Community

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Dizzy with adsense impressions!

Yep, I am going to be rich soon!

	Page impressions	Clicks	Page CTR	Page eCPM	Earnings
AdSense for Content	5,121	13	0.25%	$1.50	$7.67

Total Earnings $7.67

Thursday, May 22, 2008

You Thawte what?

We live is such a litigious world my mind has gone that way for better or worse. 

Thawte is a company that sells secure certificates.  They are, according to their site, owned and operated by Verisign, Inc.

We get our secure certificates from this group because, “thawte - its a trust thing” is their motto.  Okay, that’s not why, but it is an important thing to remember as you read the rest of this entry.

I was on their site purchasing a certificate.  There was a “must read” agreement.  You know the ones, you never read them, you just click saying that you have.  Well, I read mine. 

All the way down at the bottom there was a phrase I was not only unaware of the meaning, but my limited law understanding told my gut that things were just not right. 

So, I ask you, faithful reader, what does “Third Party Beneficiary Rights” mean?

Not knowing, I looked them up.  I started with the easy and put the phrase in Google.  Thie first thing it sent me to was Wikipedia… well, okay, lets see what they say.

Quote:  “A third party beneficiary, in the law of contracts, is a person who may have the right to sue on a contract, despite not having originally been a party to the contract. This right arises where the third party is the intended beneficiary of the contract, as opposed to an incidental beneficiary. It vests when the third party relies on or assents to the relationship, and gives the third party the right to sue either the promisor or the promisee of the contract, depending on the circumstances under which the relationship was created.”

Okay, so this third party benefits from the contract even though they are not a part of the agreement.  The question is what benefits would the 3rd party get?

The contract is basically:

I promise I will use the certificate on one web ssl server, that I am a legitimate representation of the organization that I claim to be, and that I will pay for the certificate. I also promise that if they revoke my certificate, I will remove it from all appliances.  I also make some promises of what I won’t do.  I promise I won’t use the certificate:

(i) for or on behalf of any other organization;
(ii) to perform private or public key operations in connection with any domain and/or organization name other than the one you submitted on your Certificate Application;
(iii) on more than one physical server or Device at a time, unless you have purchased additional licenses that permit the use of a Certificate on multiple Devices (“Licensing Option”);
(iv) for use as control equipment in hazardous circumstances or for uses requiring fail-safe performance such as the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control systems, or weapons control systems, where failure could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe environmental damage. If you have selected the Licensing Option, you acknowledge and agree that this option can result in increased security risks to your network and that Thawte expressly disclaims any liability for breaches of security that result from the distribution of a single key across multiple devices.

Thawte promises that
They have investigated the requester to some level (depending on the certificate) and that to that level they are who they say they are.  If things change, they will reissue me a certificate reflecting the change.  Additionally, they promise that they have not introduced errors into the certificate.

There are 26 sections and each section has zero or more sub-section.  Each section/subsection is at least one paragraph.  Total it is eight pages. 

Finally, we get to paragraph 26 which states....

26. Third Party Beneficiary Rights. You agree that Microsoft, Inc. shall be an express third party beneficiary of the obligations contained in this Agreement.

What the heck?? What does Microsoft have to gain from this agreement?  How are they a beneficiary?  How do they have rights?  How are they a beneficiary of the obligations contained in this agreement???

Friday, April 11, 2008

700 MHz - the gold mine of the FCC - and Google doesn’t get any.

Google has a nice blog article ( http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/cone-of-silence-finally-lifts-on.html is the URL ) on the spectrum auction that went on in jan/feb of this year.  This was for the 700MHz auction that Google promised to bid at least $4.6 billion for if the FCC would put 4 “open platforms” as part of the auction.  The FCC agreed to 2 of them.  (That information can be found here:  http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2007/07/our-commitment-to-open-broadband.html ) Even though FCC only agreed to 2, Google still bid more than the $4.6 billion minimum they said they would.

Here are a few highlights that I think are interesting…

“Google’s top priority heading into the auction was to make sure that bidding on the so-called “C Block” reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important “open applications” and “open handsets” license conditions. “

“But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher (and had far more financial incentive ( http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2007/07/restoring-competitive-balance-to.html ) to gain the licenses).”

I believe that Verizon and others ended up paying $19,120,378,000 for 1090 licenses.  They were the ones back in July/Aug/Sept appealed the FCC’s open device and open platform order that the FCC agreed to with Google for the minimum bid.

For those of you that are not aware, the 700 MHz spectrum is the one that U.S. television stations are required to abandon by February 2009.  The 700 MHz spectrum is (according to this washington post article:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032000048.html) is ideal for wireless broadband services.  “They travel 3-4 times further and penetrate obstacles such as buildings more easily than wireless signals in higher spectrum bands.”

FCC information on the auction can be found at their web site (Auction 73) at this location:  http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/default.htm?job=auction_summary&id=73.  It covers TV channels 52-69 (see http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/data/bandplans/700MHzBandPlan.pdf ) for the Band plan. 

https://auctionbidding.fcc.gov/auction/index.htm?CFID=3628486&CFTOKEN=99789402&jsessionid=wTGjH1jc9NTpGJ5HLyMv0MZWn3m90l15hjtDLJVT9TJbNNrk286L!-1946843305!-1095684957!1207935996278 <-- go here for the full results.

Oh, and FYI, Lexington went to Cavalier Wireless and Frontier Wireless.  And, if you sort by amounts, Lexington went for a higher amount than Louisville did.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Many years to Arthur C. Clarke

May his Memory be eternal…

Perhaps his remains can be placed in Clarke Orbit (His greatest contribution to technology is creating the conceptual framework for geostationary satellites—machines that would remain in the same spot above the earth and act as relay stations for signals from the ground, covering a wide area. He published a paper about the concept in 1945, which was ultimately realized two decades later. The orbit into which geostationary satellites are placed is now known as the Clarke Orbit.)

Also known for his books - see list here:  http://www.clarkefoundation.org/acc/bibliography.php

Clarke was an inspiration to me as a writer.  He blended scientific expertise and imagination together seamlessly.  Monday night on “The Big Bang Theory” they had a segment at the beginning where they were hooking up X10 to various items.  They then, by touching a button on the laptop sent a signal around the world and to the stereo.  When it came on, what was playing was the opening music from 2001: A Space Odessy (1968) and the four geeks jumped around mimicing the scene… it was very funny and reminded me of the thorough and complete genius of the movie and of Sir Clarke (and Kubrick).

One of Clarke’s desires was for man to “discover” extraterrestrial beings… too bad he did not get his wish.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Do not allow free speech to be hurt in Kentucky

Email Rep. Tim Couch and Jimmy Gigdon and tell them what putzes they really are - oh, and while you are at it, tell them that House Bill 775 is really really stupid and that they are idiots for even considering it and should burn in hell for proposing it.  Or, if you think that is too strong, tell them something similar.

jimmy higdon can be e-mailed directly: 
tim couch has a feedback form here:  http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H090.htm

You can see HB 775 here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/RECORD/08RS/HB775.htm

Here is a short description:

AN ACT relating to information technology.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 369 to establish definitions relating to Internet Web sites, blogs, or message boards; require registration prior to posting information to these interactive services; identify persons, businesses, or entities that post information to these interactive services; establish penalty provisions.

November 29, 2000 New Jersey Court protects anonymous internet critics of New Jersey company - upholding 1st amendment - see http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=551

On appeal, it was again protected…
http://www.aclu-nj.org/news/appealscourtprotectsanonym.htm

See others here: http://epic.org/free_speech/

Since it has gone to Labor and Industry - e-mail those people too (see http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/org_adm/committe/standcom.htm for current list)
Labor and Industry (H)
Rep. J. R. Gray (D), Chair - form at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H006.htm
Rep. Charlie Hoffman (D), Vice Chair - mailto:charlie.hoffman@lrc.ky.gov
Rep. Joni Jenkins (D), Vice Chair - mailto:jonijenkins@aol.com
Rep. Rick Nelson (D), Vice Chair - form at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H087.htm
Rep. Jim Stewart (R), Vice Chair - mailto:jim.stewart@lrc.ky.gov
Rep. John Arnold Jr. (D) - mailto:john.arnold@lrc.ky.gov
Rep. Denver Butler (D) - mailto:RepButler@aol.com
Rep. Dennis Horlander (D) - mailto:dennis.horlander@lrc.ky.gov
Rep. Brent Yonts (D) - mailto:brent.yonts@lrc.ky.gov
Rep. C.B. Embry (R) - form at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H017.htm
Rep. Thomas Kerr (R) - mailto:thomas.kerr@lrc.ky.gov
Rep. Russ Mobley (R) - form at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H051.htm

Here is what I am telling them:

============== concerning ========================
HB 775 (BR 1943) - T. Couch, J. Higdon
AN ACT relating to information technology.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 369 to establish definitions
relating to Internet Web sites, blogs, or message boards; require
registration prior to posting information to these interactive
services; identify persons, businesses, or entities that post
information to these interactive services; establish penalty
provisions.

Mar 4-introduced in House
Mar 6-to Labor & Industry (H)
==============================================================

Please send T Couch and J Higdon home without even considering such nonsense.  Protect our first amendment.  We have the right to free speach.  We have the right to do so anonymously.

New Jersey upheld this in 2000, it went to appeals, and was again upheld.  Do not go down this road.