You leave the World Health Organization out of this.

You're thinking of Oobi?

Still really cool, but my original reality was much more awesome. I would have loved to break the sound barrier when I was 11.

I'd like to question the constitutionality of a lot more than just how it was signed.

0100010001010011 = DS? I don't get it (DropShip?), but it doesn't seem like coincidence (multiple of 8 bits, both uppercase ASCII chars).

If you're just implementing a MP3 decoder (which is all Firefox would need to do to play MP3 files) then you might not have patent issues even today: http://lwn.net/Articles/166346/

It's a shame the Slashdot article didn't link to any sources.

Variable-lifetime patents already exist to a certain extent (utility patents vs. design patents). But it would be interesting to extend the idea further.

As long as we can make arbitrary changes to patent law, I think the most valuable thing you could do is to mandate a periodic investigation into whether or not the current policies encourage innovation. Are algorithm patents slowing down innovation? Shorten their duration by a few years/be stricter about what you accept.

I can only imagine the punishment you have in mind for a frivolous lawsuit.

They're only giving credibility to the tinfoil hat (underwear?)-wearing crowd.

Off topic, but the aegidian.org link in your sig seems to be down. http://www.oolite.org/ appears to be the current webpage (fellow fan of oolite here).

Could you explain this further? I'm not sure if you're saying that licensing a plugin under the GPL is (1) a legal mess, (2) a potential legal mess, (3) an impossibility,or (4) something else entirely.

Have the patents been released? I was under the impression that the irrevocable thing was the license to use the patents specifically for VP8 implementations. Google still owns the patents and can still sue if you use them in non-VP8 applications. I remember reading that Google might want patent defense, so that if someone goes after VP8, Google can fire a salvo right back at H.264 (i.e., Google supposedly knows of VP8 patents that cover H.264 and could sink them).

Coral Cache links for ya:

1. Legend Of The Bouncing Beholder by @marijnjh
2. Tiny chess by Oscar Toledo G.
3. Tetris with sound by @sjoerd_visscher
4. WOLF1K and the rainbow characters by @p01
5. Binary clock (tweetable) by @alexeym
6. Mother fucking lasers by @evilhackerdude
7. Graphical layout engine by Lars Ronnback
8. Crazy multiplayer 2-sided Pong by @feiss
9. Morse code generator by @chrissmoak
10. Pulsing 3d wires by @unconed

Your computer may already contain child porn and other illegal numbers, thanks to stegonography. There are ways to store arbitrary data in images, and you're currently running a program which can download and store images from arbitrary sources — unless, of course, you're browsing with images off.

Now, running a Freenet node will change the probability that your computer stores illegal numbers, and those numbers would be encrypted and stored in a standard format. But the only way to guarantee that your computer is clean involves wiping it (preferably using a degausser instead of a software program) and keeping it away from all untrusted data sources.

Full disclosure: I like Freenet.

Previously there haven't been such Windows tracking measures attempted by Microsoft.

I probably would react differently, because the above means that I would live in an alternate universe where Microsoft didn't pull all their DRM tricks yet and doesn't come up with names like Windows Genuine Advantage.