IBM Patents Idea of Making Your Data Crappier Over Time

[supere989]

"Imagine your surprise when, a couple decades from now, you see your digital pictures that have been automatically exposed to an artificial aging process and now deliver only a fraction of the quality they once did....."

"I can tell by the comments that nobody understands what this does. For example if you have a .doc that has not been accessed in say 12 months it gets shipped to the aging server which then transforms it to lets say a .pdf which makes it a smaller file, but the editing ability is removed, etc. This is not to degrade your data, but to allow you to keep more of it for an extended amount of time."

Seriously, if this is the case then the article writer here made for a serious loss in translation of how this is supposed to benefit humanity.

 

[jlight27]

I agree with legacy7955...I could see this used for in-house documents that have a certain life span and then self destruct on their own...this way, that business can say and due whatever they want through the documents and then after a certain time limit they go away and are erased from existence...this would help if there were dirty dealings/insider trading/credit default swaps/(Insert what ever business deal that you don't want the government to find out...say FBI, the SCC, Congress, etc.) The White House is required to keep a database of all memos and emails that are sent through that branch of government...if there was an artificial decay to the documents (Say the lifespan of the President - 4 to 8 years)...those in charge can honestly say that the documents no longer exist. This is the same practice that was done at the early 20th century and the mid 20th century...it's called burning the evidence so that you don't get into trouble...I agree with everyone here...this will only benefit those who are in charge and can abuse the system easier.

 

[supere989]

Patents are often pieces in a much larger puzzle, but I don't think the idea is retarded by itself.

The reporting for this article is...a shame...because it is dripping with bias. Think about it--there are millions of gigabytes of data stored indefinitely on various cloud servers that will never ever be opened by anyone ever again. While some free services (think image hosting) just deal with this issue by deleting pictures that haven't been viewed in the past 5 years, this patent basically shrinks the size of said files to increase available storage space while keeping the data in at least ARCHIVAL quality.

The headline is catchy, but retarded, as the purpose is not to intentionally make the data look bad. It is just an innovative way to compress unused files instead of deleting them outright.

Im sorry. I disagree. The whole point of archiving data, is for the usage of that data at a later time in its 100% original State. Regardless of if that later time is eons away from now.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

what i don't get is why someone gets to patent something that has already been happening accidentally. scientists probably created so much memory storage media, that did this just because it was not good enough, in attempts to find media that was much more reliable.

i think i'm going to patent "machines that wear-out gradually".

 

[rrr1431]

The most retarded idea ever...

 

[lightbulbsocket]

I can think of at least one reason to come up with an idea like this. If you can make digital data "age" then you can sell people various ways of artificially combating against that artificial "aging" with digital "preservatives".

 

[Branden]

sounds funny and everything, but the purpose of this seems obvious to me:
automatically decay your digital purchases (movies, games, music, etc) so that you're forced to double-dip.

 

[Guest]

I have a name for this... crappy reporting!

The concept of having a useful service life for documents, and having them go away after that time can be very useful. Doesn't mean this has to be applied to everything. Do we really need to keep every email we've ever emailed? I think not.

This sounds like someone who may have read a patent and misunderstood it, or just picked up an idea from someone else about this article. How about some facts? Why not give us the patent or application number?

This is what I've come to expect from this site. Subpar information. Time to find a newer, hungrier site.

 

[BlackHawk91]

I´m gonna patent corrupted files then.

 

[frostmachine]

I'm not buying the secrecy stuff. If u want something to disappear just set it to auto delete/wipe-out. Pretty sure they have something to do that now. Why "age"?

BTW, digital stuff do age in a different sense. Older formats n limitations. Have u heard your mp3 from 10years ago? I had to buy new ones.

Oh yeah, if this end up in a virus/worm can I sue IBM?

 

[jiyung]

Retarded, this idea is.

 

[gsxr1181]

OK, the whole point of me storing stuff digitally is to prevent this! Seriously?

 

[falchard]

Oh My God... IBM is genious. They just made it so companies cannot make their data services worse or face copyright infringement.

 

[freddy782]

Surely the article is missing the point. An "aging file system" could mean a multitude of things, from converting old documents to a new file standard (aging .doc to .docx, .htm to .html) or perhaps automated deleting of data when it becomes irrelevant or unneeded (some buisness files with sensitive information that is required by law to be kept for x amount of time).

Pre-post edit: Never mind. There is a link to the patent as the source for the story. "Digital data stored on the aging file systems ages appropriately as would normal paper or photographs without the need for an external application."

 

[CaedenV]

There are several reasons to have an ageing file system.
First, (and most obvious) is to create demand to purchase and repurchase media
2nd, is to have an evolving file system to ensure that out dated files (which may be exposed to newer security threats) would be rendered inoperable until updated.
3rd would be to introduce entropy, which evolutionary theorists believe is required to bring about intelligence (artificial or biological).

none of these are particularly good ideas to introduce to systems needed for stability and longevity, but very cool ideas for theoretical computer science.

 

[tlmck]

Sorry teacher. IBM ate my homework.

 

[wiyosaya]

Here is a link to the patent.

 

[clonazepam]

I'm going to beat them to the punch and start archiving all of my digital copies of dvds and blu-rays at 320p b&w. Done!

 

[LORD_ORION]

This is a devious way to block ALL future patents on degrading algorithms used to manage data.

eg: For long term storage of some vast data, described in some mark up language... it might be best to remove the meta tags that are more for display purposes, and not really necessary for maintaining the actual content.... BAM, patent violation.

 

[Guest]

IBM has done many wonderful things regarding Technology, dont just judge. for all you know they made it so that NOBODY can make it, ever thought of that?

or how about having it forcibly implemented into Facebook, i can easily see millions of people voting for this in facebook.

dont judge before you even know what its gona be used for.

 

[Guest]

There is only one real use for the technology. And that is to hide criminal deeds. Think of how many news stories there have been over the years about memos or various documents becoming public that show something really bad going on in government, or banking, or any major business/entity.

Once they have this stuff in place, all their worries go bye bye. Their incriminating memos self destruct the next day, and there is no evidence to find.

There is no good that can come out of such a patent.

 

[billybobser]

Unused social media data should fade away though.

 

[internetlad]

I was wondering why this article appeared to be written by a sarcastic 10 year old, then I realized who the author was.

 

[mikenygmail]

It's a means of control and manipulation.

 

[Djhg2000]

[citation][nom]Wylde[/nom]I can tell by the comments that nobody understands what this does. For example if you have a .doc that has not been accessed in say 12 months it gets shipped to the aging server which then transforms it to lets say a .pdf which makes it a smaller file, but the editing ability is removed, etc. This is not to degrade your data, but to allow you to keep more of it for an extended amount of time.[/citation]

You do realize making a word document look old requires adding data, right?