Month: July 2014
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Context switching and the U.S. Constitution
In the world of information technology, there is a concept called context switching, and it means, generally, that you are changing the rules of behavior for the program. Edit mode is a good example. This is what came to mind when reading a legal analysis of a case where the government is trying to force…
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On digital piracy
I know it is pedantic, but “digital piracy” is a non-sensical phrase. Piracy means “crime on the high seas” and has been extended to mean crime in the air because of a long tradition of naval-aerial military jargon transfer. That crime is almost always theft or acts committed in the process of theft. The gist…
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Price premium for time sensitive video
Watching NFL games live on television incurs a 1912% price premium over the same game time-shifted from Sunday to Tuesday.
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Define: security
When someone claims that one system is “more” or “less” secure than another system, what does that mean?
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Features are for artists, organizations just have Burdens
All Products have two kinds of properties: features and burdens. I don’t want anything that asserts “managed” as a feature. Me having to manage something is a burden. Me not having to manage it is a feature. BUT, if I don’t have to manage it, it better not do something that I wouldn’t have it…
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On the Internet no one ever forgets…
This is completely wrong in so many ways, beginning with the utter falsehood in the first sentence (* see below for why I think so), which is why I discount this. Yes, time has passed and perhaps Kevin Smith has acquired something to temper his nerdgasmic reaction to all things Star Wars, but there is…
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The stages of competitive grief
The Kubler-Ross model of grief: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance Surprisingly, this is the same path to subordination that companies take when dealing with competitive innovation. Denial – “This isn’t a viable threat.” Anger – “How dare they?” “How did this happen?” Bargaining – “I need protection from this threat, how much will it cost?”…
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The litmus test for personhood
You are a person if you can be killed. You are a “legal person” if the State can kill you without violating their process. Equality of legal persons begins with comparing how difficult it is to execute the process that results in the State killing you without breaking the law and how long that takes. …
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Aereo should sell antennas
Aereo got screwed by a bad SCOTUS decision that pretty much missed the point of their technology, what the service they provide is, and what people actually want. I’m not sure if they got the law right, but a number of people don’t think so. What Aereo does next is the topic of much conversation. …