I asked a Navy guy about this. He gave two reasons that Navy researchers are encouraged to get patents: 1) To ensure that no one else can patent the same idea, and then charge the Navy for using it. Personally, I don't buy this, because the Navy could just establish a prior art database for these ideas to achieve the same effect.
2) Being able to license the technology to non-Navy industries. I.e., medical applications. This justification at least seems, albeit distasteful.
Instinctively, I hate the notion of the government patenting anything. It might be because it seems ridiculous that anything the taxpayers paid for should be made unavailable to them. But... I can't find anything in the constitution that makes this abhorent practice illegal or unjustified. My reaction seems motivated by civic virtue rather than a legal basis.
Does anyone know of a solid legal reason that the government shouldn't be able to obtain patents?
There's now way in hell I'm going to bring my properly functioning hard drive to JiffyLube...
I can see it now: "Well, sir, we can just do the nano-lube for $19.99. But when we had your drive open we noticed the, uhhh... tacheon field was misaligned. We can fix that for just $199.99"
When my dad when to college in the 50's, it was pretty affordable. The university offered the following services: classes, access to professors, labs, libraries. As nicities that also had housing, food, and athletic facilities.
Fast forward 50 years. Now the universities seem to be some kind of theme park, and as the mafia expression says, everyone pays. Why the hell are universities so much into the entertainment business that they're offering students involuntary music service subscriptions? Liability issues aside (I don't think the RIAA could win such a case against a university anyway), this is just f*@*ing ridiculous. Univerities do NOT need to be county clubs that happen to offer classes to interested sober members.
What a great social engineering trick - get 30% of Slashdot readers to locally execute untrusted code with local thought. Cracker, my hat is off to you!
Some companies create software that they want to patent, but many more companies are starting to actually *use* FOSS.
Apache, Python, Perl, Samba, etc. Public institutions as are becoming increasingly dependent on FOSS as well: computer science / physics departments use Linux. City governments are playing around with OpenOffice.org and Linux. Even various military systems are now based on a complete FOSS stack: Linux, GCC, etc.
So here's my hope: the politically influential organizations that *use* FOSS will out-muscle the Microsofts and IBMs of the world who advocate for software patents. And when a showdown occurs, software patents will go away.
Another possibility is that India and China will start producing far more softare patents than the US does. I think we'd see the U.S. government take a far weaker stance regarding international IP treaties.
Just curious: if OSS basically became illegal (either by civil or criminal law) in your home country, would you be willing to move to some other country where you could be free to create?
Would you move from America to... Canada? (Close, same language, but America's bitch in IP legislation issues) Sweden? (Far away, different language, more intellectual freedom) China? (Farther away, different language, sometimes repressive and corrupt government)
I'm NOT advocating this, but I'm curious: just what does it take to get people to revolt?
I hear story after story about Americans losing, or put at risk of losing, their freedoms. Freedom to create (stifled by patents, copyright, trademark). Freedom from federal income tax (which is alleged to never have been legislated). Freedom from unreasonable search (illegal NSA wiretaps). Gerrymandering and political lobbying that reduce the voting power regular citizens. Etc.
Do we just grumble about these things and suck it up? Are we suffering from how-to-boil-a-frog syndrom, as the majority of German citizens did when the Nazi party seized power before WW2?
Don't get me wrong - I am *not* advocating violence or illegal activity. But I am curious about why peope haven't gotten pissed-off enough to revolt.
So basically ALL data will be sensitive. We're not longer talking about CIA operatives or Pentagon generals with state secrets under the arm. It's the secretary of the editor of the "Golden Days" monthly that will access the name of one of the retirees it serves from her son-in-law's computer to see why Ms. Applewhite didn't receive her beloved issue last month. The secretary is not only not going to encrypt the data, she's blissfully unaware that her son-in-law hard disk is completely shared on eMule due to her son-in-law's imperfect grasp of eMule's share facility.
The very fact that someone outside the administration is aware of the Ms. Applewhite / Golden Days incident proves the need for stronger encryption.
You're welcome - the cause is worthy. After reading the other posts, I thought some more about it. While I'm still glad I contributed, the current ad design really is pretty far from the quality of the Firefox campaign's page. If you have Ben's ear, please encourage him to seek and accept help in making the ad's design all it can be before sending it off for publication. We only get one change to make a first impression.
If the concerns about internal systems being disrupted by WiFI are such as big deal, why not just build Ethernet ports into new / revamped airplanes?
I realize that some people's Palm Pilots, etc. don't have Ethernet jacks. But pretty much every laptop does. Wouldn't this at least make the concerns about WiFi-related interference of flight systems just.. go away?
Because Americans are predominantly lazy and we hate to climb learning curves.
Oh, thank goodness! I had been thinking that laziness was an issue common to most peoples at most times. I'm relieved to hear that my own country is uniquely deserving of mention in this category, because that means the world is a better place than I thought.
Yeah, I know where you're coming from. That's why I tried to not whine about how they were being stupid / ignoring important customers. Instead I'm just asking if they'll ever serve people like me again. I really hope so - I've enjoyed their games a lot.
My three favorite computer game series have been: StarCraft, Diablo, and Civilization.
Ever since Blizzard started in on this MMORPG, they've produced not a single game that interests me. Especially now that I'm a parent, I just can't justify the time required to competitively maintain on online character. And, I need the freedom to walk away from a game at a moment's notice to take care of kids, etc., without my player dying.
With single-player and two-player games, this was never a problem. But ever since Diablo II, Blizzard seems to have no interest in producing more great games for people like me. Are gone forever the days of Blizzard giving me great games that fit my lifestyle and that have great replay value?
Slashdot Mirror
I asked a Navy guy about this. He gave two reasons that Navy researchers are encouraged to get patents:
1) To ensure that no one else can patent the same idea, and then charge the Navy for using it. Personally, I don't buy this, because the Navy could just establish a prior art database for these ideas to achieve the same effect.
2) Being able to license the technology to non-Navy industries. I.e., medical applications. This justification at least seems, albeit distasteful.
Instinctively, I hate the notion of the government patenting anything. It might be because it seems ridiculous that anything the taxpayers paid for should be made unavailable to them. But... I can't find anything in the constitution that makes this abhorent practice illegal or unjustified. My reaction seems motivated by civic virtue rather than a legal basis.
Does anyone know of a solid legal reason that the government shouldn't be able to obtain patents?
There's now way in hell I'm going to bring my properly functioning hard drive to JiffyLube...
I can see it now: "Well, sir, we can just do the nano-lube for $19.99. But when we had your drive open we noticed the, uhhh... tacheon field was misaligned. We can fix that for just $199.99"
When my dad when to college in the 50's, it was pretty affordable. The university offered the following services: classes, access to professors, labs, libraries. As nicities that also had housing, food, and athletic facilities.
Fast forward 50 years. Now the universities seem to be some kind of theme park, and as the mafia expression says, everyone pays. Why the hell are universities so much into the entertainment business that they're offering students involuntary music service subscriptions? Liability issues aside (I don't think the RIAA could win such a case against a university anyway), this is just f*@*ing ridiculous. Univerities do NOT need to be county clubs that happen to offer classes to interested sober members.
What a great social engineering trick - get 30% of Slashdot readers to locally execute untrusted code with local thought. Cracker, my hat is off to you!
I misread the title, and I was so excited for a minute.
They can encrypt is however they want to, ok??? GOSH...
Only if you get to her via her blind spot in less than 70 milliseconds.
If it's so bad then why haven't we seen major increases in traffic accident rates?
Because it hurts more, you twit.
Some companies create software that they want to patent, but many more companies are starting to actually *use* FOSS.
Apache, Python, Perl, Samba, etc. Public institutions as are becoming increasingly dependent on FOSS as well: computer science / physics departments use Linux. City governments are playing around with OpenOffice.org and Linux. Even various military systems are now based on a complete FOSS stack: Linux, GCC, etc.
So here's my hope: the politically influential organizations that *use* FOSS will out-muscle the Microsofts and IBMs of the world who advocate for software patents. And when a showdown occurs, software patents will go away.
Another possibility is that India and China will start producing far more softare patents than the US does. I think we'd see the U.S. government take a far weaker stance regarding international IP treaties.
Just curious: if OSS basically became illegal (either by civil or criminal law) in your home country, would you be willing to move to some other country where you could be free to create?
Would you move from America to...
Canada? (Close, same language, but America's bitch in IP legislation issues)
Sweden? (Far away, different language, more intellectual freedom)
China? (Farther away, different language, sometimes repressive and corrupt government)
What is this kind of freedom worth to you?
I'm NOT advocating this, but I'm curious: just what does it take to get people to revolt?
I hear story after story about Americans losing, or put at risk of losing, their freedoms. Freedom to create (stifled by patents, copyright, trademark). Freedom from federal income tax (which is alleged to never have been legislated). Freedom from unreasonable search (illegal NSA wiretaps). Gerrymandering and political lobbying that reduce the voting power regular citizens. Etc.
Do we just grumble about these things and suck it up? Are we suffering from how-to-boil-a-frog syndrom, as the majority of German citizens did when the Nazi party seized power before WW2?
Don't get me wrong - I am *not* advocating violence or illegal activity. But I am curious about why peope haven't gotten pissed-off enough to revolt.
It's more disturbing that the GP implicitly thinks one should automatically have to pay for *anything* that has value.
Hi Christian,
You're welcome - the cause is worthy. After reading the other posts, I thought some more about it. While I'm still glad I contributed, the current ad design really is pretty far from the quality of the Firefox campaign's page. If you have Ben's ear, please encourage him to seek and accept help in making the ad's design all it can be before sending it off for publication. We only get one change to make a first impression.
Kind regards,
Doofus.
It's so rare to feel like I can help the world in such a simple, clear, affordable way.
I just pledged $10. It felt good. Please consider doing it too.
If the concerns about internal systems being disrupted by WiFI are such as big deal, why not just build Ethernet ports into new / revamped airplanes?
I realize that some people's Palm Pilots, etc. don't have Ethernet jacks. But pretty much every laptop does. Wouldn't this at least make the concerns about WiFi-related interference of flight systems just.. go away?
My wife has helped me to become a "better" guy. Perhaps Bill is equally lucky.
Du bist zu ihm zu großzügig. :)
I advocate giving school kids free herroine for the same reason.
Yeah, I know where you're coming from. That's why I tried to not whine about how they were being stupid / ignoring important customers. Instead I'm just asking if they'll ever serve people like me again. I really hope so - I've enjoyed their games a lot.
My three favorite computer game series have been: StarCraft, Diablo, and Civilization.
Ever since Blizzard started in on this MMORPG, they've produced not a single game that interests me. Especially now that I'm a parent, I just can't justify the time required to competitively maintain on online character. And, I need the freedom to walk away from a game at a moment's notice to take care of kids, etc., without my player dying.
With single-player and two-player games, this was never a problem. But ever since Diablo II, Blizzard seems to have no interest in producing more great games for people like me. Are gone forever the days of Blizzard giving me great games that fit my lifestyle and that have great replay value?
Glad to see you guys are game for the conversation I was trying to start. :)