The telcos could ask for who (family, work) reported the person in question missing (including contact information), go check the information (maybe a special independent organization needed to do the checking).
Now, the telcos should only be allowed to turn over that information if the information is correct and confirmed.
This should raise the bar for abuse by the police.
Blindness and diabetes are 2 completely different things, blindness being a lot worse as diabetes.
with diabetes you've got a diet issue, with blindness you're actually missing one of your primary senses. That's quite a difference. A difference which goes waaaay beyond comparing apples with oranges.
With diabetes you've still got all your senses, with blindness you haven't. With diabetes you can still eat (however limited in some cases), with blindness you don't see anything.
Granted, diabetes has as a consequence you are faster tired. But that still makes it a lot more bearable as blindness.
Oh, and one last thing... You aren't confronted with diabetes all day; with blindness, darkness is endless and lasts until it's fixed or until you die.
Negative publishing is publishing. Many more people are now aware of the existence of bittorrent and, even worse, are aware how the entertainment industry deals with piracy. The consequences are simple: more and more people distrust the entertainment industry and start using p2p networks (among which bittorrent).
How does the entertainment industry respond? Not by removing or reducing the reason of illegal downloads. Not by gaining trust with the people. No, imagine that sales might actually go up because the price is actually affordable and/or you could easily buy the song or movie you want without any additional crap.
Instead of putting energy in sales (adapting to the market), they put energy in piracy (lobby to get various ineffective, annoying laws applied; suing their clients; Digital Restrictions Management). Result: because of the various annoyances and of the bad reputation of the entertainment industry, piracy increases.
If they'd just adapt to the market, their problem would disappear like snow for the sun (or, at least, reduce to acceptable proportions).
confirmed step 1) Make the people uninterested in elections (as far as I'm aware in the USA there's an election for way too many things). confirmed step 2) Give the people a common enemy (terrorists). confirmed step 3) Use step 2 to give yourself additional additional powers (partiot act) confirmed step 4) Divert attention of the people to something more interesting then the situation at home (war). confirmed step 5) Make use of the chance created by step 4 to give yourself more rights, and strip (or circumvent) the rights of the people. step 6) Something happens which gives you a reason to use your extra rights (economic collapse?)... among which step 7) Cancel the next presidential elections for an undefined period.
Considering that Microsoft is looking down the barrel of a VERY large shotgun which is held by a VERY angry organization (the EU), I think they're willing to do anything in order to make them go away.
They might, ofcourse, suffer from a bit of vanity, but that'll change while the EU is chewing on them. The fun part is that the EU is a government body (read: slow to change direction), so Microsoft is in for a world of hurt.
Microsoft did this to discredit ISO. Think about it, Microsoft sabotages the voting process and everyone "inconviniently" discovers the voting fraud. As a consequence ISO isn't trusted anymore.
What happens? Everyone scrambles to consolidate "their" (read: Microsoft's) idea of standard. "Unfortunately" this will mean that each and every standard breakable by Microsoft will be broken in such a way that it's very convenient for... Microsoft.
Microsoft is pushing OOXML simply to sabotage ISO and not to provide a "competitor" to ODF, that's only the front.
At this point criminal prosecution of the Microsoft execs responsible for this would be very desirable (corruption, fraud and forgery of documents (yes, it might just apply here)).
The companies aiding Microsoft in the irregularities deserve to get punished severely over this.
Get rid of the "information ownership" system.
on
The U.S. Patent Backlog
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
While motivation to innovate was needed a few hundred years ago, it's currently not needed anymore. It currently only serves large companies and people who want to control the market (the owners of those large companies).
When it was needed, the world was (mostly) governed by aristocracy. The aristocrats basically cared about one thing: power. So they needed an incentive to create something which they could monopolize (so they have absolute power over it). Enter the patent system. All of a sudden those aristocrats had reason to innovate (or to foster innovation THEY could control).
Over time the aristocrats were replaced with large companies (sad, but true), but the system under which large companies work is exactly the reverse of that of the aristocrats (an aristocrat needs money to get more power, a company needs power to get more money).
Now, how is power gained? Exactly, through knowledge. Now, the patent system allows you control over who gets to apply your knowledge. This control over information obstructs further development, thus obstructing competition... thus obstructing economic growth.
Copyrights, another such flawed system. It allows control over distribution of information. Where it was relevant up to 15 years ago, it's currently completely irrelevant. And it again only serves to obstruct economic growth.
If you replace copyrights with author's rights (as to ensure that the author is able to extract income from his works), I'm perfectly happy with it. Although this still obstructs the distribution of information, it doesn't obstruct the growth of information.
But alas, these completely counterintuitive ideas (patents and copyrights) won't go away, unless it's absolutely needed. In the meanwhile the bureaucracy will get worse and worse, to the point that the world economy is completely crippled and courts are clogged with patent and copyright infringement cases.
That something like this could happen here, in the EU... This is based on pure greed, and achieved by lobbying.
I think somebody should check the commissioner's funding, and how that insane idea got into his head... then send the result to the European parliament, accompanied with accusations of corruption.
If Israel all off a sudden "informs" the world that they have attacked a "dangerous military facility" inside Iran, you might very well be right (the U.S. can't afford to attack Iran, as that would expose them). While this might be (as I have to admit, a very real) option, I don't think it's the only likely possibility.
An alternative is that something very nasty is brewing inside Iran and somebody over there (or, *shudder* over here) doesn't want it to come out.
The satellites are still where they're supposed to be, aren't they? So how come Iran is offline?
Well, instead of copying the letter, you could simply quote it. That way they can't sue because you didn't actually publish the letter itself but you quoted (to quote is a synonym for to cite iirc) it.
In other words, instead of bluntly scanning or otherwise copying the letter you integrate relevant parts of it into your story or message. That way you did not copy it and so they can't sue you. Or well... at least it seems like an obvious solution to me.
Somehow I think the companies in question will/want/ this to drag on, and on, and on... until the patent troll realizes all of its resources are sucked dry. At which point the patent troll will be toyed around with some more in court and finally killed.
HP, Apple, etc. will want to make an example out of this one.
This is activity intent on stifling competition, MSN messenger has been bundled with windows for a while now and gives microsoft an unfair advantage on the IM market (nearly everyone buying a computer, gets windows and so windows messenger (which is a stripped down version of MSN messenger)).
Now, Microsoft tries to/scare/ other companies into only allowing MSN to be used as IM client for their social network sites.
In other words: they're trying to use their dominant market position, which was gained by illegal means, to force companies to strengthen Microsoft's position in the market even further.
I wonder what the EU will think of this kind behavior from Microsoft.
use all sarcastic hints from http://mindprod.com/jgloss/unmain.html.
Once they start getting desperate, ask them to produce complete documentation so you can actually do your job.
What if one embryo gets 'lost' and somehow reaches birth, would the result be a human or an animal? If uncertainty remains, what about the poor thing's rights?
When is the EU going to do something about that thing? People around me have noticed alternatives to windows, but one of the most important reasons NOT to make the jump (to them) is games (of which 99.9% are windows only, because of DirectX).
Once Microsoft is forced to remove that from windows, and to actually charge for it (in a per seat license), Microsoft is going to feel the hurt a lot more as being forced to unbundle IE and MSN-messenger. This because most PC games are currently designed to only work with DirectX (and thus windows). This gives windows a major advantage in the OS market.
Author's rights. The author produces a work, he gets all the rights. He then employs some organization to redistribute it for him (i.e. gives the organization permission to copy his product under certain conditions).
Add to the mix a law which states that rights can't be signed away and you've got a pretty good fix.
Now, corporation X wants to sue, but the artist doesn't feel hurt. Tough luck corporation X, you're just responsible for redistribution.
Of course there should be a reasonable limit for how long author's rights last - reasonable doesn't mean a century in this context.
NOTE: author's rights are quite different as copy rights.
For companies with their own IT department and computer savvy home users it isn't a problem, but there are lots of users who do not understand how to edit the register and might even be afraid of it.
I agree with the view that IE should be removed from windows... but this doesn't hurt Microsoft enough.
Basically a lot of people are not able to change platforms due to one piece of software which has been in windows since windows 98... Nearly all games currently available need directx to run, which is deeply embedded in windows. If microsoft is forced to distribute directx separately from windows and charge for it per installation (per seat), I think a lot of game developers will choose a different api, thereby allowing games to be ported easier to other platforms.
Another thing: Microsoft should be stopped from tampering with the hardware market. As it stands most "cheap" motherboards and laptops have trouble running anything other then windows due to a severely foobar'ed acpi (for which we can thank the severely broken microsoft acpi compiler).
Microsoft has been doing this for years, except now they're telling you about it and when you agree with it you get a free windows (as long as you agree with spyware).
I think this is a desperate move to thwart Linux (getting windows costs now as much money as Linux). Except that the usage conditions are a lot worse as Linux.
Yes, and their whining won't get them anywhere. It'll only serve to worsen their situation. The Dutch government isn't perfect, but it is not compromised of a bunch of corrupt idiots.
The tactics that work in the U.S. won't work in the Netherlands, since our government is used to loud complaints. If Microsoft wants to exert pressure on the Dutch government to not enact this, I wish them good luck... they're doomed to fail.
Microsoft says it removed the kill switch, but I don't believe it. They've lied before, and I don't trust them anymore. If they'd actually be honest and tell us the kill switch is still there, but disabled, I might actually believe them. However, I think it's still there (and enabled), but needs to be told manually to do its dirty work.
Well, all cops are trained in hand to hand combat and don't need to tazer or shoot that poor chap, they know very well how to get that person under control without using any weapons other then their hands.
Slashdot Mirror
The telcos could ask for who (family, work) reported the person in question missing (including contact information), go check the information (maybe a special independent organization needed to do the checking).
Now, the telcos should only be allowed to turn over that information if the information is correct and confirmed.
This should raise the bar for abuse by the police.
Blindness and diabetes are 2 completely different things, blindness being a lot worse as diabetes.
with diabetes you've got a diet issue, with blindness you're actually missing one of your primary senses. That's quite a difference. A difference which goes waaaay beyond comparing apples with oranges.
With diabetes you've still got all your senses, with blindness you haven't.
With diabetes you can still eat (however limited in some cases), with blindness you don't see anything.
Granted, diabetes has as a consequence you are faster tired. But that still makes it a lot more bearable as blindness.
Oh, and one last thing... You aren't confronted with diabetes all day; with blindness, darkness is endless and lasts until it's fixed or until you die.
Negative publishing is publishing. Many more people are now aware of the existence of bittorrent and, even worse, are aware how the entertainment industry deals with piracy. The consequences are simple: more and more people distrust the entertainment industry and start using p2p networks (among which bittorrent).
How does the entertainment industry respond? Not by removing or reducing the reason of illegal downloads. Not by gaining trust with the people. No, imagine that sales might actually go up because the price is actually affordable and/or you could easily buy the song or movie you want without any additional crap.
Instead of putting energy in sales (adapting to the market), they put energy in piracy (lobby to get various ineffective, annoying laws applied; suing their clients; Digital Restrictions Management). Result: because of the various annoyances and of the bad reputation of the entertainment industry, piracy increases.
If they'd just adapt to the market, their problem would disappear like snow for the sun (or, at least, reduce to acceptable proportions).
confirmed step 1) Make the people uninterested in elections (as far as I'm aware in the USA there's an election for way too many things).
confirmed step 2) Give the people a common enemy (terrorists).
confirmed step 3) Use step 2 to give yourself additional additional powers (partiot act)
confirmed step 4) Divert attention of the people to something more interesting then the situation at home (war).
confirmed step 5) Make use of the chance created by step 4 to give yourself more rights, and strip (or circumvent) the rights of the people.
step 6) Something happens which gives you a reason to use your extra rights (economic collapse?)... among which
step 7) Cancel the next presidential elections for an undefined period.
Notice how close you are?
Considering that Microsoft is looking down the barrel of a VERY large shotgun which is held by a VERY angry organization (the EU), I think they're willing to do anything in order to make them go away.
They might, ofcourse, suffer from a bit of vanity, but that'll change while the EU is chewing on them. The fun part is that the EU is a government body (read: slow to change direction), so Microsoft is in for a world of hurt.
Microsoft did this to discredit ISO. Think about it, Microsoft sabotages the voting process and everyone "inconviniently" discovers the voting fraud. As a consequence ISO isn't trusted anymore.
What happens? Everyone scrambles to consolidate "their" (read: Microsoft's) idea of standard. "Unfortunately" this will mean that each and every standard breakable by Microsoft will be broken in such a way that it's very convenient for... Microsoft.
Microsoft is pushing OOXML simply to sabotage ISO and not to provide a "competitor" to ODF, that's only the front.
At this point criminal prosecution of the Microsoft execs responsible for this would be very desirable (corruption, fraud and forgery of documents (yes, it might just apply here)).
The companies aiding Microsoft in the irregularities deserve to get punished severely over this.
While motivation to innovate was needed a few hundred years ago, it's currently not needed anymore. It currently only serves large companies and people who want to control the market (the owners of those large companies).
When it was needed, the world was (mostly) governed by aristocracy. The aristocrats basically cared about one thing: power. So they needed an incentive to create something which they could monopolize (so they have absolute power over it). Enter the patent system. All of a sudden those aristocrats had reason to innovate (or to foster innovation THEY could control).
Over time the aristocrats were replaced with large companies (sad, but true), but the system under which large companies work is exactly the reverse of that of the aristocrats (an aristocrat needs money to get more power, a company needs power to get more money).
Now, how is power gained? Exactly, through knowledge. Now, the patent system allows you control over who gets to apply your knowledge. This control over information obstructs further development, thus obstructing competition... thus obstructing economic growth.
Copyrights, another such flawed system. It allows control over distribution of information. Where it was relevant up to 15 years ago, it's currently completely irrelevant. And it again only serves to obstruct economic growth.
If you replace copyrights with author's rights (as to ensure that the author is able to extract income from his works), I'm perfectly happy with it. Although this still obstructs the distribution of information, it doesn't obstruct the growth of information.
But alas, these completely counterintuitive ideas (patents and copyrights) won't go away, unless it's absolutely needed. In the meanwhile the bureaucracy will get worse and worse, to the point that the world economy is completely crippled and courts are clogged with patent and copyright infringement cases.
That something like this could happen here, in the EU... This is based on pure greed, and achieved by lobbying.
I think somebody should check the commissioner's funding, and how that insane idea got into his head... then send the result to the European parliament, accompanied with accusations of corruption.
Sure, it would take a while to encrypt some data, but that's a side matter :)
If Israel all off a sudden "informs" the world that they have attacked a "dangerous military facility" inside Iran, you might very well be right (the U.S. can't afford to attack Iran, as that would expose them). While this might be (as I have to admit, a very real) option, I don't think it's the only likely possibility.
An alternative is that something very nasty is brewing inside Iran and somebody over there (or, *shudder* over here) doesn't want it to come out.
The satellites are still where they're supposed to be, aren't they? So how come Iran is offline?
Well, instead of copying the letter, you could simply quote it. That way they can't sue because you didn't actually publish the letter itself but you quoted (to quote is a synonym for to cite iirc) it. In other words, instead of bluntly scanning or otherwise copying the letter you integrate relevant parts of it into your story or message. That way you did not copy it and so they can't sue you. Or well... at least it seems like an obvious solution to me.
Cite the letter.
Somehow I think the companies in question will /want/ this to drag on, and on, and on... until the patent troll realizes all of its resources are sucked dry. At which point the patent troll will be toyed around with some more in court and finally killed.
HP, Apple, etc. will want to make an example out of this one.
This is activity intent on stifling competition, MSN messenger has been bundled with windows for a while now and gives microsoft an unfair advantage on the IM market (nearly everyone buying a computer, gets windows and so windows messenger (which is a stripped down version of MSN messenger)). Now, Microsoft tries to /scare/ other companies into only allowing MSN to be used as IM client for their social network sites.
In other words: they're trying to use their dominant market position, which was gained by illegal means, to force companies to strengthen Microsoft's position in the market even further.
I wonder what the EU will think of this kind behavior from Microsoft.
use all sarcastic hints from http://mindprod.com/jgloss/unmain.html. Once they start getting desperate, ask them to produce complete documentation so you can actually do your job.
What if one embryo gets 'lost' and somehow reaches birth, would the result be a human or an animal? If uncertainty remains, what about the poor thing's rights?
When is the EU going to do something about that thing? People around me have noticed alternatives to windows, but one of the most important reasons NOT to make the jump (to them) is games (of which 99.9% are windows only, because of DirectX).
Once Microsoft is forced to remove that from windows, and to actually charge for it (in a per seat license), Microsoft is going to feel the hurt a lot more as being forced to unbundle IE and MSN-messenger. This because most PC games are currently designed to only work with DirectX (and thus windows). This gives windows a major advantage in the OS market.
Author's rights.
The author produces a work, he gets all the rights. He then employs some organization to redistribute it for him (i.e. gives the organization permission to copy his product under certain conditions).
Add to the mix a law which states that rights can't be signed away and you've got a pretty good fix.
Now, corporation X wants to sue, but the artist doesn't feel hurt. Tough luck corporation X, you're just responsible for redistribution.
Of course there should be a reasonable limit for how long author's rights last - reasonable doesn't mean a century in this context.
NOTE: author's rights are quite different as copy rights.
For companies with their own IT department and computer savvy home users it isn't a problem, but there are lots of users who do not understand how to edit the register and might even be afraid of it.
What better hideout to build your death-ray then a black hole?
Granted, things might be a bit crammed... but that shouldn't be much of a problem.
I agree with the view that IE should be removed from windows... but this doesn't hurt Microsoft enough.
Basically a lot of people are not able to change platforms due to one piece of software which has been in windows since windows 98... Nearly all games currently available need directx to run, which is deeply embedded in windows. If microsoft is forced to distribute directx separately from windows and charge for it per installation (per seat), I think a lot of game developers will choose a different api, thereby allowing games to be ported easier to other platforms.
Another thing: Microsoft should be stopped from tampering with the hardware market. As it stands most "cheap" motherboards and laptops have trouble running anything other then windows due to a severely foobar'ed acpi (for which we can thank the severely broken microsoft acpi compiler).
I think this is a desperate move to thwart Linux (getting windows costs now as much money as Linux). Except that the usage conditions are a lot worse as Linux.
Yes, and their whining won't get them anywhere.
It'll only serve to worsen their situation. The Dutch government isn't perfect, but it is not compromised of a bunch of corrupt idiots.
The tactics that work in the U.S. won't work in the Netherlands, since our government is used to loud complaints. If Microsoft wants to exert pressure on the Dutch government to not enact this, I wish them good luck... they're doomed to fail.
Microsoft says it removed the kill switch, but I don't believe it. They've lied before, and I don't trust them anymore. If they'd actually be honest and tell us the kill switch is still there, but disabled, I might actually believe them. However, I think it's still there (and enabled), but needs to be told manually to do its dirty work.
Well, all cops are trained in hand to hand combat and don't need to tazer or shoot that poor chap, they know very well how to get that person under control without using any weapons other then their hands.