"Neil Johnson" <njohnson@interl.net> wrote
As for the V-Chip. I've seen enough programs rated "For All Ages" that are not appropriate for young kids to know that they are worthless. (By the way I want a P-chip to filter Politicians, a BB-(Bible Beater) chip to filter out the 700 Club. etc. I seem to remember that's what made the billions for the character in Sagan's "Contact" ).
[From memory] The device you describe is called Ad-nix (mutes the sound when the commercials come on) which was closely followed by Preach-nix (mutes sound when televangelists appear). This device was made possible by impossibly good speech/context recognition software running in a set top box. And, when I first heard about the set top dirty word filters mentioned in Wired, I assumed these were a hoax... In the book, advertisers and televangelists fought back against the loss of their income with a suit claiming that THEIR first amendment protected rights were being infringed. Imagine the AFA whining about not being able to inflict their speech on the unwilling. (All that TV has rotted my long term memory :-) The lawsuit was unsuccessful, although the NSA eventually snatched the speech recognition algorithms away in the interests of national security. BTW: Can Uncle Sam slap a secrecy order on GPL/public domain code, or do you have to actually apply to the patent office to risk this happening? [Also from memory] There was a short film (first shown in the UK in 1998? I think it won some kind of award) called King of Chaos, in which a small time programmer works his way up to become an international software and media magnate. His crowning achievement was the invention of a set top box, which retransmitted subscription channels to other boxes for free. After destroying traditional media, he then made his fortune selling ratings and searching for content that matched the user's requirements, selling this service for a fee. Using this fortune he diversified into other markets (health, education, pensions, unemployment insurance) and attempted to replace the government's role in all these fields. He fell foul of the UK government when he refused to inflict 'party political broadcasts' on his unwilling customers. All very Cyphernomiconish... If anyone can knows where I can get a script of this could you please tell the list?
On Mon, 30 Oct 2000, Ann Onim wrote:
BTW: Can Uncle Sam slap a secrecy order on GPL/public domain code, or do you have to actually apply to the patent office to risk this happening?
He can slap that order on anything he likes, even if it is an unpublished (literally, not the copyright meaning) private work. This is a common method used by the fedz to avoid having to do a complete "site clearance" on certain new defense contractors (at least this was true in the late 80's - I have no reason to think it has changed). If work is expected to yeild "national secrets", but it is expected to do so without utilizing previously classified materials ("classified" being over "Sensitive"), the work is normally allowed to progress until such time as a "secret" work product is produced, at which time it is retroactively classified to it's appropriate level(s). These shenanigans work in the fedz favor because it costs real dollars to send out the men with the little plastic ID cards to do site surveys and personnel background checks. If the work is unsuccessful, they have not wasted the $$. If it comes to fruition, they impart a "temporary" site and personnel classification, classify the work product, and only then spend the necessary money and D.I.S. hours. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org -- If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------
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Ann Onim -
J.A. Terranson