Controversy Over San Francisco Public Transportation Data
Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 28, @09:20AM from the information-wants-to-be-expensive-sometimes dept. cellphones transportation apple
paimin writes
"A struggle is breaking out in San Francisco over whether the developer of a publicly-funded installation of real-time tracking for the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency has a right to control the use of data from the system. The situation is not totally clear, but this sure seems like an attempt to use patent threats to hijack public data. The city paid for the system, and the developer claims he lost money on the deal, [How is that relevant? Bob] so now he's shutting down applications like Routesy and Munitime that use data from the system unless they license the 'copyrighted' data from him."
(Related) Bad (over aggressive) lawyering?
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/196227/RIAA-Defendant-Moves-For-Summary-Judgment?from=rss
RIAA Defendant Moves For Summary Judgment
Posted by timothy on Sunday June 28, @03:29PM from the element-of-surprise dept. court
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes
"One thing you don't see too much of in RIAA litigation is a defendant moving for summary judgment, but that is what just occurred in federal court in Westchester, in Lava Records v. Amurao II. The RIAA had brought suit against Rolando Amurao, a middle aged man who knew nothing about file sharing. After haranguing him for 2 years, they dropped the case and sued his daughter, Audrey, who had used LimeWire years ago. When the RIAA moved for summary judgment against Audrey, however, she surprised them with a summary judgment motion of her own, calling for dismissal of the complaint on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out on the RIAA's claims. The brief filed by her attorney (PDF) also points out some of the other infirmities in the RIAA's case, such as the inadmissibility of its evidence, the legal nonexistence of a claim for 'making available,' and the unconstitutionality of its damages theory. According to sources, the RIAA is unhappy about Audrey's motion, and is preparing a letter to send the Judge asking the Judge not to allow her to make it. Meanwhile, Audrey's father's case, Lava Records v. Rolando Amurao, is on appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the 2d Circuit over the issue of whether the RIAA should have to reimburse Mr. Amurao for his attorneys fees. Although the appeal was fully briefed and scheduled for argument May 19th, the RIAA has been asking for postponements of the argument."
(Related) It surprises me that Judge Posner said this... (Comments are worth reading) Question: Would this apply in reverse? I've been noticing that much of the video on Channel 9 comes from viewers (the tornadoes, for example) rather than fighting at the back end, perhaps they should consider what they are getting, aggregating, and using for free... Of course, they could always hire a few hundred more reporters...
Judge Thinks Linking To Copyrighted Material Should Be Illegal
Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 28, @01:16PM from the don't-you-point-at-me dept.
An article at TechCrunch discusses a blog post from Richard Posner, a US Court of Appeals judge, about the struggling newspaper industry. Posner explains why he thinks the newspapers will continue to struggle, and then comes to a rather unusual conclusion: "Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion."
Data Analysis Similar to tools used by Marketing and e-Discovery teams.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10274435-42.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Reading machine to snoop on Web
by Mark Rutherford June 27, 2009 7:14 PM PDT
What if the wisdom of Web could be yours, without having to read through it one page at a time? That's what the military wants.
DARPA has hired a company to develop a reading machine to reduce the gap between the ever increasing mountain of digitized text and the intelligence community's insatiable appetite for data input.
BBN Technologies was awarded the $29.7 million contract to develop a universal text engine capable of capturing knowledge from written matter and rendering it into a format that artificial intelligence systems (AI) and human analysts can work with. (PDF)
… However, BBN also expects the program to enable a plethora of new civilian applications, everything from intelligent bots to personal tutors. The system could provide unprecedented access and automated analysis of the world's libraries, allowing for vastly expanded cultural awareness and historical research, according to the Cambridge, Mass.-based company.
BBN already offers a broadcast monitoring system that automatically transcribes real-time audio stream and translates it into English, creating a continuously updated, searchable archive of international television broadcasts.
(Related) Talk about a huge target! Thank you, India! Now the US & UK can “sell” the concept to their citizens – “...even small, backward, third-world countries are ahead of us in this area!”
India To Put All Citizen Info In a Central Database
Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 28, @11:55AM from the you-can-trust-us dept. privacy government news
Oracle Goddess writes
"As part of a project to issue ID cards for all 1.1 billion of its citizens, India has announced plans to place information on every single citizen in what will be the world's second largest citizens' database. The government believes the scheme will aid the delivery of vital social services to the poorest people who often lack sufficient identification papers. It also sees the scheme as a way to tackle increasing amounts of identity fraud and theft, and, at a time of increased concern over the threat of militant violence, to boost national security and help police and law officials. 'This could be used as a security measure by the government which leaves migrant workers, refugees and other stateless people in India in limbo, without access to public services, employment and basic welfare,' said Charu Lata Hogg, an associate fellow of the Asia program at Chatham House."
(Related) Think about it. Perhaps we could write a program to generate similar requests for each citizen in Colorado. Wouldn't that make an interesting burden for the Post Office...
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=944
Spy society: astonishing amount of personal data
June 29, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Businesses, Govt, Non-U.S., Other, Surveillance, U.S., Workplace
Have you ever been tempted to try to find out what information about you is out there in databases? Matt Roper did just that, and sent out requests under the UK’s Data Protection Act to 46 organizations, requesting copies of all of his information. What he got back was a 2-foot high pile of records on himself. Most of what he got back would not surprise most of us who follow privacy news, but Roper’s experience serves as a useful example of the shock and concern that individuals experience when they realize the extent of what is compilable about them — that none of their information belongs to them and can be accessed by thousands of strangers. Roper quotes Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti:
“Big Brother is supposed to be evening entertainment, not a whole way of life.”
If you have been having trouble convincing skeptical friends or family about the extent to which we live in a database society that knows our every detail, have them read Roper’s detailed account.
Tom DeWeese also discusses the total surveillance society, but his piece focuses more on government surveillance of its citizens.
I immediately thought of Chauncey (the) Gardener in “Being There.” He couldn't read either.
Text Comments Out In YouTube "National Discussion" of Health Care
Posted by timothy on Sunday June 28, @04:34PM from the you-could-always-talk-with-your-friends-and-neighbors dept. government media usa
theodp writes
"While the White House has invited the nation to Join the National Online Discussion on Health Care Reform, it is currently only accepting 20-30 second YouTube video responses — text comments have been disabled. Which raises a question: Should a video camera be the price of admission for participating in an open government discussion, especially when issues may hit those with lower incomes the hardest? BTW, the response-to-date has been underwhelming — 101 video responses and counting — and is certainly a mixed-bag, including a one-finger salute, a talking butt, a woman "Showing my Apples", and other off-topic rants and unrelated videos."
Interesting...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19413_3-10274445-240.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
What the iPhone teaches us about cloud adoption
by James Urquhart June 27, 2009 11:24 PM PDT
Chris Hoff (now a colleague at Cisco, but long a phenomenal blogger in his own right) described in a recent post a fascinating analogy for the inevitable adoption of cloud computing--the adoption of the Apple iPhone:
While I have often grouped Cloud Computing with the consumerization of IT (and the iPhone as it's most visible example) together in concert in my disruptive innovation presentations, I never really thought of them as metaphors for one another.
When you think of it, it's really a perfect visual.
The iPhone is a fantastic platform that transforms using technology that has been around for quite a while into a more useful experience. The iPhone converges many technologies and capabilities under a single umbrella and changes the way in which people interact with their data and other people.
Automating the lawyer bid'ness. Send me money and I won't sue you either!
http://torrentfreak.com/automated-legal-threats-turn-piracy-into-profit-090628/
Automated Legal Threats Turn Piracy Into Profit
Written by Ernesto on June 28, 2009
Piracy watchdog Nexicon has found the ultimate way to turn piracy into profit for the fresh copyright holders added to their clientele. They offer alleged file-sharers the chance to settle for $10 per downloaded song or an equal amount for a pirated movie. If you decide not to settle, they promise to bankrupt you in court.
… The process is simple. Their software monitors BitTorrent swarms and other filesharing networks and records the IP-addresses of those people who share the work of their clients. It then automatically sends an email to the ISP linked to the IP-address with a request to forward it to the associated customer.
… In the FAQ on the VPA website it is noted that consulting a lawyers is an option, but it would be a rather silly thing to do since it will cost more than the settlement itself. “It is likely that the cost incurred to retain a lawyer will exceed the settlement amount offered.”
Hacking: File this one under “What Works”
The Technology Keeping Information Flowing in Iran
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 29, @09:00AM from the learn-a-new-word-today dept. privacy internet
Death Metal writes
"Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy. Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook."
A related story was submitted anonymously about the efforts of hactivists to keep the information flowing inside the data-locked nation.
Tools & Techniques Interesting because it seems to offer a download option with each video. Something not always easily available.
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/findthatfile-com-files-search-website
FindThatFile.com - Files Search Website
http://www.findthatfile.com/index.php
Findthatfile.com is an online resource that was specially created in order to provide users with one of the most complete file search websites on the Internet. Simple and clear, this solution can be used to gather a wide variety of file formats and sources. Among these sources you will also find more than forty file types (in fact forty-three) and more than two hundred file extensions with an excess of ninety file upload services that are similar to the one that is actually provided by RapidShare.
This company gives you all the benefits of a service that was created with the intention to provide you with the chance to clearly identify all the relevant data you are interested in. That information includes essential figures and number about properties, metadata, extracts and more.
… On this site you will find what can be briefly defined as a file search engine for downloadable media that is useful when you need to find something to download rather than a webpage.
Tools & Techniques My students are gonna hate this one!
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/mystuidiyo-multimedia-quizzes/
MyStuidiyo: Create Multimedia Quizzes in Minutes
MyStudiyo lets you create fun and interactive multimedia quizzes in minutes. You can insert pictures, videos, html text, customize quiz introduction and endings, monitor user feedback and scores and promote your quizzes by embedding them on your website or blog.
Each quiz contains its own scoreboard, discussions page and other quizzes from the same publisher. Users can take quizzes without signing in, however, to save and improve their scores on the scoreboard they have to sign up for an account.
You can create as many quizzes as you want for free with MyStudiyo branding and ads. If you want to insert your own custom branding and no ads, you have to sign for one of their premium account.
Similar tools: ClassMarker and QToro.
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