Posts by Paul Campbell

Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First

  • Legal Beagle: Cameron Slater: computer hacker?,

    Reading a document is a great example - is entering a building and reading a document then leaving theft? how about copying a document off of a computer? they are essentially the same operation

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Cameron Slater: computer hacker?,

    well data works differently from physical property, if you make a copy and if you leave the original you can effectively make an infinite number of further copies from the original ..... that effectively makes the marginal value of one copy 1/infinity or roughly 0 - it's different if you remove the original on the other hand the math really is more like real property.

    Making a copy is simply not the same as stealing the original data - and making a copy is effectively a free operation

    What I'm trying to get at is that the way that we think about and value data probably should be different for data that for physical property .... one might consider the value of the secrecy of some data, the value of data with a known fixed number of copies, etc we already consider the hundreds of copies made in the process of passing something over the internet as effectively "free" - how is a hacked copy made during the process any different?

    Of course come the day of atomic level 3d printers we'll be able to copy anything physical too ... best to get the law right now "He stole my Mona Lisa! but you still have your Mona Lisa .... but he took a copy .... now everyone can have a Mona Lisa"

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Envirologue: 1080, "eco-terrorism" and agendas,

    I heard that there are pretty heavy supression orders around this case - it could simply be that RNZ realised they'd sailed a little too close to the line and tacked away to safer waters

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Polity: Forty,

    Mine have both left in the past 6 months, we sent them off with degrees and no loans (put money aside 15 years ago, leveraged the 10% bonus for paying off loans early nefore the Nats nuked it), now they have jobs (sadly far away) we feel like we have won at parenthood. I did have an interesting text conversation with my daughter when she got her first real pay check ("this can't be right, where has all my money gone?")

    Now in our late 50s we're free (well except for the dog) and feel that while we can maybe we could spend a few years travelling - I can work anywhere - who knows, maybe 2 months in Paris, 3 in Shenzhen, 6 back in SF, a few more in NY - spend some quality time in those places we visited for a week and wished we could spend more

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Polity: TPP, eh?,

    I wonder if it works the other way ......

    I do love the words in and around copy protection, I'd like to note that an "effective technological measure that controls access to a protected work" is not one that can be broken .... seems to me that anyone who finds themselves in court for breaking copy protection can simply point out that because it was broken it was not effective and therefore law does not apply .....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Polity: TPP, eh?,

    I skimmed the wikileaks copy but didn’t find what I was looking for, anyone know if we’re going to get software patents forced on us?

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Polity: TPP, eh?,

    What's interesting there is that NZ has apparently ceded subpoena rights to foreign courts

    Also interesting over the weekend was Grosser admitting that there is no treaty document at this time, who knows what it was that he signed.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Polity: TPP, eh?,

    As mentioned above copyright is an artificial scarcity created by the state .. It encourages people to create new works, the trade off is that eventually the work ends up belonging to the public.

    The problem with these long copyright extensions is that the dates that things join the public domain is now effectively after the death of anyone who enjoyed the original .... This makes the public's side of what was a reasonably fair bargain now meaningless

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Up Front: So Farewell Then, UCSA,

    I spent two years there in the mid 70s it was still pretty new and sterile, and didn't seem like it had been grown into yet .... Unlike Otago's that I'd come from.

    I do remember one concert played outside by a bunch of car horns (with cars still attached) especially composed for the orchestra's unique range

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Speaker: One year on from the umbrella protests,

    oh yes, sorry

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

Last ←Newer Page 1 29 30 31 32 33 262 Older→ First