When Kirtsaeng moved to the US in 1997 to pursue an undergraduate degree in mathematics at
    Cornell University,[4] he discovered that textbooks (not just those published by Wiley, but
    of other publishers too) were considerably more expensive to buy in the United States than
    in his home country. Kirtsaeng asked his relatives from Thailand to buy such books at home
    and ship them to him to sell at a profit. He sold the imported books on eBay, making $1.2
    million in revenue, although the parties disputed the net profit amount.

A text book case (ha!) about one of the mechanisms that enable the free markets and trade to bring the prices of goods down.

Wow, I've only ever heard of regional pricing being described as an overwhelmingly positive concept. When phrased as "price discrimination", it invokes a completely different set of (negative) emotions in me.

It's weirdly uncomfortable knowing that phrasing has such a big impact on one's emotions. It really shows how vulnerable we are to manipulation.

That's why the current crop of authoritarian "think of the children" propaganda is so unreasonably effective

Wow, how did we go from "it's impossible to enforce region locking online because you can transmit information instantly across the world" to "locality more easily enforced in the digital world"?

Most people haven't started using vpns yet.

The wonderful world of “no ownership” means that if the store owner suspects anything is afoot they can pester you for evidence of residence and ban your account. Instead of saving 20% you risk losing 80% (don’t know the real price difference).

If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing.

You can't fool me with a VPN when your credit card is a US one.

Silicon valley happened