Copyright protection via this board?

[John Collins]

If someone had made some progress towards solving the Bessler enigma, whether by decoding his clues, or by discovering the workings of the wheel independently, it could be useful to have a means of posting this information on the internet, but protected by a password. This password, or perhaps a method on encryption, would prevent anyone else from reading the posting until such a time as the author was ready to reveal his work. The reasons for this might be that such a person was not yet ready to reveal his (or her) work until certain tests and guarantees had been established. Having the information readily available, but encoded, on the internet could prove useful in verifying priority at some later date - and also forestall preventative action by any ‘body’ that had selfish motives for burying such information. The posting of this encrypted or protected file would have to carry some kind of time and date stamp that lent credibility to the priority claims.

Is such a feature a practical possibility with Besslerwheel.com? I don’t know. The ‘members only’ forum seems to me to be a possible way forward, but with a password set by the poster. To reveal what was in the file at a later date might require some thought but even an email sent to Scott which disclosed the password, allowing him to ‘open’ the file, would be one way. But independent action would be preferable so as to leave Scott out of the loop, both for his protection and that of the author.

The chief drawback to this scheme is that there would be no vetting of any of the documents placed on the internet. Scott might end up with hundreds of documents placed there just in case any of the authors had some success with his wheel. The only alternative would be for Scott to vet the documents on the understanding that he could not reveal or discuss them and this would be against the spirit of anonymity.

Has anyone any suggestions as to how this might best be achieved - or is it a non-starter? (Sorry! I just noticed the unintended pun.)

John Collins

[jim_mich]

I like your ideas.

The US patent office has what is called a 'provisional patent application' which costs very little. They just date stamp the the papers and file them for a year at which time they are destroyed. If you file for a patent during that one year time and reference the provisional application you have proof keeping others from jumping your claim. But the date of your patent application is considered to be the date on the provisional patent application which can reduce your patent period by up to a year.

[Patrick]

Hi John;
I think a members only forum would be a partial solution. The documents shared could be eventually publicly posted after a reasonable time frame has elapsed if desired.
I have downloaded Adobe documents that are 'read only'. I wonder if that feature would be of any benefit to sharing the sensitive documents of the type you mentioned? I guess nowadays anything that appears on a computer screen can be copied so limited distribution is very difficult to guarantee.
--Patrick

[John Collins]

Jim Mich and Patrick, in posing the above, I was thinking of two things. Firstly I wanted to avoid applying for a patent at all and secondly it was my intention not to share the documents at all, until they can be shared by the world at large. I would be wary of even applying for a preliminary patent in order to obtain priority. In the UK patent office is a small corner run by the Defence Agency and all patents pass before them and I'm keen to avoid any chance of a patent being spotted at an early stage and pressure brought to bear, however unlikely a scenario that might be.

Patents are, in this case, I think, unworkable.

As for Adobe read only, text can, I believe, still be copied and pasted.

John C.

[jim_mich]

John,
Any document can be read. The only way to prevent that is encryption. And the US government will not allow encryption programs that they can't break.

But are we (PM inventors, researchers,etc) getting a little paranoid? Do we have reason to be?

[PP]

Yes, the PPA takes the place of the well worn "DDP" or Disclosure Document Program. This costs $80.00 currently and is an excellent way to achieve Patent Pending status so that one may begin actively marketing their invention for up to one year before obtaining a Utility Patent. For something of this magnitude of course, it should go without saying that ONLY a working model would be accepted by the USPTO. I needn't tell those who have posted to this thread about the very SERIOUS nature of this kind of research and the rather formidable ability and willingness of various Orgs. to monitor and control such information. There are those that firmly and religiously believe that such information, if released publicly, could cause worldwide economic meltdown and thus, such research falls squarely into the domain of National, nay, World Security. Have you noticed that Scott never addresses openly to the group ANY questions regarding his intrusion attempt logs? Do any of you really believe he does not keep track of any IP information of those "accessing" this site? Was there a time when he could spot various highly recognizable letters in his alphabet soup? What has become of this in recent months? What is to be gained by your password and members only intrigues? To keep the fruitcakes and various anonymous nutjobs out? One should think one might find their intimate inclusion beneficial if true security is what you seek. If what you are saying is not disingenuous, then why not communicate with an instant messaging program? Many of which include very capable encryption services. On the other hand, you may do well with a members only room. If for no other reason than entertainment while maintaing the status quo. Much can be said without actually saying it and shown without actually showing it....even in plain sight. If one is willing to trust his fellow capable researchers to look hard at what is truly being displayed. Oftentimes, a break out must precede a break through.....ask Pat about this. I am sure his experience here is formidable. ;^)

[Patrick]

Hi John;
I re-read your post again and I think what you are trying to do can only be done by publishing to your own personal domain. You could set-up a separate page (or sub-domain) at your free-energy site that is password protected/controlled by you. Whoever helped develop your site could show you how to do this or I could send you instructions. Scott could probably also do this here but it may be a bit difficult to keep track of the passwords for a number of people; or maybe he can suggest a better idea/solution for you?
--Patrick

[scott]

Hello John et al,

First I want to point out that I am about to set up a members only forum which supports password protected topics (please see my post for more details.)

Now I realize that this alone will not address your needs, but I think it might be a start. I can also set up individual forums and assign particular users (such as yourself, John) to moderate those forums. That means that I could be cut out of the password loop (meaning only the assigned moderators would know the password for protected topics in those forums.)

In addtition, you could use an encryption program such as PGP to encrypt your files before you upload them to this site. This means that even though the file would reside on my web server, I would not be able to read it.

I'm thinking that the conjunction of all of these ideas might just be what you are looking for...

What do you think?

-Scott

[Jonathan]

I think this is all unnecessarily complex, I think that perpetual motion is important enough that it doesn't matter who invents it, it is more important that it get done. Of course I hate the idol worship that science practices on it's famous members, but what does it really matter in the long run if the wrong guy gets the credit?

[John Collins]

Thanks Scott, for the info. Officially I can't use PGP as I'm not a US/Canadian citizen, but also my OS is windows ME and that' s not listed as a potential user. I'll await the appearance of your members only forum before making any decisions. But I may not need to go that route although I am grateful for the work that you are putting in to this. As Patrick suggested, if it was I that wished to post something I could use my own web site for this purpose. Patrick thanks for the offer, I'll see what I can do myself first if it comes to that point.

[grim]

Hi John

Whatever you decide, have all your paperwork and drawings notarized. That dates them, with a witness, and they are then a legal document that is admissable in a court of law.

As you already are aware of, I'm sure, a patent is just a right to litigate.
If a big corporation is involved, the bill runs up very quickly if its a case of an individual vs. a team of corporate attorneys.

By the way, looking forward to your next book. Any dates yet?

Regards

grim