Year: 2002
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Microsoft Decision Upcoming?
We’re still waiting for Judge Kollar-Kotelly to rule on the two outstanding issues in the Microsoft antitrust case: whether to approve the settlement between Microsoft, the DOJ, and the settling states; and what remedy to give the non-settling states. She is expected to rule simultaneously on both issues, and the ruling could come at any…
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How Much Progress?
Dan Gillmor quotes Ray Kurzweil as saying that: The rate of change … is accelerating exponentially. We are “doubling the paradigm shift rate” on a constant basis. This century will be the equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate, and people don’t appreciate the implications of this. I have to admit that this…
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Too Stupid to Look the Other Way
David Weinberger explains the value of “leeway,” or small decisions not to enforce the rules in cases where enforcement wouldn’t be reasonable. Imagine that your mother were visiting your apartment, and she got sick, so you let her stay overnight because she wan’t well enough to travel home. If this happened, no reasonable landlord would…
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Wiley's Super-Worm
Brandon Wiley writes about the possibility of a “super-worm” that would use sophisticated methods to infect a large fraction of Internet hosts, and to maintain and evolve the infection over time. This is scary stuff. I have two comments to add. First, the worst case is probably even worse than Wiley suggests. His paper may…
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Wishful Thinking
In recent debates about copyright and technology, pro-regulation people have started using an interesting rhetorical tactic. Rather than trying to rebut challenges to the workability of their proposed solutions, they talk instead about how intensely they want their proposals to be workable. For example, my Fritz’s Hit List series points out a serious flaw in…
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Fritz's Hit List #27
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: talking dog collars. These devices allow you to record a brief audio clip on your dog’s collar, so that your dog can be returned to you if it wanders off. Since these devices record (possibly copyrighted) audio in digital form, they qualify for regulation as “digital media devices” under the…
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Schoen vs. Stallman on "Trusted Computing"
Seth Schoen raises two interesting issues in his response to Richard Stallman’s essay on “trusted computing.” (To see Seth’s posting, click here and scroll down to the “Trusted computing” heading.) Stallman says [Trusted computing] is designed to stop your computer from functioning as a general-purpose computer. Schoen responds: Neither of these concerns is applicable at…
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Fritz's Hit List #26
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: the ceremonial bugle. This device, which is inserted into the horn of a military bugle and plays “Taps,” was developed by the U.S. military for use in military funerals for which no trained bugler is available. Because it plays “Taps” from a digital recording, this device qualifies for regulation as…
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Costs of a GPL Ban: An Example
Many people have criticized the recent proposal from some congressmen to ban the use of the GNU Public License (GPL) on federally funded software projects. There’s one disadvantage of this proposal that I haven’t seen discussed. I’ll illustrate it with a real example. Brent Waters and I are currently doing research on a method for…
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Fritz's Hit List #25
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: digital church bells. These systems play church bell noises from digital recordings, so they qualify for regulation as “digital media devices” under the Hollings CBDTPA. If the CBDTPA passes, any newly manufactured digital church bells will have to incorporate government-approved copy restriction technology. Fight piracy – regulate church bells! [Thanks…