Mark Zuckerberg's Patent | Hacker News Reader

Mark Zuckerberg's Patent

appft1.uspto.gov

22 pointskirubakaran34 comments

Wow! A summary of privacy settings. Amazing! It's so original and clever. Boy, I wish other software could have a summary of privacy settings. We could even generalize this to summaries of other sorts of settings.

My head spins with the genius of it. I think I need a lie down.

I'm not a shilling for Zuckerberg but you are being too hard on him. First, the patent isn't for "summary of privacy settings", it is for a systems/methods to generate the said summary. Second, a patent isn't supposed to be original or clever. The criteria are 1) novel, which can be a non-original, i.e. a derivative work. 2) non-obvious (to one skilled in the arts) or in other words non-obvious to a patent examiner who doesn't know much except for some prior patents in the field.

Any software patent is 'non-obvious' to a non-programmer. That's the problem with them.

them = patents, or non-programmers?

Patents, of course.

Well the real problem is the patent examiners probably aren't programmers, thus won't have a good idea of what should be patentable.

For most CS students/programmers, I'd wager that being a patent examiner isn't very alluring. This is even more evident at career fairs where representatives from the USPTO have to get in your face to grab your attention. You just don't see too many students lining up to talk to them, rather than say, Google or Microsoft.

I can't decide if he was joking or not.

I think your statement lacks nuance and insight I came to expect from ycnews.

So why not give your opinion, and add to the debate? Do you think most software patents are non-obvious? How can a software patent be non-obvious? All programs are pretty obvious. Algorithms, not so much, but then you're talking more mathematics, which should not be patentable anyway.

>"All programs are pretty obvious. Algorithms, not so much."

How do you expect anyone to respond to something like that? Are you suggesting programs are not algorithms? Can you point to an authoritative reference explaining the difference?

I gave my informed opinion on patents, unfortunately this site is turning into reddit just like reddit turned into digg.

There's a big difference between "System and apparatus to display 'hello world'", and say an encryption algorithm.

Yes it's a blurred line, but I'd say most programs are todo lists, rather than complex algorithms of scientific merit.

For example, say the software that runs facebook - that's pretty much going to be 'grunt work' - lots of building blocks, shoved together, to make something work.

But a compression algorithm, has more of a basis in mathematics entropy etc.

My sincere apologies if this once again disappoints your view of what comments on hacker news should be.

(I have several software patents, but I firmly believe they are a terrible idea).

Sorry, but Windows has had the ability to generate summaries of privacy settings ever since NT and the creation of NTFS w/ ACL configuration. It's called "Effective Permissions" and tells you - bottom line, all settings and configurations taken into account - what each user can access and what they can't.

Obviously MS hasn't contested this patent yet, but I wonder what they'll do when they read it up....

Again, the patent isn't for "ability to generate summaries of privacy settings". The patent is for systems/methods to do so. Consider a patent for systems/methods of flying. Such a patent doesn't infringe on attempts of flying, just on systems/methods described by the patent.

Oh, yeah. Sarcasm detector. That's a real useful invention.

Note to readers: this is a patent application, not an issued patent.

Sounds like a good candidate for the EFF patent busting project: http://w2.eff.org/patent/

Anyone know of any prior art?

(I don't know if they pick patents to bust on their own or take requests)

EDIT: If the above poster osipov is correct and this patent is legit/novel, please disregard my comment.

It isn't novel. See my reply above.

I request everyone to donate to EFF.

amen

This is a joke right? I mean, it sounds like the patent for a web form. Get info, use info, deliver it back to user. Replace privacy summary with almost anything else and you have a basic function of most websites.

Lets all say it the way it should be: this is a joke!! A patent for a high school level process programming? Come on!

Sorry I had to post another comment after actually reading the whole stuff.

If this patent weren’t from the founder of Facebook it will almost sound funny. I have never seen anything like this.

IMHO, MZ as inventor of said patent makes this funny*scary^2.

Look at the patent app again. It's not just privacy settings; it's the blueprint for the mechanism that the Data Portability group has been talking about. That's why Zuckerberg doesn't want Facebook to really play their reindeer games. They want to build it themselves and have Facebook as the hub of the wheel with spokes off to everything else.

After reading the discussion I have to point out the obvious: it's an application not a patent.

I thought it was going to be about a system of being a dick to everyone you've ever done business with or who helped you early on, but this is almost as obvious.

Say it loud! more details please.

I wonder if they submitted this patent application in crayon. The abstract reads like it was written by a third grader.

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