Intellectual Property

In this chapter in Gift of Fire by Sara Baase, the problem of copyrighting and what can be done about it is addressed. Intellectual property is an original work that is protected by copyright, but , with advances in technology, copyright infringement is becoming easier than ever to get away with. The fair-use doctrine states that, as long as the use of the copyrighted material has a good purpose, then distribution and use of the material is protected under this doctrine. The problem with this is, who has the power to decide what is "fair"? This could be a matter of opinion, and anyone could say their purpose for using copyrighted material is fair. What really causes controversy is whether the use and distribution of copyrighted material has an effect on the market. Free downloading of songs on the Internet could be said to cause a decrease in the sale of Cd's, which would be harmful to the economy, along with being unfair to the copyrighter. A good solution brought up in the chapter is using encryption on hardware and software that prevents copying or viewing without proper authorization (digital rights management technologies). This seems like the best way to prevent copyright infringement. The only problem is, could this go against the fair-use doctrine? There needs to be a balance between all-out copying and use of any and every copyrighted product, and completely stopping the fair use of copyrighted materials.

The Copyright Paradox

This article, by Jonathan Band, is about copyright laws, and how they seem to be targeting beneficial organizations rather than individuals. It's easy for individuals to perform copyright infringement (like burning CDs and downloading music online), but libraries and colleges are the ones getting in trouble for it. Legislation (through the DMCA and the UCITA) can help prevent Internet piracy, but it's also preventing libraries and educational organizations from distributing copyrighted material fairly. It's ironic how individual copyright infringers, who mean harm, are able to get away with copyright infringement, while libraries (etc.), who mean no harm, are prevented from distributing useful information, which, under Section 108 of the Copyright Act, they are allowed to do. There definitely needs to be something done about copyright infringement, but legislation seems to be going about it the wrong way. Shrink-wrap and click-on licenses help, but the freedom of the Internet causes people to be able to put anything and everything on the Internet, and once some thing's on the Internet, there's no stopping it. The only solution that seems to come to mind is the dreaded government take-over of what's allowed to be on the Internet, but this would be against our First and Fourth amendment rights. This situation is indeed a paradox, and there doesn't appear to be a tangible solution. Perhaps just awareness and consideration of others could help solve the problem. There definitely needs to be a large effort on the consumer's part if there's going to be any solution to this problem.

Is there a light 10 billion times brighter than the sun?

This article, by Jacob Silverman, talks about the Diamond synchrotron, which is a particle accelerator that can produce a beam of light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. A particle accelerator accelerates electrons to a great speed so that they'll produce a lot of energy, and the Diamond synchrotron concentrates these energetic electrons into an extremely concentrated beam of light. Since light waves consist of X-rays, this technology can be used to read manuscripts that are too old and fragile to handle. Since light waves also include waves such as microwaves, it could be possible to use this kind of technology to power homes, like nuclear energy (which uses nuclear fission reactors). When Silverman wrote this article, though, he failed to write possible harm this Diamond synchrotron could cause. Light from the sun includes UV rays, which are radioactive, and can cause cancer. If this synchrotron can produce a light beam 10 billion times as intense as the sun, this means it is also 10 billion times as radioactive as the sun. This light beam can be very beneficial, but it may also be very dangerous, so it needs safety precautions, just as nuclear reactors do, to insure safety while providing benefit.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/synchrotron.htm

Mind Control

In this article, Richard Martin talks about the advantages of brain-computer interfaces, which can help paralyzed people perform normal tasks, and may ultimately lead to brain-controlled robots in the military. In the example of Matthew Nagle, a C4 quadriplegic, Nagle can perform tasks on a computer through a chip implanted on his brain, which is connected to BrainGate, which can adapt to patterns in neural clusters in Nagle's brain to interpret what he's thinking, and amplify it on a computer. This technology is very incredible, but it can also be dangerous. Who knows if something could go wrong with the chip, and cause Nagle some kind of harm? Since this was a last resort for Nagle, who thought he had nothing to lose, he didn't fear the possible danger, but there still is this possible danger. Your brain is the most important organ in your body, controlling everything your body does, and if this chip could do harm to your brain, this is a very potentially dangerous product. That is why there needs to be more research and testing on this product. The idea of a chip that doesn't need direct implantation on the brain sounds like the safest way to use this technology. Either way, BrainGate is a huge step forward in technology, and if it can be used effectively and safely, it could become a very valuable asset to the world.

The Intelligent Internet

This article, by William E. Halal, talks about how communication and economics can be improved through an "Intelligent Internet," which includes speech recognition software, videoconferencing, a "conversational" human-machine interface, and more. The problem with the coming out of new technology, though, is that there's always a decline in profits at the beginning of the using of the new technology, due to expenses and such, but, in the long run, society can profit from this new technology, as with the dot-com revolution. The author predicts that the advantages of this new technology should become imminent around the year 2010, and the only obstacle to making this technology a reality is a lack of vision; in other words, people not being able to see how this could benefit us in the long run, and being concerned about present expenses and difficult changes. Everyone should keep an open mind to this "Intelligent Internet," because it could produce huge benefits that definitely outweigh any difficulties.

Structure and Evolution of Blogspace

This article, by Ravi Kumar, Jasmine Novak, Prabhakar Raghoven, and Andrew Tomkins, gives the results of studies of bloggers and blogging communities. The results are that bloggers seem to congregate amongst bloggers of similar age groups, locations and interests, and communities form mostly between people of similar locations and interests. Over the years, blogging activity in blogging communities has increased, suggesting that bloggers are becoming more community-oriented. This article is interesting, because it's showing, through bloggers, how technology is affecting today's society. Many people believe that technology is causing a lessening of personal contact and personal communication, but these results show that people are actually becoming more community-oriented, instead of less so, as has been the popular belief.

Making Yourself Understood

In Stuart Crainer's and Des Dearlove's article "Making Yourself Understood," the problem of people having poor writing skills due to advances in technology is addressed. Especially in businesses, where there's a lot of communication, people's writing skills are being depleted because of the increased use of e-mail and instant messaging. The article suggests that this is because people just don't have time to write well-thought-out e-mails. This can be a problem because businesses have failed due to poor writing. In order to write effective and well-thought-out e-mails, people must get into the habit of using correct grammar and punctuation, and once that's been achieved, writing well will be easy from that point on.