Microsoft's 'Naughty or Nice' Patent Application

theodp writes "Those of you worried about Microsoft's stance on network neutrality won't find much comfort in the software giant's just-published patent application for systems and methods to facilitate self regulation of social networks through trading and gift exchange, which classify users as good or bad and call for network bandwidth to be reduced for those deemed 'less desirable.'"

Comments

Brilliant!

[Gothic_Walrus]

I see someone's finally figured out how to have an entertaining Slashdot thread.

If you post a link to the patent instead of an article, you're virtually guaranteeing that no one will read the fucking article, let alone understand it! And just think of the wacky hijinks and hilarity that are bound to ensue from there!

A terrible idea

[damburger]

Having the members of a community reduce a persons presence on an website? Slashdotters would never stand for such a thing, surely.

(PS pls mod me up!)

Tyranny of the masses

[Colin Smith]

Yay! That way we can stamp out anything but the average, the mediocre and the banal.

Re:Tyranny of the masses

[Goaway]

And boy, have you ever come to the right place for that!

Re:Ha, bloody ha.

[Pharmboy]

if ($comments =~ "linux" || $comments =~ "gnu"){
    $bandwidth--;
}

Evil bits

[Gax]

This seems like a variation of the old evil bit idea.

Many ISPs and social networks already use similar criteria to guide subscribers on correct behaviour of the network. My ISP imposes restrictions on the bandwidth I can use every month and when I can use it during the day (a maximum of 10Gb@peak time every month). Many bit torrent communities also specify that you have to share at least the amount of data that you have downloaded, to deter leechers.

Not only that

[BlackCobra43]

As if I wasn't a total outcast before, now I get to be e-rejected by VIRTUAL people! Awesome!

Prior art.

[auroran]

I'm sorry Microsoft but, Santa, has had prior art on this one for years.

Re:limitation

[discord5]

Can we have a limit please on the number of patents one company may have.

"Discord5 Industries" is happy to announce that it has recently aqcuired the patent to "limiting the amounts of patents one company may have". While one may wonder what my company could possible have invented (or will invent) with this patent, we are happy to report that we have opened a lawsuit against the company "Eneville Technologies" for infringing our intellectual property.

While we are certain that our ridiculous patent will not last long in court, we are certain that our legal team (this monkey we put in a suit) will scare off the offending company and will settle out of court for a few millions.

Re:Ha, bloody ha.

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Don't forget: we're talking about MS script here:

If (Instr(Comments, "linux") Or Instr(Comments, "gnu")) Then
. . . Let Bandwidth = Bandwidth - 1
End If

(I haven't touched a BASIC-like language in a decade, so don't beat me up too badly if it's wrong.)