True, but as a citizen of the US he can be tried for crimes against US law. You may not think that's fair, but it is a system that is in place to make it possible to prosecute "sex tourists" and the like who go to more permissive (or corrupt) countries to do things they're not allowed in their home country.
Whether he actually committed a crime is another matter entirely.
I am not American and so there may be points of your legal system that I misunderstand but to me it seems that the ability to patent business methods and software has muddied the waters. Patents are not the same thing as copyright.
Here in the UK you cannot patent a business method or software. However, you do own the copyright to any software you create. This means that someone cannot simply copy your code and market it as their own. However, someone can create their own software that does the same thing as yours.
The issue is not prior art. The issue is copying. If you feel that they have copied your work without permission you can sue, but you can't sue because they copied your idea.
You ask a very interesting question, not least because ideas and methods are unpatentable in so many countries around the world. The US is in the minority in allowing this economically stifling business practice.
Ironically, your question betrays exactly the sort of problem autistic people face. Many suffer from an inability to understand how to interact with other people and will approach the question from exactly the sort of analytical viewpoint you have with your question. The fact that there is no simple answer. I could tell you all the things that people do to socialise but if you lack the intrinsic ability to do it (as autistic people do, to a severe degree) it would be of as much use to you as me telling you how to be a world class football player. There are some things you just can't learn from books.
The fact that you're even asking this question probably demonstrates some anecdotal evidence that "geeks" exhibit minor levels of autistic behaviour that these traits are amplified in the children of "geeky" parents.
When Gibson was asked about the WMF thing being a back door he immediately replied "that's the only explanation." To me, that's not the language of a man who is open minded. There's no evidence that this is a backdoor other than Gibson's accusation and that is based on a false premise (that the metafile size was the deciding factor).
You say "only in America" but the English Premier League has banned football (soccer) fan sites from publishing league tables without paying for a licence to do so. Seems legally dubious but, as with so many things, if you don't have the money to bring a legal challenge they can just demand what they want from you.
Isn't it possible that the reason we find this so difficult to grasp is because of our perception of reality? We perceive these particles purely in four dimensions but if it was the case that there was only a single particle moving in a dimension that intersected with the four we are capable of perceiving we would see much the same effect. Any action on one "particle" would affect all the others, because they are actually the same particle. Similarly, one particle could exist in two mutually exclusive states (clockwise and anticlockwise) at what appears to us to be the same point in time and space but is in fact two separate points along the higher dimension in which the particle exists.
Has anyone mentioned modelling yet? If a system has been planned and designed with UML or a similar modelling tool before coding it makes it much easier for someone to jump in and start work on a particular module.
Reading code is painful. The more you can explain how your code works with simple diagrams and pseudoc-code the easier it will be for people to relate the actual code to the purpose it is intended for.
Predictable code is good code
Absolutely. Linus Torvalds may know the kernel inside out but if I want to write software for Linux will I need to develop the same level of understanding?
Moreover, without agreed specs, what stops someone from changing some kernel code and breaking the behaviour that my app relies on?
Slashdot Mirror
True, but as a citizen of the US he can be tried for crimes against US law. You may not think that's fair, but it is a system that is in place to make it possible to prosecute "sex tourists" and the like who go to more permissive (or corrupt) countries to do things they're not allowed in their home country. Whether he actually committed a crime is another matter entirely.
I am not American and so there may be points of your legal system that I misunderstand but to me it seems that the ability to patent business methods and software has muddied the waters. Patents are not the same thing as copyright.
Here in the UK you cannot patent a business method or software. However, you do own the copyright to any software you create. This means that someone cannot simply copy your code and market it as their own. However, someone can create their own software that does the same thing as yours.
The issue is not prior art. The issue is copying. If you feel that they have copied your work without permission you can sue, but you can't sue because they copied your idea.
You ask a very interesting question, not least because ideas and methods are unpatentable in so many countries around the world. The US is in the minority in allowing this economically stifling business practice.
There are books on how to play football as well, doesn't mean they're any good.
Ironically, your question betrays exactly the sort of problem autistic people face. Many suffer from an inability to understand how to interact with other people and will approach the question from exactly the sort of analytical viewpoint you have with your question. The fact that there is no simple answer. I could tell you all the things that people do to socialise but if you lack the intrinsic ability to do it (as autistic people do, to a severe degree) it would be of as much use to you as me telling you how to be a world class football player. There are some things you just can't learn from books. The fact that you're even asking this question probably demonstrates some anecdotal evidence that "geeks" exhibit minor levels of autistic behaviour that these traits are amplified in the children of "geeky" parents.
Why is Gizmondo *Europe* filing for bankruptcy in the US? I don't understand the world :(
When Gibson was asked about the WMF thing being a back door he immediately replied "that's the only explanation." To me, that's not the language of a man who is open minded. There's no evidence that this is a backdoor other than Gibson's accusation and that is based on a false premise (that the metafile size was the deciding factor).
You say "only in America" but the English Premier League has banned football (soccer) fan sites from publishing league tables without paying for a licence to do so. Seems legally dubious but, as with so many things, if you don't have the money to bring a legal challenge they can just demand what they want from you.
Isn't it possible that the reason we find this so difficult to grasp is because of our perception of reality? We perceive these particles purely in four dimensions but if it was the case that there was only a single particle moving in a dimension that intersected with the four we are capable of perceiving we would see much the same effect. Any action on one "particle" would affect all the others, because they are actually the same particle. Similarly, one particle could exist in two mutually exclusive states (clockwise and anticlockwise) at what appears to us to be the same point in time and space but is in fact two separate points along the higher dimension in which the particle exists.
Has anyone mentioned modelling yet? If a system has been planned and designed with UML or a similar modelling tool before coding it makes it much easier for someone to jump in and start work on a particular module. Reading code is painful. The more you can explain how your code works with simple diagrams and pseudoc-code the easier it will be for people to relate the actual code to the purpose it is intended for.
Must . . . protect . . . monopoly!
Predictable code is good code Absolutely. Linus Torvalds may know the kernel inside out but if I want to write software for Linux will I need to develop the same level of understanding? Moreover, without agreed specs, what stops someone from changing some kernel code and breaking the behaviour that my app relies on?
In what way is this an international team? All three universities are in the same country.