Here’s an interesting idea in the Los Angeles Times: the logical extension of the argument that intellectual property is real property that can be owned (as opposed to pwned, that is) is that ‘IP’ should incur a property tax, just like other properties. If set properly, this should prevent the frivolous acquisition of ‘IP’ (actually a misleading term covering several very different legal areas), in particular copyrights and patents, where the sole purpose is to generate revenue for an indefinite period for no actual creativity. Furthermore, once the ‘IP’ is of no profit to the owner, they stop paying the tax and the ‘IP’ in question lapses into the public domain where it can be used in perpetuity, rather than being forever locked up (at zero cost).
Archive for the ‘Law’ Category
All copyright is (not) theft?
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008Petitions that work
Monday, February 26th, 2007I recently had an unsurprizingly disappointing experience with the Government’s e-Petitions; specifically, the one concerning ID cards. The petition was summarily closed and a ‘personal’ reply from Tony was posted, and e-mailed to signatories. The reply makes it clear that ID cards will be going ahead, because they can catch some criminals and won’t cost much (honest). Nowhere does it address concerns that the police are to be given free reign to rummage through the biometrics to find criminals, that your details will forcibly be added to the National Register when you get a passport whether or not you object, that there are no provisions yet advanced to govern the future use or ‘sale’ of your data by other ‘approved’ groups (‘remember the selling of the Electoral Register data?) or worst of all, that no large-scale project has proven that it can keep detailed personal information secure for any sensible timescale. For all these reasons, and more, the PM’s reply was simply fobbing off the signatories with the same-old same-old.
M$ Vista
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007…launches today. There are plenty of reasons not to upgrade, but if you’re worried about the ability of M$ to stop you watching things you’ve paid for at their whim, fret no more, the DRM controls of Vista have just been successfully (and as far as I can determine, permanently) bypassed: which just goes to show that there’s no point spending money on digital protection when you should be spending it on better marketing strategies. From another direction though, there’s a lot of hidden legalese in the EULA (End-User License Agreement) that is making some lawyers rather concerned.
Just a little bit more free than we might have been
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007There have been a few new items about DRM and ID cards out on the electron sea since Christmas. I’m happy to report that the Government have said that they’ll be storing less information on their ID cards; ‘format shifting’ (copying CDs) should be legal; the term of Copyright won’t be being extended to 95 years (thus upsetting Sir Cliff); and there’s a detectable undercurrent in the music industry that is beginning to realise that customers don’t like DRM. All good news for the New Year.
A few data usage links today
Friday, December 8th, 2006The US Government is planning on keeping airline passenger data for up to 40 years and mining it for various kinds of undefined assessments over that time. Given that the UK hands over 34 data items on you when you fly to the States, do you still want to go shopping at Macey’s for Christmas?
On a lighter note: the Gower Report to the Treasury on “intellectual property” recommends that we get a proper ‘fair use’ policy in this country (meaning that it’ll no longer be technically illegal to rip copies of your own CDs for example). Furthermore, the report found that there was no need to alter the current UK stance on software patents (i.e., that there aren’t any), despite (or perhaps because of) the situation in America.
8% really don’t want a National ID Register
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006A Telegraph survey has found that 8% of nearly 2000 people interviewed would rather pay a fine than have their data added to the National Identity Register. Count me in! I genuinely don’t believe that a) the database would be properly secure, and b) that the Government wouldn’t try to ‘add value’ by selling it off.
Frankly, I’m not interested. Not one bit. So fine me and the other 4.8 million people who aren’t interested. I dare you.
Modus operandi III
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006In rather short shrift, we can now plainly see the trap laid for Novell to walk into. In response to Balmer’s statement that Linux is contaminated with M$ patents, Novell’s CEO has replied that that was not what the agreement was about. Oh yes it was, Mr. Hovsepian. Oh yes it was. And M$ have replied saying that they “respectfully take a different view” to Novell on the matter. No shit, Sherlock.
After all, what moron would agree to putting a patent agreement in place if it knew that there were no patents to sue over? Novell say that on top of the interoperability agreement, M$ specifically asked for a patent agreement. If Novell knew or believed that there was nothing that infringed, didn’t they even stop to wonder why M$ might want such an agreement? Why, to sully by implication, of course; and Novell took the bait. Assholes.
There is no such thing as perfectly secure technology
Friday, November 17th, 2006In case any of you were remotely sceptical about the Government’s fabulous new plan to issue IDs along with passports, and more worryingly, add your biometric data to a National Register (which won’t be sold to anyone, oh no, honest), then you were right.
The Guardian, with a little help from a friend, has announced that it’s accessed and can copy the data stored on a standard UK passport chip using a cheap (174 UKP) reader. The article goes into some detail as to why this is important, and gives the Home Office it’s chance to answer concerns, so it’s worth a read.
Concern over preserving Linux’s freedoms
Friday, November 10th, 2006A recent agreement between Linux proponent Novell and Microsoft covering interoperability and cross-patenting, has got some open-source folk worried. Any kind of deal with M$, given it’s history, is naturally cause for concern, but the bottom line is that M$ can’t close off any code without violating the General Public License.