This article is about a Supreme Court case which ruled that cominations of previous patents shall no longer be allowed to be registered as new patents. The obvious reason for this is that it could cause people to profit off of the simple prevention of innovation. For instance, if I were to register an invention which combined the functions of a car, airplane and boat I may be unwittingly discouraging others who are developing such a technology already but who have not advanced far enough to begin applying for a patent. Certainly, t his example shows how a rather obvious idea can be essentially "stolen" as a patent and used for one individual's profit. technological examples might well be far more complicated. As technology progresses, such encounters could well become even more common. So, the Court essentially is loosening its interpretation of what is an "obvious" idea. Anyone who chooses to sue over copyright infr ingement is now taking on an enhanced risk that their copyright will be invalidated due to obviousness. So on the whole, it would appear that large companies have gained the power to combine existing patents without paying a toll to "trolls" who sneak in and patent these combinations in a fraudulent manner. One potential negative consequence could be that someone who combines patents in a novel manner which is not obvious may well have his patent invalidated for obviousness. Overall, this makes copyright law far more objective. This does seem to be a sensible conclusion however, given the rapid pace of technology advances.

This article shows the way that big businesses generally try to crush competitors by either buying them out or outpacing them with increases in technology. Vonage is a service that offers far less expensive service with its VOIP technology. Usually, using the internet to make phone calls costs only the price of whatever internet service provider is providing a user’s internet. However, services such as Skype have failed to gain widespread popularity because of the inconvenience and unfamiliarity most people have with making internet phone calls. Vonage has closed this gap by providing regular phone service that uses the internet to connect. Naturally, Verizon is and should be concerned with this. It represents a very serious threat to their profitable business. When I was in Costa Rica I met a man who was the proprietor of a bed and breakfast who used Vonage. He explained to me the main advantage of using Vonage—tax evasion. While many users merely use the service for less expensive calls, it is possible to set up “virtual numbers,” which are simply phone numbers in the area code of the user’s choice. So, for instance, this man was able to set up a credit card account and bill people in Florida at his “virtual charge machine.” This exempted him from paying higher tax rates in Costa Rica. Whether this is actually legal I am not sure. Certainly, if it is, the Costa Rican government is not advertising it as a suggested technique.

LAWMAKERS PROPOSE REVERSAL OF NET RADIO FEE INCREASES

This article is interesting because it shows that power in numbers does still exist apart from the numbers of one's bank account. Clearly, the voices of many internet radio stations were heard in the proposition of this new bill. Of course, it has still yet to be passed, but that fact that congress is taking note is significant. If no major progress is made soon, it is likely that these internet broadcasters will continue to apply pressure on lawmakers. It is important to note on one hand the founding father's repeated stress of the importance of a strong media to keep the public well-informed. And despite the best attempts at some of the richest and most powerful men in the world, the internet continues to be an unregulated and increasingly important source of news for people worldwide.

Here's an article about the crackdown of online gambling sites. The issue of online gambling is very interesting because it is one of the most obvious infractions of law yet raises the also obvious question of jurisdiction. If a person gambles on a computer located in Nevada but the website he is using is in Nebraska, where is the gambling taking place? The answer to this point is wherever the site is hosted. This article shows that New Jersey, which has been at the forefront of an increasing crackdown on gambling (and perhaps at the forefront in terms of gambling acts) tackled these football bookmakers where they were based, which is the most sensible tactic at their disposal. However, when considering the issue of taxation, would the act be considered to have taken place wherever the user is (presumably anywhere) or in New Jersey? This is a tricker question which has not yet been answered.

This article is about students challenging the legality of the 

plagiarism-catching site turnitin.com.  Their complaint raises some

interesting questions about the legality of such services designed

to fight plagiarism.  The main complaint here is that each paper

submitted by students is archived, which the two students in this

case claim is a violation of copyright law.  Interestingly, this

case could cause ramifications at educational institutions where

the site is a popular tool among instructors worldwide.  Ironically,

copyright law is intended to prevent people from using others'

original works and taking credit for them.  However, these

students, who apparently did not plagiarize, may be giving

future generations of plagiarizers a helping hand by challenging

the practices of the plagiarism policing service.  The two

students are suing for $150,000 for each of the six papers

published on the site.  Those could turn out to be the

most rewarding classes they ever took.

The Future

This article provides some insight into an interesting phenomen that is occurring now in the United States and increasingly abroad. Wireless internet gives us a generous glimpse of what is to come in the future concerning science and technology advances. We now live in a society that allows us to buy hamburgers by wireless phone, watfch and record videos, and access important information in a device that's getting close to the size of a credit card. Basicallly, the lowering price of cell phones coupled with a rapidly increasing supply of the devices worldwide has the potential to improve productivity and, presumably, GDPs worldwide.
Wireless internet, meanwhile offers users a (generally) free way to access the internet which far more attractive to people. Using internet or email on a cellphone, PDA, or blackberry device costs a monthly service fee. The availability of this service at popular shops such as Starbucks owes a lot to technological advances. Recently, our power to send and receive data has increased exponentially, along with our ability to store it. As a result, we see many more websites offering larger and larger storage space to the consumer and increased availability of bandwidth in public "hotspots" where the internet can be accessed wirelessly.
The article mentioned originally provides information that tends to support the idea that the use of these wireless technolgies is increasing, which gives us reason to speculate about what other advances will be available for our use in the near future.

Post # 3

SOME STATES PUSHING FOR LAWS TO CURB ONLINE BULLYING
The AP reports that states from Oregon to Rhode Island are
considering crackdowns to curb or outlaw online bullying,
the behaviour in which kids taunt or insult peers on social
Web sites like MySpace or via instant messages. However,
there is still some disagreement over how effective
crackdowns will be and how to enforce them.

This article is interesting because it is yet another example of a behavior that has been considered unacceptable and even illegal in some places in the real world, but has been almost completely ignored on the internet. Clearly, bullying is not a good thing. However, trying to find a way to regulate it will likely be as hard as it is to regulate any of the other unsavory behaviors that are so prevalent, such as child pornography, libel, and general transmission of conspiratorial plots by terrorists and criminals. This doesn't mean it is impossible, though. The main challenge is stopping the problematic behaviors without censoring peoples freedom to speak and criticize one another. The problem with that is obvious. Bullying, of course, is a type of criticism. Certainly, it is different than the civilized discourse that our founding fathers might expect from the enlightened citizenry of the republic, but it is criticism to be sure. The challenge, then, is figuring out how to separate the bullying from all the other criticism. As is the case with criticism, that's easier said than done.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/16746515.htm

Entry 1

Hacking


Buffalo.http://news.com.com/2100-1047_3-6157109.htmlID THEFT REMAINS TOP CONCERN FOR CONSUMERSIdentity theft complaints, which include credit card fraud,bank fraud, as well as phone and utilities fraud, accountedfor 36 percent of the total 674,354 complaints submitted tothe FTC and its external data contributors last year. Theresults come at a time when ID theft is a major concernamong consumers and

This is an interesting article about ID fraud which states:

"The overall number of fraud complaints was down slightly from 2005, but the FTC noted that one major data contributor did not properly catalog many of its complaints, so comparisons with previous years are difficult."

So, essentially the FTC's report says that fewer fraud reports were filed than in years past, but more money was fraudulently stolen, but also that their data was incomplete and thus makes it less reliable than years past. Obviously, when billions of dollars are being fraudulently taken each year, it should be a major concern for consumers. However, if they are careful with all personal information, especially social security number, consumers can make ID theft considerably less likely.

When a company like TJX loses that information, however, there is little liability on the part of the corporation and innocent customers are bilked out of more money by identity theives, little will likely be done. Perhaps, then, the lesson here is to be more cautious, fearful, and protective in an increasingly insecure and surveillance-happy world. I mean, at least to some extent. Paranoia may be excessive.