] Congress should amend the Copyright Act to make
] actionable false claims to copyright in the same way
] that consumers may sue businesses for false advertising.

I've been saying this for a while. Companies that make incorrect IP claims ought to
be liable. This is a nice, short presentation of the concept. Its not even comprehensive of the reasons for it.

However, I'm more concerned with application then with claim. I'm more concerned with lawsuits that claim copyright infringement where none exists then I am about companies that put a "C" in the front of a booklet containing the Constitution. Although the latter is certainly offensive, the former is where the real damage is done, and a requirement that companies list all of the public domain works contained in their publications could result in some really messy legalese, which could become as much of a burden on small publishers as the existing system.

[IP] Too Quick to Copyright

] In an escalation of White House efforts to circumvent
] what President Bush calls the news media "filter," the
] Pentagon plans to launch a 24-hour satellite channel from
] Baghdad to make it easier for U.S. television stations to
] air government-authorized news about Iraq.
]
] The satellite link, dubbed "C-SPAN Baghdad" within the
] administration, is to go on the air in a week or two. It
] begins at a time when guerrilla violence in Iraq is
] increasing and the White House is revising and
] accelerating plans to transfer governing authority to
] Iraqis.

Pentagon Plans Iraq Channel (washingtonpost.com)

] The recent Microprocessor Forum produced some great
] details on forthcoming processors from a variety of
] companies for a whole range of market segments. This
] article originally started life as an MPF CPU roundup,
] but it has evolved into more of an overview of three
] specific upcoming processors: IBM's POWER5, Sun's
] UltraSparc IV, and Transmeta's Efficeon.

ARS on the near future of the computer industry from the perspective of a CPU architect. I love these articles.

I will say putting a transmeta chip next to two high performance CPUs is a little odd. They are designing for very different markets, and their divergent designs reflect that.

Ars Technica: Fall 2003 CPU roundup

] A U.S.-Canadian government investigation of the massive
] Aug. 14 power outage in the Northeast singles out a
] series of operators' mistakes, computer failures,
] violations of grid rules and inadequate maintenance by
] FirstEnergy Corp., the Akron-based utility serving
] northern Ohio, as the primary causes of the largest
] blackout in North American history.

You probably already knew this, but in case you didn't get the memo...

Investigators Pinpoint Cause of August Blackout (washingtonpost.com)

Congressional negotiators approved a measure on Wednesday to expand the FBI's counterterrorism powers, despite concerns from some lawmakers who said that the measure gave the government too much authority and that the public had been shut out of the debate.

Lawmakers Approve Expansion of FBI's Antiterrorism Powers

abaddon wrote:
] This post was originally intended as a reply to a thread on
] memestreams about Bill Joy, and in the process of writing it
] sort of became its own topic of discussion.

This is a good essay. I wish my response was as deep. Simply, I much prefer George Bush's perspective, as offered in his recent speeches, that we can address the threat of nanotechnology by addressing threats, then the Bill Joy's perspective, that we can address the threat of nanotechnology by addressing technology.

Knowing how to do something, being capable of doing something, is not the same as doing it. I drive a car every day, and every day the power is in my hands to veer off of the road and splatter someone across the pavement, and yet I don't. No one really does. Should the risk that I could be enough to get rid of cars? No.

What about that guy who does veer off the road? We ought to focus on him instead of focusing on cars.

RE: Thoughts on Nano-Technology, dooms-day, and chicken little...

This interactive web site allows you to explore a selection of the paintings featured in the exhibition Painted Visions from India and Pakistan, Past and Present.

This is quite possibly the single most beautiful and effective online flash-based "museum exhibit" I have seen yet. This is what Flash is truly capable of.

Stories of Krishna: The Adventures of a Hindu God

] But what will get the scientific community to accept being
] told what to do?
]
] Catastrophe. We have scientists saying they want to publish
] pathogen gene sequences on the Net. One consequential
] accident and we'll want to throw those researchers in jail.

Bill Joy has more to say about how information should not be free. A lot of the comments in here really piss me off. He offers that no one who disagrees with him has a well thought out perspective. He also makes the generational spin:

] I benefited a lot from earlier generations' sacrifice in setting
] up the system so I could be as creative as I wanted to. It was a
] part of me giving back.

Giving back how? By creating a future where the next generation cannot be as creative because they aren't allowed to learn about, say, UNIX because they could use such information to harm someone important or powerful who relies on said technology to run infrastructure? OK, maybe not UNIX, maybe, say, how to fly an airplane?

In history, how many times have wealthy aristocrats peered out of their castle windows down at the unwashed masses and reacted with fear? How many have said, "We've got to prevent these people from getting access to knowledge. We've got to prevent these people from getting access to resources. If these people got powerful there is no telling what they might do!" The fact is that we have gone through this over and over and over again in history, and it is well understood at this point that this is counter productive to everyone but the aristocrat. If this arguement was made by anyone else we would either be angry or we would be ignoring it. Shame on those who agree to go along this time simply because "its Bill Joy."

Bill Joy is wrong.

Wired 11.12: Billl Joy - the antihacker

] Jones Soda Co. announces today that it will
] introduce a new seasonal flavor in its
] popular Jones Soda line Turkey & Gravy flavored
] beverage.

God Damn I'm glad I'm allergic to this stuff!

Turkey and Gravy Flavour Soda

] Throughout the 1990s, the IT sector was fuelled by the
] Internet and the Year 2000 bug. "Big PR" followed the
] money and taught it a process developed to sell
] pharmaceuticals, and the information landscape changed.
]
] Here's a rough outline of the process:
]
] a) Publicise the disease;
]
] b) Agitate for action;
]
] c) Announce the cure.

Blissful Ignorance: Placement Prostituting the Press