Why knockoffs are good for fashion

from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

James Surowiecki (author of the great book The Wisdom of Crowds) has a fantastic, tight little article about copyright and fashion in this week's New Yorker. Fashion designs aren't covered by copyright, and this means that couture designs are knocked off and sold at huge discounts in department stores and shops like H&M within seconds of appearing on the runway. This upsets many designers, but there's plenty of evidence that it's good for the industry as a whole -- the knockoffs sell to people who'd never buy the couture originals, so they don't really cannibalize sales; what's more, by making a hot new look ubiquitous, the knockoffs contribute to making it look tired and boring, which creates the market for next season's clothes.

This reminds me of the story of database copyrights, which exist in Europe and not the in the USA. Advocates for these monopolies argue that a copyright spurs investment and makes the industry bigger. But the fact is that the European database industry has stagnated over the past 25 years, while the US industry has grown 25-fold, and the biggest difference between the two is that European firms can prevent competition by using the database right.

Even though the evidence is that a database right has retarded the industry and limited growth, European database firms still profess a great love for their regulatory monopoly, and American firms still bemoan its absence.

The recipients of regulatory monopolies are like kids getting candy: they all believe that they need more, and nothing will convince them otherwise. But monopolies end up costing the public and the next generation of creators: by limiting competition in databases, Europe has created a smaller and less useful database industry. By encouraging competition in fashion, the world has created an easy means for all of us to get cheap clothes, while creating a huge amount of investment in the "next thing," making it easier for new designers to break into the field.

Designers' frustration at seeing their ideas mimicked is understandable. But this is a classic case where the cure may be worse than the disease. There's little evidence that knockoffs are damaging the business. Fashion sales have remained more than healthy--estimates value the global luxury-fashion sector at a hundred and thirty billion dollars-- and the high-end firms that so often see their designs copied have become stronger. More striking, a recent paper by the law professors Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman suggests that weak intellectual-property rules, far from hurting the fashion industry, have instead been integral to its success. The professors call this effect "the piracy paradox."

The paradox stems from the basic dilemma that underpins the economics of fashion: for the industry to keep growing, customers must like this year's designs, but they must also become dissatisfied with them, so that they'll buy next year's. Many other consumer businesses face a similar problem, but fashion--unlike, say, the technology industry--can't rely on improvements in power and performance to make old products obsolete. Raustiala and Sprigman argue persuasively that, in fashion, it's copying that serves this function, bringing about what they call "induced obsolescence." Copying enables designs and styles to move quickly from early adopters to the masses. And since no one cool wants to keep wearing something after everybody else is wearing it, the copying of designs helps fuel the incessant demand for something new.

Link (Thanks, Scott!)

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Citigroup Data Leaked on Limewire; Will There Be Jail Time?

from CenterNetworks - by Allen Stern

eWeek is reporting that a Citigroup employee running p2p software Limewire has potentially been used to find over 5,000 customer records including Social Security Numbers, names, credit information and mortgage types. eWeek notes:

Tiversa found over 10,000 files, deduplication revealed only 5,208 unique Social Security numbers, along with names and what type of mortgage each customer had: conventional, 30-year or conforming, for example.

The information is likely to have been exposed to millions of LimeWire users, given that there are at least 10 million nodes online in a P2P file-sharing network at any point in time, said Chris Gormley, Tiversa's chief operating officer.

If this information is proven to be accurate, should the employee or the Citigroup execs face jail time? The monetary fines are obviously not working, would a stint in jail start to wake up companies that our data is the most important piece to their ability to generate revenue.

I raised my concerns earlier this week with Mint and their "bank-level" security. What I would like to see from them (and the other apps in this sector) is their plan for when data is breached. How will they handle the breach in both communications to customers and in monetization to those who were affected.

And while many wrote about Facebook blocking in corporations, one of the issues no one (including me) seemed to touch on is security. How far are we from a malicious Facebook app?

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MySpace News Is Stealing Your Search Results

from TechCrunch by Duncan Riley

We’ve wondered previously who was going to use MySpace News (if ever), and now we’ve found the traffic source: Google.

Framed pages of blogs and news sites, complete with MySpace News branding and MySpace URL, are being indexed by Google as original content, stealing search engine placement and direct links from content creators.

A search of Google found thousands of MySpace News pages presenting story headlines with a MySpace url that led directly to a framed page that uses content from other sites.

The legality of passing off content as your own is questionable. The case most frequently cited in content framing cases is Washington Post vs Total News where the Washington Post argued that this was unfair and harmful use of their trademark and there was a danger that the user would be confused concerning whose content was being displayed. Unfortunately that case was settled out of court; notably MySpace today is framing content from the Washington Post as well (example here). Some refer to the practice as stealing, and even Chilling Effects notes that the legality of serving framed content is questionable.

The practice may also be in breach of Google’s TOS; MySpace is leveraging its position of strength to promote your content branded as their content in the Google search results, a practice that looks like search engine manipulation from a distance.

No matter what the legalities and moral dimension, if you’re a publisher and MySpace is hijacking your search results and throwing up a frame with their branding around your content, it’s not a good thing. Given what little traffic MySpace News is doing on their main site, there is little new traffic benefits from the service, instead the traffic from the MySpace News pages on Google cannibalizes existing search traffic.

Here’s hoping the Washington Post and the other big media outlets who are having their content framed and presented as MySpace News content take the matter further.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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Salmon Sperm makes LEDs Brighter

A University of Cincinnati (UC) researcher has an unusual approach to developing “green” electronics — salmon sperm. Date: 9/10/2007 By: Wendy Beckman Phone: (513) 556-1826

Professor Andrew Steckl, a leading expert in light-emitting diodes, is intensifying the properties of LEDs by introducing biological materials, specifically salmon DNA.

Electrons move constantly — think of tiny particles with a negative charge and attention deficit disorder. It is through the movement of these electrons that electric current flows and light is created.

Ohio Eminent Scholar Andrew Steckl is one of the world's leading experts in photonics. (Photo by Dottie Stover)

Steckl is an Ohio Eminent Scholar in UC’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He believed that if the electrons’ mobility could be manipulated, then new properties could be revealed.

In considering materials to introduce to affect the movement of the electrons, Steckl evaluated the source of materials with an eye to supply, especially materials that do not harm the environment.

“Biological materials have many technologically important qualities — electronic, optical, structural, magnetic,” says Steckl. “But certain materials are hard for to duplicate, such as DNA and proteins.” He also wanted a source that was widely available, would not have to be mined, and was not subject to any organization or country’s monopoly. His answer?

Salmon sperm.

“Salmon sperm is considered a waste product of the fishing industry. It’s thrown away by the ton,” says Steckl with a smile. “It’s natural, renewable and perfectly biodegradable.” While Steckl is currently using DNA from salmon, he thinks that other animal or plant sources might be equally useful. And he points out that for the United States, the green device approach takes advantage of something in which we continue to be a world leader — agriculture.

Steckl is pursuing this research in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory. The research was featured recently in such premier scientific publications as the inaugural issue of naturephotonics and on the cover of Applied Physics Letters.

“The Air Force had already been working with DNA for other applications when they came to us and said, ‘We know that you know how to make devices,’” quotes Steckl. “They also knew that they had a good source of salmon DNA.” It was a match made in heaven.

So began Steckl’s work with BioLEDs, devices that incorporate DNA thin films as electron blocking layers. Most of the devices existing today are based on inorganic materials, such as silicon. In the last decade, researchers have been exploring using naturally occurring materials in devices like diodes and transistors.

“The driving force, of course, is cost: cost to the producer, cost to the consumer and cost to the environment” Steckl points out, “but performance has to follow.”

And what a performance — lights, camera, action!

“DNA has certain optical properties that make it unique,” Steckl says. “It allows improvements in one to two orders of magnitude in terms of efficiency, light, brightness — because we can trap electrons longer.”

When electrons collide with oppositely charged particles, they produce very tiny packets of light called “photons.”

“Some of the electrons rushing by have a chance to say ‘hello,’ and get that photon out before they pass out,” Steckl explains. “The more electrons we can keep around, the more photons we can generate.” That’s where the DNA comes in, thanks to a bunch of salmon.

BioLEDs make colors brighter.

“DNA serves as a barrier that affects the motion of the electrons,” says Steckl. It allows Steckl and his fellow researcher, the Air Force’s Dr. James Grote, to control the brightness of the light that comes out.

“The story continues,” says Steckl, again smiling. “I’m receiving salmon sperm from researchers around the world wanting to see if their sperm is good enough.” The next step is to now replace some other materials that go into an LED with biomaterials. The long-term goal is be able to make “green” devices that use only natural, renewable and biodegradable materials.

This research was funded by the United States Air Force.

Here we have the “yin” of biological materials in photonic devices. See Steckl’s “yang” research placing electronics in biological materials: UC Engineering Research Widens Possibilities for Electronic Devices: NSF-funded engineering research on microfluidics at the University of Cincinnati widens the possibilities on the horizon for electronic devices.

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60+ Free Password Managers and Form Fillers

September 17, 2007 — 06:09 PM PDT — by Palin Ningthoujam

If you're an active internet user with accounts on dozens of websites, chances are you already have dozens of user IDs and passwords to remember. An identity system like OpenID may eventually solve all your problems, but until that time you can make use of various tools to save your passwords and automatically fill out forms.

See also: 25+ Ways to Manage Your Online Identity

Password Managers (Online)

Agatra - Online password manager that helps you log in to websites automatically. You can click on the Agatra dashboard where your website links will be displayed.

Clipperz - Online and offline password manager. You can use its one-click login feature to access your websites. It also has a stripped down edition designed for the Firefox sidebar and the Opera panel.

Handy Password - Firefox and IE addon that functions as a password manager, form filler, and a bookmark manager. You can save your data locally or on your email server.

Passlet - A simple online password manager that provides you with your Passlet page where you can store your passwords. Clicking on a particular entry pops up a window that displays the information that you stored for that particular entry.

PassPack - This is an online and offline password generator and manager with many features like 1-click logins, Anti-Phishing, Rapid Sign In, disposable logins, import and export, etc. My personal favorite.

Password Safe - Password manager that has a mini web browser pop up to help you log in to sites. It also has a desktop application for Mac and Windows.

Shibbo - Online password manager that you can use to manage passwords and private information anonymously.

SpyShakers - Online password manager with a drag and drop feature. Password Managers (Desktop applications)

4uOnly - This tool stores your password, which you can access without having you to enter a master password. It uses your windows login ID as your account password.

Absolute Privacy - Stores your contacts, calendar, task list, diary, memos, passwords, and financial information.

Access Manager - Drag and drop passwords from user list to websites.

Agile Password Manager - A small freeware utility to store all your passwords. Offers five sections where you can store your passwords separately - personal, business, web, financial, etc.

Any Password - Store your password in a tree-type structure. Also has an import-export facility.

Comodo -i-Vault - Password generator and manager with a drag and drop interface.

Echo Password Manager - Automatically remembers and retrieves your online passwords and login information. Also has password generator, validator, and multi-language support.

Era Password Manager - Install the Era Password Manager on your USB drive and carry your passwords securely.

Halsa - A simple password manager that comes in six languages - EN, DE, PL, CZ, ES and HU.

JK Password Manager - Stores your passwords on a encrypted and master password protected file.

Keepass Password Safe - Open source application to store all your passwords in a encrypted form.

Keychain - Tracks and stores your passwords in a master-password protected file.

KeyWallet - Free tool to store your passwords. You can drag and drop your passwords to their respective websites forms in a browser.

Master Password - This application has a small floating toolbar that will track, add and manage entries.

nPassword - With this cool application, you can log in to any website or program with its QuickPassword popup feature from where you can drag your login information.

PassLocker - access your websites, email, standalone applications, instant messengers etc.

Passweerd - A USB key portable password manager application where you can store passwords by categories.

Password Assistant - A nifty password generator and analyzer tool. You can make the password output pronounceable so that it is easy to remember.

Password Assistant 2.0 - A Java based application to store all your passwords on your PC.

Password Gorilla -Stores and encrypts your passwords. You can copy the passwords in an encrypted form into your browser.

Password Manager for Opera - Allows you to store non-website related information like application logins, cell phone PINs, etc. using the built-in wand in your Opera browser.

Password Corral - This application stores your passwords in an encrypted form. You can launch browsers from the application itself.

Password Guardian - A simple password manager with import-export facility.

Password Keeper - Stores your passwords in an encrypted form.

Password Keychain - A small password generator and manager. You can use this to launch sites by double clicking the entries in the application.

Password Keyper - A tool that you can use to store and encrypt your passwords. You can launch the urls from the application itself.

Password Organiser - A small tool to store your passwords in one place.

Password Picker - Generate and store your passwords in a secure way.

Password Prime - This tool saves all your passwords and the locations where they are used.

Password Scrambler - An IE addon that provides scrambled passwords for all your web log-ins. You just have to remember the master password and let Password Scrambler do the login automatically.

Remember Me - This tool helps you create multiple password protected profiles and save your password in different categories in an encrypted form.

RN Password Manager 4.0 - Store all your passwords and website urls in one file that can password protected. You can launch your browser from the application or use the application's default web browser.

Scarabay - Password manager application from where you can drag and drop your login information.

SimplePasswords - A lightweight password manager that you can carry around on your USB stick. You can store notes with your passwords as well.

Universal Password Manager - Store your passwords at a password-protected web address. Runs on Windows, Mac OS X & Linux.

YGS Password Manager - Enables you to store all your passwords in the application. You can open the web address from the application itself and also copy the passwords into your clipboard.

Zaid - A simple password manager that can be run from your USB stick.

Form fillers / Browser Add-ons

Billeo Free Password Manager Plus - Browser toolbar that will automatically pre-fill your login information, autofill your contact details on shopping sites, and also serves as an online bill pay assistant.

Biz Form Bar - Browser toolbar with password manager and form filler features with unlimited passwords and profiles.

Google Toolbar - The Autofill feature in the Google toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox helps fill web forms with a click.

Easy login - This is a toolbar button for Internet Explorer that you can use to log into websites with a single mouse click.

Form Auto Filler - Helps automate your form filling in Internet Explorer with a few keyboard buttons.

Formfiller - This is a small Firefox extension to help fill forms. Information from the Formfiller window can be pasted into web forms.

FormSaver - Firefox addon that will save the information you provided while filling an online form and provide the data the next time you fill a similar form.

iMacros for Firefox - Firefox addon that can act as a password manager and form filler, automate the download and upload of pages, and capture web page response time for web developers.

iNetFormFiller - Stores your private data and reproduces order of clicks on web-links when you want to fill an online form.

inFormEnter - A nice Firefox extension that puts image markers beside input fields on websites which can be selected for auto filling forms.

Login Manager - Firefox addon to help you login to the same web service using two different IDs in the same browser session.

Personal Web Helper - A password generator, manager and form filler with an inbuilt browser history cleaner.

Roboform - Browser toolbar that helps automate online form filling and logins. You can only store ten passwords in its free edition though.

Roboform2go - Version of Roboform that you can install on a USB key. It leaves no trace of the application when you unplug the USB key. Only ten passwords on the free version.

Secure Login - Firefox addon for automating web logins. When you are on a particular webpage and you hover above the login button on the toolbar, it displays a series of available login IDs and passwords.

Signupshield Passwords - Firefox addon that has a 1-Click Password manager, form filler, spam control and anti-phishing toolbar.

Shopwiki Form Filler Assistant - Firefox addon that will help you fill forms at various online shopping sites.

Sxipper - Firefox addon that uses the Firefox password manager to track your passwords and form filling information and provides you login options whenever you return to that particular site.

Miscellaneous password tools

Change Forgotten Passwords - Recover your forgotten passwords from Internet Explorer, IMs, Outlook, shared folders, and many more.

Master Password Timeout - This Firefox addon locks the master security device after a specified amount of time. Password Decrypter - Decrypts hidden asterisk passwords into plain-text.

Password Dynamo - A nifty password generator. Requires .NET Framework 2.0+ to work. Password Exporter - Imports and exports passwords from Firefox, Thunderbird, Flock, and Songbird.

Password Finder - This Firefox addon adds the search function to the password manager.

Password Generator - You can generate up to 1000 passwords with this tool and save them on your clipboard.

PDF Filler - Online tool to help you fill any PDF form on-line in 3 steps.

Serial Key Manager - Saves your software serials in the Windows Registry.

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