USA Today has a story about how a uniform supply company is using its RFID tag uniforms. The company scoffs at the idea that it is tracking individual workers. As for me, I ain’t laughin’.
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Tales of the Sauasage Factory: Delay in Unlicensed in Broadcast Bands
‘Lo all. I’m back from vacation which included mud, wireless connectivity, poetry on the field of battle, and more mud. Eventually, I’ll get the mud dried out and have more to say about the real cool Community Wireless Networking summit I attended. But first, some breaking wireless news.
The FCC has granted a 90-day extension for comment in the proceeding to allow unlicensed activity in the broadcast bands. The IEEE and the broadcasters had asked for a 6-month delay. I have some rather harsh words about the IEEE and its all too usual combination of hubris and political naivette that remind me way too much of ICANN and will no doubt get me in trouble. But what the heck?
Inventing the Future:
File sharing network operators not responsible for illegal use
Says US appeals court decision:
My Thoughts Exactly:
Orson coming to your kitchen by way of your TV
Another reason I want to set my wayback machine to about 1890. (And another reason I’m glad we got rid of television in my house.) From the story:
Sealey said advertisers would gain an unprecedented ability to see how their spending affected sales, especially as retailers adopt radio-frequency identification. RFID, the system that could replace bar coding, tracks the movement of individual products such as groceries from a few feet away.
In about five years, Ad-ID and RFID could be used together, he said.
“Then we could measure whether we delivered the commercial to you, and, as I am monitoring your pantry, whether you bought the product, too,” he said.
Neutrino:
Alan Turing would be so proud…
You’ve probably heard of the Turing Test. You may have also read John’s story on Salon about the Loebner prize which purports to carry out the Turing test each year and award prizes. People labor over programs that try to pass for human, and fail miserably. Real AI guys have thrown up their hands in disgust and have disowned both the Loebner prize and apparently the Turing test itself.
But it appears they have all gone about it in the wrong way…
It’s actually an easy problem to solve.
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
WIFI and Democracy
Check out this article on high tech anarchy protests during the RNC Convention in NYC. While I don’t condone the illegal uses (e.g., breaking in on protected licensed frequencies), I do applaud the many creative uses of wireless networking — made possible by the FCC unlicensed rules.
And I’m off on vacation, culminating in the community wireless summit. No doubt I’ll have loads to wax eloquent about when I return.
Stay tuned . . .
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
A Nod To Master Lessig
As usual, Larry Lessig hits the nail squarely on the head with his editorial about Robert Greenwald’s copyright problems. I’ll just expound briefly on a side-point that Lessig makes: the link to media concentration (what a surprise!)
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Buffy Not Indecent, Says FCC
I will confess, I found the entire 6th Season indecently bad. But for those worried that the FCC’s indecency craze will wipe out hot Vampire/Slayer sex in reruns, you may take comfort from the FCC decision located (in PDF) here. For those interested in the FCC tea leaves, I observe it’s a 5-0 decision. Copps and Martin, the most aggressive on indency, appear happy with the idea that suggestive television does not rise to the level of indecency.
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Just been a bit busy . . .
Haven’t had much time to post here. If interested, you can read my comments to the FCC on why they should give more spectrum to unlicensed access without being a major doofus about it. Or you can read my brief summary (with a few side notes) below.
My Thoughts Exactly:
Technoparanoia and the future of Democracy
Are you afraid that technology could be used to
steal the USian presidental election? I am.
Are you afriad that technology could prevent us from getting it back again? I am. (I’m thinking of surveilance technology, combined with data mining and the like–“Patriot Act, Orwellian stuff”– that could thwart a democratic counter-coup in the name of fighting “terrorists.”)
Suggestion: Let’s bombard our senators and congressmen, govenors, secretaries of state, newspaper editors and anybody else we can think of — before it’s too late.
Update: Futher suggestion — support black box voting, an organization that’s tackling this issue head-on.
