binarybits - Slashdot User

Submission + - When Libertarians Attack Free Software (timothyblee.com) 1

Submitted by binarybits on Friday October 23, 2009 @10:10AM

binarybits writes: I've got a new article analyzing the unfortunate trend of libertarian and free-market organizations attacking free software. The latest example is a policy analyst at the Heartland Institute who attacks network neutrality regulations by arguing that advocates have "unwittingly bought into" the "radical agenda" of the free software movement. I argue that in reality, the free market and free software are entirely compatible, and libertarians are shooting themselves in the foot by antagonizing the free software movement.

Submission + - Cato Institute Critique of Software Patents (cato.org)

Submitted by

binarybits

on Sunday August 30, 2009 @03:24PM

binarybits writes: "I've written an article for the free-market Cato Institute about how patents impede innovation in the software industry. It points out that people tend not to realize how vast the software industry is. It's not just Google and Microsoft; virtually every organization has an IT department producing potentially-infringing software. Organizations as diverse as J. Crew and the Green Bay Packers have been sued for patent infringement. It's crazy to expect all these organizations to worry about potential patent infringement. Hopefully the Supreme Court's Bilski decision will lead to new limits on software patents."

Submission + - Firefox Plugin Liberates Paywalled Court Records (recapthelaw.org)

Submitted by

Timothy B. Lee

on Friday August 14, 2009 @01:42AM

Timothy B. Lee writes: "If you want to access federal court records, you're often forced to use PACER, a cumbersome, paywalled website run by the federal judiciary. My colleagues and I at Princeton's Center for IT Policy have released a new Firefox extension called RECAP that allows users to automatically upload the documents they download from PACER into a public archive hosted by the Internet Archive. It also saves users money by automatically notifying them if a document they're searching for is available for free from the public archive. Over time, we hope to build a comprehensive, free repository of federal court records that's available to everyone."

Submission + - Software Patents in the New York Times (nytimes.com)

Submitted by

Timothy B. Lee

on Saturday June 09, 2007 @06:57AM

Timothy B. Lee writes: "I've got an article in the New York Times in which I make the case against software patents. Expanding on a point I first made on my blog, I point out that Microsoft has had a change of heart on the patent issue. In 1991, Bill Gates worried that "some large company will patent some obvious thing" and use it to blackmail smaller companies. Now that Microsoft is a large company with a patent war-chest of their own, they don't seem so concerned about abuse of the patent system. I then point out that Verizon's efforts to shut down Vonage are a perfect illustration of Gates's fears."

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