NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] CBS Borg Force Google to Disintegrate Android "Tricorder" App
CBS Borg Force Google to Disintegrate Android "Tricorder" App
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000894.html
OK, this isn't the end of the galaxy, the quadrant, or even the world.
But it sure is another example of how totally *inane*
intellectual property demands have become. Make sure you're sitting
down before reading onward for this one.
Since early in the public availability of Google's Android OS, there's
been an Android user app under continuing development called
"Tricorder" -- delightful, free, and utterly harmless.
The Tricorder app displays, with optional beeps and boops to gladden
the heart of any Trekkie or Trekker (don't drag me into that
comparative naming issue, please!), a variety of Android phone sensor
data and some external info, such as current solar conditions and the
like.
Tricorder's very limited display layout is a bit reminiscent of the
colors and curves of Enterprise display screens from "Star Trek: The
Next Generation," but only in the most general of ways. Great fun
for Trek fans, though.
Now, after all this time, comes word that CBS ordered Google to pull
the app from the Android store, causing the author to defensively
obliterate his associated Google Code hosted project
( http://j.mp/nQwCTA [Google Code] ).
CBS claims infringement on the "LCARS graphical user interface" from
the show.
To call this moronic would be an understatement similar to calling the
Borg a "minor nuisance" to The Federation.
The Android Tricorder app "infringes" on Star Trek to the same degree
that a homemade model of the Empire State Building created from LEGO
building blocks would infringe on the property rights of Malkin
Holdings (owners of the actual building).
It's almost (but not quite!) possible to feel sorry for the poor slob
at CBS or their law firm whose job it must be to go searching around
the Net for anything even vaguely Trek-like on which to sic the DMCA.
Using heavy boots to stomp on Tribbles is probably this person's idea
of a good time.
Many, many Stardates ago, I spent a chunk of my life in Hollywood
working within the Star Trek universe, and I had the opportunity to
interact with various of the original creators and principals. Even
way back then, there was certainly an interest in protecting against
direct copying of key Trek intellectual property, but I believe that
the concept of calling out the lawyers to shut down a remotely
affiliated free Tricorder simulation would have been laughed right off
the sound stage.
And of course, you can still find the Tricorder app (latest version
5.12, I believe) with a wee bit of searching -- at least perhaps until
Congress passes PROTECT IP and starts to enforce its censorship will
on the entire Internet. Kinda makes the Borg's "assimilation" scheme
seem almost lightweight by comparison.
In 1976, in the classic skit "The Last Voyage of the Starship
Enterprise" from the first season of "Saturday Night Live," the late
John Belushi's character of Captain Kirk explained that, "We have
tried to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations, to
boldly go where no man has gone before. And except for one television
network, we have found intelligent life everywhere in the galaxy."
( http://j.mp/pZ5bAX [Hulu] )
At the time, he was speaking of NBC. Those words written by Michael
O'Donoghue could be applied in reference to CBS with an order of
magnitude more emphasis today.
When it comes to copyright laws and intellectual property in the
Internet universe of the present, it's Star Peck, Wreck, and Dreck --
not Trek.
CBS and its kin, like the Borg, tell us that "resistance is futile."
We shall see.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com