Who Would Have Thought The NSA Would Be Considered Too Open?

from the who-said-what-now? dept

Last month we had a story about how the NSA patented figuring out where you were based on your IP address. At the time, we noted how strange it was that the NSA would patent such things -- because the NSA certainly isn't known for its "openness," and half the reason for the patent system is to get these ideas out into the open. Well, it turns out that the NSA is suddenly opening up left and right and trying to patent all sorts of things... only to find themselves stopped by the Department of Defense who has apparently now become more secretive than the NSA. Update: Then again, no. Kevin Poulsen sends us some additional info that suggests the original story is pretty much wrong. It was the NSA that was blocking patents (and the NSA is part of the DOD). So, um, basically, the whole thing is wrong.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    someone, 28 Oct 2005 @ 7:23am

    Typical

    This is expected since half of NSA is the Central Security Service. The Central Security Service is comprised of various Service Cryptologic Elements of the Department of Defense. The NSA side is Civilian... DoD is CSS. That's why all NSA policies state, " NSA/CSS ".

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Andrew Strasser, 28 Nov 2005 @ 9:30pm

    Cryptic yet amusing...

    This whole story seems cryptic yet amusing. It all has to do, I'm sure, with the mix up in the intel field with the sharing of intelligence between the communities. I'm sure there are some things some people won't want to share with other people. That's part of life not just the intelligence field.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.