arstechnica.com — An alarmist report published by the United States Patent Office claims that filesharing software poses a threat to user privacy and national security. Filled with the usual stale rhetoric, the report attempts to demonize filesharing and depict the content industry as a helpless victim.
Mar 8, 2007 View in Crawl 4
jimvMar 8, 2007
And to answer your question, here's a snippet from the report:"USPTO has an obligation to “advise Federal departments and agencies on matters of intellectual property policy in the United States and intellectual property protection in other countries.” 35 U.S.C. § 2(b)(9). It may also “conduct … studies … regarding … the effectiveness of intellectual property protection domestically and throughout the world.” Id. at § 2(b)(10). Consequently, USPTO can and should investigate whether duping schemes cause unnecessary conflicts between consumers and rightsholders and whether such schemes threaten the security of sensitive or classified government data."
stalefriesMar 9, 2007
Wouldn't Jesus be in favor of a _theocracy_?
acomjMar 9, 2007
Its already happening. There are some software vendors that make Classified engineering software. They used to get requests to sell to foreign countries (that are export restricted). They don't anymore. Why? The software is available by pirating it on (mostly) Chinese severs. Odd, nobody knows how it got there. This was in the NYtimes
rocket777Mar 9, 2007
And what in the hell are government weenies doing on computers attached to the internet and ALSO have secret information on them. The government has their own private internets which are not connected to the www internet. Is the pattent office trying to say that these guys are sharing songs or something? They need to spend their money getting their own act together.
vocabMar 9, 2007
>pinab >What about photocopiers?>Why aren't THEY being banned? They essentially have the same role. Duplication of documents both legally and illegally.Yes, but photocopies are a lot harder to control and track down. It's not that photocopiers were never in the search light of pro-strong-copyright folks, but rather that control were impossible due to the analog and disconnected nature of papercopies. A brief description of the photocopy/copyright tension: <a class="user" href="http://www.corporateright.org/CorporateRight_1.rtf">http://www.corporateright.org/CorporateRight_1.rtf</a> (p. 33-34)
justinsbMar 9, 2007
The US didn't learn anything from Prohibition. Look at the war on drugs. 7 decades old, billions spent annually, the highest per capita incarceration rate in the history of the world (higher than Russia, China or even apartheid era South Africa) with no results to show for it and yet on it goes, without question.
bshockMar 9, 2007
Patent office claims filesharing a threat to national security?Citizen claims Patent Office a threat to civil rights and economic prosperity.
zabelbokMar 9, 2007
HA HA HA... Punk bitches!