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• Logic and lawyers

  22 mai 2013, par Mans — Law and liberty

  Reading about various patent litigation cases, I am struck by the frequency with which common logical fallacies such as the Appeal to Consequences are committed. We shall look at a couple of recent examples.

  In conjunction with the Federal Circuit ruling in CLS Bank v. Alice Corp., Judge Moore, joined by three others, filed a dissenting opinion wherein we find the following :

  I am concerned that the current interpretation of § 101, and in particular the abstract idea exception, is causing a free fall in the patent system. [...] And let’s be clear : if all of these claims, including the system claims, are not patent-eligible, this case is the death of hundreds of thousands of patents [...].

  A footnote adds :

  If the reasoning of Judge Lourie’s opinion were adopted, it would decimate the electronics and software industries. [...] There has never been a case which could do more damage to the patent system than this one.

  From the above, I get the impression Moore is primarily concerned with protecting the system, maintaining the status quo, less with ruling in line with the logical consequences of statute and case law. Furthermore, her argument rests on the premise that a weaker patent system would “decimate the industries,” a notion supported by little evidence, yet presented by Moore as an obvious truth. In fact, research exists suggesting that many important innovations are never actually patented. Let us also not overlook the fact that European companies do not appear to be suffering from the much weaker patent protection for software afforded there.

  Judge Moore’s reasoning can be summarised in three steps :

  1. Ruling this way could be disruptive to the patent system.
  2. The industry relies on patents.
  3. Therefore we must not rule this way.

  Not only does she commit the aforementioned logical fallacy, she does so by way of invalid arguments.

  The second example of such fallacious reasoning comes from the Supreme Court ruling in Bowman v. Monsanto :

  We have always drawn the boundaries of the exhaustion doctrine to exclude that activity [copying], so that the patentee retains an undiminished right to prohibit others from making the thing his patent protects. [...] That is because, once again, if simple copying were a protected use, a patent would plummet in value after the first sale of the first item containing the invention. The undiluted patent monopoly, it might be said, would extend not for 20 years (as the Patent Act promises), but for only one transaction. And that would result in less incentive for innovation than Congress wanted. Hence our repeated insistence that exhaustion applies only to the particular item sold, and not to reproductions.

  Here we find the same pattern repeated. The aim of the court appears to have been ensuring the continued validity of this class of patents, not reaching a logical conclusion regarding the question of infringement. Once again, we can break the reasoning down into three steps :

  1. A non-infringement ruling would weaken the patent.
  2. Weaker patents would provide less incentive for innovation.
  3. Therefore we must rule infringement.

  As in the first example, the argument presented in step two is at best questionable, and no supporting evidence is provided.

  These are, unfortunately, not the only examples of such fallacies ; one might even describe them as ubiquitous. Does a law education not include any material on logical reasoning ? Ought it not ? While we can never hope to find any kind of universal truth on which to base our laws, we should at least strive to make our system logically consistent. If we do not, notions such as fairness and justice lose their meanings.

• Adventures In NAS

  1er janvier, par Multimedia Mike — General

  In my post last year about my out-of-control single-board computer (SBC) collection which included my meager network attached storage (NAS) solution, I noted that :

  I find that a lot of my fellow nerds massively overengineer their homelab NAS setups. I’ll explore this in a future post. For my part, people tend to find my homelab NAS solution slightly underengineered.

  So here I am, exploring this is a future post. I’ve been in the home NAS game a long time, but have never had very elaborate solutions for such. For my part, I tend to take an obsessively reductionist view of what constitutes a NAS : Any small computer with a pool of storage and a network connection, running the Linux operating system and the Samba file sharing service.

  
  
  

  Many home users prefer to buy turnkey boxes, usually that allow you to install hard drives yourself, and then configure the box and its services with a friendly UI. My fellow weird computer nerds often buy cast-off enterprise hardware and set up more resilient, over-engineered solutions, as long as they have strategies to mitigate the noise and dissipate the heat, and don’t mind the electricity bills.

  If it works, awesome ! As an old hand at this, I am rather stuck in my ways, however, preferring to do my own stunts, both with the hardware and software solutions.

  My History With Home NAS Setups
  In 1998, I bought myself a new computer — beige box tower PC, as was the style as the time. This was when normal people only had one computer at most. It ran Windows, but I was curious about this new thing called “Linux” and learned to dual boot that. Later that year, it dawned on me that nothing prevented me from buying a second ugly beige box PC and running Linux exclusively on it. Further, it could be a headless Linux box, connected by ethernet, and I could consolidate files into a single place using this file sharing software named Samba.
  

  I remember it being fairly onerous to get Samba working in those days. And the internet was not quite so helpful in those days. I recall that the thing that blocked me for awhile was needing to know that I had to specify an entry for the Samba server machine in the LMHOSTS (Lanman hosts) file on the Windows 95 machine.

  However, after I cracked that code, I have pretty much always had some kind of ad-hoc home NAS setup, often combined with a headless Linux development box.

  In the early 2000s, I built a new beige box PC for a file server, with a new hard disk, and a coworker tutored me on setting up a (P)ATA UDMA 133 (or was it 150 ? anyway, it was (P)ATA’s last hurrah before SATA conquered all) expansion card and I remember profiling that the attached hard drive worked at a full 21 MBytes/s reading. It was pretty slick. Except I hadn’t really thought things through. You see, I had a hand-me-down ethernet hub cast-off from my job at the time which I wanted to use. It was a 100 Mbps repeater hub, not a switch, so the catch was that all connected machines had to be capable of 100 Mbps. So, after getting all of my machines (3 at the time) upgraded to support 10/100 ethernet (the old off-brand PowerPC running Linux was the biggest challenge), I profiled transfers and realized that the best this repeater hub could achieve was about 3.6 MBytes/s. For a long time after that, I just assumed that was the upper limit of what a 100 Mbps network could achieve. Obviously, I now know that the upper limit ought to be around 11.2 MBytes/s and if I had gamed out that fact in advance, I would have realized it didn’t make sense to care about super-fast (for the time) disk performance.

  At this time, I was doing a lot for development for MPlayer/xine/FFmpeg. I stored all of my multimedia material on this NAS. I remember being confused when I was working with Y4M data, which is raw frames, which is lots of data. xine, which employed a pre-buffering strategy, would play fine for a few seconds and then stutter. Eventually, I reasoned out that the files I was working with had a data rate about twice what my awful repeater hub supported, which is probably the first time I came to really understand and respect streaming speeds and their implications for multimedia playback.

  Smaller Solutions
  For a period, I didn’t have a NAS. Then I got an Apple AirPort Extreme, which I noticed had a USB port. So I bought a dual drive brick to plug into it and used that for a time. Later (2009), I had this thing called the MSI Wind Nettop which is the only PC I’ve ever seen that can use a CompactFlash (CF) card for a boot drive. So I did just that, and installed a large drive so it could function as a NAS, as well as a headless dev box. I’m still amazed at what a low-power I/O beast this thing is, at least when compared to all the ARM SoCs I have tried in the intervening 1.5 decades. I’ve had spinning hard drives in this thing that could read at 160 MBytes/s (‘dd’ method) and have no trouble saturating the gigabit link at 112 MBytes/s, all with its early Intel Atom CPU.

  Around 2015, I wanted a more capable headless dev box and discovered Intel’s line of NUCs. I got one of the fat models that can hold a conventional 2.5″ spinning drive in addition to the M.2 SATA SSD and I was off and running. That served me fine for a few years, until I got into the ARM SBC scene. One major limitation here is that 2.5″ drives aren’t available in nearly the capacities that make a NAS solution attractive.

  Current Solution
  My current NAS solution, chronicled in my last SBC post– the ODroid-HC2, which is a highly compact ARM SoC with an integrated USB3-SATA bridge so that a SATA drive can be connected directly to it :

  
  

  

  ODROID-HC2 NAS

  
  

  I tend to be weirdly proficient at recalling dates, so I’m surprised that I can’t recall when I ordered this and put it into service. But I’m pretty sure it was circa 2018. It’s only equipped with an 8 TB drive now, but I seem to recall that it started out with only a 4 TB drive. I think I upgraded to the 8 TB drive early in the pandemic in 2020, when ISPs were implementing temporary data cap amnesty and I was doing what a r/DataHoarder does.

  The HC2 has served me well, even though it has a number of shortcomings for a hardware set chartered for NAS :

  1. While it has a gigabit ethernet port, it’s documented that it never really exceeds about 70 MBytes/s, due to the SoC’s limitations
  2. The specific ARM chip (Samsung Exynos 5422 ; more than a decade old as of this writing) lacks cryptography instructions, slowing down encryption if that’s your thing (e.g., LUKS)
  3. While the SoC supports USB3, that block is tied up for the SATA interface ; the remaining USB port is only capable of USB2 speeds
  4. 32-bit ARM, which prevented me from running certain bits of software I wanted to try (like Minio)
  5. Only 1 drive, so no possibility for RAID (again, if that’s your thing)

  I also love to brag on the HC2’s power usage : I once profiled the unit for a month using a Kill-A-Watt and under normal usage (with the drive spinning only when in active use). The unit consumed 4.5 kWh… in an entire month.

  New Solution
  Enter the ODroid-HC4 (I purchased mine from Ameridroid but Hardkernel works with numerous distributors) :

  
  

  

  ODroid-HC4 with an SSD and a conventional drive

  
  

  I ordered this earlier in the year and after many months of procrastinating and obsessing over the best approach to take with its general usage, I finally have it in service as my new NAS. Comparing point by point with the HC2 :

  1. The gigabit ethernet runs at full speed (though a few things on my network run at 2.5 GbE now, so I guess I’ll always be behind)
  2. The ARM chip (Amlogic S905X3) has AES cryptography acceleration and handles all the LUKS stuff without breaking a sweat ; “cryptsetup benchmark” reports between 500-600 MBytes/s on all the AES variants
  3. The USB port is still only USB2, so no improvement there
  4. 64-bit ARM, which means I can run Minio to simulate block storage in a local dev environment for some larger projects I would like to undertake
  5. Supports 2 drives, if RAID is your thing

  How I Set It Up
  How to set up the drive configuration ? As should be apparent from the photo above, I elected for an SSD (500 GB) for speed, paired with a conventional spinning HDD (18 TB) for sheer capacity. I’m not particularly trusting of RAID. I’ve watched it fail too many times, on systems that I don’t even manage, not to mention that aforementioned RAID brick that I had attached to the Apple AirPort Extreme.

  I had long been planning to use bcache, the block caching interface for Linux, which can use the SSD as a speedy cache in front of the more capacious disk. There is also LVM cache, which is supposed to achieve something similar. And then I had to evaluate the trade-offs in whether I wanted write-back, write-through, or write-around configurations.

  This was all predicated on the assumption that the spinning drive would not be able to saturate the gigabit connection. When I got around to setting up the hardware and trying some basic tests, I found that the conventional HDD had no trouble keeping up with the gigabit data rate, both reading and writing, somewhat obviating the need for SSD acceleration using any elaborate caching mechanisms.

  Maybe that’s because I sprung for the WD Red Pro series this time, rather than the Red Plus ? I’m guessing that conventional drives do deteriorate over the years. I’ll find out.

  For the operating system, I stuck with my newest favorite Linux distro : DietPi. While HardKernel (parent of ODroid) makes images for the HC units, I had also used DietPi for the HC2 for the past few years, as it tends to stay more up to date.

  Then I rsync’d my data from HC2 -> HC4. It was only about 6.5 TB of total data but it took days as this WD Red Plus drive is only capable of reading at around 10 MBytes/s these days. Painful.

  For file sharing, I’m pretty sure most normal folks have nice web UIs in their NAS boxes which allow them to easily configure and monitor the shares. I know there are such applications I could set up. But I’ve been doing this so long, I just do a bare bones setup through the terminal. I installed regular Samba and then brought over my smb.conf file from the HC2. 1 by 1, I tested that each of the old shares were activated on the new NAS and deactivated on the old NAS. I also set up a new share for the SSD. I guess that will just serve as a fast I/O scratch space on the NAS.

  The conventional drive spins up and down. That’s annoying when I’m actively working on something but manage not to hit the drive for like 5 minutes and then an application blocks while the drive wakes up. I suppose I could set it up so that it is always running. However, I micro-manage this with a custom bash script I wrote a long time ago which logs into the NAS and runs the “date” command every 2 minutes, appending the output to a file. As a bonus, it also prints data rate up/down stats every 5 seconds. The spinning file (“nas-main/zz-keep-spinning/keep-spinning.txt”) has never been cleared and has nearly a quarter million lines. I suppose that implies that it has kept the drive spinning for 1/2 million minutes which works out to around 347 total days. I should compare that against the drive’s SMART stats, if I can remember how. The earliest timestamp in the file is from March 2018, so I know the HC2 NAS has been in service at least that long.

  For tasks, vintage cron still does everything I could need. In this case, that means reaching out to websites (like this one) and automatically backing up static files.

  I also have to have a special script for starting up. Fortunately, I was able to bring this over from the HC2 and tweak it. The data disks (though not boot disk) are encrypted. Those need to be unlocked and only then is it safe for the Samba and Minio services to start up. So one script does all that heavy lifting in the rare case of a reboot (this is the type of system that’s well worth having on a reliable UPS).

  Further Work
  I need to figure out how to use the OLED display on the NAS, and how to make it show something more useful than the current time and date, which is what it does in its default configuration with HardKernel’s own Linux distro. With DietPi, it does nothing by default. I’m thinking it should be able to show the percent usage of each of the 2 drives, at a minimum.

  I also need to establish a more responsible backup regimen. I’m way too lazy about this. Fortunately, I reason that I can keep the original HC2 in service, repurposed to accept backups from the main NAS. Again, I’m sort of micro-managing this since a huge amount of data isn’t worth backing up (remember the whole DataHoarder bit), but the most important stuff will be shipped off.

  The post Adventures In NAS first appeared on Breaking Eggs And Making Omelettes.

• A Primer to Ethical Marketing : How to Build Trust in a Privacy-First World

  11 mars, par Alex Carmona — Marketing, Privacy, ethical marketing

  Imagine a marketing landscape where transparency replaces tactics, where consumer privacy is prioritised over exploitation, and where authentic value builds genuine relationships.

  This isn’t just an ideal—it’s the future of marketing. And it starts with ethical marketing practices.

  76% of consumers refuse to buy from companies they do not trust with their data. Ethical marketing has become essential for business survival. As privacy regulations tighten and third-party cookies phase out, marketers face a critical question : how can they balance effective, personalised campaigns whilst respecting privacy ?

  This comprehensive guide explores what ethical marketing is, the key principles behind ethical marketing practices, and practical strategies to implement an ethical approach that builds trust while driving growth.

  What is ethical marketing ? A comprehensive definition

  Ethical marketing places respect for consumer boundaries at its core whilst delivering genuine value. It prioritises transparent practices, honest communication, and fair value exchange with consumers. This approach represents a significant shift from traditional marketing, which often relied on collecting vast amounts of user data through invasive tracking methods and obscure policies.

  The modern approach to ethical marketing creates a foundation built on three key pillars :

  • User Control : Giving people genuine choice and agency over their data
  • Fair Value : Providing clear benefits in exchange for any data shared
  • Transparency : Being honest about how data is collected, used, and protected

  

  Key principles of ethical marketing

  Transparency

  Transparency means being clear and forthright about your marketing practices, data collection policies, and business operations. It involves :

  • Using plain language to explain how you collect and use customer data
  • Being upfront about pricing, product limitations, and terms of service
  • Disclosing sponsored content and affiliate relationships
  • Making privacy policies accessible and understandable

  When Matomo surveyed 2,000 consumers, 81% said they believe an organisation’s data practices reflect their overall treatment of customers. Transparency isn’t just about compliance—it’s about demonstrating respect.

  Honesty

  While similar to transparency, honesty focuses specifically on truthfulness in communications :

  • Avoiding misleading claims or exaggerations about products and services
  • Not manipulating statistics or research findings to support marketing narratives
  • Representing products accurately in advertisements and marketing materials
  • Acknowledging mistakes and taking responsibility when things go wrong

  Social responsibility

  Ethical marketing requires consideration of a brand’s impact on society as a whole :

  • Considering environmental impacts of marketing campaigns and business practices
  • Promoting diversity and inclusion in marketing representations
  • Supporting social causes authentically rather than through “purpose-washing”
  • Ensuring marketing activities don’t promote harmful stereotypes or behaviours

  Ethical marketing dilemmas : Navigating complex business decisions

  Data privacy concerns

  The digital marketing landscape has been transformed by increasing awareness of data privacy issues and stricter regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and upcoming legislation. Key challenges include :

  • The phase-out of third-party cookies, impacting targeting and measurement
  • Growing consumer resistance to invasive tracking technologies
  • Balancing personalisation with privacy (71% of consumers expect personalised experiences, yet demand privacy)
  • Ensuring compliance across different jurisdictional requirements

  Cultural sensitivity

  Global brands must navigate complex cultural landscapes :

  • Avoiding cultural appropriation in marketing campaigns
  • Understanding varied cultural expectations around privacy
  • Respecting local customs and values in international marketing
  • Adapting messaging appropriately for diverse audiences

  Environmental sustainability

  The environmental impact of marketing activities is under increasing scrutiny :

  • Digital carbon footprints from ad serving and website hosting
  • Waste generated from physical marketing materials
  • Promoting sustainable products honestly without greenwashing
  • Aligning marketing messages with actual business practices

  The benefits of ethical marketing

  For years, digital marketing has relied on third-party data collection and broad-scale tracking. However, new regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and the end of third-party cookies are pushing brands to adopt ethical data practices.

  Increased customer loyalty

  Ethical marketing fosters deeper relationships with customers by building trust. Research consistently shows that consumers are more loyal to brands they trust, with 71% indicating they would stop buying from a brand if trust is broken.

  These trust-based relationships are more resilient during business challenges. When customers believe in a company’s integrity, they’re more likely to give the benefit of the doubt during controversies or service issues. They’re also more likely to provide constructive feedback rather than simply leaving for competitors.

  Perhaps most importantly, loyal customers become advocates, sharing positive experiences with others and defending the brand against criticism. This organic advocacy is far more powerful than paid promotions and reduces customer acquisition costs significantly over time.

  Enhanced brand reputation

  A strong ethical stance improves overall brand perception across multiple dimensions. Media outlets are increasingly focused on corporate behaviour, providing positive coverage for ethical practices that extends a brand’s reach organically.

  Social conversations about ethical brands tend to be more positive, with consumers sharing experiences and values rather than just discussing products. This creates a halo effect that benefits all aspects of the business.

  This enhanced reputation also provides resilience during public relations challenges. Organisations with strong ethical foundations find it easier to navigate controversies because they’ve built a reservoir of goodwill with customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

  Competitive advantage

  Ethical marketing provides several distinct competitive advantages in modern markets. It helps brands access privacy-conscious consumer segments that actively avoid companies with questionable data practices. These segments often include higher-income, educated consumers who are valuable long-term customers.

  Ethical approaches also reduce vulnerability to regulatory changes and potential penalties. As privacy laws continue to evolve globally, organisations with strong ethical foundations find compliance easier and less disruptive than those scrambling to meet minimum requirements.

  Perhaps most significantly, ethical marketing supports more sustainable growth trajectories. While manipulative tactics might drive short-term results, they typically lead to higher churn rates and increasing acquisition costs. Ethical approaches build foundations for long-term success and stable growth.

  For a detailed roadmap, download the Ethical Marketing Guide.

  Case studies : Ethical marketing in action

  Patagonia : Purpose-driven marketing

  Patagonia integrates sustainability into its marketing, reinforcing its commitment to ethical business practices. By aligning with social causes, the brand strengthens customer loyalty.

  Apple : Privacy as a competitive advantage

  Apple positions itself as a leader in consumer privacy, ensuring data protection remains central to its marketing strategy. This commitment has become a key differentiator in the tech industry.

  Matomo : The ethical analytics tool

  Matomo offers privacy-first analytics that prioritise data ownership and compliance. Businesses using Matomo benefit from accurate insights while respecting user privacy.

  These companies demonstrate that ethical marketing is not just a compliance requirement—it is a long-term competitive advantage.

  Strategies for implementing ethical marketing

  Aligning marketing efforts with brand values

  Consistency between values and actions is essential for ethical marketing. This alignment starts with a clear understanding of what your organisation truly stands for—not just aspirational statements, but genuine commitments that inform daily decisions.

  Implementing this alignment requires cross-functional collaboration. Marketing teams need to work closely with product development, customer service, and leadership to ensure consistency across all touchpoints. When different departments send contradictory messages about company values, trust erodes quickly.

  Clear guidelines help marketing teams apply values in practical decisions, from campaign concepts to media placements. Regular ethical reviews of marketing plans can identify potential issues before campaigns launch, avoiding reactive corrections that damage credibility.

  Privacy-first data strategies

  Developing robust approaches to customer data is fundamental to ethical marketing. This starts with prioritising first-party data (collected directly from your own channels) and zero-party data (actively shared by customers through preference centres, surveys, and similar mechanisms).

  Measuring success doesn’t have to come at the expense of privacy. Ethical analytics provide accurate insights while protecting user data, ensuring compliance, and enhancing customer trust.

  Ethical personalisation approaches focus on using aggregated or anonymised data rather than individual tracking. This allows for relevant experiences without the invasive feeling that erodes trust when consumers feel watched across the internet.

  Most importantly, ethical data strategies create transparent value exchanges where users clearly understand what benefits they receive in return for sharing information. This reciprocity transforms data collection from exploitation to fair exchange.

  Measuring success ethically

  Traditional marketing measurement often relies on individual-level tracking across sites and platforms. Ethical approaches require adapting these frameworks to respect privacy while still demonstrating impact.

  Focusing on aggregate patterns rather than individual behaviour provides valuable insights without privacy invasions. For example, understanding that 30% of visitors to a specific page subsequently make purchases is actionable intelligence that doesn’t require tracking specific people.

  Incrementality testing measures campaign impact by comparing outcomes between exposed and control groups at an aggregate level. This provides more accurate attribution than traditional last-click models while respecting privacy boundaries.

  Server-side conversion tracking offers another ethical measurement approach, collecting necessary data on your servers rather than through client-side scripts vulnerable to blocking. This improves data accuracy while reducing reliance on cookies and browser storage.

  Implementing ethical marketing strategies : A practical framework

  1. Align marketing with brand values – Ensure campaigns reflect transparency and trust

  2. Leverage first-party data – Collect insights directly from consumers with clear consent

  3. Respect privacy and consent – Give users control over their data and clearly communicate its use

  4. Create value-driven content – Offer educational and relevant resources instead of relying solely on advertising

  5. Use privacy-compliant analytics – Switch to ethical platforms such as Matomo for responsible performance measurement

  For a step-by-step guide to implementing ethical marketing strategies, download the full report here.

  

  The future of ethical marketing

  With the decline of third-party cookies and the rise of privacy regulations, ethical marketing is no longer optional. Brands that adopt privacy-first practices now will gain a sustainable competitive edge in the long term. The future of marketing belongs to brands that earn consumer trust, not those that exploit it.

  Key trends shaping the future of marketing include :

  • Privacy-first analytics to replace invasive tracking
  • First-party and zero-party data strategies for direct consumer engagement
  • Consent-driven personalisation to balance relevance and privacy
  • Greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility in marketing initiatives

  Companies that proactively address these changes will build stronger customer relationships, enhance brand reputation, and ensure long-term success.

  Take the next step

  Ready to transform your marketing approach for 2025 and beyond ?

  Download Matomo’s comprehensive “2025 Ethical Marketing Field Guide” to get practical frameworks, implementation strategies, and real-world case studies that will help you build trust while driving growth.

  With detailed guidance on first-party data activation, consent-based personalisation techniques, and privacy-preserving analytics methods, this guide provides everything you need to future-proof your marketing strategy in a privacy-first world.

  

  Download the ethical marketing guide now to start building stronger, more trusted relationships with your customers through ethical marketing practices.