Firmware Upgrades For Everything

eggoeater writes "Forbes Magazine has an article discussing how more portable electronics are not only suggesting firmware upgrades, but requiring them in order to get all the features! Apparently the new Lyra A/V Jukebox will sometimes display a message stating that 'this feature will be available in future upgrades.' In addition, the article states that some patches are difficult and dangerous depending on the component. Some cell phone patches require a proprietary cable ($25) that will then wipe out your phone book. This raises concerns over alienating users that aren't tech-savvy and how this could affect perceptions of portable electronics as a whole."

Comments

Jailing a Corporation

[bill_mcgonigle]

There's also the issue of how to send a corporation to prison.

What's the point of jailing a person? To take him out of society for a period of time (the recidivism rate does not support the reform intent).

So, take the corporation out of society for a period of time. Revoke their charter for n number of years. Yeah, that sucks for the workers, but, hey, maybe that's incentive to not be complancent in fraudlent activities. It also sucks for the top brass because they're not likely to be quickly reemployeed by another coporation if they've let their company be jailed. A judge is going to rule on the penalty, so there will be checks and balances in the system to keep it fair.

If the offense is great enough, along the lines of what would get a person put on death row, permanently revoke the charter - corporate death penalty.

There would need to be some sort of legislation to prevent large corporations from forming startups for every project to get around this, but I'm sure the boys at the statehouse could figure it out.