Monthly Archives: October 2002

News: Microsoft spying? Linux is

News: Microsoft spying? Linux is looking better

China thinks Microsoft software contains secretly embedded code that the United States government can manipulate at will. So, in case of war between the two countries, a Pentagon official can hit a switch and–presto!–cripple China’s computing infrastructure.

This might seem absurd, why, after all, would Microsoft consent to such a thing, especially if it hurts them in a market with a billion nubile young consumers they lust for?

Its hard to imagine, but as a little exercise for the imagination, try and imagine what leverage the US government might have over them.

The Register Alsop only needs

The Register

Alsop only needs to travel across either pond to realize that there’s a parallel communications network – a parallel Internet, if you like – based around phones. They’re already the world’s most popular communications device, despite the complexity of using numerical keypads for the user interface…

Amusingly, the author seems to have forgotten what people used to use phones for, namely, as a voice communications device, focused as he is, on Text messaging.

Lawrence Lessig (3) The government

Lawrence Lessig (3) The government then helped us immensely by simply confirming what we had said: under their theory of the case, there was no constitutional limit on Congress’s power to extend terms; it was always a matter of Congress’s discretion. Congress could perpetually extend existing terms; it could even extend a copyright to works within the public domain.
The Court clearly did not like this answer.