Lilux-info January 2007

lilux-info@lilux.lu

6 participants
14 discussions

From /. : " Microsoft Copies Idea, Admits It, Then Patents It"

by Serge Marelli

That is business... of course... "BlueJ[1] is a popular academic IDE which lets students have a visual programming interface. Microsoft copied [2] the design in their 'Object Test Bench' feature in Visual Studio 2005 and even admitted it [3]. Now, a patent application has come to light which patents the very same feature ([4]&[5]), blatantly ignoring prior art." [1] <http://www.bluej.org/> [2] <http://www.bluej.org/vs/vs-bj.html> [3] <http://blogs.msdn.com/danielfe/archive/2005/06/14/428973.aspx> [4] <http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=21> [5] <http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2…> Je n'ai pas (encore) trouvé d'équivalent dans la base de l'EPO...

18 years, 10 months

Brevets : CHD - projet de loi 5635

by Serge Marelli

Intéressant, "PROJET DE LOI portant approbation de l’Acte portant révision de la Convention sur la délivrance de brevets européens du 5 octobre 1973, fait à Munich, le 29 novembre 2000" - améliorer le fonctionnement institutionnel de l’Organisation européenne des brevets et favoriser son intégration dans l’environnement international et communautaire afin de tenir compte des derniers développements techniques et juridiques en matière de propriété intellectuelle TRES INTERESSANT ! "La possibilité pour le Conseil d’administration d’adapter la Convention au droit international et communautaire en matière de brevets est aussi introduite." donc, SANS le contrôle et la supervision du Parlement Européen ! "La Conférence diplomatique s’est aussi penchée sur la problématique de la protection par brevet des programmes d’ordinateurs, question controversée dans le débat public et qui a finalement été postposée à une révision ultérieure de la Convention." Page 8 : "La pratique juridique actuelle de l’OEB, qui permet la brevetabilité des programmes d’ordinateurs en appliquant les critères généraux de brevetabilité, reste inchangée." Page 14 : "La suppression des programmes d’ordinateurs à l’article 52(2)c) a été proposée à titre de mesure minimale. L’OEB et ses chambres de recours ont toujours interprété et appliqué la Convention de manière à ce que cette dernière exception n’empêche pas les inventions dans le domaine informatique, c’est-à-dire celles qui ont pour objet ou qui font intervenir un programme d’ordinateur, de bénéficier d’une protection par brevet. Les programmes d’ordinateurs produisant un effet technique sont, selon la jurisprudence de l’OEB, brevetables par application des critères traditionnels de brevetabilité." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion." (paraphrase of the mentat Piter DeVries from "Dune" by Frank Herbert) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Serge Marelli, Luxembourg ----------------------------------------------------------------------

18 years, 10 months

Re: Will there be anybody from Tudor this evening?

by Alain Knaff

georges.schutz(a)tudor.lu wrote: > Zalli Alain > I can come to the meeting for half an our to give you latesed news. That would be great! > But I would also expect some info from you because we have no real > feedback from the LiLux since some time concerning the LinuxDays event. Sorry for that. Thierry will do the advanced networking tutorial. Normally Pascal Steichen should do the Basic Tutorial (but we are waiting for his confirmation...). Cc'ed to Pascal: can you confirm? > I did not see any propmotion for the LinuxDays 2007 on the LiLux page I > only saw a lilux wiki page with first organization details. Pascal: could you update the web page please? > So I will be there for discussion. Thanks! > > Georges Schutz Alain

18 years, 10 months

Will there be anybody from Tudor this evening?

by Alain Knaff

Will there be anybody from Tudor present on our meeting in the LGL this evening at 20h00 to discuss last organizational details? Thanks, Alain

18 years, 10 months

Linux Days Wiki: please register your presence so that we know who is there!

by Alain Knaff

Please register your presence on the Wiki page at http://www.lilux.lu/wiki/index.php/LinuxDays , so that we can be sure that somebody is present at our stand at all times, even during the tutorials. Thanks, Alain

18 years, 10 months

Online petition - Open Access to publicly funded research

by Patrick Peiffer

Bonjour, C'est un peu off-topic, mais si vous avez un instant, veuillez signer la pétition suivante, initiée par la Euroscience workgroup on scientific publishing , sponsorisée par la DFG, JISC, SPARC-Europe, SURF, et DEff. http://www.ec-petition.eu/index.php?p=petition Au sujet de la recommandation A1 de la Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publication Markets of Europe , étude exhaustive (>100 pages) publié en 2006, commissioné par la DG-Recherche, Commission Européenne. RECOMMENDATION A1. GUARANTEE PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLICLY-FUNDED RESEARCH RESULTS SHORTLY AFTER PUBLICATION Research funding agencies have a central role in determining researchers' publishing practices. Following the lead of the NIH and other institutions, they should promote and support the archiving of publications in open repositories, after a (possibly domain-specific) time period to be discussed with publishers. This archiving could become a condition for funding. The following actions could be taken at the European level: (i) Establish a European policy mandating published articles arising from EC-funded research to be available after a given time period in open access archives, and (ii) Explore with Member States and with European research and academic associations whether and how such policies and open repositories could be implemented. Etude complète: http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publication-stu… _____________ Merci, Patrick Peiffer Creative Commons Luxembourg, http://blog.luxcommons.lu

18 years, 10 months

"Computer Privacy in Distress"

by Serge Marelli

"Computer Privacy in Distress" Wired News (01/17/07); Granick, Jennifer Recent court cases have brought the question of computer privacy into the spotlight, as it pertains to the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Recent cases have proposed that border agents can search PCs of individuals crossing the border, without reasonable suspicion or a warrant. Though "routine" searchers are allowed to take place without reasonable suspicion, no court has directly addressed the question of whether searching a PC at the border is a routine or non-routine search. Due to the amount of private information on PCs, the length of time searches take, and the probability of finding contraband, courts may rule that reasonable suspicion is needed for such searches. U.S. v. Zeigler, heard in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has stated that employees of private companies have no reasonable expectation of privacy, meaning no Fourth Amendment rights, concerning their workplace computers. Unless defense attorneys' requests for a rehearing are granted, the government could walk into an office without cause or a warrant and search the entire contents of the computer of any employee. The 9th Circuit is also trying to figure out a way to make sure authorities get the information they need without accessing or disturbing private, unrelated material that may be on the same disk drive. For example, in prosecuting United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, the government obtained warrants and seized databases containing drug test results for the 10 baseball players suspected of taking steroids, as well as the test results for hundreds of other athletes, and despite a lower court ruling that said the government must return the unrelated information, the 9th Circuit upheld a government appeal. This case shows that warrants must not only state what authorities can seize, but what they may not access on these seized machines. Courts, and possibly Congress, have a complicated road ahead in crafting a computer privacy compromise that is supported by both privacy advocates and investigating authorities. <http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72510-0.html?tw=wn_index_18>

18 years, 10 months

"Ethics Dilemma in Killer Bots"

by Serge Marelli

"Ethics Dilemma in Killer Bots" The Australian (01/16/07) P. 29; Argy, Philip Guard robots being deployed on the northern border of South Korea are capable of firing on human targets without receiving any direct commands from humans, and have brought up many important ethical questions. Each Intelligent Surveillance and Security Guard Robot will be equipped with a daylight camera capable of identifying targets within a 4-kilometer radius, and an infra-red night vision camera that has a range of 2 kilometers. While humans can use a joystick and touchscreen to control the robots, they are programmed to respond autonomously when an intruder does not provide a correct password. The robot's responses include sounding an alarm, using non-lethal force, or firing a machine gun or rifle; these would be the world's first robots with such capabilities. While the manufacturer says the robots are superior to human guards because they are immune to weather conditions and fatigue, many point out that a human soldier could utilize discretion and understand the consequences of his actions. Australian Computer Society's Mike Bowern expresses concerns over the potential for "software and hardware defects" to "influence the robot's conduct." He also points out that little is known of the ethical considerations taken by the robots' designers, or any code they must follow, since Korea doesn't have an independent professional association such as the ACM or the ACS, and the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication seems to place greater importance on technical aspects than it does on professional or ethical concerns. Many worry that these robots could eventually be sold to private customers. Computer ethicist James Moor points out the robots could not be held legally or morally responsible for their actions, leaving such responsibility up to technology professionals. <http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21064361%5E15309%5E%5Enbv%5…>

18 years, 10 months

Next meeting: January 25th at the LGL at 20h00

by Alain Knaff

Agenda: discussing our participation at the LinuxDays.

18 years, 10 months

Rappel : sondage ISOC sur les FAI /

by Serge Marelli

Rappel - Reminder <http://www.isoc.lu/infotheque/avis/lisoc-sonde-les-internautes-luxembourgeo…> Depuis le 15 décembre, l'ISOC Luxembourg a lance un sondage des internautes luxembourgeois "afin d’évaluer leur degré de satisfaction par rapport au service qui leur est offert par les fournisseurs d’accès à Internet." Le sondage se trouvera à l’url <http://survey.isoc.lu/> en langues française, allemande et anglaise. Il sera actif jusqu’au 15 janvier 2007 inclus. Pour ceux qui ne l'ont pas encore fait, je suggère de répondre à ce sondage. bonne journée Serge ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion." (paraphrase of the mentat Piter DeVries from "Dune" by Frank Herbert) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Serge Marelli, Luxembourg ----------------------------------------------------------------------

18 years, 11 months

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Lilux-info January 2007