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Fairly simple question. I've been steadily learning about free societies since I got into Stef. One debate I listened to with him featured an opponent who argued that: (A) Insurance companies are seemingly capable of great evil, so why would we put so much trust in them? (B) We aren't a connected enough society for economic ostracism to work. (A) seems fairly straightforward. In a free society, competition would basically keep insurance companies in line. As soon as one started acting shadily, you could jump to another one with more honest practices. I'm guessing we would see something like Yelp on steroids. (B) is more interesting. (Maybe it's my memory, and please tell me if it is) In the research I've done so far, I haven't heard a strong proposal on how this would be dealt with. My instinct is that everybody must be in a universal database. When a person violates the NAP, and refuses to play nice with a DRO, they get a flag like "Didn't keep his contract, owes ACME landscaping company $300," or "This man is accused of murder, click here to discuss and vote for his guilt or innocence in the case forum." Hell, I'm on board already. Funny anarchy is still better than statism. #snowcrash But hey, huge databases with the power to assassinate our characters, isn't that kind of asking for the maintainer of said data to abuse that power? I'm probably being incredibly short-sighted here. Feel free to respond with a copypasta about combine harvesters and ancient tree juice.

http://www.infowars.com/google-secretly-spying-on-computer-users-via-microphones/ http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/23/google-eavesdropping-tool-installed-computers-without-permission Private communications have been recorded in mass without consent and sent to third parties due to a feature of Google Chrome web browser called "Ok, Google". We all share concern over governmental agencies such as the NSA spying on individuals' communications (texts, phone calls, e-mails, Facebook exchanges, and more), but to what degree do we need to protect ourselves from monolithic corporations like Google, Apple, or Facebook? To what degree are these companys' stored communications shared with government agencies? I'm not fond of anyone monitoring my speech, whether it be government, corporation, or individual citizen. In the United States, there's a provision in the Constitution known as the "4th Amendment", which was spurred by the nation's founding generation having acute weariness of and hostile disdain towards a tyrannical government's desire to invade privacy via their confiscation of private documents or quartering of households. Now, in the information age, invasions of privacy of a far greater degree, perhaps perpetual recordings filed of all conversations within earshot of recording devices, are to be sent to unknown third parties for likely purposes of profit or surveillance by governments through collusive practices. Samsung Televisions are now equipped with microphones and cameras that record your conversation and facial reactions during TV viewing, and all collected data is sent to 3rd parties. If you've ever read George Orwell's 1984, then this should ring a bell, and if you possess any discernment whatsoever, raise great concern in you. I know it's fun to debate about transgenderism, and other race/gender/ethnicity/class/age/sex/hooplah sociocultural phenomena that arise in our deteriorating western society; hell, there are two forum categories with threads surrounding transgenderism alone each with hundreds of replies and thousands of views. If I'm to be honest, this irritates me. Clearly these matters touch individual lives and warrant discussion, yet out of hundreds of posts and tens of thousands of words exchanged, and much mental/emotional energy expended, little if any consensus has been achieved in these threads. I'd suppose that such issues serve the elites of this world quite well - divide and conquer at its finest, causing in-fighting and completely distracting all those engaged in debate from serious threats to individual liberty. And I propose that there are serious-as-fuck geopolitical and economic developments, such as the stability of the Dollar being thrown into question, looming potential for a war between the United States and Russia, or the threat posed to U.S. Sovereignty by legislation such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and corporate / government spying warrant just as serious a discussion. If not American, substitute the subversion of your nation's government by global financial institutions and the advancement of tyranny near you. So, that being said, what're your thoughts?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nsa-data-sweep-intercepted-conversations-of-ordinary-internet-users-1.2698074 I think keywords like "Anarchism" and many other words have put us all on their list. (Puts on tinfoil hat) Maybe someone is reading this now...

For those who hanve't watched it (or knew of it), enjoy https://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/how-nsa-mass-surveillance-hurting-us-economy Privacy may not be the only casualty of the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance program. Major sectors of the US economy are reporting financial damage as the recent revelations shake consumer confidence and US trade partners distance themselves from companies that may have been compromised by the NSA or, worse, are secretly collaborating with the spy agency. Member of Congress, especially those who champion America’s competitiveness in the global marketplace, should take note and rein in the NSA now if they want to stem the damage.