Ages ago I worked for a large college in the UK, catering for mainly 16-25 year olds, and set-up a filter to the main search engines so we could capture the search terms
and then provide a local copy of the most searched for subjects (and catch the 16 year olds searching for pr0n in the library).
Boy, the amount of misspelt search terms! About 40% were mispolt.
If you take this and apply the same logic to URL's you can see the potential gold mine in hit's you can generate.
The sad thing is that 99% of the typo squatters are scum.
I actually had a sort-of typo squatter myself. My mp3-howto.com, the LDP correct way of refering to a HOWTO, had a typo site mp3howto.com. I can't complain he actually registered it 2 weeks before me, and he did have some nice MP3 stuff on it:)
I've an almost updated MP3 HOWTO and even though I've an OggVorbis section in it I'm going to rewrite it with as much coverage.
Boy's and Girls..... if you are using any OggVorbis apps, or know of any tools being developed, let me know.
I'll change the HOWTO's name to MP3 & OggVorbis HOWTO.
Thanks
Phil
Does Napster have copyright on their technology?
on
Napster Going Legit
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· Score: 1
Could Napster go after the Napster clones citing copyright infringement? I don't know if they have any patents on the transfer protocols, but it's a worrying thought.
The corporate legal sharks will pull any trick to close down the competition, and will file law suits, even if they are patently (sic) stupid. It doesn't seem to stop them now!
They did draw attention to the fact that a lot of e-com companies had failed to secure their sites.
The rush-to-market took presidence over security, even though preventative measures against DDos attacks was outside the remit of most sites, it was a wake up call.
A year later secuity is a lot higher in the product requirements!
This thought provoking essay is rightly alarmist. But before it's nightmare vision becomes reality certain changes need to take place in the regulation of the internet.
Firstly we will need global harmonisation of copyright regulations. The MPAA and RIAA may carry weight in the USA, but their powers in Europe and Asia are far less. The lobbying powers of their counterparts aren't as strong.
Also one contries strict regulations are another opportunity, how much in the counterfeit industry worth to contries that do not honour them?
So before these mechanisms can work we'd need universal harmonisation on copyright checking mechanisms. These can either be ratified by individual soverign states or by trading blocks (Euro Zone).
Ok, hands-up who can tell me when the last trade agreement was ratified between the US and Europe. If I remember the last round of GATT nearly ended in a trade war between the EU and US.
I feel the only group of people who will be shafted over this is the US.
Again correct me if I'm wrong again but isn't their a 'voters charter' in California that allows a grass-root vote to be placed on the statute book in that state? So if enough Californian's lobby they can repeal any law that's passed at state level, and throw it out?
Ok, so this is a cool hack for pilots. But this technology has great uses than aircraft control systems.
People with degenerative muscle conditions can benefit from this technology as it removes the physical barriers from controlling devices.
On another note.....
Ever played a flight or driving sim. Remember how bad you were to start off with? The feedback level from the joystick/wheel is a poor substitute for the real thing.
When driving or riding I use the sensations I receive back through the wheel or bars to correct my driving/riding/flying.
So how remote of a sensation would flying a plane be if you lose this link? The PR talks about the system being used without any tactile feedback.
So to compensate would a pilot be best grabbing a joystick, whether real or not, and using this as a tactile prop.
And then we are back to square one.... joystick/yoke control:)
It's been a trend over the last 18 months for companies to use patent warfare to increase market share by freezing out competition with threats of litigation.
With VC money now thin on the ground, and investors looking for real business plan's will the Prior Art movement now stop this stupidity by forcing VC's to question the tactics of companies that seek to ringfence revenue streams through the courts?
I monitored High School surfing.
on
Clever Girl Bess
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· Score: 2
Ok, I admit it..... I set-up monitoring in a large college in the UK.
Why?
Because the institution is obliged to monitor and prevent students, and staff, from accessing materials not suitable for viewing in a public building.
But the logs were never taken out of the server room, and no information was disclosed to anyone outide the network staff.
We had the ability to profile people's surfing habits, and ultimately their personal habits, we took our position of trust seriously and treated this knowlege with the respect it deserved.
The college was successful in prosecuting a member of staff for viewing kiddie porn, without being able to pinpoint users personally this would not of been possible.
How would you feel as a member of staff at a high school who knew that someone using your network was faciniated by the spate of shootings in US high schools, and also was searching for information on psycoactive drugs and bomb making?
Do I agree in censorware in general, the answer is no. Society should guide us what is acceptable and what is not. This, at worst, should be left to government not to companies whom not only profit from supplying 'Black Box' software but also profit from the data they collect from it's use.
But I do feel more comfortable that when used correctly it can be used to identify potential 'problems waiting to happen'.
We all know that the USPTO office will grant anyone a patent for anything these day's (what's next.... someone being granted a patent for water?), but how enforcable are they outside the US.
Please correct me if I am wrong but are US patents enforcable outside the US?
Now, if the answer is yes, what would be the costs to bring cases against companies across the globe.
Would this be a practical mechanism to persue 'patent infringement'?
If no, then there is no problem. US money-grabbing Corps. will screw only themselves and their contrymen/women. And they can vote to change the mess.
The rest of the non-US based internet will carry on.
Slashdot Mirror
I've not 100% finished the updated howto, but you can have a look at what's finished:
http://www.plus24.com/mp3-howto/mp3-howto.html
Get Ogg'ing :)
Phil
Boy, the amount of misspelt search terms! About 40% were mispolt.
If you take this and apply the same logic to URL's you can see the potential gold mine in hit's you can generate.
The sad thing is that 99% of the typo squatters are scum.
I actually had a sort-of typo squatter myself. My mp3-howto.com, the LDP correct way of refering to a HOWTO, had a typo site mp3howto.com. I can't complain he actually registered it 2 weeks before me, and he did have some nice MP3 stuff on it :)
I've an almost updated MP3 HOWTO and even though I've an OggVorbis section in it I'm going to rewrite it with as much coverage.
Boy's and Girls..... if you are using any OggVorbis apps, or know of any tools being developed, let me know.
I'll change the HOWTO's name to MP3 & OggVorbis HOWTO.
Thanks
Phil
The corporate legal sharks will pull any trick to close down the competition, and will file law suits, even if they are patently (sic) stupid. It doesn't seem to stop them now!
Phil
ps MegaJukebox.net is coming.
The rush-to-market took presidence over security, even though preventative measures against DDos attacks was outside the remit of most sites, it was a wake up call.
A year later secuity is a lot higher in the product requirements!
Firstly we will need global harmonisation of copyright regulations. The MPAA and RIAA may carry weight in the USA, but their powers in Europe and Asia are far less. The lobbying powers of their counterparts aren't as strong.
Also one contries strict regulations are another opportunity, how much in the counterfeit industry worth to contries that do not honour them?
So before these mechanisms can work we'd need universal harmonisation on copyright checking mechanisms. These can either be ratified by individual soverign states or by trading blocks (Euro Zone).
Ok, hands-up who can tell me when the last trade agreement was ratified between the US and Europe. If I remember the last round of GATT nearly ended in a trade war between the EU and US.
I feel the only group of people who will be shafted over this is the US.
Again correct me if I'm wrong again but isn't their a 'voters charter' in California that allows a grass-root vote to be placed on the statute book in that state? So if enough Californian's lobby they can repeal any law that's passed at state level, and throw it out?
People with degenerative muscle conditions can benefit from this technology as it removes the physical barriers from controlling devices.
On another note.....
Ever played a flight or driving sim. Remember how bad you were to start off with? The feedback level from the joystick/wheel is a poor substitute for the real thing.
When driving or riding I use the sensations I receive back through the wheel or bars to correct my driving/riding/flying.
So how remote of a sensation would flying a plane be if you lose this link? The PR talks about the system being used without any tactile feedback.
So to compensate would a pilot be best grabbing a joystick, whether real or not, and using this as a tactile prop.
And then we are back to square one.... joystick/yoke control :)
With VC money now thin on the ground, and investors looking for real business plan's will the Prior Art movement now stop this stupidity by forcing VC's to question the tactics of companies that seek to ringfence revenue streams through the courts?
Why?
Because the institution is obliged to monitor and prevent students, and staff, from accessing materials not suitable for viewing in a public building.
But the logs were never taken out of the server room, and no information was disclosed to anyone outide the network staff.
We had the ability to profile people's surfing habits, and ultimately their personal habits, we took our position of trust seriously and treated this knowlege with the respect it deserved.
The college was successful in prosecuting a member of staff for viewing kiddie porn, without being able to pinpoint users personally this would not of been possible.
How would you feel as a member of staff at a high school who knew that someone using your network was faciniated by the spate of shootings in US high schools, and also was searching for information on psycoactive drugs and bomb making?
Do I agree in censorware in general, the answer is no. Society should guide us what is acceptable and what is not. This, at worst, should be left to government not to companies whom not only profit from supplying 'Black Box' software but also profit from the data they collect from it's use.
But I do feel more comfortable that when used correctly it can be used to identify potential 'problems waiting to happen'.
So can we count them out as a possible purchaser of Yahoo?
Please correct me if I am wrong but are US patents enforcable outside the US?
Now, if the answer is yes, what would be the costs to bring cases against companies across the globe.
Would this be a practical mechanism to persue 'patent infringement'?
If no, then there is no problem. US money-grabbing Corps. will screw only themselves and their contrymen/women. And they can vote to change the mess.
The rest of the non-US based internet will carry on.
For this to work the DSP filters would have to be fitted to either the backbones, or to clients.
The former stands 0%, just look at the outcry with Carnivore.
The latter..... hehehehe I can see the Open Source developers rushing to add this 'feature' :)
Phil
The Linux MP3-HOWTO