Many people agree that the current U.S. patent system is broken in some form or another, especially when it comes to technology. I’m all for having a process in place for individuals to protect their intellectual property so that they are recognized and rewarded for their inventions and creativity, but the hoarding of patents and the entire “patent troll” industry shines a harsh light on the faults in the system.

Well, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit may have made a pretty big step in the right direction as they delivered a ruling that should restricts patents for software and business methods. Basically, the court emphasized that these patents need to meet one of two specific criteria for them to be valid – a patent needs to be tied to a specific machine or it needs to change something from one “state” to another.

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One of the world’s largest spam rings has recently been targeted and shut down by authorities. The internation spam group was connected with Australia, India, China, New Zealand and the United States and is considered one of the most extensive spam operations uncovered to date.

The group used a botnet of 35,000 computers to spam emails that pushed counterfeit drugs, pornography, and herbal male enhancement pills – the kinds of email most think of when they think of spam. The group apparently cleared $400,000 in Visa charges in a single month. The F.T.C. has attempted to freeze the group’s finances while the federal government is pursuing criminal charges against the group.

People who spam like this are criminals and unethical human beings… it’s that simple. I hope they all get caught and are thrown behind bars so that they realize they can’t just hide behind their computer screens.

There’s not much else to say about this. Spam will never die, but every time a large spam group such as this gets caught, a tiny feeling of hope grows inside. That is, until I open my inbox and see hundreds of new offers for Viagra knock-offs.

A great essay is up over at Slashdot that dives into the frequency spammers lie in the courtroom. Included in the essay is some interesting anecdotal evidence that discusses various situations in which a spammer tried to lie in court and how easily they were found out. It’s also interesting to see how various judges have reacted to the perjury, with some ignoring it completely.

The main point of the article is to explain how spammers are basically liars by nature and that cracking down on their lies in court can help set an example that may just put a dent in the spamming culture. As I’ve said many times on this blog, courts always seem to be a few steps behind technology, and as such, are lagging when it comes to dealing with the negative aspects of the internet. Awareness is key and shedding light on the lies in court is definitely a step in the right direction.