It seems like he is being harassed because of his background, but the cop does not actually break the law. Using a canine to inspect the car is looking for things in plain sight. And while the video talks about false positives from the dog, the courts accept that a K-9 officer's testimony that a dog has found something is legitimate. Convincing a judge that the officer behaved inappropriately will be expensive, and likely ineffective. Unless the officer has a record of harassment, his testimony will always trump that of a citizen. This is the way courts have been for some time, and has nothing to do with "laws that enable trampling of people's rights". Still, it might be worth going to court just to put the incident on record so that the next time someone has a problem with this same officer, it might be easier to prove a case of harassment.

A little digging has shown that the plaintiff has a claim on re-definable keyboards, as they relate to assistive technology. However, the idea of remapping keyboards definitely pre-dates their 1995 patent claim (which said nothing about speech synthesis, BTW). Two possibilities that spring to mind are HP calculators, which would have differing keyboard layouts depending on the mode that was set. Thus, multiple symbols could be applied to the same key. This covers the "providing access to higher-level keyboards" part. Another possibility is a synthesizer. Once again, setting modes could change the functions of many keys on the device. Come to think of it, even a pipe organ could fall into this category. Depending on the stops pulled (which could be labelled with a symbol), the organ could take on different voices. Arguably, each voice could be considered a different higher-level keyboard.

Is the patent dead obvious? I suppose not. I hope some better researchers are able to come up with a more concrete example to be used against the plaintiff. I'd hate to see such a useful app die over money. I think the key here is to find prior art on the first patent. The second patent is simply the first patent "as it applies" to speech synthesis.

Then maybe they should have picked a more unique name. Branding is, after all, a part of marketing. The lawyers should have considered this when determining their brand.

Look on the bright side... At least people are learning to use Google.

As is always the case with shared web hosting vs. VPS, you will have to decide how much control you want over your website. The reason shared web hosting is so cheap is that someone else does the system administration. VPS is not really more expensive, and gives you full control over the site (including direct access to the filesystem). Bottom line: do research to ensure you get the hosting option that meets your needs.

Easy. Create an account (or use the webserver's account) for the PHP program and store credentials in $HOME/.my.cnf. Ensure .my.cnf is only readable by the program's account.

This story has a lot of valuable lessons to be learned. The first lesson, I think, that you can take from your experience is that you are wholly unqualified to deal with the political and management issues involved. Therefore, do not involve yourself in management or politics. The (non-technical) suggestions given have all involved either an upward appeal to authority, or coercive measures. These will only make matters worse for you. If you want to keep your job, and think that you actually have a chance to make things work, ingratiate yourself to some people who can support you if things go south. I doubt very much that you are being deliberately set up as a fall guy. The school, after all, has a need to stay somewhat technologically relevant, but they're doing it on increasingly less money.

I'm guessing you went into education because you want to make a difference. Some people I know did as well, and they all tell the same story. Long, hard hours with very little acknowledgement. I would guess that's a reality of education these days. With a budget that's always short on funds, management will squeeze every last drop of effort from every employee. So, work under the assumption that the people who hold the purse strings are under at least as much pressure as you are. Maybe it's not true, but there's nothing you can do about it except quit.

Off the top of my head, the best people to get on your side are teachers and students. While you can't solve everything all at once, perhaps there are some small problems you can solve for specific people. And, while someone joked about making network maintenance an elective, there's probably some truth to it. I volunteered to help out the sole network admin when I was in high school. Perhaps some bright students would be willing to help out in exchange for some tutoring. The important thing is that some people know who you are and what you do, and can commiserate since your job is just as difficult as theirs. If it's important to you, hang in there. If it's not, then it's probably time to look for something less stressful.

I'm surprised that Interpol allows membership from nations that would so badly abuse human rights and civil liberties. I've always considered Interpol "one of the good guys". I guess not.

Like anyone would trust the Americans to follow a "code of conduct". Rules are for chumps.

Glad to hear it. I'm the first to admit that I don't always document well enough, but I'm a build-it-then-fix-it kind of guy. I've been at it long enough to get an extensible architecture off the ground right away. I'd work better with someone that's a get-it-right-the-first-time kind of guy telling me what I'm doing wrong, though.

"Don't get suckered by the comments -- they can be terribly misleading. Debug only code." -- Dave Storer

This is why I always add my documentation at the end. A good programmer knows how to use his debugger. Properly named variables and methods will allow you to step through a program until you understand how it works. Once your understanding is clear, and you are quite certain that the code is good enough for somebody else, add enough documentation to aid other programmers in using or maintaining your code. The only way to know how much is needed is through the code review. The only exception I can think of to this process is when releasing the source code to the general public or to a client for their own maintenance. Since you don't usually have a code review with them, it's best to go for overkill. A pain sometimes, but a necessary part of a complete product.

Just punch it into a calculator with base conversion. Wikipedia has an article about Hexadecimal.

The crux of the case will lie in proving that there is a causal link between the lack of laws requiring ISPs to block websites, and the damages claimed. The precedent is Francovich v. Italy. However, given that the judge in a ruling against British Telecom forcing them to use Cleanfeed to block access to websites like Newzbin and TPB acknowledge that tools to circumvent the system were available. And, in fact, Newzbin has released a client allowing access to their website despite the Cleanfeed block. The same software allows access to TPB. It relies on both encryption and the TOR network. Newzbin told BBC news that 93.5% of UK users have downloaded their Cleanfeed circumvention software. This flies in the face of the judge's comment that "Even assuming that they all have the ability to acquire [the means to circumvent Cleanfeed], it does not follow that they will all wish to expend the time and effort required."

93.5% of UK Newzbin users may not be "all" people in the UK who want to use file sharing networks, but it certainly means that establishing the causal link between lack of ISP blocking remedies and damages from file sharing will be difficult. People want access to those files, and Cleanfeed has proven largely ineffective at stopping two of the main sites involved in sharing. It should also be noted that these sites are not the actual hosters of the allegedly damaging files; they are merely portals to peer-to-peer networks that have other access methods available (e.g. DHT on BitTorrent). Again, the claim that blocking these websites would prevent financial damage is rather dubious.

3259560367 = 0xc2476b0f = 194.71.107.15