Current patent law allows someone to play "dog in the manger" with their patents ... thus patent trolls. Assuming that ANY change in the patent laws are possible without someone screaming about damaging "Amurican biznuss", I would suggest that if a patent is not being applied in a certain field, that the patent holder loses rights in that field.
If the law says that patents are granted as a state monopoly for the advancement of science, then they better show some advancement, or let someone else do it!
a) trying to get Enders Game banned for being pornographic,
b) using that to prove that religion is a blight on the earth, or
c) getting upset because there are some (numerically indeterminate) nutcases that don't like [my|your|his|her|its] views.
I think this thread is entertaining. I just don't know if I can stomach it. Prejudice is not the exclusive property of any one group.
Someday, I got to figure out just what "Get off my lawn" really means.... ;-)
Is that like the old fogeys (older than me) in the Woodstock movie complaining about all the hippies cluttering up the neighborhood?
Or maybe it's like all those people who see my farm, and decide that since it isn't being used, and God made it anyway, then they can take whatever they want?
I appreciate his argument. It has been valid for millenia.
Unfortunately for him, he seems to have a sense of entitlement when it comes to using this thing that the Digital Age has invented called the Internet.
If you want to use digital media, accept the fact that copying is inseparable from it. Otherwise, it's like he wants to ride public transportation, but he doesn't want anybody else on it with him.
Accept copying, or don't use digital media. It's as simple as that.
Signed,
A grumpy old codger - and no, the Internet does not belong to the young.
For others who are curious, I saw this link on Groklaw. The article is on Digital Journal, the title is "U.S. army warns soldiers of dangers of Facebook geotagging"
When your ship is blown out of the water, it doesn't matter what got you, just that you've been had.
I was responsible for security as a Data Center Manager. Our approach was wide spectrum, from code deficiencies to not pointing out the location of the Data Center on public tours. Physical security is the first rank of protection. Every aspect of security has to be addressed.
If we start to compartmentalize security, then we end up with the same sorry mess that Congress is looking at. It's all or nothing! I cannot succeed if you fail, so we all have to address the issues.
That is why it is so painfully obvious that the Congressional move is a smoke-screen: it only addresses one small part of the security problem.
Well then, we need to make you the new CyberSecurity Czar! Or else you need to take a closer look at your company. I'm not sure which.
It isn't what you know about your company that will get you in trouble. It isn't the documented architecture that provides the loophole to allow the bad guys to enter. It is the work-arounds that people have put in place to allow them to do their jobs because what was installed doesn't address how they do their jobs. Or it is the gaps in the architecture that the designers just didn't see.
I've seen this at every company I've ever been at. At one Fortune 100 company, if we found a problem outside the scope of our technology (something that would obviously never be a problem at a Fortune 100 company) I would get on the modem, dial up my BBS, and download some tool that would fix said problem. Then other people in IT started doing the same thing. What are you going to do about something like that?
If large numbers of utility and industrial systems were connected to the Internet, then we would hear about large numbers of utility and industrial systems grinding to a halt with each virus infection that spreads across the world. (Iranian uranium fuel enrichment plants and Bradley Manning aside)
My only hesitation about this is that management PHBs are sure to have cut funding for _extra_ workstations to keep the two networks separate in those utilities and industries.
The real problem is not that legislation is needed, even if there is a danger present. It is that training is needed for employees who operate these systems so that they recognize the threats that they could potentially transmit.
Now, this is a tall order. I just saw an article about the military warning soldiers not to post pictures on the Internet taken with smartphones, and not to use social networks that use the same geolocation services that smartphones offer. They offer the example of someoone posting a picture of a new fleet of helicopters on the Internet, which, of course, contained geolocation data, which was followed by a mortar attack that destroyed four of the helicopters.
You would think that it would be a no-brainer for someone to understand, "Hey guys, please don't call in a mortar attack on yourselves, pretty please?" But that is the real problem that we face. Technology is so complex that the average person cannot understand the FULL implications of his actions. Hey, I have problems with it, and I bet you've been nipped in the wringer once or twice (understatement).
Too bad there isn't a solution for this type of anticompetitive behavior
So filtering files based on popularity is illegal, eh?
Don't the media companies do that? I don't see DVDs of "My Mother The Car" offered on Amazon, for example. What about us slightly off-kilter fans who actually LIKE "My Mother The Car"????
It's too bad that someone in the government doesn't notice that the media companies are bringing false charges against competitors, and decide to restore some balance to the market.
Perhaps Congress could pass a law stating that anti-competitive behavior is against the law, and put some teeth in the law to enforce sanctions against those companies that just don't want to compete on their merits anymore. Then we could delegate a group of people to enforce it.
We could call it, Oh I don't know, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice ?
The only Wild, Wild West that I see is Dodd and his cronies holding up the stagecoach. "Throw down those strongboxes.. and the saddlebags.. Empty your pockets!"
Copyright - 28 years, not transferable, no exclusive licensing allowed. No works for hire, the rights go with the person who created the work. Because corporations do not create anything! THAT would benefit the artists more than the current arrangement does.
That role may change over time, but the more you've got online capability for anyone with a guitar and a little bit of recording equipment to get online and try to become a musician, the more you need specialists to designate and separate the wheat from the chaff, who is worth listening to, who is worth promoting and marketing. That's what record companies have traditionally done. They have been the talent scouts and then they have put their financial and human resources into actually marketing and promoting that talent and helping to shape it.
About 50 years ago, radio was the Great Satan, and the media's response was immortalized in an Animals song [stolen from Bo Diddley, in homage, of course] called "The Story of Bo Diddley".
One day, one night, came a Cadillac, four head lights
Came a man with a big, long, fat, cigar said,
"C'mere son, I'm gonna make you a star"
Bo Diddley said, "Uh..whats in it for me?"
Man said, "Shut your mouth son,
play your guitar and you just wait and see"
Well, that boy made it, he made it real big
And so did the rest of the rock n roll scene along with him
And a white guy named Johnny Otis took Bo Diddleys rhythm
He changed it into hand-jive and it went like this
In a little old country town one day
A little old country band began to play
...
Then in the U.S. music scene there was big changes made
Due to circumstances beyond our control such as payola
The rock n roll scene died after two years of solid rock
...
About your title: "If I Could Catch Time In A Bottle..."
Jim Croce's agent [Bad, Bad Leroy Brown] called. He wants his royalties. He said, "I've Got A Name, and You Don't Mess Around With Jim. Don't make me do this The Hard Way Every Time, or you'll be singing those Workin' At The Car Wash Blues. So pay up, or it'll be More Than That Tomorrow."
I wrote a comment to my Senator, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, from his Webpage. I forgot to have it send me a copy, or I'd share my talented prose with you. ;-)
As you might remember, Grassley was one of the sponsors of PIPA.
I suspect that Kenny Rogers material will soon become as hard to find as James Garner is currently. It just doesn't pay to sue Hollywood.
As I understand it, there is a difference in signal strength between surface transmissions and satellite transmissions. When the spectrum was allocated, the only thing next to GPS was other satellite transmissions. With the spectrum change to surface transmissions, the GPS receiving devices are now looking at much stronger signals that they have to deal with as far as interference is concerned.
So it isn't really that the GPS devices are listening in on other spectra, but the playing field has changed. If you would like your GPS devices to increase sharply in cost (for the extra filtering required for the spectrum change), then we can let Lightsquared go ahead and change the face of the spectrum.
There have been many discussions of this on Groklaw, with some people weighing in who design these types of things, so I am fairly confident in their explanations.
On the post: Patents Threaten To Silence A Little Girl, Literally
Re:
The story says that they tried that route, but that the devices are sized for an adult. It's a fail for a toddler.
On the post: Patents Threaten To Silence A Little Girl, Literally
Use it or lose it
If the law says that patents are granted as a state monopoly for the advancement of science, then they better show some advancement, or let someone else do it!
On the post: Parent Claims 'Ender's Game' Is Pornographic; Teacher Who Read It To Students Put On Temporary Leave
Re: Re: Jeepers, Mr. Wizard!
Catch 22!
On the post: Parent Claims 'Ender's Game' Is Pornographic; Teacher Who Read It To Students Put On Temporary Leave
Jeepers, Mr. Wizard!
a) trying to get Enders Game banned for being pornographic,
b) using that to prove that religion is a blight on the earth, or
c) getting upset because there are some (numerically indeterminate) nutcases that don't like [my|your|his|her|its] views.
I think this thread is entertaining. I just don't know if I can stomach it. Prejudice is not the exclusive property of any one group.
On the post: Tool Singer Defends His Lawn: Decries Our Entitled, Uncreative Society
Re: Re: He's right... and so am I
Is that like the old fogeys (older than me) in the Woodstock movie complaining about all the hippies cluttering up the neighborhood?
Or maybe it's like all those people who see my farm, and decide that since it isn't being used, and God made it anyway, then they can take whatever they want?
Life is so complex!
On the post: Tool Singer Defends His Lawn: Decries Our Entitled, Uncreative Society
He's right... and so am I
Unfortunately for him, he seems to have a sense of entitlement when it comes to using this thing that the Digital Age has invented called the Internet.
If you want to use digital media, accept the fact that copying is inseparable from it. Otherwise, it's like he wants to ride public transportation, but he doesn't want anybody else on it with him.
Accept copying, or don't use digital media. It's as simple as that.
Signed,
A grumpy old codger - and no, the Internet does not belong to the young.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Priorities
On the post: If Phishing Email Can Kill NY Power Grid, Lack Of Cybersecurity Legislation Is Not The Problem
Re: Re:
http://digitaljournal.com/article/320997
On the post: If Phishing Email Can Kill NY Power Grid, Lack Of Cybersecurity Legislation Is Not The Problem
Re: Re:
When your ship is blown out of the water, it doesn't matter what got you, just that you've been had.
I was responsible for security as a Data Center Manager. Our approach was wide spectrum, from code deficiencies to not pointing out the location of the Data Center on public tours. Physical security is the first rank of protection. Every aspect of security has to be addressed.
If we start to compartmentalize security, then we end up with the same sorry mess that Congress is looking at. It's all or nothing! I cannot succeed if you fail, so we all have to address the issues.
That is why it is so painfully obvious that the Congressional move is a smoke-screen: it only addresses one small part of the security problem.
On the post: If Phishing Email Can Kill NY Power Grid, Lack Of Cybersecurity Legislation Is Not The Problem
Re:
It isn't what you know about your company that will get you in trouble. It isn't the documented architecture that provides the loophole to allow the bad guys to enter. It is the work-arounds that people have put in place to allow them to do their jobs because what was installed doesn't address how they do their jobs. Or it is the gaps in the architecture that the designers just didn't see.
I've seen this at every company I've ever been at. At one Fortune 100 company, if we found a problem outside the scope of our technology (something that would obviously never be a problem at a Fortune 100 company) I would get on the modem, dial up my BBS, and download some tool that would fix said problem. Then other people in IT started doing the same thing. What are you going to do about something like that?
On the post: If Phishing Email Can Kill NY Power Grid, Lack Of Cybersecurity Legislation Is Not The Problem
My only hesitation about this is that management PHBs are sure to have cut funding for _extra_ workstations to keep the two networks separate in those utilities and industries.
The real problem is not that legislation is needed, even if there is a danger present. It is that training is needed for employees who operate these systems so that they recognize the threats that they could potentially transmit.
Now, this is a tall order. I just saw an article about the military warning soldiers not to post pictures on the Internet taken with smartphones, and not to use social networks that use the same geolocation services that smartphones offer. They offer the example of someoone posting a picture of a new fleet of helicopters on the Internet, which, of course, contained geolocation data, which was followed by a mortar attack that destroyed four of the helicopters.
You would think that it would be a no-brainer for someone to understand, "Hey guys, please don't call in a mortar attack on yourselves, pretty please?" But that is the real problem that we face. Technology is so complex that the average person cannot understand the FULL implications of his actions. Hey, I have problems with it, and I bet you've been nipped in the wringer once or twice (understatement).
On the post: MPAA's Argument Against Hotfile Assumes Any Popular Content Online Must Be Infringing
Too bad there isn't a solution for this type of anticompetitive behavior
Don't the media companies do that? I don't see DVDs of "My Mother The Car" offered on Amazon, for example. What about us slightly off-kilter fans who actually LIKE "My Mother The Car"????
It's too bad that someone in the government doesn't notice that the media companies are bringing false charges against competitors, and decide to restore some balance to the market.
Perhaps Congress could pass a law stating that anti-competitive behavior is against the law, and put some teeth in the law to enforce sanctions against those companies that just don't want to compete on their merits anymore. Then we could delegate a group of people to enforce it.
We could call it, Oh I don't know, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice ?
On the post: Chris Dodd: The Internet Developed Because Of Strict Copyright Enforcement
Wild, Wild West
Copyright - 28 years, not transferable, no exclusive licensing allowed. No works for hire, the rights go with the person who created the work. Because corporations do not create anything! THAT would benefit the artists more than the current arrangement does.
On the post: RIAA Still Doesn't Get It: Hopes SOPA Opposition Was A 'One-Time Experience'
This day in history 50 years ago!
About 50 years ago, radio was the Great Satan, and the media's response was immortalized in an Animals song [stolen from Bo Diddley, in homage, of course] called "The Story of Bo Diddley".
Some things never change. :-(
On the post: DailyDirt: If I Could Catch Time In A Bottle...
Time in a bottle
Jim Croce's agent [Bad, Bad Leroy Brown] called. He wants his royalties. He said, "I've Got A Name, and You Don't Mess Around With Jim. Don't make me do this The Hard Way Every Time, or you'll be singing those Workin' At The Car Wash Blues. So pay up, or it'll be More Than That Tomorrow."
Just thought I'd pass it on! ;-)
On the post: How The US Trade Rep Is Trying To Wipe Out Used Goods Sales With Secretive TPP Agreement
Don't forget the REAL impact of this move....
On the post: Guy Gets Bogus YouTube Copyright Claim... On Birds Singing In The Background
Wrong target...
On the post: Kenny Rogers' Lawsuit Shows The Many Ways That A Major Label Screws Artists (Even The Big Ones)
Re: Re: I sent a copy to my Senator
On the post: Kenny Rogers' Lawsuit Shows The Many Ways That A Major Label Screws Artists (Even The Big Ones)
I sent a copy to my Senator
As you might remember, Grassley was one of the sponsors of PIPA.
I suspect that Kenny Rogers material will soon become as hard to find as James Garner is currently. It just doesn't pay to sue Hollywood.
On the post: Why You Should Regret LightSquared's Setbacks
Whose problem was it?
So it isn't really that the GPS devices are listening in on other spectra, but the playing field has changed. If you would like your GPS devices to increase sharply in cost (for the extra filtering required for the spectrum change), then we can let Lightsquared go ahead and change the face of the spectrum.
There have been many discussions of this on Groklaw, with some people weighing in who design these types of things, so I am fairly confident in their explanations.
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