Author: Ed Felten
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Hiatus for Fritz's Hit List
As of today, Fritz’s Hit List is going on hiatus. It’s not that I have run out of examples for the list. I have many good ones left, and a few great ones like a musical chip-and-dip bowl. It’s just that I have made my point and I’m tired of having to write a new…
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SpamCop Blacklists Declan, Again
Declan McCullagh reports that his Politech server has been blacklisted by SpamCop – for the third time. Longtime readers may recall this site being wrongly blacklisted by SpamCop in its early days. The scary part is that SpamCop is apparently one of the more responsible spam blacklisters. Amy Wohl reports being on another blacklist. UPDATE…
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Microsoft Ruling Released Early
Ted Bridis at the Associated Press reports that Friday’s rulings on the Microsoft case put on the Court’s website at 2:40 PM, about two hours before their official release. As in the Intentia/Reuters incident, the documents were put on the website in a guessable location, but without any links to them being released. Slashdot published…
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Fritz's Hit List #29
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: logic analyzers. These devices, which are standard equipment in electronics laboratories, record electrical signals in digital form, so they qualify for regulation as “digital media devices” under the Hollings CBDTPA. If the CBDTPA passes, any newly manufactured logic analyzers will have to incorporate government-approved copy restriction technology. Fight piracy –…
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Microsoft Decisions Tomorrow
Judge Kollar-Kotelly has announced that she will release her decisions in the Microsoft antitrust case tomorrow at 4:30 Eastern time.
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Intentia vs. Reuters: A (Slightly) Contrarian View
The recent dispute between Intentia and Reuters has gotten lots of online attention, most of it scornful of Intentia’s position. I think Intentia is wrong, but it’s a closer call than most online commentators seem to think. Here’s the factual background, as far as I can tell: Intentia, a Swedish company, prepared their earnings report,…
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Fritz's Real Hit List
Seth Finkelstein suggests that I should reexamine my “Fritz’s Hit List” feature in light of the “leeway” concept. Seth says, in effect, that it is possible, or at least it might be possible, to redefine the scope of the Hollings CBDTPA so that it covers “what 99.9% of the population uses for business or entertainment,”…
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Fritz's Hit List #28
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: cockpit voice recorders. These devices, which are part of an airplane’s “black box,” record the sounds audible in an plane’s cockpit, for forensic use in case of an accident. Newer recorders use digital storage, so they qualify for regulation as “digital media devices” under the Hollings CBDTPA. If the CBDTPA…
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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…