Month: August 2002
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Serendipity
I’ve been reading recently about the history of technology. That history is filled with lessons for policy-makers now. Here is one: One of the reasons we should be wary about banning technologies is that it’s often very hard to tell what a new technology will be good for. It might take a decade or more…
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Self-Help
Lawyers use the term “self-help” to refer to all of the little steps people take to protect themselves. Locking your bicycle is self-help – even though it would not be necessary in a world where everyone obeyed the law, it’s a good idea in the real world. Fences and burglar alarms are self-help too. Self-help…
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RIAA To Do The Right Thing?
Fortune reports on the RIAA’s stunning new anti-infringement strategy of suing actual infringers: “The RIAA is considering a far riskier strategy–suing individuals who share large numbers of files on Kazaa, Grokster, or Morpheus. It’s a tactic guaranteed to infuriate and alienate music fans, and it underscores the awful bind record labels are in.” Assuming the…
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British Bill to Ban Mods to Cellphone ID Numbers
The British Parliament is now considering a bill that would make it illegal to change the IMEI number on a cell phone. Each phone has a unique IMEI which it uses to identify itself to the cell network; it’s like a serial number for the phone. If you report your phone stolen, the cell operator…