The proper corporate website for Singularity One Systems, Inc. is now up with the old content at
http://www.singularityone.ca/
As soon as I can get the redirect taken off from singularityone.ca, I'll have the old prototype website at my personal account deleted.
Mark Sobkow, CEO
Singularity One Systems, Inc.
A registered Saskatchewan corporation.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
The corporation was registered with Saskatchewan's Information Services Corporation on 2012.01.27, and the articles of incorporation were received back on 2012.02.01.
Under Canadian copyright law and over 50 years of precedent cases held by the Supreme Court of Canada, I, as a Canadian, have the RIGHT to preview media. I have the RIGHT to format-shift media I have purchased. I OWN my media, not "license" it.
The US system is dramatically and drastically different, despite the use of the common term "copyright" in reference to the related IP legislation. Canada is a Commonwealth country, and most of our law is based on the UK system heritage, not "starting from scratch" as the US did. I expect MOST Canadian interpretations on copyright and patents would apply ANYWHERE in the Commonwealth.
The US does NOT get to dictate that the rest of the world implement their screwed up IP legislation, no matter how much the media lobbyists cry that the "system is broken."
They cried it was broken in the 1970's when people were granted the right to make cassette copies of LPs in Canada.
They cried it was broken in the 1980's when it was confirmed people could make cassettes for use in portable music players.
They cried it was broken in the 1990's when it was AGAIN confirmed that people can make cassettes from CDs.
Never mind the companion arguments in support of VCR's and PVRs for recording and time-shifting TV movies and shows.
And then the recording industry shot itself in the foot, by ratifying the levy charged on blank media, which effectively put into Canadian law the right to make backups.
The DMCA-style legislation tabled as part of C-11 goes contrary to that 50 year history of Canadians being allowed to back up media they own. This clause MUST be struck for the legislation to be valid.
It would also be a good idea to make clear EXACTLY what the media companies have to submit as PROOF that someone is violating copyright legislation. It's important that such clauses are based on the CANADIAN interpretation of copyright, not the US assumption that their interpretation is going to be acceptable to the planet. Just because we use the same legal term "copyright" does NOT mean we're talking about the same draconian restrictions the US media companies have successfully lobbied for in the United States.
I use my torrents to preview media, as I'm allowed to do at any store in Canada when I slip on a pair of headphones to check out a new CD, or toss a DVD into a player to check it out at the store. All I'm doing is saving myself the hassle of going TO a store to do it. So I'm comfortable that ACTA will not apply to my torrent downloads, but I am VERY concerned about the DMCA-like clauses.
Here are some supporting discussions from experts on Canadian IP legislation (Michael Geist) and international aspects of ACTA (Electronic Frontier Foundation):
Michael Geist: Copyright Is Back: Why Canada is Keeping the Flawed Digital Lock Rules
Micheael Geist: Canada Signs ACTA: What Comes Next
Electronic Frontier Foundation: 2011 in Review: Developments in ACTA
Some people say I post "Anti-American" rants, so I thought I'd oblige by posting EXACTLY THAT.
Dear United States of America:
I really love the technology created by your industries for the most part, especially in the IT realm. There's no denying that without American inventiveness, I wouldn't have a career in computers.
However, as a proud Candian, I have to object to your snake-oil salesman approach to trying to "fix" the Canadian system when it's not broken in the first place:
1. We LIKE our copyright laws. We LIKE being able to make backups of the media we OWN instead of lease. We LIKE being able to do format shifting, time shifting, and montage edits of video and audio. We DO NOT want YOUR copyright system in our country, despite the occasional bleating by Canadian media conglomerates who echo the "sky is falling" sentiments about the Canadian right to preview and prelisten to media to decide whether it's worth buying or not.
2. We LIKE our medical cannabis. Sure your DEA has their head stuck so far up their ass they can't see that over a dozen states have PROVEN cannabis has medical use, and continue to deny that nearly 75% of the "pharmaceutical" medications prior to prohibition of cannabis WERE based on cannabis preparations, but really, your DEA is just afraid of being unemployed more than anything else. So kindly take your jack boots, your riot gear, your SWAT teams, and all the rest of your "drug war" nightmare and keep it to yourselves.
3. We LIKE our system of government. Sure we bitch, whine, and complain (I'm a BWAC Expert!), but when it comes down to it, we know our politicians aren't sold out to corporate lobbyists and special interest groups. We have no interest in importing your "Bribery First" model of government.
4. We DON'T like going to war. While we have and will continue to assist nations in trouble who are under oppression by violent dictators or who are being invaded by their neighbours, we fundamentally disagree with killing people for having the audacity to interfere with our corporation's revenue streams. As you can see from our budget, it's a LOT cheaper to try to get along with the world than to invade it.
So please, America, take your fucked up legal system and SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!
The final version of the Singularity One Business Plan 2012 and the Corporate Ethics Manual are now available for your consideration from the Singularity One prototype website.
I've been feeling rather mournful since last night because I was moping about probably having to give up my Slashdot postings as well as general public postings.
But I realized after a discussion about database tuning that not only don't I have to give up posting to Slashdot, I SHOULDN'T give it up. The younger generation may snicker and think of me as a geriatric dinosaur, but we do have good discussions about issues like performance tuning, algorithms, and other such topics.
I may need to avoid posting on inflammatory issues like SOPA/PIPA in the future, but I can still share my experience with those who are breathing down my neck in search of their turn at the best jobs programming has to offer as a career.
I'm even PROUD to be called a "dinosaur." Like the my mainframe ancestors whom I teased in the '80s and '90s, I'm confident in my skills and experience, and MOST people show me the respect I've EARNED as long as I try to explain and to teach instead of to insult and berate.
Thank God.
I've got a Slashdot UID under 50,000. A five digit member, which means I've been there since the first year or two after the site was started. A literal ETERNITY in internet terms. Many far more popular sites have come and gone over those years, while Slashdot has continued to harbour the technocrati -- the programmers and technologists who "make things go" in the modern business world.
If you don't mind spending a lifetime learning and adapting, it's a fun career, and very challenging.
Chris Dodd: [Security issues have] to do with what they call the Domain Name Systems, or DNS systems, and the filtering or blocking of those DNS systems. I think 25 or 30 countries have imposed that. The industry itself has. But in response to the criticism a week or so ago, the two chairs of the committees, respe...ctively, in the Senate and House dropped the DNS provisions of the bill entirely. So it doesnâ(TM)t exist any longer. And even when it was in the bill, it was completely misrepresented as something new that was going to break the Internet. If that was the case, the Internet would have broken a long time ago given that DNS filtering has gone on all over the world for years.
You sir, are comparing DELETING DNS entries to DNS filtering, and it is NOT the same thing at ALL.
The issue with SOPA and PIPA is the heavy-handed decision that the US and the US alone would be able to DELETE DNS entries on nothing more than the say-so of some fucktard with the *AA claiming it was a pirate site.
No charges filed.
No one arrested.
No due process.
No chance to defend yourself.
THAT's the problem with your latest round of abusive legislation to protect your profits, when your profits are down because you produce SHITTY MOVIES LATELY.
I download EVERYTHING that hits the Top 100 Movies on The Pirate Bay, and periodically give a few 10-15 minutes of my time to prove they're worth watching.
I've added a whole FOUR DVD/Blu-Ray movies to my "to buy" list by doing this. Out of HUNDREDS of samples from around the world.
You think I'm going to buy your crap, unpreviewed, with a reputation like that and such horrible odds that I'm even going to want to WATCH the movie?
SOPA and PIPA are NOT legislation to implement DNS filtering or blocking by US-based ISPs. It's an attempt to do an end-run around the rights of sovereign foreign nation's rights to force the MPAA and RIAA members to go through the "hassle" of filing charges in the countries that host
It makes the entire United States of America look bad to allow these bastards to try and lobby their way to such abusive powers.
Man I'm mad at the blatant LIE you've tried to spin, as if a no internet-aware techie would call call you on your bullshit.
If all you want is DNS filtering for US citizens to stop them from accessing certain sites, by all means, have at it. Convince the US government to force ISPs to implement filtering, over the objections of US citizens.
But STOP trying to fuck the world to line your own pockets.
Prick.
Fuck YOU!
The Singularity One MSS Code Factory White Paper is now available for your perusal. This document provides a high level description of what MSS Code Factory does and how Singularity One leverages the technology to provide software maintenance service contracts, not just traditional contract source code delivery.
You can download your copy from the Singularity One place holder website.
The latest edition of the Singularity One 2012 Business Plan (Draft) is available from the prototype website for the company, which is itself "under construction."
If you're wondering what this has to do with medical cannabis, download the business plan and scroll to the bottom to the "Exit Strategy" section. It's all there, in black and white.
Putting together this draft was primarily an issue of copy-pasting from my websites all over the place. I'd worked on the information, but this document consolidates it into one tidy 7 page package.
It might be subject to further editing before being finalized, but I can't think of anything missing off the top of my head or from the Can-Sask business plan templates, so this should be pretty close to the final version.
Note that the main purpose of the plan is to document my strategies for growing the business from a $0 cash value, NOT to attract investors or obtain bank loans.
Since when was the patent system supposed to be used to stifle competition? The way some companies are wielding patents is the antithesis of how the system was envisioned.
Without pointing fingers at any of the culprits, this was not the way the system was supposed to work. And you know that. On both sides of the border, and across borders around the world.
The Singularity One 2012 Business Plan (Draft) is now available for download.
I believe in an open business model, with strategies out in the open, but the details of contracts and licensing details kept between the parties involved. Financial details are also privy to the stockholders and those with an appropriate legal mandate, such as a warrant.
For an explanation of the meaning of the "Singularity One" name and the goals of the MSS Code Factory software system behind it, please review the following documentation:
MSS Code Factory: Goals of the System.
Programming is essentially the logic of understanding the complex business requirements of a system, the creativity of translating those requirements into the structure of a computer program, and the art of expressing that structure in code.
I speak many programming languages.
The Canadian legal and Parliamentary systems are just big, detailed business and process requirements specifications.
I don't speak the legalese needed to "program" the courts, but I know enough about the architecture to translate the high-level requirements into the detailed specification of a lawsuit.
Never piss off the IT department.
http://msobkow.sasktelwebsite.net/med-can-ive-been-poisoned.html
Michael Geist is Canada's national expert and pundit on all IP related issues, and then some.
Please read the article and subscribe to his blog if you're concerned about issues like copyright, DRM, copying DVDs, downloading torrents, internet security, government spying on the internet, etc.
Some flag me as "pedantic" on Slashdot. That means you're nitpicking about the meaning of words, spelling errors, or grammar.
Well, I kind of HAVE to be if I'm going to respect my Dad at all.
He was not just an English teacher, but my home-room English teacher for several years. He would be SO hurt and wounded if I didn't write in proper English after all that effort.
As long as we're going to reinvent the wheel again, we might as well try making it round this time. - Mike Dennison
