The importance of the law against revealing the true professional identity of an agent is advertised by the draconian punishment, under the federal code, for violating it. In the swirl of the Libby affair, one loses sight of the real offense, and it becomes almost inapprehensible what it is that Cheney/Libby/Rove got themselves into. But the sacredness of the law against betraying a clandestine soldier of the republic cannot be slighted.
I meant to post about this a few days ago, but got really busy. William F. Buckley has written an excellent article about the CIA leak scandal (via Doc Searls). I don’t always agree with his politics. But I have to respect someone who calls it as he sees it, without regard to his political affiliation.
If you are a podcaster or like listening to podcasts, I recommend listening to today’s Daily Source Code. It appears that the music industry is preparing to expand its extortion racket into the podosphere.
From News.com (via Slashdot):
Charlotte, N.C.-based Scientigo owns two patents (No. 5,842,213 and No. 6,393,426) covering the transfer of “data in neutral forms.” These patents, one of which was applied for in 1997, are infringed upon by the data-formatting standard XML, Scientigo executives assert.
Scientigo intends to “monetize” this intellectual property, Scientigo CEO Doyal Bryant said this week.
Companies that monetize intellectual property like this deserve to be put out of business. Period.
At least it’s unlikely that they’re going to win any cases. But damage will still be done. And the lawyers will be laughing all the way to the bank.
My Chicago friends will be glad to know that they can now photograph the Bean without being harassed by the man.
