Thursday, September 30, 2004
Here's an article about Microsoft Patent Row and Spam.
The New York Times is reporting today about the Induce Act.
The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004 adds to Section 501 of title 17 of the United States Code.
Where someone intentionally induces infringement of copyright for their comercial viability (I read as; "can make money by encouraging someone to use their product in order to break a copyright) shall be called an infringer.
This is brilliant.
One of the reasons that MGM v. Grokster was lost was that Grokster did not have any way of stopping file sharers from sharing files illegally (where with Napster, the centralized directory Did allow Napster the ability to shut down the practice).
The only way that suit could have been won would be if the ISP's could be enjoined in the suit. Grokster with the help of the ISP's could have shut down the port that allows file sharing, which could have forced customers to upgrade to a version of the software that does not allow file sharing that is illegal to occur.
The rest of the bill seems to allow for that...
The New York Times > Technology > Panel Considers Copyright Bill
The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004 adds to Section 501 of title 17 of the United States Code.
Where someone intentionally induces infringement of copyright for their comercial viability (I read as; "can make money by encouraging someone to use their product in order to break a copyright) shall be called an infringer.
This is brilliant.
One of the reasons that MGM v. Grokster was lost was that Grokster did not have any way of stopping file sharers from sharing files illegally (where with Napster, the centralized directory Did allow Napster the ability to shut down the practice).
The only way that suit could have been won would be if the ISP's could be enjoined in the suit. Grokster with the help of the ISP's could have shut down the port that allows file sharing, which could have forced customers to upgrade to a version of the software that does not allow file sharing that is illegal to occur.
The rest of the bill seems to allow for that...
The New York Times > Technology > Panel Considers Copyright Bill
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Speaking of web services... What do developers want? InfoWorld shows that it seems that the Language is favored, but the platform is not...
It looks like Microsoft found a friend in Amazon regarding junk eMail. As they take a phishing trip...
Don't copyright API's
I would hope that API's are not and never become patentable. Should the magic inside the box? Perhaps... (although I think people should still be able to reverse engineer)... But the definition of the inputs, outputs, resources, and mechanisms (ICOMs)? Truly that should be okay. If the APIs can be written to by anyone, then you can have the car with the best engine, the best wheels, the best body... (yes, Mr. Ellison I concur you do not want to bolt on just any software, but given good engineering, you can end up with an excellent new product).
Web Services
Looks like mainframe apps are next in line for web services...
InfoWorld wrote a nice article on the subject; "Ivory keys in mainframe apps to Web services".
Service-oriented architectures... I read this as wrapping web services around an existing API so that other components can interact. As long as security is employed... Why not. I remember using IRMA subroutines years ago...
(Pre?) Client Server -- Good 'ole IRMA Subs
When I used to work for Generous Motors, I was in the supplier quality department. The engineers in our department used to use a mainframe manufacturing screen to guide them to a certain page of a literally foot thick report of engineering information! My boss wanted to get a dump of the engineering file, but the request was always denied...
So, with the help of a buddy, I wrote a BASIC program which given a list of part numbers, the program went to the mainframe screen, typed in the information, then peeled off the results and put that into a FOCUS database (fourth generation language with shared relational database management system... Very much like IBM's IMS).
It took a week to download! I showed the results to my boss; he showed the results to his boss; then his boss said he wanted this to happen each week. Well, my boss explained how we have been requesting the engineering file... Needless to say, within a short time we had our engineering file. :>
I would hope that API's are not and never become patentable. Should the magic inside the box? Perhaps... (although I think people should still be able to reverse engineer)... But the definition of the inputs, outputs, resources, and mechanisms (ICOMs)? Truly that should be okay. If the APIs can be written to by anyone, then you can have the car with the best engine, the best wheels, the best body... (yes, Mr. Ellison I concur you do not want to bolt on just any software, but given good engineering, you can end up with an excellent new product).
Web Services
Looks like mainframe apps are next in line for web services...
InfoWorld wrote a nice article on the subject; "Ivory keys in mainframe apps to Web services".
Service-oriented architectures... I read this as wrapping web services around an existing API so that other components can interact. As long as security is employed... Why not. I remember using IRMA subroutines years ago...
(Pre?) Client Server -- Good 'ole IRMA Subs
When I used to work for Generous Motors, I was in the supplier quality department. The engineers in our department used to use a mainframe manufacturing screen to guide them to a certain page of a literally foot thick report of engineering information! My boss wanted to get a dump of the engineering file, but the request was always denied...
So, with the help of a buddy, I wrote a BASIC program which given a list of part numbers, the program went to the mainframe screen, typed in the information, then peeled off the results and put that into a FOCUS database (fourth generation language with shared relational database management system... Very much like IBM's IMS).
It took a week to download! I showed the results to my boss; he showed the results to his boss; then his boss said he wanted this to happen each week. Well, my boss explained how we have been requesting the engineering file... Needless to say, within a short time we had our engineering file. :>
Intellectual rights and technology.
There seems to be a lot going on now with regard to intellectual rights and technology. Part of this is fueled by a recent loss of the studios to the makers of P2P file sharing software as found in the case MGM v Grokster. Since Grokster did not have access to centralized servers or a centralized directory, it could not shut down the system. I think that a case could have been made (or can be made) enjoining the ISPs to help. With the ISPs help, the P2P players could have been able to twart file sharing.
But, restricting activity becomes a double edged sword. My former employer Al Teller had it right. Treat the musicians fairly and they will come to us. The musicians did not mind putting their items on the internet. As a matter of fact, R.E.M. has their entire album on myspace.com right now.
Copyrights
The RIAA solution is sue the end user. I imagine that what the RIAA has in mind is to teach the public that copying is against the law by burning the offenders hands when they touch them on the proverbial stove. It does educate people to go to sites like itunes.com, real.com, or windowsmedia.com. Perhaps pleasure can be used as a means as well. From the neuron to society in general, pleasure is sought after and pain is avoided (The Hedonistic Neuron: A Theory of Memory, Learning, and Intelligence).
Here are a couple more references: Emotion as Heterostasis, and A BIOSEMIOTIC MODEL OF COGNITION.
Continuing the pain route (with some pleasure added -- to the perceived pain of the artists)
If this bill continues on, video taping movies may become a federal offense:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/09/29/647801.html. One of the things that it does allow for is technology which allows for the selective removal of offensive items from a movie (swear words for example). There is an argument that this technology *should* be monitored, however, otherwise the movies may loose their artistic appeal.
Question: Can record companies be sued for recording the clapping of an audience? I am just kidding. Although an interesting line of thought can be found here at wearcam.org.
Internet Governance:
The United Nations is working towards a takeover of core internet functionality driven by the International Telecommunications Union. The Europeans seem to be really against intellectual rights when it comes to software. I wonder if that is because over there the rule is whoever files first files best. I believe that here in the US it is whoever invented something first wins (so, if someone patents an idea you invented first you can do something about it).
It really seems to be a hot topic. A few threads of discussion came up, and it was not so long ago that Microsoft left the table allegedly (there's the lawyer in me talkin!) due to a worry about potential loss of IP interests (I think it was this group: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11991&Cr=internet&Cr1=) Spam and cyber crime working group.
Visions of the information society shows the international telecommunications union's view:
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/visions/free/index.html
Here is a petition for a software patent free europe: http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en.
And we are working at copyrighting databases which Europe did a while ago do protect the effort and expense involved in their creation.
It seems to be that we are heading towards a common ground. I am just not sure yet what that ground is.
Free speech
Media Outlets Agree to End Suit Over Erasure of Scalia Speech
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1095434495696
The folks here should be happy: http://wearcam.org/sousveillance.htm. The worlds first cyborg and inventor of wearable computing can be found there. From MIT as a student walking around with devices on his face and computers on his body to a professor in Canada.
And...
Completely off track (but it is 231 AM in the morning)... there have been a few quakes out here in California and Washington is getting "one or two quakes a minute" at mount saint helens.
With dreams of RSS filled in my head... I bid you a mountain dew... good night (oh my, 3:38 AM)
There seems to be a lot going on now with regard to intellectual rights and technology. Part of this is fueled by a recent loss of the studios to the makers of P2P file sharing software as found in the case MGM v Grokster. Since Grokster did not have access to centralized servers or a centralized directory, it could not shut down the system. I think that a case could have been made (or can be made) enjoining the ISPs to help. With the ISPs help, the P2P players could have been able to twart file sharing.
But, restricting activity becomes a double edged sword. My former employer Al Teller had it right. Treat the musicians fairly and they will come to us. The musicians did not mind putting their items on the internet. As a matter of fact, R.E.M. has their entire album on myspace.com right now.
Copyrights
The RIAA solution is sue the end user. I imagine that what the RIAA has in mind is to teach the public that copying is against the law by burning the offenders hands when they touch them on the proverbial stove. It does educate people to go to sites like itunes.com, real.com, or windowsmedia.com. Perhaps pleasure can be used as a means as well. From the neuron to society in general, pleasure is sought after and pain is avoided (The Hedonistic Neuron: A Theory of Memory, Learning, and Intelligence).
Here are a couple more references: Emotion as Heterostasis, and A BIOSEMIOTIC MODEL OF COGNITION.
Continuing the pain route (with some pleasure added -- to the perceived pain of the artists)
If this bill continues on, video taping movies may become a federal offense:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/09/29/647801.html. One of the things that it does allow for is technology which allows for the selective removal of offensive items from a movie (swear words for example). There is an argument that this technology *should* be monitored, however, otherwise the movies may loose their artistic appeal.
Question: Can record companies be sued for recording the clapping of an audience? I am just kidding. Although an interesting line of thought can be found here at wearcam.org.
Internet Governance:
The United Nations is working towards a takeover of core internet functionality driven by the International Telecommunications Union. The Europeans seem to be really against intellectual rights when it comes to software. I wonder if that is because over there the rule is whoever files first files best. I believe that here in the US it is whoever invented something first wins (so, if someone patents an idea you invented first you can do something about it).
It really seems to be a hot topic. A few threads of discussion came up, and it was not so long ago that Microsoft left the table allegedly (there's the lawyer in me talkin!) due to a worry about potential loss of IP interests (I think it was this group: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11991&Cr=internet&Cr1=) Spam and cyber crime working group.
Visions of the information society shows the international telecommunications union's view:
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/visions/free/index.html
Here is a petition for a software patent free europe: http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en.
And we are working at copyrighting databases which Europe did a while ago do protect the effort and expense involved in their creation.
It seems to be that we are heading towards a common ground. I am just not sure yet what that ground is.
Free speech
Media Outlets Agree to End Suit Over Erasure of Scalia Speech
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1095434495696
The folks here should be happy: http://wearcam.org/sousveillance.htm. The worlds first cyborg and inventor of wearable computing can be found there. From MIT as a student walking around with devices on his face and computers on his body to a professor in Canada.
And...
Completely off track (but it is 231 AM in the morning)... there have been a few quakes out here in California and Washington is getting "one or two quakes a minute" at mount saint helens.
With dreams of RSS filled in my head... I bid you a mountain dew... good night (oh my, 3:38 AM)
Monday, September 27, 2004
The pendulum may be getting ready to swing in the other direction...The New York Times > Technology > Patents: Does the Patent System Need an Overhaul?
Internet Phase IV?:
Technology Review: Sir Tim Berners-Lee
I. govt
II. education
III. business
IV. self
Sil
s:>
Technology Review: Sir Tim Berners-Lee
I. govt
II. education
III. business
IV. self
Sil
s:>
Here is an interesting blend of technology and the law. In a nutshell, use online dating functionality for recruting:law.com - Article.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
R.E.M. puts their entire album in cyberspace.
Now that's a band that gets it.
MySpace.COM is really neat. It is similar to an idea some buddies and I had back when. Maybe some day we will get to that. There is still merit, and we have other functionality.
Now that's a band that gets it.
MySpace.COM is really neat. It is similar to an idea some buddies and I had back when. Maybe some day we will get to that. There is still merit, and we have other functionality.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Hi.
Up to my ears in alligators right now...But, doing some neat stuff!
Coming up on my first half-year
I am coming up on my 1/2 year anniversary of law school (it took about that long to get in by the way). I am not where I *should* be in my studies, but I do have balance in the various areas of my life that require time.
Part of my time has also been spent keeping myself entrenched in technology. I have been working on JavaScript, java, Linux, multimedia items, and my love mobile computing. If I were in another life, I would be at the MIT Media lab.
Topic Maps and the Law
I shared putting law into topic maps with my legal research instructor. It seemed appealing to him. I am reconstructing my first 1/2 year in law school now (making my course outline), and part of that is going to be a topic map. That will be neat....
The Baby Bar
I am going to be able to satisfy geek and law in one fell swoop. The time that I have been spending on my technology update will be applied in helping my studies. I will be able to keep my hands in the technology while preparing for the "FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENTS EXAM" --- The "Baby Bar".
If I do not make the Baby Bar, I do not go on... It is a bar that must be passed.
Nervous? Ah, yeah! But...
I usually do pretty good at these things though. I just hope that I remember all the key elements of the law so that I can apply the fact patterns in ways that earn points. The more points you get for each question, the better off you are in the long run.
I just wish I could have my Side Kick with me, my extended brain...
Anywho, got to get!
l8rs,
Sil
s:>
###
Up to my ears in alligators right now...But, doing some neat stuff!
Coming up on my first half-year
I am coming up on my 1/2 year anniversary of law school (it took about that long to get in by the way). I am not where I *should* be in my studies, but I do have balance in the various areas of my life that require time.
Part of my time has also been spent keeping myself entrenched in technology. I have been working on JavaScript, java, Linux, multimedia items, and my love mobile computing. If I were in another life, I would be at the MIT Media lab.
Topic Maps and the Law
I shared putting law into topic maps with my legal research instructor. It seemed appealing to him. I am reconstructing my first 1/2 year in law school now (making my course outline), and part of that is going to be a topic map. That will be neat....
The Baby Bar
I am going to be able to satisfy geek and law in one fell swoop. The time that I have been spending on my technology update will be applied in helping my studies. I will be able to keep my hands in the technology while preparing for the "FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENTS EXAM" --- The "Baby Bar".
If I do not make the Baby Bar, I do not go on... It is a bar that must be passed.
Nervous? Ah, yeah! But...
I usually do pretty good at these things though. I just hope that I remember all the key elements of the law so that I can apply the fact patterns in ways that earn points. The more points you get for each question, the better off you are in the long run.
I just wish I could have my Side Kick with me, my extended brain...
Anywho, got to get!
l8rs,
Sil
s:>
###
