WebMink

Yes, OK, I seem to have developed a paranoid streak of late, but then so has the Associated Press [via This Modern World], nicely set to music by Blah3. Looking at that list I wonder which country has removed the most rights from its citizens in the last year, because it's certainly happening in Europe too - the UK has the worst record on privacy for example.

posted at 12:13 AM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Friday, September 6

For a little while back there I was nearly going to Moscow next week, but then I tried to get a visa. Don't worry, they didn't refuse to admit me or anything. I succumbed to the byzantine application process long before actually applying for the visa. It required:
an invitation letter
a letter from my employer
3 photos
photocopy of my passport
proof of medical insurance
application by my hosts at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow
serial number of telex of approval from foreign office to London consulate
loads and loads of visa fee, in cash
in my case, a new passport as the old was full
If I had wanted a multiple entry visa I would additionally have needed an AIDS test in the last 30 days. After all that, I would have to pay a consultant even more money to get the visa in anything much less than a week. Still, according to the BBC, Moscow is not a great destination right now anyway.

posted at 11:55 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Hey! I can edit that previous post in Blogger but when I do I just get a "Delete" button where there should also be a "Cancel", a "Post" and a "Post and Publish" button. Anyone got any ideas? I can edit this one and the one before it OK.

posted at 2:16 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Both charging the canvas and VAS&ND link to DocMorph and the newly-released MyMorph but perhaps miss the true significance that this is in fact a web service using SOAP. That means that results and outputs of future net-aware software can be easily delivered as PDF. Another "web service component" joins the armoury.

We are all, of course, grateful for the ability to do this and liberated by the new 'web services' take on the old idea of RPC, now spun with added XML filling. This is all part of an unstoppable trend that will doubtless surge on like the previous innovations of web browsing, Java software and XML usage. And the fact that the whole software industry is hyping the idea to death may play a role too ;-)

Of course, there is an underlying 'gotcha' in all this. Just because the interfaces are 'standard', that says nothing about the XML being passed between the interfaces. As we see the cascade of new services made available on the web, what steps will we take to ensure that we do not become the unwitting victims of lock in or users of protected intellectual property in the shape of proprietary data flows or patented algorithms? In an earlier era this would have been an unnecessary fear but in today's RIAA- and pigopolist-fueled litigious, IP-paranoid world, we need to be asking the questions now, not just going with the (data) flow.

posted at 2:11 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Thursday, September 5

Getting ready for the showdown between the Mouse and the Rest Of Us (Eldred vs Ashcroft starring Lawrence Lessig)? Then read the story Spider Robinson wrote in 1984, Melancholy Elephants [via Boing Boing].

A copyright must not be allowed to last more than fifty years—after which it should be flushed from the memory banks of the Copyright Office. We need selective voluntary amnesia if Discoverers of Art are to continue to work without psychic damage. Fact should be remembered—but dreams?" She shivered. ". . . Dreams should be forgotten when we wake. Or one day we will find ourselves unable to sleep..."
Prescient, and a good story to boot.

posted at 12:34 AM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Wednesday, September 4

In Rome last week we found the gladiators hanging around the Pantheon and the Colosseum amusing enough, but it seems that not even ancient Romans are immune from EU regulation. Good to see that attention is being paid to all the really important issues in Italy though.

posted at 2:46 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

That discussion over RAND vs RF suggests to me that it's our terminology that's at fault here. I know I am not the first to point that out, but I do have a suggestion. I think the terms to use should be "restrictions reserved", indicating that the patent holder has reserved the right to apply restrictions such as royalties, license terms etc on the use of a patent in an open standard, and "restriction free", indicating that the patent holder has irrevocably waived their rights to apply restrictions to use of a patent within a defined scope in an open standard. RR and RF. To monitor both, we need a global public body.

posted at 2:11 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

The fuss over MP3 licensing shows up the real issues in the background debate over standards and patents which will continue to rumble and which is, in my opinion, the biggest issue facing the technology industry. As Vorbis point out, the issue is not that Thomson has changed their license terms to control or charge software MP3 CODECS. It is that they have not made such a change impossible. This is the debate commonly described as "RAND vs RF", where RAND stands for Reasonable and Non Discriminatory (the way that patent holders spin their desire to retain the right to apply whatever licensing terms they choose for their patents) and RF stands for Royalty Free (in my opinion a bad term for the waiving of control of a patent when it is used in a particular context). The worlds corporate patent holders will continue to claim that RAND licensing is fair and just, but the truth is that maintaining any control of a patent within the context of an open standard is a breach of trust and must be challenged.

posted at 2:07 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

"Windows Illegal in Greece" - yes, seriously! The Greek government, in a legislative move that makes the Bush administration look positively hip, has passed a law that outlaws possession and use of any electronic game. Intended to target internet gambling (which was already illegal), they accidentally picked up a nuke instead of a penknife because they couldn't tell the difference and outlawed anything including Windows Solitaire. So if you are visiting Greece any time soon, don't take that laptop, they will lock you up.

posted at 1:54 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Tuesday, September 3

Seems the UK 1901 census is back online again. At first glance I can't see what all the fuss was about, as the information available is pretty minimal. But I suppose it's a sign that e-government is creeping slowly towards us. Well-placed friends tell me that the reason it went down when it was first launched is reflected in the time it has taken (9 months) to get it back online again - it was badly designed by people who didn't understand how to build scalable systems. I just hope that people building web services are better informed and realise that the programming at the end-points is more important than the data format in the pipes once things start running.

posted at 9:56 AM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |