Anonymous EPA writes "The website of the European Patent Office is running a story about a recent agreement not to revive the debate on software patents in Europe nor to promote new legislation. To quote: 'All speakers welcomed unequivocally the opportunity to discuss the issue at a high level and made clear that a new CII (computer-implemented inventions) debate followed by legal modifications was neither necessary nor desirable.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Cory Doctorow: Avi sez, "'Is there an Artificial God?' is an illuminating 1998 speech by Douglas Adams. Good to listen to him speak."

This was fascinating. Adams was a brilliant and funny speaker as well as a fantastic writer -- in fact, he was arguably a better lecturer than novelist. The sound quality is terrible, but it hardly matters. He's just GREAT.

So, my argument is that as we become more and more scientifically literate, it's worth remembering that the fictions with which we previously populated our world may have some function that it's worth trying to understand and preserve the essential components of, rather than throwing out the baby with the bath water; because even though we may not accept the reasons given for them being here in the first place, it may well be that there are good practical reasons for them, or something like them, to be there. I suspect that as we move further and further into the field of digital or artificial life we will find more and more unexpected properties begin to emerge out of what we see happening and that this is a precise parallel to the entities we create around ourselves to inform and shape our lives and enable us to work and live together. Therefore, I would argue that though there isn't an actual god there is an artificial god and we should probably bear that in mind. That is my debating point and you are now free to start hurling the chairs around!

Link to transcript, Link to MP3 (Thanks, Avi!)

Cory Doctorow: Seeing Yellow wants you to call your printer's manufacturer and ask them to stop spying on you.

We've known that our printers are spying on us, ever since the Electronic Frontier Foundation cracked the secret codes in the output of color laser printers. These hidden codes -- apparently placed at the behest of the Secret Service -- identify the serial number, make and model of the printer that printed them, as well as a date and timestamp.

What we didn't know is that if you ask the manufacturer of your printer to stop spying on you, they respond by ratting you out to the Secret Service as a dangerous subversive, and a few days later, the SS will show up and ask you why you care about your privacy.

Seeing Yellow -- a project from the MIT Media Lab -- wants to put a stop to this by overwhelming the manufacturers with complaints from their customers, so many that they can't turn us all into the SS.

When you print on a color laser printer, it's likely that you are also printing a pattern of invisible yellow dots. These marks exist to allow the printer companies and governments to track and identify you -- presumably as a way to combat money counterfeiting. When one person asked his printer manufacturer about turning off the tracking dots, Secret Service agents showed up at his door several days later.

Upset? You should be!

Let's stand up to silent tracking and government bullying and send a strong message to printer manufacturers. Our privacy and our control over our own technology is far too important to give up over trumped up fears of photocopied money.

Link

See also:
EFF cracks hidden snitch codes in color laser prints
Do forensic printer marks slow down printers?
Is Your Printer Spying On You?

A few months ago we discussed the practice of renting out one's credit score to people having trouble getting a loan. There didn't seem to be much justification for the scheme, as it's pretty clearly just a way to game the system. A similar practice is taking place in France, except instead of credit scores, people are renting out their good driving records. Basically, the way it works is that if someone commits a traffic violation that accrues points onto their license, they can pay someone else to take the fall. For the elderly, who have more use for cash than a clean driving record, the system works out pretty well. Of course, it doesn't do much to further the purpose of driving laws, which are there to keep bad drivers off the road. In most cases, letting the market find an optimal price for any good (in this case, a clean driving record) would be ideal. But for the safety of French drivers, it would probably be best if this loophole were closed.

Michael Manoochehri writes "Reuters reports that a "federal appeals court has denied a petition by U.S. Internet radio stations seeking to delay a royalty rate hike due July 15 they say could kill the fledgling industry." This royalty rate hike, put forth by the US Copyright Royalty Board, will increase royalty rates for webcast music tremendously, in some cases to more per year than many webcasters bring in from revenue. Save Net Radio, a coalition of webcasters, is telling listeners that "We are appealing to the millions of Internet radio listeners out there, the webcasters they support and the artists and labels we treasure to rise up and make your voices heard again before this vibrant medium is silenced.""

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally, four companies bid on the licenses to operate satellite radio networks in the US; XM and Sirius were the only two left standing. However, one of the losing companies, Primosphere, is now requesting that if XM and Sirius merge, it be given half their spectrum so it can launch its own service. This is a particularly interesting development. On the face of it, the request by Primosphere would seem to take care of the supposedly pro-consumer concerns of the National Association of Broadcasters, which objects to the merger since it would only leave one satellite radio company. However, a merged XM-Sirius would resist giving up half its spectrum, since that would reduce its programming capacity, so it seems like there could be a catch-22 for the companies. Merge, and lose half their spectrum, or keep the spectrum and remain independent. The fact that Primosphere's popped back up after requesting its license application be withdrawn in 2004 has led some to speculate that another player could be motivating it. Given the way the debate over this merger has played out so far, that wouldn't too surprising.

dmarti writes "The software that enables Linux to act as a Windows file and print server is adopting the Free Software Foundation's new license. What will be the impact on users, distributors, and appliance vendors? Samba maintainer Jeremy Allison answers, in a podcast interview."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

cramco writes "Tim Lister, principal of Atlantic Systems Guild and co-author of 'Waltzing with Bears: Managing Software Project Risk,' and 'Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams' talks about the patterns that help determine software success or failure. Patterns good and bad include project sluts, Brownian motion, the strawman, and the safety valve."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Over the years, Google has taken a lot of flack from privacy advocates concerned about its data retention policies. The company has tried to mollify its critics by shortening the duration of time that it holds customer data, and claiming that it's compelled to hold onto search data to comply with legal regulations, in particular EU data retention laws. But as Ryan Singel points out, the legal angle is almost certainly bogus. While the EU does require companies to hold onto certain types of data, there's nothing that requires the collection of search data, as it's collected now. Basically, Google is using the law as a guise to cover the fact that it likes having lots of data on its users, as any company would. If it didn't have such a data jones, it wouldn't, as Singel points out, collect such extensive data for its personalized services without informing users. Because of its high profile, Google makes for a popular target among privacy advocates, and it could be argued that in many cases, the company gets an unfair shake. Still, it does itself no favors by making specious arguments to defend its position.

Mark Frauenfelder: Andy says:

I did this originally for video for the San Jose Merc's Inside Silicon Valley podcast -- but due to tech. difficulties it's just audio.

Still, worthwhile to hear about the premise behind the follow up to The Long Tail.

This link is to my blog w/ the audio and a link to my notes on his keynote at TOC:

Link

Mark Frauenfelder: Eddie says:

British troops in Iraq are accused of releasing "man-eating badgers" in Basra, according to a BBC news report.

The creatures, apparently some 39 inches (100 cm) in length, are the size of dogs and have monkey-like heads.

The BBC news story quotes a local woman, Suad Hussain, who claims to have been attacked by one of these creatures: "My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer"

Known locally as Al-Girta (also known as Honey Badgers) the director of Basra's veterinary hospital, Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, refutes the claims, stating: "Talk that this animal was brought by the British forces is incorrect and unscientific."

Link

Mark Frauenfelder: Everybody's favorite techno-babble spouter, Sen. Ted "a series of tubes" Stevens, confounded just about everyone at the Senate Commerce Committee Hearing On Number Portability.

Stevens: "Let me be just the Devil's Advocate here. Could I just decide I want to keep my wireline and I want to add wireless to it? Can I have two providers on the same number?"

Awkward pause: "Um, I don't think that technology exists right now."

Stevens: "If I had an IP phone, by definition, I'd have to leave the wire... wireline phone to use it?"

Answer: "I think that is the case with the technology today."

Stevens: "Is it coming? Why shouldn't I be able to say, just by a little switch on my phone at home that's wired, I'm going off on the wireless now, I want to use this as I ride my motorcycle."

Link

jcatcw writes "Computerworld reports that the FBI is using data mining programs to track more than just terrorists. The program's original focus was to identify potential terrorists, but additional patterns have been developed for identity theft rings, fraudulent housing transactions, Internet pharmacy fraud, automobile insurance fraud, and health-care-related fraud. From the article: 'In a statement, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the report [on the data mining] was four months late and raised more questions than it answered. The report "demonstrates just how dramatically the Bush administration has expanded the use of [data mining] technology, often in secret, to collect and sift through Americans' most sensitive personal information," he said. At the same time, the report provides an "important and all-too-rare ray of sunshine on the department's data mining activities," Leahy said. It would give Congress a way to conduct "meaningful oversight" he said.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

David Pescovitz: Ghanaian Kojo Nana Obiri-Yeboah, a preacher in Uganda, is under investigation for intending to scam his congregation into believing he has magic powers by shocking them with a commercially-available magic trick called the "Electric Touch." The pastor denies the, er, charge, claiming that he ordered the trick as a birthday gift for his daughter. From the BBC News:

There has been a massive growth in churches set up by charismatic preachers in Africa in recent years, amid fears some could be fraudsters.

The pastor told the BBC that during his prayers, members of the congregation "act as the spirit comes in them".

The website of the company Yigal Mesika, which makes the "Electric Touch" machine, among other magic tricks, says: "Charge a spoon, keys or coins and watch as it shocks a volunteer!

"They will believe you have supernatural powers!"

Link (via Fortean Times)

We noted earlier in the week that the number of shareholder class-action lawsuits is falling. For average-Joe stockholders, this really means very little, as the settlements they receive from such suits are often pretty minimal. The lawyers that seek out and file these suits are the ones feeling the pinch, since they're the real beneficiaries of class-action suits. But even though shareholder suits are becoming less popular, lawyers still have plenty of other kinds of class-action suits to generate some cash. Case in point: a recent settlement (via Threat Level) of a suit against Bank of America, in which it was alleged the company made customers' personal information available to outside marketers and other third parties, in violation of its privacy policies. The effected class is pretty huge, with 35 million current and former customers available for a piece of the "$14 million settlement." Of course, that $14 million figure is pretty theoretical. It includes a $3.25 million contribution to "privacy-related programs", while people in the class are (depending on where they live and what accounts they had with the bank) eligible for a $200 discount on mortgage loan origination fees at BoA, some free checking account services, 90 days of "Identity Theft Protection Service", or a year of some other pointless credit-card "security" program. What do the lawyers get? Bank of America's agreed to pay them up to $4 million. Why don't they just cut out all the trouble, just pay the lawyers $4 million upfront, and promise they'll never do it again? Seems like that would deliver roughly the same end benefits.

David Pescovitz: If you're in Beijing and eat steamed buns that taste like cardboard, they just may be cardboard. According to an undercover investigation aired on China Central Television, one particular supplier was filling his buns with 60 percent cardboard until cops shut down his operation. From the Associated Press:

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Link (Thanks, Sean Ness!)

An anonymous reader writes "Over the past year Slashdot has pointed to many industry claims and governmental pressure over Canada piracy issues. Canadian law prof Michael Geist has produced Putting Canadian 'Piracy' in Perspective, a video that demonstrates how the claims are hugely exaggerated. For example, it shows how despite the MPAA's claim of movie piracy, Canada was the industry's fastest growing market last year. Similarly, while the recording industry says Canada is the world's top P2P country, the data shows that the Canadian music industry is experiencing record gains and that most of the decline from the major labels is due to retail pricing pressures."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.