Take a trip down Memolane

Most of us by now are using at least one form of social media (most likely Facebook) or another.  Which is why I believe most people will love this new service called Memolane.  Quite simply it asks for permission to all your social media feeds ie Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Foursquare, etc etc (all the major ones seem to be supported with more on the way apparently) and proceeds to create a rather stunning visual timeline of your online life.  You can choose to either make this completely public (with an easy to remember public URL), share with Memolane friends only or if you're completely paranoid about privacy, leave it only for your own enjoyment.  It looks like a fascinating idea and I really hope this one survives.  It will be awesome to look back on in 5 - 10yrs time.  A digital scrapbook of life without any effort, just keep posting to social media like you do today.  If you're interested, my timeline is viewable here.

Tax breaks to software developers obviously not popular !

Planning on starting a business developing software? You better be an amazing coder (or know one), as the IRD will no longer give you a tax break on "unsuccessful" software projects.

WHAT?

So now there will be even less incentive to try new ideas and think outside the square in terms of software. Certainly points to a distinct lack of innovation on the horizon.  For a government apparently hell bent on progressing an economy (and really what government shouldn't be?) it sure seems like a weird decision.  As the NZ Herald article I've linked to brings up, what makes a software project "unsuccessful"? It's only used by 50 people? 500 people? what if those 50 people spent $10,000 each? IRD, you're not being very clear! Hopefully Wayne Mapps' "briefing", alluded to at the end of the article, makes him think twice about this.

On a more casual note, I came across a brilliant visual display of data. Search Globe by Google.  Shows a dark view of the globe with coloured beams of light showing search volume around the world.  The fascinating thing to me is not where the most searches are being performed but where the most remote places that have access to google are. What a world we live in.  See Wayne, innovation can provide amazing results. Lets keep the spirit alive in this country.

An IP address is only as good as a licence plate.

If a car careens through a crowd of people and subsequently kills someone, are we satisfied enough to prosecute the owner of the vehicle or would we want the driver to stand trial? Well I hate to say it, but under the current version of the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act we're saying it's okay to just prosecute the owner of the vehicle and not worry about who was actually driving.

In its simplest terms, as far as I understand it, a copyright holder sees an IP address sifting through an illegal file sharing website and then requests account details and contact information from the appropriate internet provider (ISP).  Now suddenly the account holder themselves is responsible and guilty until they prove themselves innocent, and thats IF they have the means to. There are so many scenarios where this just seems ridiculous now. Remember each household has only one IP address to the outside world yet there could be multiple internet connected devices inside that house at any given time. So are we going after the vehicle owner here, or the driver?

Luckily courts around the world are waking up to the glaring fact that an IP address is merely the owner and not necessarily the user.  This great 3News article outlines this quite well. I suggest you click through and read more in depth into the international rulings, it's good to see some common sense coming out of the justice system.

So, while it's good to jot down the licence plate of that car you just saw speed away from the scene of a bank robbery, it's also a lot better if you can get a clear description of the driver.

We're not all pirates, we just want a fair go.

The passing of the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill while Parliament was under urgency dealing with Earthquake legislation can only, at best, be described as rather sneaky.   What makes it even worse though is having to watch our politicians discuss and make laws based on technology that they quite clearly have no idea how it works.

I must credit Chris Barton here from the Herald as his article on the shameful displays of knowledge shown towards the technology being regulated is well put together and makes it glaringly obvious they need help. I suggest you read the article.. the quotes may just make you laugh, although they made me angry!  The worst has to be Jonathan Young from National trying to tell us he believes the Internet is much like what SkyNet was in those Terminator movies we all loved. "In that film a computer system called Skynet ruled the world. It was like the internet today."

So this brings me to the beginning of a journey for me.  A journey I hope won't end too quickly, but a journey none the less.  I will be sending away my application to join the Pirate Party of NZ tomorrow.  I have no idea where this will lead, but we can't continue to let our politicians create laws about technology they don't even understand.  It's only going to get worse as more technology evolves even faster creating increasing moral dilemmas for decades to come.

I leave you with this great speech from Nationals Katrina Shanks.  The best part is at 2:20.