29th
Feds to World: Tech is Here to Stay—Deal with It.
On Monday, July 26, 2010, two very different pronouncements by two very different government agencies offer a common theme around emerging technologies. The message is clear—new technology that provides real benefits must be allowed, unless there is an overwhelming public interest that it should be restricted.
The more widely read case was the Library of Congress’ finding that the practice of jailbreaking iPhones, or any mobile computing device of its ilk, is not a practice protected by copyright, which is to say broadly—it’s legal. Of course, Apple retorts that doing so might violate terms of service and therefore void warranty, but that’s a different matter. The bottom line is that no one’s going to the pokey for downloading Cydia.
In the less publicized announcement (at least among the technoratti), updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provide new guidance for the growing population of disabled persons using Segway devices in lieu of traditional wheelchairs. Basically, under the re-tooled ADA, Segways are legitimate devices for disabled people to get around—and unless a business can legitimately claim that the unique attributes of the device pose a particular threat to safety, they must be allowed.
In both of these situations, the audience that is directly affected by the ruling is relatively small compared to the broader universe of people who use the devices. But everyone who uses these devices has a lot to gain.
In the case of jailbroken iPhones, a bounty of new underlying capabilities available to the handset itself, but heretofore forbidden by Apple, can now be legally exploited. If you want to. Or by all means, stay inside the walled garden—it’s nice there.
In the case of Segway devices, if you go to most theme parks or places of public accommodation that previously gave Segway users major hassle, or forbade their use—the Big Heat will probably back off entirely. Even if you’re not disabled. Why? Because who wants to get slapped with a lawsuit for discrimination for asking a patron if that Segway is really being used to accommodate a disability? Would you expect to get the same treatment for rolling into the CVS with a wheelchair? I suspect not.
These two findings are good news for all of us. They demonstrate a realistic, if long overdue acceptance of emerging technologies as being legitimate replacements for existing tools. And what’s progress if not to allow better designs to prevail?
And if you don’t like it, by all means, stay inside with your 1995-era analog TV. You can turn it on. No one will stop you. Oh, and that funny pattern you see is what we in the biz call “static.” Enjoy.
