Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 08:22:38 -0500
From: "Bradley, Dave" ([email protected])
Subject: ACLU to Spy on Echelon
According to your article, "ACLU to Spy on Echelon " [17.Nov.1999]:
"The latest in a trickle of what are often merely suggestions ofEchelon-like operations is a patent issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office to the US National Security Agency inAugust for voice-recognition technology. Steinhardt pointed out that thetechnology is designed to summarize voice communications for further examination."
I found the above rather interesting. Any software created by thegovernment, to my understanding, is in the public domain. For example, whenNIH created a number of libraries in C++, they were freely available. Therewas some debate over this, but it was determined that such software createdwith public money would be publicly available. I don't see how or why anygovernment agency could or would apply for a patent.
Maybe I'm missingsomething here. If the NSA wanted to keep this a secret, a patent isn't theway to go. Something just doesn't add up.
