Digital Convergence Likes Hackers (?)

sconeu writes "Wired News has this article wherein they claim that they like hackers, and that the whole thing is overblown. It says that 'Doug Davis, Digital Convergence's CTO, said he applauds the hackers' ingenuity and 'chuckles' at some of the ideas they have dreamed up.' " Meanwhile, driver sites remain offline and software writers continue to be threatened. That's how much they like it. C'mon, guys.

Comments

it's mine now, and I'll do what I want

[L-Train8]

"Just because I give you the Cat scanner, it does not immediately give you the right to go into business against me with my own technology," (Digital Convergence CTO Doug) Davis said.

Yes it does. What the hell is the meaning of the word "give". The cuecat you sent me is mine, and I'll do whatever the hell I please with it, including going into business against you. If you didn't want me to be able to do that, you shouldn't have given me the damn thing.

Diplomacy

[Tackhead]

> Digital Convergence's CTO, said he applauds the hackers' ingenuity and "chuckles" at some of the ideas they have dreamed up.' "

Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggie" until you can find a stick.

Sez who?

[pointym5]

"Just because I give you the Cat scanner, it does not immediately give you the right to go into business against me with my own technology," Davis said. "We have an intended use for it."

Gee, Doug, if you're so sure that there's no such "right", why not get your fancy New York lawyers to actually sue somebody? Why not let a court decide whether handing 10 million people a piece of hardware and telling them that it's a free gift doesn't give them the right to do whatever they damn well please with the things? Why not see if you can get a court to overturn the myriad rulings supporting the right to reverse engineer products for purposes of interoperation? Hell, with all the partners listed on that letterhead, those Kenyon boys ought be able to deal with any defense those filthy hackers could dream up!

If you're really protecting the valuable intellectual property of your company, then what's all this pussyfooting around? Clearly your "gentle" lawyer letters aren't working, as plenty of mirror sites are available with all the software anybody could want. If I were one of your board members, I'd be pissed. The "any publicity is good publicity" line is gonna start wearing thin pretty soon here. I want action, dammit!

Chicken.

The question remains: what IP?

[interiot]

"Just because I give you the Cat scanner, it does not immediately give you the right to go into business against me with my own technology,"

Yes it does, unless you've patented your technology. Otherwise, there's things called "free market" and "competition" which assume that there exists interchangable products so they can be incrementally optimized by companies trying to gain market share.

And anyway, no one is going into business, nor are the efforts competing with DC's products very much. Most linux hackers want to scan stuff they already have, DC's use is for things that people want to buy.
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Got a problem wwith Slashdot's editorial comments?

[DoorFrame]

Those cute chimes by CmdrTaco et all are usually bad enough, but they're nothing compared to this gem from Wired:

"The CueCat is a cheapo bar-code scanner that looks like a marital aid and plugs into a computer's keyboard socket."

Interesting comment

[luckykaa]

"Just because I give you the Cat scanner, it does not immediately give you the right to go into business against me with my own technology," Davis said.

Um...Mr. Davis... everyone already had the right to go into business against you. The fact that you gave them the means to do it doesn't mean you gain any rights or your compeitors lose any.