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How, dare I ask, does one "opt out" of a govt subscription service ?

Some private companies make it so hard these days (Adobe & NYT being the kings of subcription dark patterns), I am curious how the process goes with a govt entity like the BBC ?


One tells them to fuck off when they turn up at the door. And off they fuck.

> How, dare I ask, does one "opt out" of a govt subscription service ?

Currently, by not using a television.


Quite easily. I haven't had a licence for over twenty years.

TV Licensing has no right of access to your home, so if they turn up, you can turn them away. You also ignore their letters. TV licensing is actually a private company separate from the BBC and the government.

In order to get access, they have to apply for a warrant to get into your home. To do that they have to fill out a lot of paperwork. If you have a TV (and I don't), it should not be visible or audible from anywhere outside these little toerags can hear/see it.



water to the face ?

Would that work ?

Seems benign enough that its not going to earn you a visit to the judge, but should disable most electronics, no?


Who of us hasn't accidentally performed a spit take of a mouth full of beer into someone's face?

the MOTOROLA ATRIX [1] paired with its Ubuntu lapdock [2] ... from 15 years ago (2011) would like to disagree!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapdock


Countering "most Motorola phones don't support video out" by going back a decade and a half to find a single example is not the argument-ending line you seem to think it is

Chill dude, I think they were being a little glib

You are going in the right direction.

I think its more :

if your taxable income during OR post-office exceeds (some 1,3,5 yr average) prior high watermark income, or the officeholder's salary (whichever is higher), every penny over high watermark is taxed at 99% tax rate.

That should take care of those pesky "speaking fees" and other nonsense that makes politicians rich.


The government has always had monopoly over violence.

Not only in the US, but everywhere else there is a government.

Arthropic is trying to make that a corporate prerogative, which is why its causing such a stir.


Conscientious objectors are recognized under US law

US law is not recognized under this administration

That doesn't make the above statement any less true and worth mentioning.

Yes, but also remember where they came from.

They don't have any brand poison, unlike nearly everyone else competing with them. Some serious negative equity in tha group, be it GOOG, Grok , META, OpenAI, M$FT, deepseek, etc.

Claude was just being the little bot that could, and until now, flying under the radar


I understand that Anthropic has one of the most popular products in the market.

But no one, especially the government, should get in bed with them, when anthropic leadership has a track record trying to use their early mover advantace, to effectively create an AI cartel [1]

I'm glad Anthropic is getting a taste of their own medicine.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-10-15/anthro...


I can't grok this comment. Are you pro or anti-cartel?

very much anti cartel

Any company using a huge $$ war chest to shower themselves in regulation, is likely trying to usurp market powers from the public -via congressional bribes- to themselves.


How is this different from… any of their competitors?

Anthropic officially funds lobbyists in excess than other huge companies like Microsoft or Amazon. Its latest $20M outlay [1] alone is more that the spend of either company. Their lobbying spend combined is now on par with companies like META, which have tons of regulatory battle fronts (unlike Anthropic)

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2026/02/20/ais-bigges...


You have described here all of Silicon Valley, VC and Y Combinator lol.

You're smoking something funny. They have just shown they are willing to designate a US company as essentially a foreign spy agency because they wanted to try and renegotiate a contract and didn't get what they wanted and that's your reaction?

>>>> willing to designate a US company as essentially a foreign spy agency

Can you quote where I said that ?


You wrote:

> I'm glad Anthropic is getting a taste of their own medicine.

I took that to mean that you support the Pentagon's threat which essentially IS to label Anthropic as a national security threat, simply because they wouldn't give the Pentagon the right to use Anthropic's AI to operate weapons or spy on American citizens.


Big fish tries to use their might to kill off small fish .

Anthropic uses big $$ it to become big fish in the AI pond.

Anthropic just found there are bigger fish in their pond.

I'm glad Anthropic have been reminded of this. THat doesn't mean I endorse the US govt using law to make companies a "national security threat" , although its an extremelt easy path from: monopolistic to -> active "national security threat".

Govt can, and in fact, has a mandate to, go after businesses when those businesses threaten a functioning market. Threatening is certainly part of that arsenal.

That's what anticompetitive rules are all about.


You are deliberately or accidentally confusing a lot of things here. This is not some anti-monopoly maneuver by the... DEPARTMENT OF WAR.

can you quote where they claimed the above was your statement?

You are correct, but I can't change my comment now.

I stand corrected


>>> They don't look like it because theydon't have a history of foreign colonialism or slavery like the West

>>> CCP's worldview, diversity is not a strength

These two sentences are contradicting each other.


Second order effects is where the real damage is done.

That extra tax specialist could have been an additional production line worker, which would have created volume, which would have lowered prices, which would have made inputs for other goods cheaper, etc.

It is really wild when you think at a macro level, how much value is destroyed, all due to indirect costs which are extremely difficult to estimate.


i'm the same as you, but YT has started to place its content behind sign-in wall

Anon usage + uBlock and VPN, is a dead man walking


> YT has started to place its content behind sign-in wall

Any examples of that?


Try opening any monetized video behind a VPN service, with a clean browser cache, and not using chrome .

50/50 it will play, without logging in 1st


yt-dlp has to have you install an entire JS runtime for it to function now.


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