While not related strictly to technology, Forbes has a good breakdown of why Kobe beef that is sold outside of Japan is (effectively) never the famed Kobe beef that myths are written about. It’s a good, direct, blunt piece. The kind of journalism I think we can, and want to, all support.
It (re)raises important questions that implicate technology. Wireless technologies are sometimes called “4G” but this is only true under revised ITU regulations. Originally 4G technologies were meant to be transformative – they referred predominantly to LTE and beyond – but this was revised in 2010 to refer to “3G technologies substantially better in performance and capability than earlier 3G technologies.”
Similar legal issues arise around the definition of public domain: with different international bodies possessing different copyright terms, the variance could lead to jurisdictional disputes around what is(n’t) public domain. Such disputes may lead to the removal of content if it happens to be stored or accessible in nations with the more onerous copyright terms.
These are just two areas where ‘labelling’ is important. In all three cases – beef, wireless speeds, and copyright – it’s legal terms that enable variable terminology associated with common goods. For consumers in a globalized world, who are often unable to spend the time to track down the ‘truth’ behind the labels, such labels can be incredibly confusing. We can do better, and we should do better, and find a means of rectifying confusions that arise from domestic labelling.
Excited Pixels 