14 Oct 2004
U.S. Declares War on Intellectual Property Theft

Just what we need: another "concept war" to go along with the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty and the War on Terror. What do ya wanta bet that next week the government declares a "War on Obesity"?

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday outlined what it called its most sweeping crackdown on bootleg DVDs, fake designer goods, illegal music downloads and counterfeit drugs.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 1 comment | permanent link

Can you prove you're not a machine?

I never really looked at it this way, but I guess that some SPAM filters are a sort of reverse Turing Test...

I've been thinking about something called the "Turing Test" lately because some of my personal e-mail has come back undeliverable. Evidently the servers, in an attempt to screen out machine-generated spam, think that my e-mail is spam, too.

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Idaho school turns down lottery payday

This really brings out the libertarian (small 'l') in me: apparently it's fine to take the proceeds of extortion (tax money), but not to take lottery proceeds, which are paid voluntarily by people buying a product.

And they think this makes them moral. Hopefully they won't have the chutpzah to complain about budget shortfalls next year, and ask the local legislature for a funding hike ...

During these tough budget times, schools don't often pass up a check for $10,000. But that's just what one Idaho charter school has done -- to set a moral example for students.

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link