http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110819/14021115603/so-how-do-we-fix-patent-system.shtml#c694 Sat, 20 Aug 2011 08:22:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110819/14021115603/so-how-do-we-fix-patent-system.shtml#c694
What about things "invented" using genetic algorithms? I've seem some youtube video by an MIT (?) professor showing how a genetic algrithm "invented" a circuit that seperated low frequency and high frequency sounds, patented in the 1930s.

Genetic algorithms work in (we believe) exactly the same way mother nature does.

Should something "invented" this way be patentable?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110812/10553415491/china-gleefully-uses-uk-desire-censorship-to-validate-its-own-censorship.shtml#c711 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:53:28 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110812/10553415491/china-gleefully-uses-uk-desire-censorship-to-validate-its-own-censorship.shtml#c711 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110812/10553415491/china-gleefully-uses-uk-desire-censorship-to-validate-its-own-censorship.shtml#c704 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:51:53 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110812/10553415491/china-gleefully-uses-uk-desire-censorship-to-validate-its-own-censorship.shtml#c704 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110725/05162915235/would-fashion-copyright-have-made-kate-middletons-knockoff-wedding-dress-illegal.shtml#c576 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:32:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110725/05162915235/would-fashion-copyright-have-made-kate-middletons-knockoff-wedding-dress-illegal.shtml#c576
Don't bother, "Intellectual Ventures" is already working on this one.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110722/11552515212/judge-decreases-amount-jammie-thomas-owes-file-sharing-again-yes-again-says-its-appalling.shtml#c485 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:25:50 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110722/11552515212/judge-decreases-amount-jammie-thomas-owes-file-sharing-again-yes-again-says-its-appalling.shtml#c485
Come, come, out_of_the_blue, none of your famous false modesty! We won't hear of it!

You need to make more than a casual disclaimer. Your disclaimer is kind of like the phrase, "With all due respect.." prefacing something that expresses disrespect. That is, it does nothing. Since on the internet, mostly all we've got is words, your words give lie to your disclaimer, and point out your biases and prejudices.

At the point of 5 (or 6) strike programs, you'll see reality. I'd wager on huge backlashes when people get their "high speed internet" pulled for mere accusations of infringement, and you have to pay $35 to "dispute" an accusation. The banks who re-ordered incoming checks so as to make the maximum in overdraft fees found out about that sort of thing just a few years ago.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110722/11552515212/judge-decreases-amount-jammie-thomas-owes-file-sharing-again-yes-again-says-its-appalling.shtml#c474 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:16:49 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110722/11552515212/judge-decreases-amount-jammie-thomas-owes-file-sharing-again-yes-again-says-its-appalling.shtml#c474
Or maybe you're the Anonymous Legalistic Coward. Because there's probably some case law somewhere that says that merely receiving something isn't the same as participating in the sharing of something. In that case, Carry On, Oh Great Legum, but be aware that no non-lawyers live in that universe.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c698 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:00:57 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c698 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c666 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:56:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c666
You work as a lawyer, don't you?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c583 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:47:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c583 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c547 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:44:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16440915097/photographer-david-slater-claims-that-because-he-thought-monkeys-might-take-pictures-copyright-is-his.shtml#c547
If you have to "consult a lawyer" to understand where a copyright lies (see also, the H.P. Lovecraft kerfuffle) then you're not going to use something that just might possibly lie in a grey area. We're impoverishing the giant bulk of the people, who can't justify the cost of "consulting a lawyer" in order to use something that very probably is either (a) not under copyright or (b) the use is fair use. Our culture is much the worse for it. I have a number of books ("Where's my Jetpack?", "How to escape a robot uprising" among them) that don't have very many illustrations. Why? I don't know for sure, but I imagine because of the cost of getting copyright clearance. Just one example among many. Sucky books, in an age of on-demand printing, and digital photography and image manipulation. What a ripoff!

I also have to note that a lawyer, even an "IP" lawyer, can't really tell you about who holds a copyright. Don't you have to take it to trial to be absolutely certain?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16091415096/france-three-strikes-law-suggests-huge-percentage-french-citizens-risk-losing-internet-access.shtml#c482 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:29:42 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16091415096/france-three-strikes-law-suggests-huge-percentage-french-citizens-risk-losing-internet-access.shtml#c482
When (not if) the "3 strikes" campaign comes to the USA, will this dis-economony come in to the discussion? In business-oriented USA, the lack of bang for the buck would seem to mean we should not want 3 strikes at all.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16091415096/france-three-strikes-law-suggests-huge-percentage-french-citizens-risk-losing-internet-access.shtml#c456 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:24:53 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110714/16091415096/france-three-strikes-law-suggests-huge-percentage-french-citizens-risk-losing-internet-access.shtml#c456
It's also the first time I've fired up a BitTorrent client since I downloaded Slackware 13.1 Linux, also perfectly legal.

Am I freeloading?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110531/02515814477/confusing-case-lovecrafts-copyrights.shtml#c73 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:18:48 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110531/02515814477/confusing-case-lovecrafts-copyrights.shtml#c73
And I have it on good, Anonymously Cowardly authority that Fair Use does not hold for evocation of copyrighted works.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110531/02515814477/confusing-case-lovecrafts-copyrights.shtml#c70 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:16:01 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110531/02515814477/confusing-case-lovecrafts-copyrights.shtml#c70 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1922 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:06:43 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1922
What do you know that we don't? I really wish the on-line-shill phenomenon had a logical way out, that let people who ran the forums (who actually act ethically about anonymous comments) denounce the real shills.

Unfortunately, I don't see a way out of it. So "Blogger Bob" gets to run his keyboard like a weedeater on rocket fuel under the anonymous coward flag, and everybody just gets to call him a shill.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1881 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:55:31 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1881 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1879 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:52:34 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1879 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1870 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:44:31 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#c1870
Male, dumpy, balding? Much much less than 1 in 100 chance of a grope.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110711/01434715038/isps-five-strikes-plan-railroading-mpaariaa-style.shtml#c2076 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 07:02:05 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110711/01434715038/isps-five-strikes-plan-railroading-mpaariaa-style.shtml#c2076 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110711/01434715038/isps-five-strikes-plan-railroading-mpaariaa-style.shtml#c1854 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:12:41 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110711/01434715038/isps-five-strikes-plan-railroading-mpaariaa-style.shtml#c1854
What we've learned:

1. Don't assume guilt. Assume innocence.
2. Don't allow anonymous accusations.
3. Let the accused examine the evidence.
4. Avoid systems that don't define things so that anyone can figure it out without asking an authority.

The proposed cartel-enforcement described here does absolutely none of these things. It will fail, but do a lot of damage on the way to disappearing.]]>