This is another example of how laws that are too broad/vague have an annoying
side effect of suppressing innovation (to coin a M$ buzzword). You'll
see in this section
of DMCA that if things went to court the researchers could probably
provail without even invoking the constitutionality of DMCA:
1201(g)(4) Use of technological means for research activities.
-
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a)(2), it is not a violation
of that subsection for a person to -
(A) develop and employ technological means to circumvent a
technological measure for the sole purpose of that person performing the
acts of good faith encryption research described in paragraph (2); and
(B) provide the technological means to another person with whom he or
she is working collaboratively for the purpose of conducting the acts of
good faith encryption research described in paragraph (2) or for the purpose
of having that other person verify his or her acts of good faith encryption
research described in paragraph (2).
In this case, there is a clause buried deep in the law that seems
to allow the researchers to publish, but because the initial sections of
the law are so broad it's easy to start an expensive lawsuit even if the
company might loose in the long run. Also in this case, the phrase
"Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a)(2)" in 1201(g)(4) above
is open to interpretation, and it is in section (a)(2) at the beginning
of the law that is very broad.
Anyone notice that Linus takes the opportunity to bash Mach in this 1992 discussion, too:
Full sources for linux [kernel] currently runs to about 200kB compressed [...] much smaller than the 386-dependent things in mach: i386.tar.Z for the current version of mach is well over 800kB compressed (823391 bytes according to nic.funet.fi). Admittedly, mach is "somewhat" bigger and has more features, but that should still tell you something.
... including a rough latitude and longitude for the system with the IP...
What about devices that change position. I suppose that a "rough" latitude would work for devices that don't move very far, but what about device on trucks, trains, airplanes, etc, that routinely cross continents? Would they have to get new IP addresses if they moved "too far"?
I first used the GoType, but then switched to the StowAway because as a touch-typists the smaller GoType was a little bit frustrating.
With the Stowaway, the limiting factor is the size of the screen. It's great for capturing thoughts or writing a document that you have in your head already. I have written a few multi-page tech notes for work, and also composed some longer emails.
But it sucks for editing because you can only see a small part of your document on the screen at one time.
[Here's a classic bit of internet humor. I wish I knew who wrote
this]
The setting is deep space, just beyond the range of Earth's best
telescopes. The leader of the Fifth Explorer Force is speaking to
the Commander in Chief...
They're made out of meat.
Meat?
Meat. They're made out of meat.
Just Meat?
There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of
the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the
way through. They're completely meat.
That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the
stars.
They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from
them. The signals come from machines.
So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact.
They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made
the machines.
That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to
believe in sentient meat.
I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only
sentient race in this sector and they're made out of meat.
Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence
that goes through a meat stage.
Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for
several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have
any idea the life span of meat?
Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the
Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside.
Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the
Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way
through.
No brain?
Oh, there is a brain alright. It's just that the brain is made out of
meat also.
So... what does the thinking?
You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The
meat.
Thinking meat??? You're asking me to believe in thinking meat???
Yes, thinking meat ! Conscious meat ! Loving meat. Dreaming meat.
The meat is the whole deal ! Are you getting the picture?
Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat.
Finally ! Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been
trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years.
So what does the meat have in mind?
First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the
universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The
usual.
We're supposed to talk to meat?
That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio.
'Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?' That sort of thing.
They actually do talk then. They use words, ideas, concepts?
Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat.
I thought you just told me they used radio.
They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You
know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by
flapping a small opening of their meat at each other. They can even
sing by squirting air through their meat.
Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you
advise?
Officially or unofficially?
Both.
Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and
all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice,
fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we delete the records and
forget the whole damn thing.
I was hoping you would say that.
It seems harsh, but there is a limit. I mean, do we really want to
make contact with meat?
I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say?" `Hello, meat.
How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing
with here?
Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat
containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they only
travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and
makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim.
Infinitesimal, in fact.
So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe?
That's it.
Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the
ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed?
You're sure they won't remember?
They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads
and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them.
A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's
dream.
And we can mark this sector unoccupied.
Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others?
Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?
Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a
class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations
ago, wants to be friendly again.
They always come around.
And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the
universe would be if one were all alone. What's say we get going.
Believe it or not, I kind of like the combination of my Visor (palm clone) plus the very portable Stowaway keyboard. The Stowaway is a full size keyboard that folds into a package about the same size as my Visor.
My biggest complaint with this combo is that the Palm screen is a little small. Why can't someone combine a somewhat larger screen like the Picturebook's with an exapanding keyboard like the stowaway? The best of both worlds.
Do you seriously think actors, directors, and artists can make a living without relying on royalties and residuals?Are you saying there were no actors, directors, or artists before copyright laws?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but these professions (well maybe not "director") have been around for millenia. They didn't need copyright then, so why do they need it now?
No need to worry about the "one click" patent. Nobody will be able to get it because of Columbia House's prior art. Namely their policy of "if you don't tell us not to (click) we'll ship you the merchandise."
We require people who drive on our highways to take basic precautions to avoid harming others.
The restrictiveness/severity of regulations should be proportional to the impact without the regulations. For example, cars are complicated to drive, and you can kill people if you don't know how. Scissors are dangerous too, but they're simple to use. Internet novices cannot kill people by spreading viruses. I don't think we need the same level of regulation as for automobiles.
Australia, or perhaps England, or any number of countries that have outlawed guns -- guess who has the guns now? Not private citizens, but criminals.
But is the crime rate any higher in those countries? I know for a fact that there are fewer deaths because of guns. I'll bet there are also fewer crime related deaths because of guns (but I don't have the facts).
What's missing from statments like "only criminals have guns" is the number of criminals who have guns. Usually these statements imply that all criminals have guns. But the strong gun control laws in these countries insure that while very few citizens have guns, neither do very many criminals (at least compared to the US).
There are many services that have daily "push" of information you request. To differentiate ourselves, WWN is focused more on "pull" where users request info. Regarding alpha-pager support, the idea is that people with analog cell phones but alpha-pagers could place the call from the phone and have the content delivered to the pager.
That said, a combination of push and pull is under consideration. You might sign up for headlines once a day and be able to request on demand. No firm decisions or dates yet, but it's definitely under discussion.
Compared to other available services, WebWirelessNow.com (WWN) is the cheapest for both web site owners and users. For cell phone users with rate plans that include text messaging already, the service is essentially free. It will also work on their existing phones, so no new device to buy either. When the user dials the phone number, WWN never answers so no charge for the call.
For web sites, the WWN service is free to use. WWN gives web sites the ability to send their content on-demand to 50 million cell phones in the US. It's also easy to use -- register your site, then add a simple sign-up link to your web pages. The WWN service takes care of everything else. Of course a site does need small content (most phones can only handle 100 character text messages), but there's no new mark-up to learn. Check out the Developers Zone for more information.
One of the key differences between the WebWirelessNow service and WAP, Palm VII, etc, is the ease of use for the consumer *and* the web site owner. One thing that gets overlooked in the WAP hype is the burden for web site owners: site's need to learn WAP, they need to learn a new markup language (WML), and they need to do this work without any certainty that consumers will actually pay for WAP service and use WAP phones. Just because a phone is WAP capable, doesn't mean the user will pay for the WAP service.
With WWN, sites have access to millions of their mobile users now, not 2 years from now. There's also better coverage with WWN because text messaging is available over a larger geographic area compared to WAP availability.
Regarding the "limitations" of WWN, it's true that it does not support general purpose surfing. On the other hand, have you ever tried to surf with a WAP phone? Because of limited screen sizes on phones it's not a pleasant experience. With such limited screens, mostly what you want is little bits of information, and most of the time you probably know what you want. For example, I want the latest Mariner's score and the Seattle weather forecast. With the WWN service I signed up for each and stored each phone number in speed dial. When I want to know the forecast or the Mariner's score, I simply use the speed dial, wait for the ring, and hang-up. Compared to surfing to find the info with WAP, the WWN service is very simple.
Slashdot Mirror
This is another example of how laws that are too broad/vague have an annoying side effect of suppressing innovation (to coin a M$ buzzword). You'll see in this section of DMCA that if things went to court the researchers could probably provail without even invoking the constitutionality of DMCA:
In this case, there is a clause buried deep in the law that seems to allow the researchers to publish, but because the initial sections of the law are so broad it's easy to start an expensive lawsuit even if the company might loose in the long run. Also in this case, the phrase "Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a)(2)" in 1201(g)(4) above is open to interpretation, and it is in section (a)(2) at the beginning of the law that is very broad.
 
What about devices that change position. I suppose that a "rough" latitude would work for devices that don't move very far, but what about device on trucks, trains, airplanes, etc, that routinely cross continents? Would they have to get new IP addresses if they moved "too far"?
Jeff
I first used the GoType, but then switched to the StowAway because as a touch-typists the smaller GoType was a little bit frustrating.
With the Stowaway, the limiting factor is the size of the screen. It's great for capturing thoughts or writing a document that you have in your head already. I have written a few multi-page tech notes for work, and also composed some longer emails.
But it sucks for editing because you can only see a small part of your document on the screen at one time.
Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity or negligence.
I wonder how many of our good congress-people actually read all of the DMCA?The setting is deep space, just beyond the range of Earth's best telescopes. The leader of the Fifth Explorer Force is speaking to the Commander in Chief...
They're made out of meat.
Meat?
Meat. They're made out of meat.
Just Meat?
There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat.
That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars.
They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines.
So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact.
They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.
That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat.
I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in this sector and they're made out of meat.
Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage.
Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat?
Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside.
Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through.
No brain?
Oh, there is a brain alright. It's just that the brain is made out of meat also.
So... what does the thinking?
You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat.
Thinking meat??? You're asking me to believe in thinking meat???
Yes, thinking meat ! Conscious meat ! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal ! Are you getting the picture?
Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat.
Finally ! Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years.
So what does the meat have in mind?
First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual.
We're supposed to talk to meat?
That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?' That sort of thing.
They actually do talk then. They use words, ideas, concepts?
Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat.
I thought you just told me they used radio.
They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping a small opening of their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat.
Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?
Officially or unofficially?
Both.
Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we delete the records and forget the whole damn thing.
I was hoping you would say that.
It seems harsh, but there is a limit. I mean, do we really want to make contact with meat?
I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say?" `Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?
Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact.
So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe?
That's it.
Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You're sure they won't remember?
They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them.
A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream.
And we can mark this sector unoccupied.
Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?
Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again.
They always come around.
And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone. What's say we get going.
My biggest complaint with this combo is that the Palm screen is a little small. Why can't someone combine a somewhat larger screen like the Picturebook's with an exapanding keyboard like the stowaway? The best of both worlds.
Do you seriously think actors, directors, and artists can make a living without relying on royalties and residuals?Are you saying there were no actors, directors, or artists before copyright laws?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but these professions (well maybe not "director") have been around for millenia. They didn't need copyright then, so why do they need it now?No need to worry about the "one click" patent. Nobody will be able to get it because of Columbia House's prior art. Namely their policy of "if you don't tell us not to (click) we'll ship you the merchandise."
We require people who drive on our highways to take basic precautions to avoid harming others.
The restrictiveness/severity of regulations should be proportional to the impact without the regulations. For example, cars are complicated to drive, and you can kill people if you don't know how. Scissors are dangerous too, but they're simple to use. Internet novices cannot kill people by spreading viruses. I don't think we need the same level of regulation as for automobiles.
Australia, or perhaps England, or any number of countries that have outlawed guns -- guess who has the guns now? Not private citizens, but criminals.
But is the crime rate any higher in those countries? I know for a fact that there are fewer deaths because of guns. I'll bet there are also fewer crime related deaths because of guns (but I don't have the facts).
What's missing from statments like "only criminals have guns" is the number of criminals who have guns. Usually these statements imply that all criminals have guns. But the strong gun control laws in these countries insure that while very few citizens have guns, neither do very many criminals (at least compared to the US).
There are many services that have daily "push" of information you request. To differentiate ourselves, WWN is focused more on "pull" where users request info. Regarding alpha-pager support, the idea is that people with analog cell phones but alpha-pagers could place the call from the phone and have the content delivered to the pager.
That said, a combination of push and pull is under consideration. You might sign up for headlines once a day and be able to request on demand. No firm decisions or dates yet, but it's definitely under discussion.
[Disclaimer: I'm one of the software developers behind WebWirelessNow.com]
Compared to other available services, WebWirelessNow.com (WWN) is the cheapest for both web site owners and users. For cell phone users with rate plans that include text messaging already, the service is essentially free. It will also work on their existing phones, so no new device to buy either. When the user dials the phone number, WWN never answers so no charge for the call.
For web sites, the WWN service is free to use. WWN gives web sites the ability to send their content on-demand to 50 million cell phones in the US. It's also easy to use -- register your site, then add a simple sign-up link to your web pages. The WWN service takes care of everything else. Of course a site does need small content (most phones can only handle 100 character text messages), but there's no new mark-up to learn. Check out the Developers Zone for more information.
One of the key differences between the WebWirelessNow service and WAP, Palm VII, etc, is the ease of use for the consumer *and* the web site owner. One thing that gets overlooked in the WAP hype is the burden for web site owners: site's need to learn WAP, they need to learn a new markup language (WML), and they need to do this work without any certainty that consumers will actually pay for WAP service and use WAP phones. Just because a phone is WAP capable, doesn't mean the user will pay for the WAP service.
With WWN, sites have access to millions of their mobile users now, not 2 years from now. There's also better coverage with WWN because text messaging is available over a larger geographic area compared to WAP availability.
Regarding the "limitations" of WWN, it's true that it does not support general purpose surfing. On the other hand, have you ever tried to surf with a WAP phone? Because of limited screen sizes on phones it's not a pleasant experience. With such limited screens, mostly what you want is little bits of information, and most of the time you probably know what you want. For example, I want the latest Mariner's score and the Seattle weather forecast. With the WWN service I signed up for each and stored each phone number in speed dial. When I want to know the forecast or the Mariner's score, I simply use the speed dial, wait for the ring, and hang-up. Compared to surfing to find the info with WAP, the WWN service is very simple.
> I doubt it [WebWirelessNow.com] works when you're roaming
If your SMS/text messaging service roams with you, the WebWirelessNow service will roam as well.