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Comment They were supposed to wait until 2067 (Score 1) 73

(Obligatory IANAL)

Technically, the record labels have a point.

The US Copyright office has assigned a 95-year copyright to anything published prior to February 15, 1972, with the possibility of 120 years if it had not been published before that date.

So recordings at least 95 years old (1928 and prior) at this point may be allowed to be published.

The last recording covered under this rule will enter the public domain February 15, 2067. If it is readable at that point is anyone's guess.

Comment Not quite a "Software Lockdown" (Score 4, Informative) 73

Reading the story and looking at the video, it looks like there is a memory chip storing calibration data about the screen and pencil. This corrects for where the screen detects the pencil (and how strongly) versus where it actually is.

Third party repair firms either lack the software to recalibrate the touchscreen, or don't know how to put the iPad into a mode which allows this.

The need to calibrate a touchscreen is not unusual. So I'm curious why it was not a problem before.

Comment Re:The problem is in the assumption. (Score 2) 242

Stability suggests limited testing. The version number explosion also suggests this. (If the version number is reaching 100, there are too many major releases, too little in-house testing and inadequate acceptance testing before the release. Firefox hasn't existed 20 times longer than Linux.)

The version numbering may due to end-user expectations, not actual major feature adding.

Other products have had to jump version numbers or change version schemes because users asked "Why is your competitor at version 70 while you still are at 10.1?" (For example: Slackware Linux from version 4.0 to 7.0, etc.)

Comment Might not get very far (Score 4, Insightful) 207

The United States Constitution prohibits "ex post facto" laws. These retroactively make things illegal.

This is not exactly that. But it punishes firms for past behavior with a punishment that was not known at the time. The legislature will have to be very careful writing this to avoid having the law thrown out.

A constitutional lawyer would have a better idea of what is allowed.

Comment US Campaigns can send as much as they want (Score 1) 103

Actually, no.

In the United States, there are loopholes for political speech.

You would think they could not send you text messages. But as soon as a human is in the loop, they can send as many as they want.

All you need is an app that shows the message, adds the name and phone number to send to, and has a "Send" button to send the text message. Click "Send" and the next target appears, ready for you to click "Send" again. I've seen a volunteer using such an app and clicking it rapidly while bored in class.

And since people stopped picking up the phone for strangers and have spam filters on their email, text messages are the way many political campaigns try to reach voters.

Comment Not a New Observation (Score 1) 157

Companies (and academia) having their own language has been known for decades.

Your role in a society or organization, and what they consider important also control how you speak.

During the 1970's and 1980's, Richard Mitchell published a series of newsletters known as The Underground Grammarian about abuse of the English language.

The opening to his book Less Than Words Can Say describes how a professor's language became more verbose and indirect the higher they were promoted within the organization. Another chapter goes into detail about how rulers and the ruled speak differently and how that is enforced.

Richard's works are freely readable online, although the website's formatting is a bit old-fashioned.

Comment NOT dynamically unstable but... (Score 1) 388

OK, from what I understand, even in worst case (rear loading) the Max isn't dynamically unstable, but flies "differently" than a stock 737 - enough so that a '737' pilot and a 'Max' pilot would need separate certifications, which is expensive for airlines to do.
SO, Boeing invented the MCAS system so that the two planes flew enough alike that the pilots would not need separate certification, therefore reducing airline costs, and making the airplane that much more attractive to customers. It is also why they soft pedaled the MCAS training

Ooops

Comment Re:The irony (Score 1) 679

Not policy, Federal LAW on handling classified documents requires no intent, no gross negligence, just simple negligence

Heck, you can be prosecuted for creating a classified document, even without knowing it is classified (certain topics are 'born classified').

Comment Re:The irony (Score 1) 679

But the law still doesn't require intent. The investigation showed she negligently sent classified data. Negligence is all that is required. The cut her a break

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