Un-redact Attack / Culture Theft
Another link, courtesy of BoingBoing: researchers have been able to use a computer program to un-blacken redacted material in the DoD memos, to show that they reported that Egypt and South Korea helped the Iraqis. Yay, for transparency! This is how it works:
The program rejected all of the words that were not within three pixels of the length of the word that was probably under the blacked-out area in the document.he program rejected all of the words that were not within three pixels of the length of the word that was probably under the blacked-out area in the document.
The software then reduced the number of possible words to just seven from 1,530 by using semantic guidelines, including the grammatical context. The researchers selected the word “Egyptian” from the seven possible words, rejecting “Ukrainian” and “Ugandan,” because those countries would be less likely to have such information.
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On an entirely separate note, I now have another reason to hate McDonald’s; they just trademarked the phrase, “I am Asian.” Give me back my identity, B*! Someone, please start a petition about this now. I am never letting my Hapa kids eat there.
Whup
May 11, 2004 @ 10:29 am
that’s awesome stuff… now bring out some JFK files 😀
Andrew
May 12, 2004 @ 10:47 am
I can’t believe that stunt McDonald’s pulled…lame, utterly lame.
Simon
May 12, 2004 @ 11:33 am
Yes, because when one thinks of Asians, everyone naturally thinks about McDonald’s, even other Asians. This sort of thing sorely tempts me to paramilitary action. Mr. Ashcroft, if you’re reading this, I’m only kidding. Mostly.
david bang
May 12, 2004 @ 8:10 pm
Is the “I am Asian” line part of an ad campaign? And if not, can somebody arbitrarily take a phrase and trademark it just like taht?
echan
May 13, 2004 @ 11:24 am
Hm, Trademark law is the one area of IP that I haven’t studied, so I don’t know the doctrine and exceptions. But I think that when you register a mark, and you put it into use, you can enforce it within your line of business. For instance, McDonald’s could not send you a letter if you were using the “I am Asian” phrase to sell radiator caps, but they could probably send a cease and desist letter to Panda Express for “stealing” the phrase. (Disclaimer: this is not meant to be taken as legal advice, please consult an attorney for trademark law).
I think now, I am more offended that McD’s whole ad campaign in this regard; I think it stigmatizes Asian people as “the other.” I can’t imagine them launching a website that says, “I am Black,” or “I am White.” I think it makes Asian people seem more foreign, and different from the rest of American culture.
echan
May 13, 2004 @ 11:35 am
Btw, I would love to draft and circulate a petition myself, but I have a well documented conflict, my ties to the KFC mafia.
badxmaru
May 14, 2004 @ 3:05 am
hey come distract me when you get in my hood!
cya soon