Terminator, The Matrix, I Robot and many other movies deal with an exciting topic of what happens when humans gain the powers promised by a certain technology. Will the robots rebel? Could internet turn into SkyNet? Will advanced nano technology allow building bombs that make nuclear weapons seem like sticks and stones? What about merging ourselves with technology?
In so many ways further technological development seems akin to playing with fire and powers once only prescribed to gods. Are we up to the challenge? Are we ready? And if not, how can we become ready? Technology could give us the power to destroy, but it could also give us the power to create a world of unimaginable prosperity and freedom. It could be used to enslave, but also to liberate the potential of each individual.
We need to identify the *good* uses of technology and we need to evolve our social and cultural mentality to the point where destruction and enslavement wont even be a temptation anymore. If that ideal is an utopia, if it cannot be reached then perhaps we are already doomed.
"Today is D-D-Day - Defeating DRM Day - and Defective By Design is suggesting anyone who wants to see an end to Big Business DRM Consumer Control has 10 things they can do to help make that happen." -- Read more
" The Commerce Department agreed Friday to loosen its control over the agency that manages the Internet address system, a move that experts called a big step toward private-sector control.
In addition to providing for more autonomy, the accord calls for a midterm review in 18 months, the earliest point at which ICANN could become unleashed from government oversight. "The top line is that this is a major step forward for ICANN to become completely autonomous," said Paul Twomey, the Australian who is chief executive of ICANN. "
However a commentator on CNET says: "I greatly doubt that this will improve things. ICANN is a tremendous
"Giving the content cartel everything they want may well keep the lawyers away, but it may also destroy the value of the site. It legitimises corporate blackmail and may even help to persuade legislators that the copyright system isn’t broken enough to need fixing, letting them ignore other approaches.
One such approach is Creative Commons, a global project which tries to make copyright and licensing a lot simpler and clearer so that sharing and creative reuse are encouraged." -- Read more
As of October the first the GIF fileformat will be free of patent problems as the patent on the LZW compression which it uses comes to an end. Finally one of the most popular image file formast on the Internet is free for people to use as they wish.
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"The application under discussion is FairUse4WM from Viodentia and according to Microsoft, the former, "illegally obtained propriety source code to produce the program called FairUse4WM, sparking fears it could enable consumers to illegally copy digital content," states the story.
But Viodentia is uncowed and unbowed and told Engadget he's "utterly shocked" by the allegation.
"I didn't use any Microsoft source code," the story has him saying. "However, I believe that this lawsuit is a fishing expedition to get identity information, which can then be used to either bring more targeted lawsuits, or to cause other trouble."" -- Read more
