When I look at questions like this I am reminded of the U.S. Supreme Court case, “Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.” also know and the “Betamax Case”. The decision of the court was that “making of individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting does not constitute copyright infringement, but is fair use. The Court also ruled that the manufacturers of home video recording devices, such as Betamax or other VCRs (referred to as VTRs in the case), cannot be liable for infringement.” (Wikipedia)

It established a rule for technology that might be used to infringe copyright law, specifically: “The question is thus whether the Betamax is capable of commercially significant noninfringing uses…” (464 U.S. 417)

I think this is a excellent test for all technology. If a product is capable of and primarily used for legal purposes then thats all I require. I am not interested in buying anti-counterfeiting printers or scanners. I am not going to counterfeit anything, but as the consumer I have to pay a higher price for something I don’t want.

This puts government in a bad spot, but penalizing the many for the actions of the few is not acceptable.

References:

Wikipedia Foundation (2006). Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. [WWW Page].

U.S. Supreme Court (1984). Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 [WWW Page].

Here is a great description of Net Neutrality and what it means to the consumer…

[tags]net neutrality[/tags]

There are valid concerns that the new technologies available are distracting drivers from driving, which is their primary task. I have used my smart phone on the road, but I am careful to chose the time and place. My opinion is that we need to enforce the results, not the cause. As a country we seem to be nit-picking symptoms instead of the cause. Instead of addressing long commute times and bad traffic conditions by building better roads or increasing public transit we want to ding people that are using their smart phones to find a route around or are talking on their phones to wile away the time.

If the issue is distraction, why are we not talking about outlawing arguing children in the back seat of a car? As a society, why are we not writing tickets left and right when people rubberneck at the scene of a traffic accident? Technology requires people to learn the right and wrong way to use it. We are just now seeing an establishment of manners in regards to use of cellular phones in public places. You cannot legislate common sense and attempts to do so will just make more people into lawbreakers and lower their interest in playing by the rules.

Plagiarism has become significantly easier to both commit and, to an extent, detect with the advent of the Internet. It is not acceptable at any level of education to commit plagiarism but it is also important to TEACH what plagiarism is, why it is bad and how to avoid it, including the rules of fair use and proper citation. I think that plagiarism prevention should be taught starting with the first research or non-fiction, non-autobiographical paper a student is assigned. Once plagiarism is defined, the penalties can be laid out as well. Caught plagiarizing? Fail the assignment. Sometimes kids (myself included way in the back when) need to fail to get the message.

More than just plagiarism is at stake. This mentality, both on the part of the students that were failed and the parents that got it overturned is the basis for much of this countries woes with other copyright and intellectual property enforcement. Children are not taught that just because it is easy and there isn’t a physical item involved (like shoplifting a CD) does not mean that it is stealing and against the law.

Some people will lie and cheat to get what they want, regardless of age (Kenneth Lay, anyone?). It is important that students learn that there are real consequences for such actions before those consequences are irrevocable.

The Pandora’s Box that is outsourcing has been opened and the suffering of lost jobs, lower wages and potential security issues has been released. Just as with Pandora these ills cannot be recontained in their original box, however Hope still remains.

Outsourcing is an inevitable side effect of a global society. Just as we do not want to pay thirty dollars for a pound of apples, we do not want to pay more for our computers, bank accounts, and other goods and services. Apples are picked by immigrant labor. They may have what appears to be valid documentation, but for the most part they are not. They get these jobs because no one else wants them and they will take minimal pay. Likewise we are seeing a similar move in technology. (more…)