IBM Patents Idea of Making Your Data Crappier Over Time
Digital documents have, in IBM's view, a notable disadvantage. If the data is not corrupted, the data remains the same for as long as it exists. However, there is now an idea how to change that.
IBM refers to this particular invention as an "aging file system" that simulates a natural aging process to documents printed on paper. For example this aging process could be automatically applied to .doc, .jpg or .gif files, a patent filing states. According to IBM, there is a need for a new kind of filing system that "automatically and selectively ages files contained therein such that the files themselves are caused to age with time and are not maintained in their originally stored state." IBM even says that "there is a need to provide such an aging function to apply automatically to all files stored on the filing system without requiring a continuing user monitoring effort."
Imagine your surprise when, a couple decades from now, you see your digital pictures that have been automatically exposed to an artificial aging process and now deliver only a fraction of the quality they once did. We wonder, if that aging process could also apply UV, water and fire damage to a statistically correct portion of your image data and documents. Imagine facing a tax audit a few years from now and having to tell the IRS that your documents have been aged automatically and were lost due to a statistical fire. Brilliant!
Let's not stop here and imagine the Library of Congress a few thousand years from now in the same light as the ancient library of Alexandria. I wonder if IBM could find ways to automatically decompose digital files?
You can find the details of the invention in detail here. And yes, IBM appears to be completely serious about this one and we hear that the company may already be in negotiations to sell it in the next wholesale package to Google.

Why are such ideas even patented? I know they haven't developed methods to do this, but why even think of patenting it? Just to have it? What benefit would virtual aging on personal data most people would prefer in their original state bring?
Why are such ideas even patented? I know they haven't developed methods to do this, but why even think of patenting it? Just to have it? What benefit would virtual aging on personal data most people would prefer in their original state bring?
IBM = I'm Being Mental
Staff: Boss, we've lost our server due to flood...
Boss: Thank God we made backup in other country. Now just restore that data and we're good to go, right?
Staff: Nope, the backup also got wipe with digital fire...it's all gone
Boss: !@#$%^&*(!)!!!
The reporting for this article is...a shame...because it is dripping with bias. Think about it--there are millions of gigabytes of data stored indefinitely on various cloud servers that will never ever be opened by anyone ever again. While some free services (think image hosting) just deal with this issue by deleting pictures that haven't been viewed in the past 5 years, this patent basically shrinks the size of said files to increase available storage space while keeping the data in at least ARCHIVAL quality.
The headline is catchy, but retarded, as the purpose is not to intentionally make the data look bad. It is just an innovative way to compress unused files instead of deleting them outright.
Maybe it is useful in a romantic point of view for pictures or something like that, like today's B&W movies or so...anyway, a waste of time.