Business, Culture, Writing, and Other Stuff
I've been thinking a while about the case of Google Books massive scanning project. It reminds me of the Harvester machines from Terminator Salvation. Google was hell-bent on acquiring books and it eventually became a battle between publishers and the Google Harvester. Publishers at least had the funds to hire attorneys and the ramifications of [...]
After my previous post on Twitter wanting to trademark the word "tweet", I was sent a draft letter from someone inside Twitter. They apparently already have their sights set and ready to go upon approval of the trademark. To Estate of Michael Jackson: Twitter, Inc. ("Twitter") is the owner of United States Federal Trademark Registration(s) [...]
Image via CrunchBase Titter announced they want to own the word "tweet" (via The Knockoff Report). From Twitter's blog post announcing this craziness (see May the Tweets Be With You): We have applied to trademark Tweet because it is clearly attached to Twitter from a brand perspective but we have no intention of "going after" [...]
Since I have a real job, I can't spend all of my time reading documents from other professions in a lame attempt to know everything. For example, as much as I search WebMD, I don't feel comfortable writing my friends' Hydrocodone prescriptions anymore. I didn't go to school for eight years and then suffer more [...]
If this isn't dismissed as frivolous, then there is no hope. A woman whose sister died in the Sept. 11 attacks filed a lawsuit over last week's steam pipe eruption in Manhattan, saying Tuesday that the explosion brought back horrible memories. Francine Dorf's lawsuit accuses Consolidated Edison of negligence, saying the utility didn't properly maintain [...]
I can speak about Arkansas schools since I'm a graduate of one (no jokes about literacy, please). After nearly 50 years, the Little Rock School District is finally free of Federal supervision. A judge in one of the nation's longest-running school desegregation cases released the Little Rock district from federal supervision Friday, nearly 50 years [...]
At least I'm not the only one who thinks there are problems with Sarbanes-Oxley: Former Federal Reserve head riffs on Sarbanes-Oxley However, he described SOX Section 404 as a "nightmare" and extremely costly. That section requires a company's auditor to attest to the effectiveness of internal controls implemented to protect financial reporting systems and processes. [...]
Just yesterday, I wrote about how Sarbanes-Oxley was nothing more than a pathetic attempt by Congress to make it look like they responded to Enron. My article was to prove a point about proposed security legislation. However, this article came out today: Execs tell regulators Sarbanes-Oxley costs exceed benefits. Two years of compliance with the [...]
In the same way that hate crime laws were passed as a public relations move, creating computer-specific crime laws for crimes that already exist (like extortion) are a waste of time and resources: Laws won't stop cybercriminals, say experts. Legislation that would require companies with data breaches to notify affected customers will create new expenses [...]
Unrest by Parkway Drive