Comment: Re:Not unambiguously bad (Score 2) 318
I want killing to be as hard on people as possible, so they think before they do it.
Making something difficult is neither necessary nor sufficient to make people think about it.
Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!
We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).
Comment: Re:he dodged the good vs evil question (Score 1) 53
He didn't dodge it. He said "We're not worried about lawlessness. Our job is to make the most secure product we can. Our job is not to help enforce laws" It's a rejection of the premise of the question, sure. But it's not a dodge. It's a clearly articulated moral stance.
Your paraphrase would be a moral stance, but he didn't actually say that. His answer ignores that Tor is used for Evil, it doesn't come out and say that any evil created by Tor is a necessary byproduct of the good that it creates.
Comment: Deathbed (Score 3, Funny) 73
On his deathbed he said his biggest regret was his inability to mount his invention on sharks.
Comment: Re:It worked on me (Score 1) 218
The solution is to tell women that they are equally brilliant as men, not to tell everyone to stop lionizing brilliance.
Comment: Managing Good and Evil (Score 1) 61
Tor can be used for both obvious good (e.g., subverting oppressive regimes), obvious bad (e.g., murder for hire, child porn), and a semi-bads (purchasing contraband, hate speech). Despite all of the good that Tor does, how does Tor morally justify itself in light of all the bad that occurs on its networks? Is there some way of weighing the good and bad (i.e., if it got bad enough, would you shut it down)? Or does it decide to not justify itself (i.e., it's just a tool, people will use it how they wish)?
Comment: Re:And so therefor it follows and I quote (Score 2, Insightful) 353
Imagine we lived in a world without hamburgers, only cheeseburgers. The solution would be to encourage people to open up hamburger shops, not to demand that cheesburger shops refund the cheese.
Comment: Re:And so therefor it follows and I quote (Score 1) 353
I'm all for free software, but this reasoning sounds insane. When people buy a PC, it says "comes with windows", you know what you're getting, and to require manufacturers to return half of it seems nuts. It's like ordering a cheeseburger, and then demanding a refund for the cheese. Why didn't you just order a hamburger?
Comment: The Terminator (Score 1) 142
Is it just coincidence that the embedded YouTube video has a terminator style soundtrack?
+ - Did Obama Already Solve the Patent Troll Problem?->
Submitted
by
speedplane
speedplane (552872) writes "A relatively new patent-only court celebrates its second birthday this month, and may be sounding the death-knell for the biggest abusers of the patent system:
After a slow six month ramp-up, the number of petitions challenging patents under the new system has grown significantly, reaching nearly 200 new filings a month. It takes 18 months for a patent challenge to make its way through the PTAB, and we are now finally seeing the effects of the influx. Now, with 75% of all trials resulting in every challenged patent claim being invalidated, it’s clear that the PTAB will have a very broad reach in patent litigation.
Some observers have seen this development coming. A (now retired) Judge at the Federal Circuit, commented that the PTAB is a patent "death squad"."
Link to Original Source
Comment: Re:Double-edged sword (Score 1) 118
The intellectually hard work of software isn't the idea. It's almost entirely within the coding.
Good ideas usually come in a flash, so they appear to be "cheap." However, they are also usually the result of trial and error over and over again and being deeply entrenched in the field.
+ - Tim Wu, Founder of Net Neutrality, is Running for Lieutenant Governor of NY->
Submitted
by
speedplane
speedplane (552872) writes "Tim Wu, the popular Columbia Law Professor, author of The Master Switch, and the guy who coined the term Net Neutrality, is running for Lieutenant Governor of the great state of New York. He "has waged a shoestring anti-establishment campaign," that is well underway, and has even begun receiving attacks from the incumbent:
"
Link to Original Source
It has not always been smooth for Mr. Wu
Link to Original Source
Comment: Re:American Capitalism at its Finest (Score 1) 182
This particular case is about increasing rider safety and reliability. Lyft and Uber compete for drivers, and here, they are going head to head to get the most number, and best drivers.
+ - SpaceX Jumps into Patent Dispute with Blue Origin Over Rocket Sea Landing Tech. 2
Submitted
by
speedplane
speedplane (552872) writes "Last week, Elon Musk's SpaceX fired two challenges (PDFs) at Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin over U.S. Patent 8,678,321, entitled Sea landing of space launch vehicles and associated systems and methods.
The patent appears to cover a method of landing a rocket on a floating platform at sea. In their papers, SpaceX says that "by 2009, the earliest possibly priority date listed on the face of the patent, the basic concepts of 'rocket science' were well known and widely understood. The “rocket science” claimed in the ‘321 patent was, at best, 'old hat[.]'" Blue Origin has approximately three months to file a preliminary response to the challenge.
You can review the litigation documents here and here.
Disclosure: I run the website hosting several of the above documents."
The patent appears to cover a method of landing a rocket on a floating platform at sea. In their papers, SpaceX says that "by 2009, the earliest possibly priority date listed on the face of the patent, the basic concepts of 'rocket science' were well known and widely understood. The “rocket science” claimed in the ‘321 patent was, at best, 'old hat[.]'" Blue Origin has approximately three months to file a preliminary response to the challenge.
You can review the litigation documents here and here.
Disclosure: I run the website hosting several of the above documents."
Comment: American Capitalism at its Finest (Score 1) 182
This is American capitalism at its finest. Who is really morally invested in Uber or Lyft anyway? As long as they don't lie or burn riders, this tough competition will likely only help riders.
Comment: Re:where's the money?! (Score 5, Funny) 213
Change the acronym to Applying Computers to Money and you'd have a popular organization.
