White House Responds To Software Patents Petition 276
New submitter obliv!on writes "As previously discussed, the White House has started to reply to petitions on their 'We the People' website. They've now replied to the petition asking for an end to software patents. The response mentions the America Invents Act and encourages the use of the USPTO's open implementation website. Quoting: 'There's a lot we can do through the new law to improve patent quality and to ensure that only true inventions are given patent protection. But it's important to note that the executive branch doesn't set the boundaries of what is patentable all by itself. Congress has set forth broad categories of inventions that are eligible for patent protection. The courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have interpreted the statute to include some software-related inventions.' The response goes on to denote some open source and open data initiatives in government. It's nice to hear that the administration understands 'concerns that overly broad patents on software-based inventions may stifle the very innovative and creative open source software development community.' However, the overall response redirects action to the petitioners through participating in the open implementation site and contacting Congress, instead of a promise to prepare additional legislative measures for Congress to consider on behalf of the petitioners."
I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the most politely-worded and voluminous "Fuck you, you're on your own" I've ever read.
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
One can't help but wonder why they would ever have opened up these channels of communication. What did they expect to get as concerns? Technically the Executive has no power to do anything about any of this, so why bother with the dialogue? Every issue has to be resolved in the other two branches, so what did they hope to accomplish?
Unless of course they're just compiling a list...
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
It's just a political stunt to make it look like the Obama administration gives a shit. Obama has belatedly realized that he might actually need his base to come out and vote for him next year, so he's been putting on a big show of late. It's the same with the "Jobs Bill." He knows it stands no chance getting past the Republicans in the House (hell, he couldn't even get it through the Democrats in the Senate). But it makes it *look* like he's doing something.
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Funny)
It's the same with the "Jobs Bill." He knows it stands no chance getting past the Republicans in the House (hell, he couldn't even get it through the Democrats in the Senate). But it makes it *look* like he's doing something.
And even with that he's just trying to ride on the tailcoats of a much-loved former CEO.
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Bill Jobs? That sounds like the CEO of an extremely evil company.
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You see? This is why punctuation is important!
Somehow, Jobs' Bill sounds frightful. :P
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This site, obviously isn't about 'change' or truly addressing topics the people want addressed. It is theater....and all you're gonna get is mild responses, basically telling you what the law/policy is now and why they want to keep it that way.
They're never gonna do shit....we the people are far too unwashed, and ignorant to know what we want and need for ourselves.
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, but now those arrogant sons of whores have to actually come out and vote against a jobs bill. Instead of idiotically grandstanding about so-called "job creators" and doing FUCK-ALL about the economy.
Given the GOP's response vs. Obama's response, I'll take the Obama approach any day, thank you. Vs. the aristocratic, arrogant, self-centered ASSHOLE approach of the GOP, which is to repeatedly do the same thing that hasn't worked for over a decade, and then stand there with their insufferable smug prick-face smiles while the rest of us drown.
I guess it comes down to whose concerns you are going to listen to. The 1%, or the rest of us.
Software patents are somewhere about 1,000,000 miles down the coast from just getting a basic dialogue going in this country among the elite that JOBS GROW THE ECONOMY, NOT RICH PEOPLE.
So, I'm not sure I share the poutraged butt-hurt that the rest of slashdot does over this issue.
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:4, Informative)
From what I've read of it...while it does have a very few provisions that actually concern jobs...it is mostly a spending bill, labeled a jobs bill.
And hell, Obama can't even generate Democratic support enough in congress to pass it in the Senate, where they do still have a majority by the way.
So, it isn't all GOP as you ranted....the bill stinks to everyone in DC for the most part.
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the bill stinks to everyone in DC for the most part.
So then wouldn't that mean it's good for the rest of us? :D (I jest, I jest)
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:4, Insightful)
Any time a Republican blames 'the Democratic Senate', you know it's bullshit. They should be saying 'the nominally Democratic Senate that now requires a 60-40 majority on any vote, because the big baby Republicans say so'. And don't go saying 'the Democrats filibuster too' - they've never abused it to this extent.
Amazingly, Republican talking heads are allowed to get away with this on just about every 'news' show around.
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If you read John Mauldin's book, Endgame, about our current situation, he explains the bind the government is in. If you look at part 1 [minyanville.com] and 2 [minyanville.com] of his chapter on basic economics, you might get an understanding of how there is nothing the government CAN do, at least not actively. Obama wants you to believe he can fix these problems, but he can.
From the first page of part 2:
--------------------
Now let's go back to our first equation. You remember,
GDP = C + I + G + Net Exports
We'll spare you the mathematical rig
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
As if Obama is actually different from the GOP. The biggest trick the Republicans and Democrats have perpetrated, is the creation of an illusion that there is a difference between the parties. They comprise a monolithic mono-party where power is "traded" (like one would pass a ball from the left hand to the right hand - in either case you still have the ball) back and forth between them for the benefit of their benefactors.
As an astounding example, Marty Lederman excoriated the Bush Administration for using secret legal memos to justify immoral and unconstitutional behavior. Now that he is part of the Obama administration, he is writing the exact same type of secret legal memos supporting policies even more immoral and unconstitutional.
Citation [salon.com].
Welcome to Act 6534 of the onging made for TV drama and talk radio drama: "Democrats v. Republicans, Rhetorical Differences, Indistinguishable Practices"
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess it comes down to whose concerns you are going to listen to. The 1%, or the rest of us.
Don't kid yourself. Obama supports the 1%. He appointed Geithner and reappointed Bernanke. Goldman Sachs was his top contributor in 2008. He hasn't prosecuted a single executive level banker for crimes connected to the 2008 financial crisis. Compare that to Reagan's record of 800 bank executives jailed on felony charges after the S&L crisis. Even his big health care bill was just an excuse to deliver more customers to insurance companies. Notice how he didn't even pretend to entertain single payer for a moment?
Both parties, D and R represent no one but the 1%.
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Every time you idiots get that shit passed, its shrinks the middle class. Stop it already. Seriously. Fucking stop it. Learn some fucking economics and the governments role.
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More often than not, in any country with a minimum level of development it is the middle class.
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
Customers create jobs. It doesn't matter how much you give the rich, if no one can afford to buy their product they won't employ people to make that product. The fact of the matter is that wealth trickles up. If you want to jumpstart the economy, you have to start at the bottom.
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> stands no chance getting past the Republicans in the
> House (hell, he couldn't even get it through the Democrats in
> the Senate).
Can't blame the guy for trying. Maybe we need a new House/Senate?
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
It's just a political stunt to make it look like the Obama administration gives a shit.
Which is backfiring gloriously. What it actually does it prove that Obama never cared about anything but appearing to give a shit. Obama's base has realized that their real hope for change is on the streets of NYC, not the White House.
The only chance Obama has is to bank on the sheer idiocy of the Republican primary voters.
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By the way, just calling something a 'Jobs Bill' doesn't make it a bill that can possibly do anything useful to create [slashdot.org]
It's like that little bill they passed that was not exactly adding to the liberties of people, quite the opposite, but it passed because it was conveniently named 'Patriot Act'.
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It makes for a good campaign promise.
Out of all my dis-appointments with this administration, which actually isn't many dis-appointments, is that they are not taking the petitions seriously.
Instead of saying "I understand why you want the status quo changed and I will work on it." they are instead just telling us why the status quo is the way it is, with not even a hint of changing it.
If we wanted explanations we would read wikipedia, we want action.
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In order to enact change action must occur.
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In this aspect they responded but correctly pointed to the correct part of the government that actually creates legislation.
Oh for crying out loud. The president doesn't enact healthcare law, or pass the budget, or jobs bills, or defense spending or any number of other things. By pretending that they don't influence policy in the other two branches they are, as other people have pointed out, basically just saying "fuck you, we don't want to deal with it".
I wish I had mod points. (Score:2)
Exactly. He will only pass this is enough people get enough votes in Congress to make it politically unsupportable for him to veto it.
In which case, why even have an office of the President?
Where's the media blitz?
Where's the national discussion?
Where's the FAILED bill and the PUBLIC discussion of who killed it?
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Did you miss the last few years? (Score:2)
There are people ranting about him not even being born in the USofA.
You CANNOT base policy on what the opposition will say about you.
Man up! Grow a pair of balls and FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN.
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Two things come to mind.
I mean, seriously, why do people think the President can perform "magic". Look at all the promises made by the Republican presidential candidates (simply for example), most cannot be fulfilled by the President,
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It should, perhaps, be pointed out that almost all the promises made by the Democratic Presidential candidate in 2008 could not have been fulfilled by the President either.
Alas, the Republican Presidential candidate that year was at the top of my list of Republicans NEVER TO VOTE FOR EVER, NO MATTER WHAT. Plus, all his promises were things
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Yes, I know. As I said, I was simply using the current Republican candidates "(simply for example)".
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Hell, a few months back Michele Bachman promised $2 a gallon gas if she gets elected. [cnn.com]
By spring, I fully expect to hear promises of ice cream for all, no more taxes ever again, and world peace.
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Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:4, Informative)
While technically the Executive has no power, if the Obama administration really cared they would call up their pals in the House and say "We need a bill that does XYZ" or even "This is a bill we'd like to see pass. Introduce it please." It's technically correct to say bills originate in the House or Senate, but in practice the President can most definitely push a particular plan through Congress.
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:4, Insightful)
Though I'm not really that pleased with the administration right now, I do respect their intent here. I think that they're essentially just experimenting with ways to use the Internet to improve communication and create dialogue. That doesn't mean that every petition will result in action by the President to do exactly what the petition asks, but the dialogue itself is something.
I especially think it's worth cutting them some slack because we're still in the early days of these things. The general public hasn't really been using the Internet for 2 whole decades yet, and this is the first administration to make genuine efforts to make use of the Internet for these sorts of things. Some of the first attempts will be clumsy.
And when you look at their page describing what this site is about, this is the only thing they're offering: "If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it’s sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response."
I mean, really, did you expect that the President is going to make a huge policy shift against major corporate interests because of a petition with 14k signatures?
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I mean, really, did you expect that the President is going to make a huge policy shift against major corporate interests because of a petition with 14k signatures?
No, but I expected the questions to be addressed. If I ask "Why can't we regulate marijuana like alcohol." And you respond "because marijuana is harmful", you haven't addressed the question at all. This is disingenuous on Obama's part.
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The people who have enough money to be relevant have the whitehouse switchboard on speed dial, and get letters inviting them to fund-raising events that cost more per table than a minimum wage employee makes in a year.
If you think your money is hard earned try listening to one of these politician types beg for more money after you spent thousands of dollars a plate and flew out on your private plane to listen to him. That's the kind of of hard work that gets you liberty, everything else is an illusion crea
I disagree with him. (Score:3)
I like candidate Obama a LOT more than President Obama. Oh well, at least he'll be campaigning for the year now.
It's called the "bully pulpit". The President drives the discussion by TALKING ABOUT IT. What the President says gets media coverage. Particularly if it's about jobs and the economy and innovation now.
By the way, didn't you guys introduce a jobs bill of some kind? So there is a means for you to get legislation started.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/American_Jobs_Act [wikimedia.org]
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Insightful)
Read the one about marijuana. Same sort of nicely worded fuck you, but with the added benefit of lies about effects and completely unsubstantiated claims!
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Yours is the most impolitely worded show of ignorance and stupidity that I've read since I last perused WorldNutDaily.
It's election season. If Obama offered a bill that declared the United States to be the bestest most wonderful nation on the planet which has ever been ever, Republicans in Congress would filibuster it on the grounds that he is a Socielst Muslen Kenyan who hates America and our Troops.
And you think that his recommendation on solving the Patent issue would actually help?
The Administration
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, Republicans control the House and will block anything he does.
So what was his excuse for his first two years in office?
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Forty Republicans in the Senate circling the wagons and preventing anything from being done (more fillabusters in two years than any other time in American history; the Obama administration can even get non-controversial middle managers confirmed.)
And? (Score:2)
So because the mean people are being mean, he's not going to do ANYTHING?
At least get the legislation STARTED.
Then name and shame anyone who tries to stop it.
He's the President of the USofA. He gets worldwide coverage of his speeches.
Then repeat the process.
There would be change if he was on TV every other week saying Senator X blocked the "tax incentive for working Christian Moms with poor babies who need milk" bill.
Part of politics is being able to frame your opposition as the "bad" guys. Obama doesn't wa
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He's already doing this with that jobs bill. Nothing in there is controversial; at this point, the Republicans are voting against teachers and infrastructure projects. Doing the same with a software patent bill, something too technical for anyone but the Slashdot crowd to automatically know how important it is, would only dilute the message.
No he's not. (Score:2)
No he's not. He's out campaigning for re-election.
In which speech did he specifically identify an individual Senator who opposed his bill?
Compare his current behaviour to Bush-2's campaigning for just about anything that he got.
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What they needed to do was calm down enough to plan what needed to be done -- and sometimes you just have to make a decision even if it eventually turns out to be the wrong one. Too nuanced for the American public, people expected overnight change and became disillusioned. Unexpected cata
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You really are drinking the Kool-Aide, Look *IF* it was the GOPs fault then Reid would have put the Jobs bill to the senate floor, let it fail in the House. The House has a wide GOP margin, the Senate has a narrow DNC margin. If this was about making the GOP look like obstructionists its a no brainier, let them filibuster in the senate in front of the news cameras or vote it down in the House. That way fault would fall clearly on their shoulders.
There are two reasonable conclusions you draw, one or both
Re:I've got to hand it to the administration (Score:5, Informative)
You really are drinking the Kool-Aide, Look *IF* it was the GOPs fault then Reid would have put the Jobs bill to the senate floor, let it fail in the House.
Check your facts. Reid did [npr.org] introduce the bill; it was filibustered. Sound familiar? Ever since 2008 the Republicans have been circling the wagons and killing anything that crosses their desk, even routine appointments to mid-level executive departments. That's why the public option was trashed, why meaningful banking reform was replaced by useless drivel, and why we can't have nice things like a AAA credit rating or disclosure of campaign donors (another bill killed by Republican opposition).
I'm not a huge fan of Obama, although I have to admit he has been right about much of his foreign policy decisions, but the Republicans in Congress/Senate these days deserve nothing but contempt. The first step in truly reforming Washington is to get rid of everyone with an (R) in front of his name (the second is to get rid of almost everyone with a (D) in front of their name).
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He DOESN'T have a plan. (Score:2)
In which case he should be finding a way to CHANGE THE SITUATION.
Instead he's capitulating to the Republicans on every single issue that they disagree with.
He should be on TV every single night making his case for his changes directly to the people an
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
- Thomas Jefferson
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
- John F. Kennedy
You are absolutely right, Occupy Wall Street is only the beginning. Things are going to get much worse before they get any better.
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I almost wonder if they're counting on it, that's why they're stoking the fires dividing the haves and have nots. Rather than banding together and marching on Washington there will just be rioting where the local business owners houses are assaulted by the former recipients of the nanny state handouts when the system goes belly up.
I used to worry about my buddy the police officer and his stockpile of guns and ammo. He's positively convinced in the next few years we're going to see widespread rioting and lo
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Replying to cancel accidental moderation.
No We Can't (Score:2)
That's the most politely-worded and voluminous "Fuck you, you're on your own" I've ever read.
That seems an overstatement. Its more of a "No We Can't". Sigh.
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So, the response says that the office of the president is doing what it can to improve the patent system. The AIA eliminates some (but not all) of the ridiculousness associated with the patent system. The USPTO has issued revised guidance with the hopes that that will cut down on frivolous and low quality patents.
But, they correctly point out that "executive branch doesn't set the boundaries of what is patentable". They also correctly point out that a good way to actually move forward on software patent
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My favorite two parts of the response are this:
The president is responsible for any changes that you like.
The president isn't responsible for things
Hear That? (Score:3, Insightful)
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My Prediction (Score:5, Insightful)
My prediction is that every "petition" will be responded to with "We hear you, but this is why its really okay as it is; you really don't want what you think you want"
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I think you're psychic, sir.
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Quite right, It also means we need to make a new petition.
Why are you even holding this if you are going to respond in such a dismissive manner to every suggestion? What is the purpose of wasting everyones time when you knew from the beginning that you would do this? Instead of dismissing this petition just as flippantly, we urge you to go back and act on the other petitions.
Re:My Prediction (Score:5, Informative)
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Signed.
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Can't wait to hear the response to this (signed).
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I would sign that petition!
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They're just holding a mirror up to the voting public and pretending that makes it a conversation.
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You didn't think they actually care about the content of the submissions, do you? They're just trying to make the electorate feel listened to, so that they'll give Obama a second chance.
Now if a big corporation asked for the elimination of software patents, that's a different story.
Re:My Prediction (Score:4, Informative)
Sounds like the response to every letter I've ever sent to a Congressman.
That's correct. Congress sets patentability policy (Score:3)
That's up to Congress, not the Executive Branch.
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That's up to Congress, not the Executive Branch.
I partially disagree. The White House has plenty of influence on the legislative process due to deal-making.
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If Congress is interested in making deals. If the Congressional majority (even if its just in one of the two houses) is more interested in grandstanding by symbolic measures to appeal to the most extreme faction of their base rather than making deals to actually pass legislation, the White House's legislative influence is essentially non-existent.
He'll be our President because we put him there (Score:5, Insightful)
"He'll be our President because we put him there"... I think maybe Democracy is broken. If regardless of who you vote for the result is the same you are living in a Dictatorship. It's not just patents either - Gitmo, Iraq, Patriot Act, Health Care, seems that even when the Republicans aren't in office they are. No wonder the focus has been on security - they are gonna need it when the people find out they have been duped by the DemoRepublican Party for so long.
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Agreed, so what do you call it when the citizens keep voting for the same two parties?
Stupidity.
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Agreed, so what do you call it when the citizens keep voting for the same two parties?
Stupidity.
Actually, no:
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. — Albert Einstein
Expect more of this (Score:5, Insightful)
This whole move to respond to people's questions from the Executive Branch is very clearly a tactic to redirect voter ire to the Legislative Branch, where laws are made and passed. I would expect most of the replies to include some portion urging voters to contact their legislators. Recent administrations have left the American public under the impression that the executive branch can act unilaterally as long as you have Darth Vader as a vice president.
That's not the way this country is supposed to run. Things like this with the Executive communicating with voters directly are great, don't stop that, but call your goddamned lawmaker, too.
Translation (Score:3)
"Hey man, we're just doin' our job. Now get off our lawn."
Smoke + Ass (Score:2)
So they are just blowing smoke up our asses AGAIN.
Comment removed (Score:3)
Patents aren't about fairness (Score:2)
No, they aren't.
They are a government program for creating an incentive to create inventions that end up contributing to the common good. It says so right in the Constitutional provision that authorizes them.
Creating "fairness" isn't a factor.
Missing The Point (Score:5, Insightful)
'concerns that overly broad patents on software-based inventions may stifle the very innovative and creative open source software development community.'
Let me translate: I know you dirty hippies believe in utopia, and you've done some interesting things, but you are not being realistic. The real producers are Microsoft and Amazon.
Here's the thing though, knucklehead: Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Apple, IBM, and eBay -- not one of those companies could make it out of the garage today. It's not just the dirty hippies you are harming, it is entrepreneurs -- the guys building a better mousetrap -- the icons that "America Invents" is pretending to recognize. It is the kinds of people who turned America into a superpower in the 50's and 60's. The engines of tomorrow's economic superiority. That is who patents are harming -- and their blood is running over the alter of a few extra private jets today, for an ever smaller sliver of people who did something great twenty years ago, and have been kicking everyone else off the hill ever since.
Re:Missing The Point (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's the thing though, knucklehead: Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Apple, IBM, and eBay -- not one of those companies could make it out of the garage today. It's not just the dirty hippies you are harming, it is entrepreneurs -- the guys building a better mousetrap -- the icons that "America Invents" is pretending to recognize.
You don't really think that big business campaign donors want entrepeneurs setting up competitors in their garage, do you?
Now project that forward. (Score:2)
Innovation isn't going stop.
It's just going to die in the USofA.
Worldwide, it will continue.
And they outnumber us.
The goal should be to keep it difficult for the big industries to sit back while someone else overtakes us ... while making it easy for our home-grown inventors to build the next generation of products.
Instead, we have a situation where the government is protecting the existing businesses at the expense of the next generation.
The We the People Site (Score:4, Insightful)
This is great, thanks Mr.President for this amazing simplification of the political process. In the past I would have had figure out who my Senator is and write to his office to get a condescending BS laden response, on why its so important we preserve the status quo.
Now all I have to do is post on one easy to remember website and if enough people also want to hear why a certain campaign donator needs to have their economic rent protected the White House will kindly oblige.
Federal Research (Score:2)
Corporations benefit greatly from the twin forms of Corporate welfare that are patents and government research.
I believe all knowledge gained from government research should go into something similar to an open source license. So that all technology based on government research should be free, open, and unpatentable.
Actually Take These Petitions Seriously Petittion (Score:5, Informative)
The responses to these petitions have been so uniformly transparent constituent fluffing through sophistry that there's already a meta-petition:
Actually Take These Petitions Seriously Instead of Just Using Them As An Excuse to Pretend You Are Listening Petition [whitehouse.gov].
Once this one gets answered, the web content filters will be remiss in not filtering the site as entertainment, or masturbatory porn.
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Thanks for link.
Online petitions at White House? PR, making malcontent lists, safety valve (the illusion of participating, etc.), and even, possibly, useful feedback. Yet, nothing ventured, nothing gained, maybe.
I started learning in the late Sixties that the powers that be don't need to listen, but only need to pretend to do so.
I'm more concerned with biotech patents (Score:2)
It's about the companies (Score:5, Insightful)
I think part of the problem is that companies don't entirely want software patents to go away.
When I first started speaking with my Senator's office (Franken - D-MN) about software patents, I gave examples how software patents are a hindrance to American companies, how patent troll lawsuits use the US court system as their revenue stream.
The Senator's office said that they had met with several large US companies (Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc) and while the companies agree that software patents are a problem that need to be curbed, they also need them to "protect their business." I'm told Bill Gates said he's never worried about the next Google, he's worried about some kid in his garage creating the "next Big Thing". So these companies use software patents to sue or threaten the little start-ups before they can become a competitor.
I pointed out that Gates started as a kid in his basement, and Apple started as a couple of guys in a garage, and Amazon started as Bezos doing mail-order from his garage. All these big tech companies started that way. And if we block the next Amazon or the next Microsoft from happening, that's not going to help the US economy. The Senator's office had to agree it was a fair point.
I think if you reduced the term for software patents, you might have a workable solution. Certainly it would be better than what we have now, and I'm prepared to accept that as a next-step. In most cases today, anyway, it may take a few years for something to pop up on the radar, and a patent troll to realize that it's using something from their portfolio.
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You seem to have a problem with your caps lock.
So... they punted (Score:2)
Translation: We can't be bothered by this issue that never hits the mass media news cycles.
All the cynics are right... (Score:2)
http://wh.gov/bjZ [wh.gov]
I encourage everyone to sign it or create your own and post them here. Slashdot has shown the ability to nuke major sites due to th
The petition site doesn't even work. (Score:2)
The White House petition site is barely working. I'm in some limbo state there where the "sign petition" page wants me to log in, and clicking on the "log in" link gets a popup which offers me only the option of logging out. Clicking on the the "Sign Out" link comes back with "Gateway Timeout The proxy server did not receive a timely response from the upstream server. Reference #1.c8e8dfad.1320178618.b97d68 "
Looking at the page source, it uses Drupal. Badly. In the middle of the document, the page starts
I do like the banner at the top (Score:2)
Your voice in our government
Sorry, I was mistaken into thinking (in an ideal world) the people were the government. My mistake. It's your government.
Preparing legislation doesn't get things done (Score:2)
As a practical matter, absent substantial political pressure from the electorate, the administration preparing legislation doesn't mean a whole lot. You get legislation that is prepared, and then dead-on-arrival in the Congress.
We don't have a monar
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I believe you mean from any administration.
Politicians are all cut from the same cloth.
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Oh, sure. And books are just really big base-127 numbers represented by letters, numbers, and spaces. It's just a number, you can't copyright a number. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
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That reminds me of the Swedish Drill. In it, a prisoner was told he was going to be executed next week, but he wouldn't know the day he was to be executed. "Ah!" he said, "then you can't execute me at all! For if I wake up on Saturday then I'll know I'll be executed on that day, and you said I wouldn't. But then if I wake up on Friday, then I'll know you won't execute me on Saturday, so you can't execute me on Friday either. But then if I wake up on Thursday the same conditions apply. That means that