Intellectual Property: A Definition Intellectual property, very generally, relates to the output, which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. Traditionally intellectual property is divided into two branches: 1) Industrial Property a) b) c) d) Unfair competition (trade secrets) e) Geographical indications (indications of source and appellations of origin) 2) Copyright The protection of intellectual property is guaranteed through a variety of laws, which grant the creators of intellectual goods, and services certain time-limited rights to control the use made of their products. Those rights apply to the intellectual creation as such, and not to the physical object in which the work may be embodied. |
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Centralization of the Content Industry Following the 1980s a sweeping restructuring of commercial media power has happened. While some firms have grown through expansion others extended through mergers and acquisitions. Examples are In recent years those developments have led to the rise of transnational media giants, resulting in the domination of the global media system by about ten huge conglomerates. These have interests in numerous media industries, ranging from film production, magazines, newspapers, book publishing and recorded music to TV and radio channels and networks, but also include retail stores, amusement parks and digital media products. Behind these firms are about three or four dozen smaller media companies, which primarily engage in local, national or niche markets. In short, the overwhelming majority of the world's content production facilities and distribution channels lies in the hands of approximately fifty enterprises. |
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Cryptography's Terms and background "All nature is merely a cipher and a secret writing." Blaise de Vigenère In the (dis-)information age getting information but at the same time excluding others from it is part of a power-game (keeping the other uneducated). The reason for it eventually has found an argument called security. Compared to the frequency of its presence in articles, the news and political speeches security seems to be one of the most popular words of the 90's. It must be a long time ago when that word was only used for and by the military and the police. Today one can find it as part of every political issue. Even development assistance and nutrition programs consider it part of its work. The so-called but also real need for information security is widespread and concerning everybody, whether someone uses information technology or not. In any case information about individuals is moving globally; mostly sensitive information like about bank records, insurance and medical data, credit card transactions, and much much more. Any kind of personal or business communication, including telephone conversations, fax messages, and of course e-mail is concerned. Not to forget further financial transactions and business information. Almost every aspect of modern life is affected. We want to communicate with everybody - but do not want anybody to know. Whereas the market already depends on the electronic flow of information and the digital tools get faster and more sophisticated all the time, the rise of privacy and security concerns have to be stated as well. With the increase of digital communication its vulnerability is increasing just as fast. And there exist two (or three) elements competing and giving the term digital security a rather drastic bitter taste: this is on the one hand the growing possibility for criminals to use modern technology not only to hide their source and work secretly but also to manipulate financial and other transfers. On the other hand there are the governments of many states telling the population that they need access to any kind of data to keep control against those criminals. And finally there are those people, living between enlightening security gaps and at the same time harming other private people's actions with their work: computer hackers. While the potential of global information is regarded as endless, it is those elements that reduce it. There is no definite solution, but at least some tools have been developed to improve the situation: cryptography, the freedom to encode those data that one does not want to be known by everybody, and give a possibility to decode them to those who shall know the data. During the last 80 years cryptography has changed from a mere political into a private, economic but still political tool: at the same time it was necessary to improve the tools, eventually based on mathematics. Hence generally cryptography is regarded as something very complicated. And in many ways this is true as the modern ways of enciphering are all about mathematics. "Crypto is not mathematics, but crypto can be highly mathematical, crypto can use mathematics, but good crypto can be done without a great reliance on complex mathematics." (W.T. Shaw) For an introduction into cryptography and the mathematical tasks see: |
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Rudy Giuliani Born in 1944, Giuliani became famous in the mid Eighties, as a typical Eighties figure: a censor of corruption and greed. In the Seventies he had switched his registration from Democratic to Republican, and served a stint in the Reagan Justice Department. In 1983 he became U.S. Attorney for the southern District of New York, and his career took off. He was aggressive, headline grabbing, none too scrupulous about the finer points of civil liberties, and often effective. He used the RICO Act against organized crime, and pioneered the use of asset forfeiture in prosecuting drug dealers. He also moved against political corruption in New York City, toppling the Democratic leaders of the Bronx and Queens. |
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Royal Dutch/Shell Group One of the world's largest corporate entities in sales, consisting of companies in more than 100 countries, whose shares are owned by NV Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Petroleum Company Ltd.) of The Hague and by the "Shell" Transport and Trading Company, PLC, of London. Below these two parent companies are two holding companies, Shell Petroleum NV and the Shell Petroleum Company Limited, whose shares are owned 60 percent by Royal Dutch and 40 percent by "Shell" Transport and Trading. The holding companies, in turn, hold shares in and administer the subsidiary service companies and operating companies around the world, which engage in oil, petrochemical, and associated industries, from research and exploration to production and marketing. Several companies also deal in metals, nuclear energy, solar energy, coal, and consumer products. |
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Invention of photo copies, 1727 Searching for the Balduinist fluorescenting phosphor (Balduinischer Leuchtphosphor), an artificial fluorescent, Johann Heinrich Schulze realized the first photocopies, but does not put them into practical use. Not before 1843 the first optical photocopier was patented, when William Henry Fox Talbot got granted a patent for his magnifying apparatus. In 1847 Frederick Collier Bakewell developed a procedure for telecopying, a forerunner of the fax machine. But not before 1902 images could be transmitted. Almost 200 years after Schulze's discovery, for the first time photo telegraphy was offered as telecommunication service in Germany in 1922. Source: Klaus Urbons, Copy Art. Kunst und Design mit dem Fotokopierer, Köln: Dumont, 1993 (2nd edition) |
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