Author: Ed Felten
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Fritz's Hit List #5
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: the Sony Aibo robot dog. This product, which sends, receives, and digitally processes audio, qualifies for regulation as a “digital media device” under the Hollings CBDTPA. If the CBDTPA passes, any newly manufactured Aibos will have to incorporate government-approved copy restriction technology. Fight piracy – regulate robot pets!
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NYT: Software Diverts Referral Commissions
Today’s NYT discusses software that horns in on referral commissions (like those from Amazon’s affiliates program) meant for others. Based on the article’s description, it looks like the software lurks quietly, waiting until the user’s browser is going to place an order that could generate a commission. Then the software inserts its distributor’s ID into…
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Godwin Article on the "Right to Tinker"
Mike Godwin has a new article at law.com on “the right to tinker.” He mentions my upcoming book on the topic. (Thanks, Mike.)
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Notes on Today's Berman-Coble Hearings
A House subcommittee held hearings this morning about the Berman-Coble peer-to-peer (p2p) hacking bill. I heard the first two hours, but then I had to go give a lecture. The bill would give copyright owners new powers to employ self-help “hacking” measures aimed to prevent infringing file-trading on p2p networks. Everybody agreed that the self-help…
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Misleading Term of the Week: "Standard"
A “standard” is a technical specification that allows systems to work together to make themselves more useful. Most people say, for good reasons, that they are in favor of technical standards. But increasingly, we are seeing the term “standard” misapplied to things that are really regulations in disguise. True standards strive to make systems more…
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Fritz's Hit List #4
Today on Fritz’s Hit List: auto navigation systems. These systems, which display digital maps and compute driving directions, qualify for regulation as “digital media devices” under the Hollings CBDTPA. If the CBDTPA passes, any newly manufactured auto navigation systems will have to incorporate government-approved copy restriction technology. Fight piracy – regulate navigation systems!
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One More on Biometrics
Simson Garfinkel offers a practical perspective on biometrics, at CSO Magazine.
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Washington Post on Biometrics
Today’s Washington Post has an article about the use of biometric technology, and civil-liberties resistance against it. Interestingly, the article conflates two separate ideas: biometrics (the use of physical bodily characteristics to identify someone), and covert identification (identifying someone in a public place without their knowledge or consent). There are good civil-liberties arguments against covert…
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Wireless Tracking of Everything
Arnold Kling at The Bottom Line points to upcoming technologies that allow the attachment of tiny tags, which can be tracked wirelessly, to almost anything. He writes: In my view, which owes much to David Brin, we should be encouraging the use of [these tags], while making sure that no single agency or elite has…
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Live On-Line Feed of Tomorrow's House "Piracy" Hearings
Tomorrow (Thu 26 Sept) at 9:00 AM (Eastern time), the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, will hold a hearing on “Piracy Of Intellectual Property On Peer-to-Peer Networks.” A live feed will be available during the hearing. [link credit: Ray Ozzie]