I guess my point was that consuming bandwidth to stream white noise from a phone that’s on for other reasons is a rather efficient use of resources. My assumption was that using running water wouldn’t be the retort because A) it’s more valuable than electricity & B) there’s a pump involved somewhere in the process. I assumed wrong, but we played the game & no harm was done.

Do you know a good way to do it w/o electricity?

It doesn’t, nor would anyone choose to return to that paradigm. It may be forced upon society by a critical mass event. I think the more likely result, say 500 years in the future, is that no form of money exists. Think Star Trek. I just think there’s too many people & not enough work to continue w/ paid labor that allows the idea of money to persist.

After dealing w/ many Chinese suppliers in various industries I believe the blame falls on the OEM. If you ask for cheap garbage then you’ll get that. If you ask for tightly specified designs that are properly designed for the process at a reasonable price then you’ll get that.

Correct. Failure in reality doesn’t generally imply death. Unless, of course, you’re a bank robber. In most other cases it implies learned knowledge that helps your succeed in your current objective. Failing during a job interview, for example, helps you get better at job interviews.

You like diving 12 folders deep to find the file you’re after? I feel like there’s better, more efficient ways to be organized using metadata, but maybe I’m wrong.

A custom ROM? No. An unlocked bootloader, standard ROM, & custom kernel? Yes.

Hundo P excrement!

I guess this is where I’d love to have this discussion in person over a drink of your choice because my point, albeit unclear, was that these systems that, on the face of it, “solve crime” shouldn’t exist no matter how much ‘good’ they offer. They have no control &/or limitation to their powers except by the person who decides to use them. I don’t see that as manageable. Ultimate power breeds ultimate corruption, if you will. It seems we’re at an ‘agree to disagree’ point & I’m OK w/ that result. Have a good day/week/month & please continue your efforts to healthy debate!

Right, but the moment you’re relying on who is in charge then the process is already broken. You have to assume the process is usable no matter who is in charge. I know it’s absolute, but it’s the only way.

Hatred of the universal level is the tippy top as far as I know. Maybe it’s a personal bet or, even better, a dare? You can’t back down from a dare!