Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.—Buddha
Once words leave your mouth, or your fingers, the matter of who owns them becomes questionable and often it isn’t you.
I was amused recently when the driver of a car that was passing us could be seen gesturing rather vehemently while she talked, neither hand actually on the steering wheel as she passed. She was deep in conversation and obviously very passionate about the topic. While the visual observance was humorous, I was also just a bit concerned that neither of her hands were on the wheel as she zipped down the rather crowded street. The whole thing made me curious as to what she might be discussing, but that’s none of my business, right?
There is audio going viral of a certain well-known rapper who recently appeared on the television program Saturday Night Live. The rapper, whose ego is matched only by his narcissism, can be heard claiming that he is fifty percent more influential than any other person and then instructing those within immediate hearing distance, “don’t fuck with me!” Here’s the thing: the rapper was not in public space at the time the words were spoken. He was behind a closed door with his team. He did not know he was being recorded, but not the rantings of this petulant child are scattered across the Internet. There’s no getting them back. You can hear the audio here.
We tend to not give a great deal of thought to how important our words might be, and we almost never give any consideration to who owns the conversations we have, whether face to face or online. When texting your significant other that they need to purchase milk on their way home, one typically doesn’t consider that message profound enough to warrant any type of legal protection. The words are just out there, no big deal.
Consider, however, that one is a songwriter or a scriptwriter swapping ideas with a writing partner. Concepts and phrases jump back and forth between the two, and then, months later, one discovers that the other has used pieces of that conversation in a script or a song without crediting the partner. The next text is likely to be to a lawyer. However, one might ask why one set of words is protected more than the other.
This isn’t a new conversation, actually. I remember while I was still in college, 40 or 50 eons ago, there being a significant lawsuit over who owned letters in a correspondence between a now-famous author and a friend. Both subjects were deceased and the author’s family wanted the letters back because they contained information regarding the influences and inspirations and state of mind the author had while writing different books. The family of the friend did not want to let them go, however, claiming that once the author had mailed the letters they were no longer his (which is standard case law).
So, when you open your mouth or send a message to a friend, regardless of the medium, who owns that information and who has a right to access that information, especially if you’re not around to access it yourself.?
That question is at the core of the FBI’s request, and subsequent court order, for Apple to create software that would undo the encryption on the phone used by one of the shooters in a terrorist act last December. The stance taken by Apple, and vehemently argued by CEO Tim Cook, is that you own the words you type, and the communication you engage through your phone. To that end, Apple has natively encrypted everything on their iPhone with a level of security that even Apple itself cannot hack.
However, laws allow that any communication made in relation to or during the commission of a crime can be used to prosecute those who committed that crime and, especially in the case of what would be considered terrorist activities, to prevent additional crimes from being committed. Therefore, the FBI, with the court’s backing, they have a right to access the information on that phone.
Remember that line in the list of Miranda rights that says, “You have the right to remain silent. If you choose to not remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” All of your words, any of your words, can be used against you. If your words can be used against you, do you still own them?
At the same time, those seemingly innocent conversations can save one a lot of trouble. Let’s go back to that text about buying milk on the way home. That text is essentially creating an alibi for where your significant other goes between work and home. Should a crime be committed in the same area about the same time, that text could potentially help exonerate your partner, but only if you share it. One has to let go of the strict possession of that message.
Even words that we copyright, such as those I’m typing now, we don’t fully own. Copyright law allows for “acceptable use” by third parties, use that does not require my permission. My words can end up used in ways I did not intend and cannot control. In fact, I might never know the extent to which my words are being used out of context.
Here’s the frightening fact: one words leave your brain, regardless of medium, you lose control of those words, where they go, how they are used, and whom they influence. Privacy, as much as we may value it, is an illusion. And words we don’t control can get us into trouble.
Last example: I may tell Kat that I am shooting two people this evening. She understands those words to mean that I’m taking pictures later today. She goes to the salon, then, and casually mentions to one of her co-workers that I am shooting two people this evening. A guest who doesn’t know me becomes alarmed and notifies police. Why? I am shooting two people this evening. Doesn’t that sound like something the police needs to know?
My words, but I don’t own them.
Maybe, just maybe, we should give a bit more thought to our words before we allow them to escape our grasp.
5 Things You Should Know: 12/22/2016
04:58:13Â 12/22/2016
https://youtu.be/eJKvb6KDcp0
A brief moment of clarity between confusion and chaos
Hey there! Welcome to Thursday, the one day this week that doesn’t have some form of holiday attached to it. This is your last chance to catch your breath before all the candles and tinsel and eggnog take over and send the next four days into a complete tizzy. Don’t ask me what a tizzy is. My mother used that word often around the holidays, though, and it is a rather fun way to describe the chaos of the season.
We have seriously bad weather shaping up for this weekend. What it comes down to is if you’re not getting snow you’re probably getting thunderstorms with the possibility of tornadoes across the central states. At least you won’t have to share road space with driverless Uber cars as they’ve had their registration suspended, and the last remaining civilians are leaving Aleppo, Syria today. I look at the news feeds from Reuters and the Associated Press and see a lot of chaos. Let’s see if we can provide a bit of clarity.
North Carolina lawmakers are still jackasses
The whole purpose of the North Carolina state legislature meeting in special session yesterday was so they could repeal the controversial HB2 bill that prohibited transgender people from using the restroom with which they identify. That didn’t happen1.
Please note that the city of Charlotte kept their end of the bargain. They met Wednesday morning and repealed the anti-discrimination bill that started this whole mess. Heaven forbid transgender people have any legal protections in the state of North Carolina. What was supposed to happen next was a complete repeal of HB2. However, Republican legislators added language to the repeal that would have called for a “cooling off” period of indeterminate length wherein no city or county could enact their own anti-discrimination law, effectively making the repeal moot. Obviously, that didn’t set well with state Democrats who backed off the bill. Meanwhile, hardline Republicans were upset that any repeal was considered at all.
I don’t know what they’re putting in the water in North Carolina but this is one of the most ridiculous displays of improper governance I’ve ever seen. The Charlotte city council has not yet said how they will respond to this breach of trust. It seems almost certain that this could lead to a new round of boycotts and job losses for the state on top of the millions already lost. I think Santa can just skip the entire state of North Carolina this year.
Security concerns across the US
After the attack in Berlin that left 12 dead, and especially given the fact that authorities across Europe are still looking for the Tunisian man accused of the attack, security is on high alert this holiday weekend anywhere large numbers of people are planned to gather2. If you are traveling, expect to see more police and TSA officers roaming the concourse and one is likely to see especially high security with international travel to and from Europe.
Here in the US, heavily-armed counterterrorism officers are standing guard at places such as New York’s pop-up Christmas markets in Union Square, Bryant Park, and Columbus Circle. In Chicago, the police presence is especially high at Daley Plaza with police vehicles parked so as to prevent a truck or any other vehicle from getting through. In Los Angeles, where there are several large events planned for the weekend and preparations are under way for the Rose parade, police have placed large equipment at the entrance to large events to prevent an attack such as what happened in Berlin.
While police presence in the largest cities are the most visible, smaller cities across the country have taken their share of precautions as well. Truck rental companies everywhere have been asked to contact local police should they encounter someone renting a truck who cannot give an adequate answer to what their plans for the vehicle might be. Police assigned to large events such as holiday football games and parades are more heavily armed and making good use of canine patrols. If ever there were a time for the phrase, “if you see something, say something,” this would be it.
Telephone patent wars
While many companies are winding down operations for the year and trying to end on a nice, tidy note, Nokia decided this would be a good time to file suit against Apple for patent infringement3. Nokia filed the suits in both Germany and the US, claiming that patents for displays, user interfaces, software, antennas, chipsets and video coding were being used by Apple outside their 2011 licensing agreement.
However, Apple says that Nokia is asking too much for the license to the disputed technologies. To that end, Apple has filed suit against Acacia Research Corp (ACTG.O) and Conversant Intellectual Property Management Inc [GEGGIM.UL], accusing them of colluding with Nokia to extract and extort exorbitant prices for the technology. Where this really gets confusing is when you realize that the Apple suit was filed just one day after Conversant named a former Apple executive as its new CEO.
What this ultimately means for consumers is that new editions of the famous Apple iPhone could be delayed and already high prices could go even higher. While Nokia phones hold an insignificant share of the market, the patents they hold are licensed by a number of phone makers around the world making this an issue that could affect almost everyone’s pocket book over the next couple of years.
The high cost of advertising
Yet another price fixing scandal is in the news this week and this time it involves the four largest holding companies in the advertising industry. Omnicom, Publicis, WPP, and IPG have all confirmed that they have received subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division4. The subpoenas are part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of bid fixing for video and post-production services within the industry.
Without talking too much shop, what the Justice Department is claiming is that subsidiaries of the holding group, with the knowledge and implied consent of the partners in each group, are colluding with video and post-production companies to rig bids on large projects in exchange for promising the production companies additional business down the road. Those within the ad industry know this is not an uncommon practice in an effort to win a large, competitive account. Officially, however, the agencies all state that such practices are forbidden.
Where this all shakes out is that the smaller sub-contracted production companies often end up taking a loss while the big holding groups reap the profits. Small companies are hesitant to turn down the request, especially if it means getting to work on a high-profile account such as Ford or Coca-Cola. The downside is that even if the Justice Department is able to prove the big four are guilty of bid rigging, there is not a lot of teeth to their bite. Fines are the only punishment likely to be imposed and the companies would simply compensate by raising prices for their services.
And finally …
We had to do some digging to find much in the way of good news this morning, but we found it out in Arizona where a Virginia couple announced yesterday they had given birth to a set of quintuplets earlier this month5. Margaret and Michael Baudinet are the proud parents of four girls and a boy after a very careful and quiet pregnancy. The family temporarily moved to Phoenix moved to be closer to Dr. John Elliott, a specialist in multiple-birth pregnancies.
Anyone who has experienced multiple births knows how fraught with anxiety they can be. Even having twins presents a series of complications not seen in a single childbirth. However, doctors at the Arizona hospital say the delivery of the quints went extremely well. The babies all weighed a little more than three pounds at birth and were delivered within 17 minutes of each other thanks to a team of 24 medical professionals.
While the babies are still in neonatal ICU, they are all breathing on their own and are being bottle fed. The Baudinets plan to return to Virginia with their new family sometime next month.
That’s all we’re telling on this Thursday. Please do be careful as you are out and about with all those last-minute activities. We really do hope you’ll do us the favor of subscribing. That’s all we want for Christmas. Stay warm and we will see you again tomorrow.
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