Phoon: Be careful with the line of reasoning that you are using. While, yes, there are some instances where someone is accused of rape without having actually raped someone, I promise you that this is a very, very small percentage of the cases reported - let alone the uncounted numbers of rapes that are never reported. You have to realize that the victim of rape suffers a great deal from just reporting the rape - they don't really want other people to know about it. Bringing charges is not a simple matter, and decisions to are not made flippantly. And, as someone else has said, rape is not about sex. Rape is flat-out violence. Rape is violating someone in the worst way possible. That has nothing at all to do with sex, which is a mutual exchange. I am sure (or, at least I hope) that you are a decent person - just please, I urge you, to carefully think about such things. Hopefully you will come to the conclusion that some things are simply beyond reproach.

Until today, I've stuck to writing diary entries solely about computer-related topics and fairly light conversation. But, I really can't let myself ignore comments like this. I wouldn't feel very good about myself if I did. So, for those of you reading this that find this discussion off-topic, sorry. But, just like RMS says that economics is something to worry about once freedom is assured, the world of computers is something we can worry about once our basic human rights have been assured. I worry that some very smart-seeming people in various online communities are so involved with computers that they fail to see the world around them, and all of the very serious problems that need to be addressed. It is great to have strong ethics with software, but unless you also have strong ethics in the real world, it doesn't matter much.