6 ms·

There does seem to be a spate of something... articles in which the solution is "A British startup, what3words". They must be spending a steady amount on PR. T

by buro9 7y ago

There does seem to be a spate of something... articles in which the solution is "A British startup, what3words". They must be spending a steady amount on PR. The news seems perfectly constructed for the obligatory quote from their founder when in this case the answer isn't their system, but just that Royal Mail use the correct identifier: the post-code and the identifying information for the property (building name and/or building number as well as company name if applicable).

spzb 7y ago
Came to say the exact same thing. This is the second article in a major news publication I've seen this weekend touting what3words.
- mavhc 7y ago
  What3words has amazing technology, for getting media attention
  - bredren 7y ago
    Any startup company with enough money for PR can get mentions in casually related articles written in just about any publication--even The Economist. It says nothing about product, traction or anything else. It only proves journalists and editors can be or already have been bought.
  - peteretep 7y ago
    Here is their technology in full: Google “PR agency London”. Email the top five asking for a price-per-mention, and get offers back in the region of £500 a pop. Sign a contract. Talk about how you were featured on the BBC.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    That's what the company name really means. What 3 words will get people's attention?
pidg 7y ago
I thought this too, it felt more and more inevitable the nearer I got to the end of the article. what3words is so problematic and really isn't the solution to this problem.
CJefferson 7y ago
I've also seen a bunch of articles about what3words. I've not seen any articles discussing how awful they are -- The idea of copyrighting and privatising the concept of "position" should be rejected at every opportunity.
- pidg 7y ago
  https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-words/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-...
  - CJefferson 7y ago
    Their PR really is amazing. They replied to a tweet of mine criticising them within 10 minutes. They of course didn't actually respond to my criticism.
    - notyourwork 7y ago
      What is amazing about a timely reply that doesn’t actually address your concern? The timing could be chance, therefore, replying without answering your issue seems not amazing.
      - benj111 7y ago
        He said the PR is amazing, that is completely separate to actually responding to criticism. Now if he said that the customer service was amazing, it would be legitimate to expect some level of criticism response.
chaz6 7y ago
They claim that what3words is the answer to this problem, except they themselves admit (on their website) it is no substitute for addresses since many people live in multiple occupancy buildings, and their system is only for use at ground level. You still need to know the address at the end of the day.
kick 7y ago
Relevant: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
kyrra 7y ago
(googler, opinions are my own) As a reminder, there is a similar free solution that tries to solve the same problem as what3words from a different angle: https://plus.codes/ https://plus.codes/ Google Maps shows these today. And you can search Google or Maps for plusCodes.
- missblit 7y ago
  From the article: > The 11-digit codes [...] are hard to memorise and a single mistyped digit would send a courier to the wrong address. The plus codes FAQ [1] mentions that they thought checksums weren't important for a couple of reasons: * Not needed for codes that are copy pasted rather than typed or written * Mistyped codes will be "obviously wrong" due to referring to an unrelated area I'm not too convinced by the rationale, as playing around on Google Maps shows a typo of one digit can at least sometimes produce another valid code not too far away. And even if typoed codes were always obviously wrong, it's not clear that a computer would recognize incorrect but valid codes as well as a human. [1] https://github.com/google/open-location-code/blob/master/FAQ.txt https://github.com/google/open-location-code/blob/master/FAQ...
djhworld 7y ago
> They must be spending a steady amount on PR. The news seems perfectly constructed for the obligatory quote from their founder when in this case the answer isn't their system It might also just be familiarity from the writer, i.e. journalist writing article about inexact nature of post codes -> remembers the article he/she wrote or read about what3words -> figures that's a good alternative so contacts the company for comment.
- techslave 7y ago
  my sweet summer child
whatfreewords 7y ago
Their legal team is vicious about taking down any open-source implementation of the W3W encoding algorithm. This is sad because it could be legitimately useful in a small handful of circumstances, but only if it were free and open to all. We released WhatFreeWords last week and it was taken down after 4 days. It is back up now at https://whatfreewords.org/ https://whatfreewords.org/ but who knows for how long. You can read their DMCA notice to our previous hosting at https://whatfreewords.org/download/dmca-20190917.pdf https://whatfreewords.org/download/dmca-20190917.pdf
- kdbg 7y ago
  Adding onto what nitrogen said (and I also am not a lawyer) but interoperability is a listed exemption to DMCA. It might be costly to fight but I really don't think they have a leg to stand on to claim copyright. Terms of service violation or something maybe.
- nitrogen 7y ago
  I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think US copyright covers functionality (that is what patents are for) if you haven't copied any code or creative output, and thus the DMCA wouldn't apply, so that wouldn't be a valid use of a DMCA takedown.
  - whatfreewords 7y ago
    Unfortunately that's not how the DMCA works. Once they've submitted a DMCA notice, the hosting company has to take it down within 2 days unless you file a counter-notice, which has to personally identify you and be signed "on penalty of perjury". None of the DMCA process has anything to do with whether the claimant has a legitimate copyright claim over the work.
ColanR 7y ago
This article might be worth reading. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

by buro9 7y ago

spzb 7y ago

Came to say the exact same thing. This is the second article in a major news publication I've seen this weekend touting what3words.

mavhc 7y ago
What3words has amazing technology, for getting media attention
- bredren 7y ago
  Any startup company with enough money for PR can get mentions in casually related articles written in just about any publication--even The Economist. It says nothing about product, traction or anything else. It only proves journalists and editors can be or already have been bought.
- peteretep 7y ago
  Here is their technology in full: Google “PR agency London”. Email the top five asking for a price-per-mention, and get offers back in the region of £500 a pop. Sign a contract. Talk about how you were featured on the BBC.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  That's what the company name really means. What 3 words will get people's attention?

pidg 7y ago

I thought this too, it felt more and more inevitable the nearer I got to the end of the article. what3words is so problematic and really isn't the solution to this problem.

CJefferson 7y ago

I've also seen a bunch of articles about what3words. I've not seen any articles discussing how awful they are -- The idea of copyrighting and privatising the concept of "position" should be rejected at every opportunity.

pidg 7y ago
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-words/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-...
- CJefferson 7y ago
  Their PR really is amazing. They replied to a tweet of mine criticising them within 10 minutes. They of course didn't actually respond to my criticism.
  - notyourwork 7y ago
    What is amazing about a timely reply that doesn’t actually address your concern? The timing could be chance, therefore, replying without answering your issue seems not amazing.
    - benj111 7y ago
      He said the PR is amazing, that is completely separate to actually responding to criticism. Now if he said that the customer service was amazing, it would be legitimate to expect some level of criticism response.

chaz6 7y ago

They claim that what3words is the answer to this problem, except they themselves admit (on their website) it is no substitute for addresses since many people live in multiple occupancy buildings, and their system is only for use at ground level. You still need to know the address at the end of the day.

kick 7y ago

Relevant: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

kyrra 7y ago

(googler, opinions are my own) As a reminder, there is a similar free solution that tries to solve the same problem as what3words from a different angle: https://plus.codes/ https://plus.codes/ Google Maps shows these today. And you can search Google or Maps for plusCodes.

missblit 7y ago
From the article: > The 11-digit codes [...] are hard to memorise and a single mistyped digit would send a courier to the wrong address. The plus codes FAQ [1] mentions that they thought checksums weren't important for a couple of reasons: * Not needed for codes that are copy pasted rather than typed or written * Mistyped codes will be "obviously wrong" due to referring to an unrelated area I'm not too convinced by the rationale, as playing around on Google Maps shows a typo of one digit can at least sometimes produce another valid code not too far away. And even if typoed codes were always obviously wrong, it's not clear that a computer would recognize incorrect but valid codes as well as a human. [1] https://github.com/google/open-location-code/blob/master/FAQ.txt https://github.com/google/open-location-code/blob/master/FAQ...

djhworld 7y ago

> They must be spending a steady amount on PR. The news seems perfectly constructed for the obligatory quote from their founder when in this case the answer isn't their system It might also just be familiarity from the writer, i.e. journalist writing article about inexact nature of post codes -> remembers the article he/she wrote or read about what3words -> figures that's a good alternative so contacts the company for comment.

techslave 7y ago
my sweet summer child

whatfreewords 7y ago

Their legal team is vicious about taking down any open-source implementation of the W3W encoding algorithm. This is sad because it could be legitimately useful in a small handful of circumstances, but only if it were free and open to all. We released WhatFreeWords last week and it was taken down after 4 days. It is back up now at https://whatfreewords.org/ https://whatfreewords.org/ but who knows for how long. You can read their DMCA notice to our previous hosting at https://whatfreewords.org/download/dmca-20190917.pdf https://whatfreewords.org/download/dmca-20190917.pdf

kdbg 7y ago
Adding onto what nitrogen said (and I also am not a lawyer) but interoperability is a listed exemption to DMCA. It might be costly to fight but I really don't think they have a leg to stand on to claim copyright. Terms of service violation or something maybe.
nitrogen 7y ago
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think US copyright covers functionality (that is what patents are for) if you haven't copied any code or creative output, and thus the DMCA wouldn't apply, so that wouldn't be a valid use of a DMCA takedown.
- whatfreewords 7y ago
  Unfortunately that's not how the DMCA works. Once they've submitted a DMCA notice, the hosting company has to take it down within 2 days unless you file a counter-notice, which has to personally identify you and be signed "on penalty of perjury". None of the DMCA process has anything to do with whether the claimant has a legitimate copyright claim over the work.

ColanR 7y ago

This article might be worth reading. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html