Sure SLC doesn't have much in the way of non-mass-market establishments, but It's probably the best place in the world to buy white short-sleeved collared shirts, black pants, and bicycles...
This is slightly off-topic, but the same strategy can also apply to more "traditional" forms of commercial information gathering.
Somehow I got sent a consumer survey application form promising "wonderful prizes" so I sent it in and for every survey they sent me I pretty much filled it out at random. So somewhere out there, some marketing database thinks that I'm a 75 year old satanic reverend with four kids named mephisto, diablo, baal, and jane; I'm unemployed and live in a trailer home but I make over $100,000(US) a year; I have no phone, no computer, no television, but I own a modem. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my 9-year-old daughter Jane is pregnant with my baby. I'm just waiting for the day the FBI comes banging on my door...:)
Another thing that's not quite as fun to do but still effective is to tell telemarketers that they've called the wrong number when they ask for you by name. A friend of mine used to work for a telemarketing firm and he told me that the GUI front-end for their dialing system had a button marked "wrong number" that would allow them to flag your record, presumably to be cleaned or filtered out of the dialing system database so that they don't call that number again. Unless there's some way to make caller ID work in reverse, I don't think there's any really cheap way for telemarketing firms to instantly re-verify your phone number.
Wouldn't it be cool if he GPL'd his patent? Meaning that if anyone else decides to take advantage of his "patented" techniques, they would be forced to release all of the source code and also allow free distribution of their application.
Anyone ever stop to think that maybe RAM prices shooting through the roof might be a good thing for Linux and free Unix-like OS's in general?
How many Win2000 machines do you think that Microsoft will sell if the standard PC configuration drops down to 16 or 32MB of RAM from 64 or 128MB? Linux will still run fine, but will Win2000 be usable?
Think *more* earthquakes, not less. Cheer *for* China, not root against it!:)
Hmmm... What I got out of reading the bill was that if you do own a domain name that is trademarked the only reasons by which it can be taken away from you is if you're not using the name, if you're using the name in such a way that you're intending to benefit from consumer confusion, if you're "diluting" the trademark, or if you registered it just to sell it.
But then again, i'm not a lawyer nor do I read congressional bills for a living...
Ever consider that this author is just trying to take advantage of the/. effect and generate traffic to his article to boost his meager name on the internet?
He takes a decidedly "establishment" point of view (being that of the traditional press) then blasts anti-establishment activity (Jane's soliciting/. for feedback) with no good reason other than "that's the way to write news". Then he has the audacity to call it censorship.
Then he "conveniently" starts talking about why no one is paying attention to the whole ".cc" issue with a pronounced pro-business angle. The general issue of companies going after individuals that own desireable domain names has long been a rallying point for/. readers.
How many of you felt angry as you were reading his article? I started to, then I realized what he was trying to do. If he attacks/. enough times and generates enough controversy, he's bound to find his name appearing on some of the bigger news sites now that the world is starting to be watch us.
Sure the government could start to do some really scary things with this technology, but has anyone thought of the sorts of annoying things marketing people could do with this?
How's about applying the technology to mall security cameras, and linking the visual recognition with a marketing database so that a band of roving salespeople can "point you in the right direction". Or even more annoying, how's about salespeople standing outside of store doors accosting people by name to try to get them in the store, but since the faces are linked to marketing databases, they only choose people that fit their "target market".
Taking things to the next level, stores would be able to effortlessly track each individual customer that shops in their store. With this technology, simply walking into the store tells them your name, address, social security number, phone number, e-mail address, credit history, checking/savings account balances, crimminal record, sexual preference, television viewing habits, and the list of recent stores that you've shopped in. Paying cash to remain anonymous to marketing people no longer will work.
An even more screwed-up use would be using video monitors that display advertisements based on who happens to walk by them. A camera looks at your face, figures out what you like, then displays only the commercials that fit your profile. It's kinda like when you use search engines on web pages and all those porno advertisements start popping up -- except everyone else walking by sees the commercial too. Imagine cameras and LCD screens at eye-level in bathroom stalls and urinals that shove commercials in your face while you're doing your business.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's your chance -- they've got no money and you've got no money!!!!
:)
It'll be a *lot* cheaper to hit 'em where it hurts!
Sure SLC doesn't have much in the way of non-mass-market establishments, but It's probably the best place in the world to buy white short-sleeved collared shirts, black pants, and bicycles...
Why not publish the book with the stipulation that all of the profits go toward setting up a Slashdot scholarship or grant of some sort?
This is slightly off-topic, but the same strategy can also apply to more "traditional" forms of commercial information gathering.
:)
Somehow I got sent a consumer survey application form promising "wonderful prizes" so I sent it in and for every survey they sent me I pretty much filled it out at random. So somewhere out there, some marketing database thinks that I'm a 75 year old satanic reverend with four kids named mephisto, diablo, baal, and jane; I'm unemployed and live in a trailer home but I make over $100,000(US) a year; I have no phone, no computer, no television, but I own a modem. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my 9-year-old daughter Jane is pregnant with my baby. I'm just waiting for the day the FBI comes banging on my door...
Another thing that's not quite as fun to do but still effective is to tell telemarketers that they've called the wrong number when they ask for you by name. A friend of mine used to work for a telemarketing firm and he told me that the GUI front-end for their dialing system had a button marked "wrong number" that would allow them to flag your record, presumably to be cleaned or filtered out of the dialing system database so that they don't call that number again. Unless there's some way to make caller ID work in reverse, I don't think there's any really cheap way for telemarketing firms to instantly re-verify your phone number.
Wouldn't it be cool if he GPL'd his patent? Meaning that if anyone else decides to take advantage of his "patented" techniques, they would be forced to release all of the source code and also allow free distribution of their application.
:)
IANAL, so would something like this be possible?
If so, it would be VERY cool!
Anyone ever stop to think that maybe RAM prices shooting through the roof might be a good thing for Linux and free Unix-like OS's in general?
:)
How many Win2000 machines do you think that Microsoft will sell if the standard PC configuration drops down to 16 or 32MB of RAM from 64 or 128MB? Linux will still run fine, but will Win2000 be usable?
Think *more* earthquakes, not less. Cheer *for* China, not root against it!
Hmmm... What I got out of reading the bill was that if you do own a domain name that is trademarked the only reasons by which it can be taken away from you is if you're not using the name, if you're using the name in such a way that you're intending to benefit from consumer confusion, if you're "diluting" the trademark, or if you registered it just to sell it.
But then again, i'm not a lawyer nor do I read congressional bills for a living...
Ever consider that this author is just trying to take advantage of the /. effect and generate traffic to his article to boost his meager name on the internet?
/. for feedback) with no good reason other than "that's the way to write news". Then he has the audacity to call it censorship.
/. readers.
/. enough times and generates enough controversy, he's bound to find his name appearing on some of the bigger news sites now that the world is starting to be watch us.
He takes a decidedly "establishment" point of view (being that of the traditional press) then blasts anti-establishment activity (Jane's soliciting
Then he "conveniently" starts talking about why no one is paying attention to the whole ".cc" issue with a pronounced pro-business angle. The general issue of companies going after individuals that own desireable domain names has long been a rallying point for
How many of you felt angry as you were reading his article? I started to, then I realized what he was trying to do. If he attacks
Sure the government could start to do some really scary things with this technology, but has anyone thought of the sorts of annoying things marketing people could do with this?
How's about applying the technology to mall security cameras, and linking the visual recognition with a marketing database so that a band of roving salespeople can "point you in the right direction". Or even more annoying, how's about salespeople standing outside of store doors accosting people by name to try to get them in the store, but since the faces are linked to marketing databases, they only choose people that fit their "target market".
Taking things to the next level, stores would be able to effortlessly track each individual customer that shops in their store. With this technology, simply walking into the store tells them your name, address, social security number, phone number, e-mail address, credit history, checking/savings account balances, crimminal record, sexual preference, television viewing habits, and the list of recent stores that you've shopped in. Paying cash to remain anonymous to marketing people no longer will work.
An even more screwed-up use would be using video monitors that display advertisements based on who happens to walk by them. A camera looks at your face, figures out what you like, then displays only the commercials that fit your profile. It's kinda like when you use search engines on web pages and all those porno advertisements start popping up -- except everyone else walking by sees the commercial too. Imagine cameras and LCD screens at eye-level in bathroom stalls and urinals that shove commercials in your face while you're doing your business.
Just a few paranoid thoughts...