Links

The world of intellectual property is all in a swivet about the fact that the U.S. has decided to renovate its copyright and patent law … and everybody’s wondering what it really means. Good luck with that, folks: the lawyers think that it will take about ten years before any real change will be felt … and you can still patent the process for making a snowman. Yup: IP law is still broken in the U.S. Enjoy it. After all, that’s half a trillion dollars going to people who don’t do anything useful to the world whatsoever.

All sorts of interesting things in today’s links. If there’s something I’m missing, let me know and I’ll pay attention to it and see what I can dig up.

Anonymity / Pseudonymity:

  1. Anonymous Member Banned By Court From Using His Real Name Online    13 September 2011, 8:11 am
  2. Iran blocks Tor; Tor releases same-day fix    16 September 2011, 2:02 am

Oh, the irony: link 1 talks about a guy who was a member of “Anonymous” who, because of his online activity using his real name is now forbidden from using his real name online. I guess he’ll not be able to join FaceHook or Google+, as they both require that you use your real name. As far as link 2 goes: if you don’t know what TOR is, suffice it to say that it’s a service which allows you to be anonymous, and that the organization is pretty well set on people having that right.

Censorship:

  1. Twitter joke trial appeal set for 10 November    8 September 2011, 10:08 am
  2. Game That Critiques Apple Vanishes From App Store    14 September 2011, 1:48 am
  3. Singapore domainer gets beat up and jailed for .XXX domain registration    14 September 2011, 1:48 am
  4. UK: Culture Secretary calls for ISPs to offer parental filtering option    14 September 2011, 8:36 am
  5. Australia – Is the government trying to get more control over the media?    16 September 2011, 3:36 am
  6. Yahoo blocked emails about Wall Street protest    21 September 2011, 6:53 am

Yeah, OK, Yahoo claims that they weren’t censoring things at the behest of any corporate powers (link 6)… but, well, can we believe them? Really? Censorship in the world of the World Wide Web really peeves me. I mean, really: ought there not be some ultimate arbiter of what may or may not be said? Um … well, no, not at all, thanks. So, when a local government (OZ, link 5) decides that something is inappropriate … well, I really hate it. I don’t wonder: I just think that somewhere, somehow, there ought to be someone who smacks them down and says, “No! Bad Governance!” This is the intersection of technology and security, though … which makes this all the much more difficult. The Yahoo! thing is the intersection between SPAM-detection and freedom of speech. I like to have SPAM weeded out, truly (please, please stop sending me things from the “democratic central committee” or from “Barack Obama” … really!) I don’t like, though, that the algorithms used to detect SPAM also detect those who want to start a protest. Technology: you’re failing here.

Copyright / Patent:

  1. Copyright Troll Righthaven Goes on Life Support    7 September 2011, 9:59 am
  2. New patent granted for building a “snow man/woman”    8 September 2011, 4:23 am
  3. Righthaven Terminates Lawyer, Stops Filing New Cases    8 September 2011, 6:48 am
  4. EU votes to extend music copyright to 70 years    8 September 2011, 6:48 am
  5. Patent Bill Viewed as Bailout for a Law Firm    8 September 2011, 6:48 am
  6. Judge Shuts Down Another Mass Copyright Case, Characterizes Lawsuits as “Massive Collection Scheme”    8 September 2011, 9:37 am
  7. Newspaper Chain Drops Righthaven — ‘It Was a Dumb Idea’    8 September 2011, 11:01 am
  8. Senate passes Patent Reform Bill    9 September 2011, 3:36 am
  9. Judge Sanctions Copyright Troll Attorney for “Staggering Chutzpah”    9 September 2011, 5:43 pm
  10. The time has come for software liability laws    12 September 2011, 4:12 am
  11. EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain, Retroactively Extends Copyright    12 September 2011, 5:13 am
  12. Well, that about wraps it up for copyright    12 September 2011, 5:16 am
  13. Copyright Troll Righthaven Says It’s Nearing Bankruptcy    12 September 2011, 11:28 am
  14. From the Ashes of Righthaven, the Promising Future of Digital Media    12 September 2011, 2:47 pm
  15. When and How to Appeal a Patent Examiner’s Decision    13 September 2011, 2:40 am
  16. Actor to Plead Guilty to Leaking Black Swan to BitTorrent    13 September 2011, 1:45 pm
  17. Patent Law’s Passage Spurs Flood of New Complaints    15 September 2011, 4:17 am
  18. File Hosting Service Hotfile Sues Warner Bros. For Copyright Fraud and Abuse    15 September 2011, 8:19 am
  19. Academic papers are hidden from the public. Here’s some direct action.    16 September 2011, 6:22 am
  20. Obama Signs Patent ‘Reform’ Bill — ‘Crustless Sandwich’ Still Patented    16 September 2011, 2:24 pm
  21. Copyright Troll’s Assets Targeted for Seizure    19 September 2011, 8:29 am
  22. Patent trolls have cost innovators half a trillion dollars    21 September 2011, 2:21 am
  23. 1st Circuit Reinstates Huge Illegal Downloading Award    21 September 2011, 2:58 am
  24. Patent Reform – A Rush To The Courthouse By Trolls    22 September 2011, 4:26 am

Oh, copyright, how you’ve failed. Yes, I have an axe to grind, and it’s not one which targets those who create things. Oh, yes, I’m happy for those folk to make money from their inventions … but, well, I really don’t like that the inventions are being played out in courts of law. Why? Well, because the courts system costs lots of money and frequently decides in favor of those with the money. The person who invented something? Yeah, they lost out. Forever. Money never seems to find the creative people, and that’s just not the purpose of the whole scheme, as far as I’m concerned.

Economy:

  1. US poverty numbers hit record high    13 September 2011, 8:41 pm
  2. Median Male Worker Makes Less Now Than 43 Years Ago    14 September 2011, 1:50 am
  3. Anonymous plans to occupy Wall Street    16 September 2011, 2:04 am
  4. Jobless in America: An Anthology of Essays About Looking for Work    16 September 2011, 2:06 am
  5. The Wealthiest 5% Grabbed Most of the America’s Gains    19 September 2011, 1:20 pm
  6. World Bank: Gender equality boosts economy    19 September 2011, 1:22 pm
  7. Revealed: Secret world of global oil and mining giants    19 September 2011, 2:23 pm
  8. Americans Only Live On The Weekends    21 September 2011, 2:17 am

Link 6 is important, to those of you who hire your friends: hire a girl. OK, yes, sure, that link is about statistical things (get over it) … but there are some important statements in there. Read it. For those who think the conspiracy theories are valid / bogus: have a read of link 7. Yep: a few hundred folk control the world. What, you thought that things were equal-opportunity? Link 8 is just depressing, at least for those of you who live in a world where 2 weeks of vacation are all you get.

Law:

  1. How non-competes are damaging the Massachusetts economy: Angela’s story    15 September 2011, 7:50 am
  2. Federal courts make it more expensive to access records (PACER update)    16 September 2011, 8:22 am
  3. Be Careful when Speaking to Federal Agents – 18 U.S.C. Section 1001    16 September 2011, 11:29 am
  4. California Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Electronic Public Records Case    16 September 2011, 5:27 pm
  5. Symantec: Files, Databases Overtake E-Mail in E-Discovery    18 September 2011, 12:45 pm
  6. Part of Patriot Act ruled unconstitutional    22 September 2011, 4:40 am

Please read link 3, if you anticipate being in the United States ever. Yes, the other bits are important, but link 3 means that you might just be able to continue to think / breathe exist.

Library / Museum / Archive:

  1. Archive Team: A Distributed Preservation of Service Attack    9 September 2011, 7:31 am
  2. Field Life of Bone Hunters Revealed in 100-Year-Old Glass Slides    13 September 2011, 3:30 am
  3. A 1970s Cray-1 hard drive has been imaged    15 September 2011, 8:57 am
  4. Neanderthals vs Humans?: German Scientists Bring Fossils into the Computer Age    16 September 2011, 9:50 am
  5. If dead-tree books die, what will the poor read?    19 September 2011, 1:15 pm
  6. Infographic: Facebook’s Huge Trove Of Photos In Context & How Many Photos Have Ever Been Taken? « INFOdocket    20 September 2011, 5:39 am
  7. Report Cards from 1920 Manhattan Girls’ Trade School and the Stories They Tell    21 September 2011, 7:05 am

Link 4 really shows what’s on the forefront of the Library / Museum / Archive space. Who cares if you think that fossils are important: have a read of the article & you’ll get an idea of what’s going on for those involved with science and technology. As to link 6: creepy to know that FaceHook owns all of that content. Link 7 is to make you feel better after you’ve read link 6. Enjoy it.

Medical Technology:

  1. Sunscreen In A Pill    12 September 2011, 7:43 am
  2. What You Eat Affects Your Genes    22 September 2011, 4:24 am

Miscellany:

  1. Bureau Recommends: Big pharma pay $220m to medics to promote products    8 September 2011, 4:13 am
  2. How ‘SpongeBob’ Inhibits Learning    12 September 2011, 8:24 am
  3. Cornell Ergonomics Web finds standing desks present their own issues    14 September 2011, 5:04 am
  4. Kids’ Evolution Book, Shunned in US, Gets Award    16 September 2011, 8:11 am

Links 2 and 4. Oh, my.

Open Source:

  1. JSTOR Makes Early Journal Content Free    12 September 2011, 5:17 am
  2. Intel to Universities: No Patents, Please, Just Open Source    14 September 2011, 1:46 am
  3. Free Plant Genomes: From Chamomile to Cannabis    14 September 2011, 2:44 am
  4. Open Source Matters: MySQL Moves Closer to Closed    22 September 2011, 3:32 am

Open Source is a new category here, as C. has been looking into the subject. It’s of interest to me as well, as I’m certain that any number of things I’ve written really ought to have been opensourced but were held onto by the company which employed me … which meant that some other person had to reinvent the wheel.

Photography:

  1. Know Your Rights: Photographers (and exceptions for video)    12 September 2011, 4:19 am
  2. U.S. House Lawyers Oppose Cameras in Court    15 September 2011, 4:09 am
  3. Citizen Recording Of Police Proves Officer Lied About Arrest    21 September 2011, 2:13 am
  4. More Liberal Rules Proposed for Electronic Devices in N.J. Courts    22 September 2011, 1:43 am

Record things, people. It’s important. It’ll get you into trouble. And it’s a question of truth, which means that it’s your word against those who would lie to get someone locked away (link 3).

Politics:

  1. Chomsky: 9/11 – was there an alternative? – Opinion – Al Jazeera English    9 September 2011, 5:13 am
  2. Analysis: G20 must ignore bank lobby over food speculation    13 September 2011, 10:20 am
  3. Wave of Hate: Anti-Roma Protests Turn Violent in the Czech Republic    16 September 2011, 3:15 am
  4. CIA Pitches Scripts to Hollywood    16 September 2011, 3:30 am

This is why you pay taxes, folks: so that the CIA can write movie scripts (link 4). Yep: you pay their salaries, and they write things which are of dubious worth and which show those in power to be awesome and fabulous.

Politics – FBI:

  1. FBI Teaches Agents: ‘Mainstream’ Muslims Are ‘Violent, Radical’    14 September 2011, 5:45 pm
  2. Senators Blast FBI Terror-Training ‘Lies’    15 September 2011, 12:57 pm
  3. Video: FBI Trainer Says Forget ‘Irrelevant’ al-Qaida, Target Islam    20 September 2011, 3:30 am

Oh, FBI, why have you been such idiots? OK, don’t answer that, as I don’t really care. Let’s just say that you ought not be such morons, and go on from there. ‘Kay? Thanks.

Politics – Germany:

  1. The New Rebels: Germany’s Pirate Party Celebrates Historic Victory    19 September 2011, 4:50 am
  2. The World from Berlin: ‘The Laptop-and-Latte Generation Has Found Its Party’    20 September 2011, 3:34 am
  3. Letter from Berlin: Who Are the Pirates from Berlin?    20 September 2011, 8:47 am

The Pirate Party has won a critical election in Germany. Who are they, though, and why should we care?

Politics – Israel / Palestine:

  1. UN chief: Palestine bid ‘understandable’    14 September 2011, 10:49 pm
  2. Israel hails UK change over war crime arrests    15 September 2011, 1:24 pm
  3. Demonstrators back PLO’s UN bid    17 September 2011, 5:14 am
  4. Israeli PM says Palestine UN bid ‘will fail’    18 September 2011, 11:57 am
  5. SPIEGEL Interview with Palestinian Prime Minister: ‘An Independent Palestine Will Be Inevitable’    19 September 2011, 10:24 am
  6. Palestinians insist on terms for Israel talks    20 September 2011, 1:04 am

So, is Palestine an actual country? If so, well, should they belong to the United Nations? Israel says that they shouldn’t, and the United States agrees. Yup: Israel thinks they should be able to murder and bomb the a-rabs all they want because, well, they took their land, so who cares? United Nations: wake up and give these people a country and self-governance, rather than letting Israel continue to slaughter them.

Privacy:

  1. ‘Like’ Button Battle: Facebook Agrees to Voluntary Privacy Code    8 September 2011, 9:10 am
  2. FOIA Victory Will Shed More Light on Warrantless Tracking of Cell Phones    10 September 2011, 2:16 am
  3. How 9/11 Completely Changed Surveillance in U.S.    11 September 2011, 3:30 am
  4. Facebook’s Foe: German Minister Urges Government to Quit Facebook    12 September 2011, 3:44 am
  5. Court Approves Lawsuit Against Toyota Over Cyberstalking Ad Stunt    12 September 2011, 11:51 am
  6. Freedom Not Fear: Ending A Decade Long Legacy of International Privacy Erosion    13 September 2011, 8:03 pm
  7. Californians Deserve Cover to Cover Privacy — Tell Governor Brown to Sign the Reader Privacy Act    14 September 2011, 2:20 pm
  8. FTC Proposes Stricter Youth Online Privacy Rules    15 September 2011, 1:11 pm
  9. Sony to ban gamers from PSN unless they waive right sue over security breaches.    16 September 2011, 8:19 am
  10. N.Y. Worker Accuses State of Illegal GPS Spying    16 September 2011, 3:17 pm
  11. Sony Forces Gamers to Promise They Won’t Sue En-Masse for Hacks    19 September 2011, 11:09 am
  12. The Google Wallet, a lifetime log of your purchases    19 September 2011, 12:20 pm
  13. OnStar Tracks Your Car Even When You Cancel Service    20 September 2011, 5:04 pm
  14. OnStar Begins Spying On Customers’ GPS Location For Profit    21 September 2011, 2:22 am
  15. FBI is on your cell phone. Do you care?    21 September 2011, 6:42 am
  16. Warrantless Mobile Phone Searches Now Still Illegal – In California    21 September 2011, 11:23 am
  17. Appeals Court OKs Challenge to Warrantless Electronic Spying    21 September 2011, 1:01 pm
  18. Get a Warrant Before Snooping through My Cell Phone — Support California Senate Bill 914    21 September 2011, 2:23 pm
  19. EFF To Appeals Court: Border Is Not An “Anything Goes” Zone    21 September 2011, 3:49 pm
  20. Report: Checks Needed on GPS Tracking    22 September 2011, 1:44 am

Personally, I most care about link 19, as I don’t want my stuff to be searched when I traverse a border into the U.S. Why? Well, because I’ve 1) signed agreements with various corporations that state that I’ll keep their information to myself, and 2) I’ve stated to those folks who took my survey for the PhD that I’d keep their responses private. Thus, if I go into the U.S. with my hard-drive intact, I risk the powers-that-be taking a copy, which makes me violate my word to those people. That’s just not in line with what I want to do, so I hope that the U.S. gets a bit smarter and gives up the idea that data is fair-game when it crosses a border.

Robotics:

  1. Base-Jumping Robot Throws Itself Off Buildings    13 September 2011, 3:09 am
  2. A future for drones: Automated killing    20 September 2011, 7:39 am

Don’t really know what to say about these: a robot which can climb a building and then jump off, and a robot which can kill people on its own.

Security:

  1. Researchers’ Typosquatting Stole 20 GB of E-Mail From Fortune 500    8 September 2011, 3:35 pm
  2. Anonymous Hacker Group Draws Increased Scrutiny From the U.S.    13 September 2011, 2:39 am

Social Media:

  1. Citizen Scientists Use Games to Design Protein and RNA    8 September 2011, 4:21 am
  2. Employees Can’t Be Fired for Facebook Complaints, Judge Says    12 September 2011, 4:17 am
  3. Diaspora* means a brighter future for all of us    22 September 2011, 3:33 am

Technology:

  1. Profiler at the Cellular Level    8 September 2011, 4:20 am
  2. How I Got My Stolen Laptop Back Within 24 Hours Using Prey    8 September 2011, 5:07 am
  3. NASA International Space Apps Challenge    21 September 2011, 7:43 am

If you write software for smart-phones, you might give link #3 a go. It sounds pretty cool to me, and is something I’d do if I really wrote such software.

WikiLeaks:

  1. Ethiopian Journalist Flees Country Over Exposure in WikiLeaks Cable    15 September 2011, 4:07 pm
  2. Zimbabwe – Former minister sues Daily News over stories quoting WikiLeaks cables    16 September 2011, 7:08 am
  3. Wikileaks Takes Down the Head of Al Jazeera    21 September 2011, 8:17 am

It’s funny how WikiLeaks has devolved into such a blip on the information superhighway. OK, yes, it had an impact … but now it’s just seeming feeble. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but has now just devolved into silliness.

-D

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