Hacker News Reader

Absolutely right - there is no formal contract.

What is being reflected on here is really a 'social contract' - see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract

There is no social contract either. It evaporates in a moment's notice when you break the speed limit or download an mp3.

what do you mean by there being no social contract?

When you break the law the state punishes you because you have broken 'social contract'.

It's all about trading the social contract against risk of punishment. It's so absolutely unenforceable that more people break the social contract than adhere to it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com