Blackmoor Vituperative

In a new effort dubbed “Luke’s Binoculars” — after the high-tech binoculars Luke Skywalker uses in Star Wars — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is setting out to create its own version of this science-fiction hardware. And while the Pentagon’s R&D arm often focuses on technologies 20 years out, this new effort is dramatically different — Darpa says it expects to have prototypes in the hands of soldiers in three years.

The agency claims no scientific breakthrough is needed on the project — formally called the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System. Instead, Darpa hopes to integrate technologies that have been simmering in laboratories for years, ranging from flat-field, wide-angle optics, to the use of advanced electroencephalograms, or EEGs, to rapidly recognize brainwave signatures.

[…]

Darpa’s ambitions are grounded in solid research, says Dennis McBride, president of the Potomac Institute and an expert in the field. “This is all about target recognition and pattern recognition,” says McBride, who previously worked for the Navy as an experimental psychologist and has consulted for Darpa. “It turns out that humans in particular have evolved over these many millions of years with a prominent prefrontal cortex.”

That prefrontal cortex, he explains, allows the brain to pick up patterns quickly, but it also exercises a powerful impulse control, inhibiting false alarms. EEG would essentially allow the binoculars to bypass this inhibitory reaction and signal the wearer to a potential threat. In other words, like Spiderman’s “spider sense,” a soldier could be alerted to danger that his or her brain had sensed, but not yet had time to process.

(from Wired, Pentagon to Merge Next-Gen Binoculars With Soldiers’ Brains)

With dozens of lawsuits against phone companies for cooperating with the Bush Adminisration’s domestic spying operations, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s suit against AT&T, President Bush is now asking Congress to give immunity to the phone companies, The Washington Post reports.

Lots of luck getting that one through a pretty pissed off Democratic Congress.

The proposal states that “no action shall lie . . . in any court, and no penalty . . . shall be imposed . . . against any person” for giving the government information, including customer records, in connection with alleged intelligence activity the attorney general certifies “is, was, would be or would have been” intended to protect the United States from terrorist attack. The measure, which has not yet been filed, is contained in a proposed amendment to the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill.

This little bit of stonewalling comes as the FBI was found to have contracted with phone companies to obtain phone records. Without probable cause to search someone’s records, however, that’s a violation of the Fourth Amendment. So the bureau claimed the requests qualified under the “exigent circumstances” exception to the Fourth. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean a danger the suspect will escape or destroy evidence. The Justice Dept. inspector general found that no such circumstances existed; the FBI just plain lied.

“To let them off the hook now sets a dangerous precedent by encouraging them to continue to engage in illegal collaborations with the government in the future,” said Kevin Bankston, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which last year filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T for allowing the government to unlawfully monitor U.S. residents.

“The end result is not only will the Bush administration continue to stonewall Congress in its request for information on warrantless wiretapping, but no one who participated will have any threat above their head. You could just face a congressional subpoena and say, ‘I’m sorry, I’m immunized,’ ” the ACLU’s TimSparapani said.

Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he wouldn’t support immunity for companies that intentionally broke the law.

(from ZDNet, Bush wants immunity for telcos that assisted in illegal searches)

It’s hard to keep one’s faith in the good intentions of our President when faced with something like this.

The Norway Liberal Party (Venstre) which is holding 6% of the seats in parliament has issued a resolution stating that “Copyright law is outdated”.

“A society where culture and knowledge is free and accessible by everyone on equal terms is a common good. Large distributors and copyright owners systematically and widely misuse copyright, and thereby stall artistic development and innovation.”

Here are some changes proposed by the party “to reinstate the balance in copyright law”:

– Free file sharing for personal use “Laws and regulations, both national and international, need to be changed so they only regulate limitations of use and distribution in a commercial for-profit context.”
– Shorter commercial copyright term (the current span in Norway is 70 years).
– Ban on DRM – “…anyone who has bought the right to use a product needs a technologically neutral way of using it. This means that distributors can not control how citizens wish to play back legally bought digital music.”

“It is wrong to make an entire generation of criminals,” said vice chairwoman of the Liberal Party, Trine Skei Grande. “We managed to make compensation models when the photocopier was invented, but we haven’t managed to do anything about modern technology. The law must adapt to the citizens and the impact of technological innovation.”

(from The Register, Norwegian liberals call for relaxation of copyright laws)

Way to go, Norway. Well, 6% of Norway, anyway.

Recent weeks have brought major changes in the music industry as it relates to online digital music distribution. In March over six thousand people signed our open letter to Steve Jobs about DRM. Now Apple and EMI have now committed to distributing without Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), and there have been similar announcements from other online music stores and retailers. Last week brought news that Universal Music may be opening up some of their catalog to DRM free sales too.

One of the most outspoken opponents to ending DRM has been Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the CEO and Chairman of Warner Music Group. On Monday we launched a multi pronged campaign to ?Wake Up Warner? with DefectiveByDesign members calling Warner Music executives and an open letter to Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Take a moment to sign the letter and spread the word (http://www.defectivebydesign.org/actions/open_letter/warner_music). We will be closing the letter on Friday and sending it with your signature to send a wake up call to Bronfman from music fans and customers: DRM is dead and Warner should change its position.

Sign the letter today!
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/actions/open_letter/warner_music

In other news, the encryption for HD DVD DRM has been cracked and the key has been widely circulated in the last few days proving once again the futility of DRM schemes. DefectiveByDesign is planning actions in cities around the world and will be launching an open letter to the MPAA and studio executives urging them to abandon their support for for DRM later this month. Look for more on these actions next week!
In solidarity,

Gregory, Peter, Henri and the DRM Elimination Crew

(from DefectiveByDesign)

Apparently Digg.com has been dealing with the fallout of the HD DVD crack:

Congratulations to the Digg users who revolted against the censorship of a number today. Digg took down stories that featured the DRM encryption key for HD DVD encryption. Digg users then started reposting it until the entire front page of Digg was covered with the story and each one had thousands of Diggs.

After tens of thousands of diggs on multiple stories, Digg has decided to stop fighting it.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has been abusing its power with legal takedown notices to websites publishing this number. They are fighting a losing battle trying to hold on to the power they purchased for their clients pushing bad legislation like that included in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that has made it illegal to circumvent a DRM scheme.

What happened today is an example of how preposterous DRM is. Every major DRM has been cracked, and once it is, it is useless, and the money invested in it is wasted. Companies are hell bent on locking up their paying customers with DRM, but today’s action shows it wont work. A new day has dawned.

(from DefectiveByDesign)

I don’t know that I’d paint the picture as rosy as that. Just because a few thousand consumers rebel against the Digital Rights Mafia doesn’t mean “a new day has dawned”. Hell, RIAA has sued at least that many of their paying customers (and have bullied tens of thousands more), and Sony knowingly and cheerfully infected hundreds of thousands of their customers’ computers with a rootkit. The Digital Rights Mafia clearly place a higher priority on control than they do on profit, much less customer good will. It’ll probably be another twenty years before they give up on their war against their customers, minimum.

Still, it’s nice to see people stand up and do the right thing. Speaking truth to power, and all that.

Oh, and by the way… Blu-Ray has been cracked, too (although not BD+… yet).

When it comes to technology patents and the effect they have on innovation and the ability to use and create technology, the news is usually on the bad side (for example some company crushing a competitor using a patent, or a troll attacking real innovators with a questionable patent).

But finally the news is good, possibly even very good. Today the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling (PDF) that will make it much harder to get iffy patents and even harder to attack real innovators with these iffy patents.

In this case, which had some of largest technology companies in the world arguing on both sides, the Supreme Court has removed a very weak test for whether an invention is obvious, making it much harder to get a patent on an obvious technique, such as one that merely combines several other inventions in an obvious way.

This is huge news. Many of the worst and most egregious patents out there simply take a known idea and add an obvious twist to it. With this new decision, the court has made it much harder to get a patent in this way. Even better, it looks as if it will be possible to now use this ruling to go after other existing bad patents that were based on obvious ideas. This one court ruling could possibly lead to the removal of many of the worst patents out there today and finally make some real innovation possible.

So, thank you, U.S. Supreme Court. We don’t always see eye to eye, but today it looks like you got it right. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the decision:

“We build and create by bringing to the tangible and palpable reality around us new works based on instinct, simple logic, ordinary inferences, extraordinary ideas, and sometimes even genius. These advances, once part of our shared knowledge, define a new threshold from which innovation starts once more. And as progress beginning from higher levels of achievement is expected in the normal course, the results of ordinary innovation are not the subject of exclusive rights under the patent laws. Were it otherwise patents might stifle, rather than promote, the progress of useful arts.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

(from eWeek, Big Win in the War Against Patents)

Yay! Hooray! Yippee!

Just for fun, here is a link to one reader’s opinion of the Top Ten Skimpiest Superheroine Costumes.

I used to have such a crush on Supergirl… and Vampirella… and Witchblade…

I have to admit that I am surprised that Starfire did not make the list.

E-Gold, what F-Secure calls a “very prominent” digital currency for criminals, has been indicted for money laundering, conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

According to an indictment, handed down by a Washington federal grand jury and unsealed on April 27, E-Gold is a preferred method of payment by investment scammers, credit card and identity fraudsters, and online sellers of child pornography. E-Gold allegedly conducted funds transfers on behalf of such customers knowing that the funds were the proceeds of unlawful activity, thus violating federal money-laundering statutes.

E-Gold’s digital currency, “E-Gold,” is supposedly backed by physical gold. The company only requires a valid e-mail address to open an account, with no additional verification of contact information. E-Gold accounts can be funded with a number of exchangers to convert national currency into E-Gold. With an open account, users can conduct anonymous transactions worldwide.

[…]

The indictment charges E Gold Ltd., Gold & Silver Reserve, and their owners Dr. Douglas L. Jackson, of Satellite Beach, Fla., Reid A. Jackson, of Melbourne, Fla., and Barry K. Downey, of Woodbine, Md., each with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business under federal law and one count of money transmission without a license under D.C. law.

[…]

The conspiracy charge relating to money transmitting carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Operating an unlicensed money transmitting business also carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The D.C. Code violation for money transmission without a license carries a maximum sentence of five years. The conspiracy charge relating to money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

(from Security Watch, E-Gold E-ndicted for Fronting Child Pornsters, Fraudsters)

This is a shame, but I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise in this age of universal surveillance. E-gold didn’t do anything immoral, nor did they defraud anyone. They provided a service. But if you aren’t proactively helping the government spy on your customers, you’re a criminal.

If they knew they were going to get nailed for it, E-Gold should have moved their activities offshore, like the gambling sites did. But if they didn’t know… how could they not know? I mean, really, even as clueless as I am, I would think that they’d at least need to keep client records for IRS purposes, because gold would be considered a capital gain (or loss). And the feds had been investigating them for two years. This couldn’t have come as a surprise. Ah, well.

Recent weeks have brought major changes in the music industry and a major victory in our battle against DRM. First Steve Jobs pledged to drop DRM if major labels would let him. We held his feet to the fire with over six thousand people signing an open letter to Jobs asking him to back his pledge! Apple and EMI then announced that the iTunes Music Store would sell EMI tracks without DRM, and this has been followed by similar announcements from other online music stores and retailers.

Other labels have publicly stated that they will maintain DRM and have criticized Apple and EMI, but this week brought news that Universal may be opening up some of their catalog to DRM free sales.

Warner Music, one of the Big Four labels, hasn’t budged in their opposition. After the EMI announcement they even suggested a hostile takeover of EMI to prevent the music from becoming available without DRM. Just this week Warner filed a lawsuit against AnywhereCD.com to stop them from distributing MP3s of Warner’s music to customers who buy the CD.

We think that Warner needs a wake up call.

(from DefectiveByDesign.org, Warner Music Wake Up Call)

Yep.

Adobe Systems has announced its plans to open-source its Flex Web development framework.

The San Jose, Calif., company is releasing its Adobe Flex source code to the open-source community to enable developers throughout the world to tap the capabilities of Flex and participate in the ongoing development of the technology.

Flex is a framework for building cross-operating system RIAs (rich Internet applications) for the Web and enabling new Adobe Apollo applications for the desktop, the company said.

“We’ll be open-sourcing Flex with the next release of the technology, which is code-named Moxie,” said Jeff Whatcott, vice president of product marketing in Adobe’s Enterprise and Developer Business Unit.

Whatcott said Adobe will introduce the first public pre-release version of “Moxie” in June, “and we’ll be providing public daily builds of the technology starting at that time. We’ll also be launching a public bug database, so it’ll look, act and feel like an open-source project” even then.

However, the technology will not be open-sourced until “Moxie” is released in the second half of 2007—most likely in the fall, Whatcott said.

Upon release, the open-source Flex software development kit (SDK) and documentation will be available under the MPL (Mozilla Public License), Whatcott said.

Using the MPL for open-sourcing Flex will allow full and free access to source code, and developers will be able to freely download, extend and contribute to the source code for the Flex compiler, components and application framework.

Adobe will also continue to make the Flex SDK and other Flex products available under their existing commercial licenses, allowing both new and existing partners and customers to choose the license terms that best suit their requirements.

Whatcott said the MPL “strikes a good balance” for developers, particularly those who want to take a staged approach to working with open-source technology.

“This is the culmination of a long path toward opening up Flex,” Whatcott said.

(from eWeek, Adobe Open-Source Move Sets Showdown with Microsoft)

I have it on good authority that Flex is going to be the Next Big Thing. If you like to stay abreast of web technology, this is the time to start gearing up with Flex.

Silverlight isn’t even an also-ran.

Novell is doing Apple one better with their new Linux ads.

Now, I happen to like the Apple ads. I am sure that I am not the only one who empathizes with the bespectacled, slightly pudgy PC, rather than the smarmy, slacker, smugly “I’m cooler than you” Mac, but I think it was clever to have Linux represented by an attractive young woman. Everyone knows that women are smarter than men. 🙂