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- And Another One: Nortel Latest To Sue Vonage Over VoIP Patents
A "patent thicket" is when so many different entities claim patents on a particular space or product, it becomes nearly impossible for any company to actually put a product out in that space without either having to pay ridiculous patent license fees or face a series of patent lawsuits. There are plenty of patent thickets out there -- and a big one is in the VoIP space. The concept of using internet protocol for voice communications has been out there for ages, and there were lots of attempts to get such a service working in the late 90s. While technically it was possible, the real problem was that most users didn't want to go through the hassle of setting things up to use VoIP. Vonage was the first company to get past that hurdle by making things easy: you plug a box into your modem, and then you plug in a phone -- and everything works just like your current telephone. It was this simplicity, combined with a big advertising campaign, that made VoIP popular. It certainly wasn't the basic technology advances that almost everyone in the space had figured out well before. Yet, Vonage's ability to attract users made lots of other firms jealous, leading to a series of patent lawsuits. Earlier this year, under pressure from Wall Street, Vonage agreed to settle such patent lawsuits from Verizon and Sprint, as well as some tiny patent holders. As we noted at the time, this was simply flinging the gates wide open -- and anyone who had any kind of patent related to VoIP should probably sue Vonage as fast as possible.
AT&T couldn't resist and dredged up some VoIP patents itself. And, sure enough, Vonage quickly settled. Of course, that wouldn't be the end. Now along comes Nortel, who has also sued Vonage for infringing on nine separate patents. To be fair, Vonage may have also brought this one on itself, having first sued Nortel over its own patents, leading Nortel to retaliate. You would have hoped that Vonage would have learned its lesson that patent battles aren't particularly helpful, but it appears that the company took away the wrong lesson, and is hoping to get in on the patent dollar bonanza. All we're really seeing is a blatantly clear explanation of how patents are holding back innovation, rather than promoting the progress of useful sciences.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story - Your Encryption Key Is Protected By The Constitution?
In an interesting case up in Vermont, a federal judge has ruled that someone accused of a crime cannot be forced to reveal his or her encryption key, as it would be a violation of the Constitution's 5th Amendment, saying that an individual cannot be forced to self-incriminate. In an age where encryption is becoming increasingly popular, expect to see other cases of this nature. It seems likely that a case like this one (if not this one itself) will eventually wind up before the Supreme Court to determine whether or not someone can be forced to give up his own encryption key. Where it gets tricky is the question of whether or not the key itself incriminates the person. As the article notes, a person can be forced to give up a key to a safe that contains incriminating evidence, which many say is analogous to this situation. In the meantime, though, we've already seen cases where people are presumed guilty just because their computers have encryption software installed -- so, it may not matter whether or not the key is provided when the presence of PGP alone is viewed as incriminating.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story - Ohio Finds All E-Voting Machines In The State Had Serious Flaws
Earlier this year, California found all sorts of problems with e-voting machines used in the state. Now, Ohio, home to some of the more controversial stories surrounding presidential elections, has also found serious flaws in every e-voting machine used in the state. It's the usual stuff that has been pointed out for years: it was easy to pick locks on the machines, introduce fake votes, and load up dangerous unauthorized software onto the machines. Not much new there -- just another confirmation. What's much more interesting is the reaction of the firms involved.
First up is "Premier Election Solution," who you probably would recognize better under its old name: Diebold. The company changed its name a few months ago, hoping people would no longer associate Premier with all of the ridiculously bad history associated with Diebold. A Premier official said that all of the problems noted in the report have been fixed in its new machines. While that's a better response than Diebold's typical response of trashing any researcher who points out a flaw or cracking jokes about the flaws, it's one of the few times we've ever seen Diebold/Premier admit that older machines actually did have significant flaws. Of course, the few times that's happened in the past, it's always come with the same sort of "but everything is fixed now!" clause. And... every time a Diebold/Premier representative says something along those lines, it's only a matter of months until new flaws are announced. So, given Diebold's history, it's pretty difficult to take the company's word that all the flaws have now been fixed.
Even worse, though, is the response of ES&S, who has become even more Diebold-like in its responses to various problems found in its machines. On the Ohio report, ES&S responded: "We can also tell you that our 35 years in the field of elections has demonstrated that Election Systems and Software voting technology is accurate, reliable and secure." Note that this doesn't actually respond to any of the specific criticisms in the report. As for that history, let's take you back to a few of ES&S's greatest hits: this is the company that was caught providing uncertified software to California, while also failing to disclose foreign manufacturing partners (as required by federal law). It's also the company responsible for the well-known case in Florida where thousands of votes went missing and the election in Texas where votes were counted three times. And, of course, let's not forget the internal memos at ES&S which showed the company knew about problems with its software, while publicly stating that the machines were perfectly fine. So, sorry, ES&S, you can try to pretend those things didn't happen, but the history you point to hardly shows that your machines are "accurate, reliable and secure." It shows a company that will say anything to avoid admitting that its machines have problems.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story - Anything Goes Wrong Online? Yell 'Net Neutrality' As Loud As Possible!
Before we get accused of all sorts of incorrect things (as per usual when we post about network neutrality), let's start off with a few clear points: I think that the concept of network neutrality is important for creating conditions that enhance innovation. However, I don't think that means we should mandate network neutrality through legislation. I think what it means is that we should look for ways to in