I'm all for a protected darknet, but wouldn't the recently signed Cybercrime Treaty compel Swedish authorities to hand over information demanded by other governments? It seems like the U.S. could ask for traffic information to be recorded (as under U.S. law), and that the Swedish ISP would be forced to comply....I hope not, (and I haven't had the time for an in-depth reading of the treaty articles) but that's what the overview makes it sound like.
Army Attorney General Joseph Welch to Senator Joseph McCarthy, 6/9/54:
"Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
>> Apparently the main problem is defects in the material, which are currently 'ironed >>out' as a side-effect of the extreme temperatures used.
>I'd hardly call it a side-effect to have a process that minimizes defects. I'd rather > call that an essential-effect.
Actually, the truth of the matter is that semiconductors NEED defects. Implanting phosphorus atoms (or whatever dopant you choose to use) induces defects - the atoms are injected into the silicon wafers at very high energies, battering their way into the silicon lattices. These are defects, but they're essential to semiconductor operation - without those defects, there would be no conduction at all (silicon by itself doesn't conduct electricity).
So what we're after in semiconductor manufacturing is a controlled amount of defects.
How long before back-alley labs start specializing in implant removal and/or alteration? RFID chips are notoriously easy to tinker with... what's to stop people from a) having their chips removed, b) inserting their own chip so that they're 'legal', or c) modifying their chip so that their identity is changed?
I'd suggest making them write persuasive arguments which articulate certain positions, then having them debate it out - using their essays for at least the opening of the debate.
Writing a case and then having to argue its points tends to give you a better appreciation of how to write clearly, as well as keeping things together in a logical progression.
For a smaller manufacturing process (90nm), the transistors are smaller. On the single-transistor level, at least, they require less power to operate than 180 or 130nm transistors.
Other considerations factor in to determine the power consumption (total number of transistors, other elements, arrangement, etc.), but the smaller size drops the power level quite a bit beforehand.
Using fully autonomous vehicles will probably lower the death toll that automobile accidents cause by quite a bit.
However, _some_ accidents probably will happen with autonomous cars. We've all seen or had our systems crash every so often - glitches occur in the best designed systems.
The problem is that the media is likely be very vocal about these ('Robots Cause Twenty-Car Pileup, Many Dead' - or some such). And this will scare the heck out of people. People don't mind taking their life into their own hands - driving yourself you at least nominally have some control over the system. But putting your life into the hands of... gasp... a machine... where you would (or think you would) be helpless if something goes wrong?
It's not the fear of death so much as the fear of dying and not being able to do anything about it. That's scary.
If this happens soon then it'll cause some trouble; colleges generally don't teach nanotech because it's still very much under development. I'm in a program right now that focuses on CMOS integrated circuit design... am I going to be obsolete before I get out of grad school?
I guess this happens whenever things shift to a new technology, but still, it's sort of depressing.
The site had the reverse effect on me - it was poorly constructed, including numerous typos.
The accusations just seem silly - "Votes for: terrorists"?? If you really want to put together a site like that, you should at least substantiate the accusations.
After reading through that crap, I went and looked at Van Hollen's real website, and was actually impressed with his biography and Congressional resume.
The guy who registered the site has the right to do so, I think -- he's just being stupid and seeming petty to the voters.
The bill as originally written, however, focuses primarily on penalties for promoting counterfeit music, computer programs, and other media with identical labeling."
Would this include the practice that some music companies have of sharing mp3 files that are the same size as genuine files but 95% static?
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
-Woody Guthrie
Since Nintendo's patents are specific to gaming consoles, the PTO probably ignored prior art from computers. However, I think that as consoles get more and more complex, there are increasing similarities to computers... consoles can be used for web browsing and other PC-like features.
The market seems to be moving towards having one big comprehensive system - a box that serves as a computer, TV, gaming console and stereo. What will happen to all of these patents when we get there?
Those who make the laws aren't always able to see from the perspective of those who must obey the laws... or at least, the rest of the population. After this incident, perhaps Kennedy will be a little more inclined to push for changes in the TSA, Homeland Security and the Patriot Act.
I don't know what his voting record is on the subject, but it seems like things can only improve after this incident.
Another issue that lurks below the surface is the question of military application of fusion/related technologies.
In the back rooms of every country are the generals and paranoid politicians - nobody wants to see other countries acquire something as militarily useful as fusion, when it could be used against them.
Some paranoia is probably justified, but I believe that in the long run, this will hurt us all.
I wonder how long it will be until these (or something similar) is as "optional" as the breathalyzer - you don't *have* to use it, but if you don't then you get punished.
I'm okay with the breathalyzer - that makes sense mostly; you've already been stopped, presumably for driving erratically. However, when/if we start applying Bush's preemptive foreign policy towards potential crime as well... there's all sorts of slippery slopes and scary sci/fi (Minority Report anyone?) to worry about.
Corporations have been writing licenses of this sort for a long time - some of the worst are the ones that come packaged with software or that are hidden in 1 pt. font on websites.
One of the issues we run into where I work (we make oscillators) is that chips behave differently over their specified temperature operating range. Commercial parts are rated from 0 to 70 Celsius (Industrial : -40/+85, Military : -55/+125). Commercial range is pretty decent for most applications; the average user wouldn't expect their computer innards to be heating up past 150 Farenheit. Anyhow, the simpler chips we make operate differently at different temperatures (the part I'm working on now is rated +- 100 parts per million).
A more complicated way of making these is to make what's called an Oven-Controlled model - you basically create a little oven that responds to the temperature of the chip, keeping it at a certain optimal temperature. These parts are much more stable and accurate; they vary in parts per billion. Dust is a big concern during manufacture; they're pretty sensitive, but once they're sealed, they're more or less set to go.
On a completely seperate note, I have to wonder what kind of issues Sun will be having with crosstalk on their new mobo's.
Eliminating connectors also removes a problem that pops up in microchips - without connecting wires, you don't have most of the parasitic capacitances that crop up on chips. A capacitor is anything with two metal contacts, so wires (especially parallel wires) cause very small capacitances, usually in the order of several picofarads. The problem is that on microchips, the capacitor values that are being used are generally in that range too, so parasitics can be very problematic.
Heat transfer is also a problem, but I'm not convinced that it would be so different from current heat considerations. The heat should still spread through the chip, regardless of connectors, and dissapate on the chip's surface. Whether they get overly ambitious with stacking these chips is another question.
Section 501 of title 17, United States Code, is amended...
...intent may be shown by acts from which a reasonable person would find intent to induce infringement based upon all relevant information about such acts then reasonably available to the actor, including whether the activity relies on infringement for its commercial viability.
The above excerpt (my emphasis added) from the INDUCE legislation has two things of note. First, the test of liability is very vague; I'm guessing that a court probably wouldn't find a P2P provider liable solely on the 'all relevant information...' bit unless the P2P featured things like "A Newbie's Guide to Illegal File-Sharing" available with the product.
The second part is likely to prove more troublesome; on whether a P2P provider can profit and prove that they don't have to relay upon illegal file-sharing to do so.
I can think of two work-arounds; free/shareware programs that have no commercial purpose, no advertising, and don't make anybody money, or if a P2P partially sells out - works with The Man to help sell/exchange files - but still allows users to trade files on their own.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm all for a protected darknet, but wouldn't the recently signed Cybercrime Treaty compel Swedish authorities to hand over information demanded by other governments? It seems like the U.S. could ask for traffic information to be recorded (as under U.S. law), and that the Swedish ISP would be forced to comply. ...I hope not, (and I haven't had the time for an in-depth reading of the treaty articles) but that's what the overview makes it sound like.
./ story here,
List of signatories (Council of Europe site)
Army Attorney General Joseph Welch to Senator Joseph McCarthy, 6/9/54:
"Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
>> Apparently the main problem is defects in the material, which are currently 'ironed
>>out' as a side-effect of the extreme temperatures used.
>I'd hardly call it a side-effect to have a process that minimizes defects. I'd rather
> call that an essential-effect.
Actually, the truth of the matter is that semiconductors NEED defects. Implanting phosphorus atoms (or whatever dopant you choose to use) induces defects - the atoms are injected into the silicon wafers at very high energies, battering their way into the silicon lattices. These are defects, but they're essential to semiconductor operation - without those defects, there would be no conduction at all (silicon by itself doesn't conduct electricity).
So what we're after in semiconductor manufacturing is a controlled amount of defects.
How long before back-alley labs start specializing in implant removal and/or alteration? RFID chips are notoriously easy to tinker with ... what's to stop people from a) having their chips removed, b) inserting their own chip so that they're 'legal', or c) modifying their chip so that their identity is changed?
I'd suggest making them write persuasive arguments which articulate certain positions, then having them debate it out - using their essays for at least the opening of the debate.
Writing a case and then having to argue its points tends to give you a better appreciation of how to write clearly, as well as keeping things together in a logical progression.
For a smaller manufacturing process (90nm), the transistors are smaller. On the single-transistor level, at least, they require less power to operate than 180 or 130nm transistors.
Other considerations factor in to determine the power consumption (total number of transistors, other elements, arrangement, etc.), but the smaller size drops the power level quite a bit beforehand.
I'd take a long hard look at exactly what goes into this bill.
...how can you call yourself an American? /sarcasm
It seems like lawmakers like trendy acronyms (PATRIOT Act, CAN-SPAM, etc.) that disguise undesirable things behind a hard-to-challenge facade.
Didn't vote for the PATRIOT Act?
Still, I'd be much happier with names like "HR-98-101" or something similar.
A mysterious organization known as the Combine exerts control...
Sounds almost like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Using fully autonomous vehicles will probably lower the death toll that automobile accidents cause by quite a bit.
... gasp ... a machine ... where you would (or think you would) be helpless if something goes wrong?
However, _some_ accidents probably will happen with autonomous cars. We've all seen or had our systems crash every so often - glitches occur in the best designed systems.
The problem is that the media is likely be very vocal about these ('Robots Cause Twenty-Car Pileup, Many Dead' - or some such). And this will scare the heck out of people. People don't mind taking their life into their own hands - driving yourself you at least nominally have some control over the system. But putting your life into the hands of
It's not the fear of death so much as the fear of dying and not being able to do anything about it. That's scary.
If this happens soon then it'll cause some trouble; colleges generally don't teach nanotech because it's still very much under development. I'm in a program right now that focuses on CMOS integrated circuit design ... am I going to be obsolete before I get out of grad school?
I guess this happens whenever things shift to a new technology, but still, it's sort of depressing.
The site had the reverse effect on me - it was poorly constructed, including numerous typos.
The accusations just seem silly - "Votes for: terrorists"?? If you really want to put together a site like that, you should at least substantiate the accusations.
After reading through that crap, I went and looked at Van Hollen's real website, and was actually impressed with his biography and Congressional resume.
The guy who registered the site has the right to do so, I think -- he's just being stupid and seeming petty to the voters.
The Magic School Bus!
It had to be said....
The bill as originally written, however, focuses primarily on penalties for promoting counterfeit music, computer programs, and other media with identical labeling."
Would this include the practice that some music companies have of sharing mp3 files that are the same size as genuine files but 95% static?
Citation: WoodyGuthrie.com
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do." -Woody Guthrie
Since Nintendo's patents are specific to gaming consoles, the PTO probably ignored prior art from computers. However, I think that as consoles get more and more complex, there are increasing similarities to computers ... consoles can be used for web browsing and other PC-like features.
The market seems to be moving towards having one big comprehensive system - a box that serves as a computer, TV, gaming console and stereo. What will happen to all of these patents when we get there?
Those who make the laws aren't always able to see from the perspective of those who must obey the laws ... or at least, the rest of the population. After this incident, perhaps Kennedy will be a little more inclined to push for changes in the TSA, Homeland Security and the Patriot Act.
I don't know what his voting record is on the subject, but it seems like things can only improve after this incident.
Another issue that lurks below the surface is the question of military application of fusion/related technologies.
In the back rooms of every country are the generals and paranoid politicians - nobody wants to see other countries acquire something as militarily useful as fusion, when it could be used against them.
Some paranoia is probably justified, but I believe that in the long run, this will hurt us all.
(okay, so I made up 'militarily.' shush.)
I wonder how long it will be until these (or something similar) is as "optional" as the breathalyzer - you don't *have* to use it, but if you don't then you get punished.
... there's all sorts of slippery slopes and scary sci/fi (Minority Report anyone?) to worry about.
I'm okay with the breathalyzer - that makes sense mostly; you've already been stopped, presumably for driving erratically. However, when/if we start applying Bush's preemptive foreign policy towards potential crime as well
Corporations have been writing licenses of this sort for a long time - some of the worst are the ones that come packaged with software or that are hidden in 1 pt. font on websites.
/. article on the subject.
They're a little dated, but for more information, check out these links at the Consumer Project on Technology:
UCITA
Questionable Licenses
And here's a link to an old
Slashdot | Questionable EULA's
One of the issues we run into where I work (we make oscillators) is that chips behave differently over their specified temperature operating range. Commercial parts are rated from 0 to 70 Celsius (Industrial : -40/+85, Military : -55/+125). Commercial range is pretty decent for most applications; the average user wouldn't expect their computer innards to be heating up past 150 Farenheit. Anyhow, the simpler chips we make operate differently at different temperatures (the part I'm working on now is rated +- 100 parts per million).
A more complicated way of making these is to make what's called an Oven-Controlled model - you basically create a little oven that responds to the temperature of the chip, keeping it at a certain optimal temperature. These parts are much more stable and accurate; they vary in parts per billion. Dust is a big concern during manufacture; they're pretty sensitive, but once they're sealed, they're more or less set to go.
On a completely seperate note, I have to wonder what kind of issues Sun will be having with crosstalk on their new mobo's.
Eliminating connectors also removes a problem that pops up in microchips - without connecting wires, you don't have most of the parasitic capacitances that crop up on chips. A capacitor is anything with two metal contacts, so wires (especially parallel wires) cause very small capacitances, usually in the order of several picofarads. The problem is that on microchips, the capacitor values that are being used are generally in that range too, so parasitics can be very problematic.
Heat transfer is also a problem, but I'm not convinced that it would be so different from current heat considerations. The heat should still spread through the chip, regardless of connectors, and dissapate on the chip's surface. Whether they get overly ambitious with stacking these chips is another question.
...Linux.
The strangest place I've read Slashdot from?
Definitely New Jersey.
Section 501 of title 17, United States Code, is amended...
...intent may be shown by acts from which a reasonable person would find intent to induce infringement based upon all relevant information about such acts then reasonably available to the actor, including whether the activity relies on infringement for its commercial viability.
The above excerpt (my emphasis added) from the INDUCE legislation has two things of note. First, the test of liability is very vague; I'm guessing that a court probably wouldn't find a P2P provider liable solely on the 'all relevant information...' bit unless the P2P featured things like "A Newbie's Guide to Illegal File-Sharing" available with the product.
The second part is likely to prove more troublesome; on whether a P2P provider can profit and prove that they don't have to relay upon illegal file-sharing to do so.
I can think of two work-arounds; free/shareware programs that have no commercial purpose, no advertising, and don't make anybody money, or if a P2P partially sells out - works with The Man to help sell/exchange files - but still allows users to trade files on their own.
Still, I hope that the bill fails.