To summarize: Fear of lawsuits is what corporations have instead of a sense of morality.
So, they are quite clear. Calling them up yields the result of “NO” but if you dig you will end up with someone who can answer your calls and it depends on the application. I know its possible to have them as when I was in the military I had access to a wide variety of equipment that could not only jam of eavesdrop as the security implementation is known and if you are an authorized entity you can have the equipment. Or, go to a place like Dubai or somewhere and buy it.
Getting caught is quite severe as the FCC is no longer fooling around. If you go this page and scroll down to Recent Enforcement Actions you will see a list of FCC actions against people, etc. Even if you cooperate you are going to not enjoy it.
Exactly. It’s also the last resort of a citizenry whose Government fails to hold corporations responsible for their actions.
For whatever reason, The citizens of the USA have yet to resort to demanding that our politicians serve us instead of the corporations. [/Palin Voice] Because we’re not socialists! ! ! [\palin voice].
That report also considered that super-heated coffee allowed more take-away sales by virtue of still being at a good serving temperature fifteen minutes after purchase. [/hijack]
To be honest, that cite does more to show that the FCC IS fooling around.
From the latest entry:
Four warnings?!? Looks like fooling around to me.
From the second most recent enforcement action:
Warning! No more! Ok, two more warnings.
Pretty weak, don’t you think? Certainly not severe.
Exactly right, TruCelt. Mainly because it’s exactly the way the laws have to be written and enforced for corporate structures to even work. The term “Corporation” comes from a latin root for “bodies” (as in “dead or alive”). If you don’t treat them as “legal persons”, no “actual person” will invest in one.
The legal concept of “Joint and Several Liability” really fucks with the model. I’ve seen companies go under because of “Joint and Several Liability”. Look it up. It pretty much puts paid to the idea of multiple people putting money into a venture. It makes you personally liable for all the actions of a company you only invested 1 buck into. Would you invest a buck in a company if you might wind up liable for 1 million times your net worth for that investment?
Which gets back to your original point. Hold “Corporations” liable for their actions. How do you hold a “Corporation” liable for murder? How do you execute it? Fine it a large enough amount to ensure the corporation dies is about all you can do. How do you set the fine, to ensure it’s death? That would depend entirely on the resources that the company has. 3M or IBM can afford a million buck fine, and consider that a cost of doing business. A rounding error in their bottom line.
But…
I have a friend who runs a motel. Charge him 10 thousand, and you’ve put him out of business. How do you set the method of “Punishing Corporations” so it doesn’t kill off small businesses like my friend owns (in partnership with several other small investors)? Preferably without killing off investment in small corporations, generally?
Percentage or total worth would be a good start.
That is related to one of the things that grabbed headlines in the coffee case. To oversimplify, the plaintiff asked for the equivalent of two days coffee sales (?) as a punishment/deterant. That gigantic number sparked popular (and generally uninformed) outrage.
Is the service actually jammed there, or could it just be an artifact of the building construction? I’ve been in quite a few office buildings where cells worked intermittently at best.
BTW - does the hospital still have that “turn off your cell phone or it’ll kill everyone inside” sign? The one nearest us (the Healthplex) doesn’t any more, I think. Since it’s pretty much been debunked, that is.
I suggest you start a new thread on the subject.