The Great Internet Shake-Up

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ID:184814
 
Jun 30 2006, 8:25 am
Four things are happening to the internet:

  1. U.S. Patent law is being brought to bare against free software software, using such broad patents as object-oriented programming techniques. That's right, if the decision goes through, it affects BYOND too. Dantom would have to remove BYOND's object-oriented principals or be liable to patent infringement. And that's only the tip of the patent iceburg.
  2. Internet providers are creating tiered content delivery systems, so that they can block or very slowly deliver services that compeitors or disliked providers offer, while charging premiums (read: extorting fees) to companies (and thus to customers) for safe delivery of internet content.
  3. Between spyware, adware, DRM (digital restrictions magagement), internet wiretapping/surveilance, and ongoing efforts by the government to build effective encryption crackers (our government can process millions of keys per second in a brute force attack), security on the internet is quickly becoming a memory.
  4. Internet companies, with their cheap delivery systems and instant worldwide market, have astounding earnings potential, rivaling and often surpassing the lucrative aspects of any other market in the world.


Put them all together, and what have you got?

No open source, no choice of content, no privacy, and no free internet content.

Sounds like cable TV to me. But worse.
Jun 30 2006, 8:37 am
Ooohhhh. I'll have to start up a black market internet.

I say we hold a protest! All internet users unite and storm Congress! It could work, I think.

If this goes through, it's the last straw, I'm moving to Canada!

"U.S. Patent law is being brought to bare against free software software, using such broad patents as object-oriented programming techniques. That's right, if the decision goes through, it affects BYOND too. Dantom would have to remove BYOND's object-oriented principals or be liable to patent infringement. And that's only the tip of the patent iceburg."

They can't legally do that, can they? Many patents and copyrights have already been filed for programs that use OOP, so to pass this would deem all of those void. There's no way that will pass.
Jun 30 2006, 8:39 am
Why can't they leave the internet alone!? First the freedom of speech issue, now no free software?
Jun 30 2006, 8:44 am
PirateHead wrote:
Four things are happening to the internet:

  • U.S. Patent law is being brought to bare against free software software, using such broad patents as object-oriented programming techniques. That's right, if the decision goes through, it affects BYOND too. Dantom would have to remove BYOND's object-oriented principals or be liable to patent infringement. And that's only the tip of the patent iceburg.

    I don't see how this could stand. Object-oriented design is so old now that any patent relevant to it would certainly have expired by now. Anyway allowing such a patent to stand flies in the face of the Constitution's limit on patent protection vs. free enterprise.
  • Internet providers are creating tiered content delivery systems, so that they can block or very slowly deliver services that compeitors or disliked providers offer, while charging premiums (read: extorting fees) to companies (and thus to customers) for safe delivery of internet content.

    • I don't see this going too far, since consumers will raise a pretty strong outcry if they're not getting total access from their ISP. Content providers are a secondary issue, and that's already happening but it's not nearly as bad. Web sites, too, must balance business with popularity.
  • Between spyware, adware, DRM (digital restrictions magagement), internet wiretapping/surveilance, and ongoing efforts by the government to build effective encryption crackers (our government can process millions of keys per second in a brute force attack), security on the internet is quickly becoming a memory.

    • DRM worries me the most, to be honest with you. I detest that we've silently rolled over for companies controlling how we use our own possessions. DVD region coding is one example. The inventor of that should be drawn and quartered.

    No open source, no choice of content, no privacy, and no free internet content.

    Sounds like cable TV to me. But worse.

    All the more reason to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

    Lummox JR
Jun 30 2006, 9:30 am
We revolt!!
Jun 30 2006, 3:20 pm
In response to Lummox JR
DRM worries me the most, to be honest with you. I detest that we've silently rolled over for companies controlling how we use our own possessions. DVD region coding is one example. The inventor of that should be drawn and quartered.

Yay for mp3s from Apple that can be burnt to a CD 7 times! They spoil us.
Jun 30 2006, 3:36 pm
In response to Lummox JR
Lummox JR wrote:
All the more reason to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Heartily seconded.

I notice there's a form letter for DMCA reform on there, designed for US residents - I'd sign it but I wouldn't know who to send it to since I'm in Australia. =) I do have a direct interest in the DMCA, though, since Australia's abominable Free Trade Agreement with the US requires that we implement the DMCA in our own laws.

A curse on the Howard Government for pressuring the US to sign an FTA with us! Australia is going to be screwed over by US companies and stupid laws, and we get nothing in return besides promised access to US markets for our farm produce. Note "promised"; in reality the US government subsidises its own farmers so much that Australian farmers can't compete, and the FTA doesn't change that. We got pwned.

Please don't let US laws become even more insane, guys. You're dragging the rest of the world with you. =(
Jun 30 2006, 4:03 pm
In response to Crispy
Crispy wrote:
and we get nothing in return besides promised access to US markets for our farm produce. Note "promised"; in reality the US government subsidises its own farmers so much that Australian farmers can't compete, and the FTA doesn't change that. We got pwned.

And if the australian government helps your farmers at all, or provides any slight service for free or at a reasonable price, the US will just yell "SUBSIDIES" in your face, and slap on some tarrifs.
Jun 30 2006, 4:04 pm
In response to Jon88
Jon88 wrote:
And if the australian government helps your farmers at all, or provides any slight service for free or at a reasonable price, the US will just yell "SUBSIDIES" in your face, and slap on some tarrifs.

Exactly.
Jul 1 2006, 6:19 am
In response to Elation
Elation wrote:
DRM worries me the most, to be honest with you. I detest that we've silently rolled over for companies controlling how we use our own possessions. DVD region coding is one example. The inventor of that should be drawn and quartered.

Yay for mp3s from Apple that can be burnt to a CD 7 times! They spoil us.

Wow, they really do that?

Well, there can't be anything stopping you from loading up Audacity, choosing "record from stereo mix", playing the song, and then saving your own mp3 file, right?
Jul 1 2006, 6:27 am
In response to Airjoe
Airjoe wrote:
Well, there can't be anything stopping you from loading up Audacity, choosing "record from stereo mix", playing the song, and then saving your own mp3 file, right?

Nothing stopping you from changing the song from the default apple format into another either.
Jul 5 2006, 6:01 am (Edited by moderator on Jul 5 2006, 6:22 am)
In response to Jon88
::shakes head violently:: im suprised Lewis Black hasnt spoken about this... if they pull this kinda <font color="blue">[poopy]</font> on us, i will lead an organized revolt and DESTROY this <font color="blue">[poopy]</font> and dismantle all these bull<font color="blue">[poopy]</font> 'net laws, and <font color="blue">[blarg]</font>ing OUTLAW DRM! (which should be done anyway, <font color="blue">[poopy on]</font> YOU METALLICA!) i want to beat William Gates with a pipe SOOOOOOOOOO bad it hurts... >:-( ) grrrr...... i think the idea of a internet Black Market sounds like a good contingency plan as well, next to an armed revolution, that is.

[edited for <font color="blue">[poopy]</font> content - digitalmouse]
Jul 5 2006, 6:11 am
Some of the greatest and most innovated stuff won't come to pass if this goes through. I've always believed that the exact opposite of something like this would ultimately lead to a sort of second Renaissance, with the unrestricted free exchange of ideas and information over the internet. Something like this is like burning the Library of Alexandria, we could have probably been living on Mars by now if we didn't lose all that information. But of course, the government thinks it knows what is best, but they don't. It's funny how that happens.
Jul 7 2006, 1:56 pm
I'm dumb when it comes to programming. What is an object-oriented principal?
Jul 7 2006, 2:35 pm
In response to Sarm
Sarm wrote:
I'm dumb when it comes to programming. What is an object-oriented principal?

You know that byond uses objects right?
Thats object-orientation (spelling right?)

And can the U.S actually put laws on the internet for companies that aren't even in the U.S using OOP?

Like...couldn't BYOND be moved to a different server in a different country?

Man I'm scared to lose BYOND!
Jul 7 2006, 4:28 pm
In response to Shlaklava
well, if you have live in the US, nothin you could do. If byond's server is in the US, nothin you could do.
Jul 7 2006, 9:35 pm
In response to Sarm
Sarm wrote:
I'm dumb when it comes to programming. What is an object-oriented principal?

A head teacher who collects random objects, of course. It's often useful to have a garbage collector to clean up his mess and throw his objects into the memory allocation pool.

That is, assuming the school is rich enough to afford a pool.
Jul 8 2006, 12:49 am
They can pry the free internet from my cold, dead hands.

Seriously. Do we have a bunch of complete retards for congressmen?
Jul 8 2006, 4:58 am
In response to Kunark
Kunark wrote:
Seriously. Do we have a bunch of complete retards for congressmen?

I think you know the answer to that already...
Jul 8 2006, 7:19 am
Computers are over 1/2 my day. I ain't losing my biggest enjoyment.

Even if I am in the UK..
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