Author: admin

Illinois court throws out ‘Amazon tax’ online sales law

The Illinois State supreme court ended up having to school the Illinois State legislature on where the state borders end on taxes, by throwing out their “Amazon Tax” on online sales.  Amazon cut their affiliate program in the state of Illinois as a result of this law passed in 2011, and rightly so – all state legislatures understand the concept of tax nexus. Now many are very creative in defining exactly what that is, but what it has always meant was a physical presence within a state. It is quite simple – if you aren’t there, the state cannot demand you pay taxes. It is the same reason why US online retailers and catalogers do not collect VAT (value added tax) when shipping to European customers, even though many European countries demand it.

Internet Brain Suck: (P&Q)≠(P→Q)٧(Q→P)

That’s Correlation does not Imply Causation – and its the blogger heaven of logical fallacies. Roughly, it means two (or more) events can occur without one being the cause of the other. This is a logical fallacy, but there is often wiggle room. Two causes may be present in a result in a way that is extremely suggestive but not proven to be 100% true – like obesity and diabetes. There could be some science that will prove the link one day. Or there could be yet some unidentified event – or numerous chained links of events. Continue reading Internet Brain Suck: (P&Q)≠(P→Q)٧(Q→P)

How Secure is your Identity on Facebook?

Have you gotten a warning recently that your account was locked because someone tried to access it from a new location? If you’ve gotten one by email, think twice about clicking through as it may not be from Facebook. On the other hand – if you go to facebook.com and get one of these messages – take it seriously!

 

Five Considerations Before Using a Brokerage EULA

Somewhere between a reseller and a publisher is an entity called a brokerage. A reseller sells products made by vendors; resellers provide shelf space and basic terms of sale of a package, and that’s about it. A publisher on the other hand, manages all aspects of product sales, support and sub-licensing, and from a customer perspective, the publisher is the sole source of the product, and the customer relationship exists between the customer and the publisher.

Then there is the brokerage, which is somewhere in between. There are all kinds of brokerages out there, but I am going to focus on the ones that broker content from creator artists, 3D designers and photographers and then license it to the end user – most specifically for 3D models, such as those provided by Meshbox Design. Brokerages own the customer relationship, and may require you to use their End User License Agreement on your product, as a condition of working with them.

At this point, I have to disclaim any and all claims that I am practicing law of any kind. I am not a lawyer. Anything resembling legal advice here isn’t legal advice. What I hope to provide though is some insight into using a license provided by a brokerage. Continue reading Five Considerations Before Using a Brokerage EULA

The Sleaziness of Google and Chilling Effects Displaying Engine Removed Links

Google makes a good show of supporting intellectual property rights. I have been a believer but I just had my faith shaken when I discovered a sleazy trick Google perpetuates when it removes materials from its search engine as a result of an intellectual property complaint (DMCA). After you use their Webmaster tools to report URLs that link to violating materials, Google goes through the process of checking the links, and then reporting that they are removed from their search engine.

What Google isn’t saying  is that it puts not only the report of the removal of the take down notice to Chilling Effects, it also includes the link itself. That is, the link to the actual location where the abuse is taking place.  Now Google could claim that they aren’t posting it, that Chilling Effects is. However providing the actual link to Chilling Effects merely propagates the violation on yet another site.

Many copyright holders make requests to Google because the sites containing the copyrighted materials are located in countries where copyrights have very little meaning. Sending take down notices mean nothing, other than giving those sites an extra email address to spam.

Adobe CS Dead: Web Service Only Not Good for Consumers

Adobe announcement Adobe Accelerates Shift to the Cloud includes a death sentence on standalone channel applications of Creative Suite. CS 6 is the end of the line. This strategy is good for Adobe but it is not good for users. Continue reading Adobe CS Dead: Web Service Only Not Good for Consumers

Governance and Accountability in Technology Spending

Ars Technica report on West Virginia overspending on Cisco routers while fascinating  misplaces much of  its blame on Cisco for selling unnecessary equipment to the state. It is misplaced because the state government of West Virginia failed to properly assess its needs for the technology.

While the state auditor states “Cisco representatives showed a wanton indifference to the interests of the public in recommending using $24 million of public funds to purchase 1,164 Cisco model 3945 branch routers,” where is the statement that the employees of the State of West Virginia showed both incompetence and negligence in its governance of the project and accountability in spending? Continue reading Governance and Accountability in Technology Spending

Microsoft Gambles on Subscriptions in Office 365 and Office 2013

Ever since the introduction of the Office ribbon in Office 2007, I have begun to think Microsoft has a secret soft spot for open source software. No action prior to this had motivated me more to look at open source offerings. With Office 365, the version associated with Windows 8, Microsoft again provides sufficient motivation to look at alternatives*. Continue reading Microsoft Gambles on Subscriptions in Office 365 and Office 2013