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net neutrality
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File Sharing
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net neutrality
net neutrality
Europe Says Net Banning Is a Violation of "Civil Liberties and Human Rights"
The European Parliament voted on anti-piracy bill that would boot persistent "file-sharers" off of the net, at the last minute shooting down that particular measure. More importantly, it added an amendment that said the European Union and its member countries should "avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of internet access." The vote royally pissed off the EU's RIAA-equivalent, the IFPI. Even still, the vote itself may not result in any kind of safe haven for, uh, P2P "enthusiasts": More »
riaa
Judge Rules Making Files 'Available' Doesn't Constitute Copyright Violation
A Boston judge has just followed up on the previous NY judge ruling that just making files available isn't enough to constitute copyright infringement. According to the EFF, it's the most "extensive analysis yet of the recording industry's 'making available' argument", but doesn't actually make things better for people who are being sued by the RIAA. The same judge ruled that even though the "offer to distribute" won't be enough to decide a case, it is enough to permit a lawsuit to move forward. On the other hand, another NY judge has ruled in the opposite manner, that making an "offer to distribute" could violate copyright, even if nobody downloaded whatever you put up. [EFF via Boing Boing]
ripped
RIAA Argues Songs Ripped to Your Computer for Personal Use Are "Unauthorized Copies"
This is so mind-blowingly ridiculous I'll leave all of the smarminess to you guys to wipe up in the comments. In the case Atlantic vs. Howell—the couple's being sued for sharing songs over KaZaA—the RIAA filed a supplemental brief. On page 15, they repeatedly call ripped MP3s "unauthorized copies," basically arguing that ripping songs from a CD to your computer for personal use is making an "unauthorized" copy. And the money quote so you don't have to pore over the whole document: More »
legal eagle
Justice Department Says $222,000 Damages Awarded to RIAA in File-Sharing Suit Not "Obviously Unreasonable"
The Department of Justice says that the $222,000 verdict—over $9,000 a song—Jammie Thomas got slapped with for file-sharing when she (somewhat feebly via her weak evidence) went up against the recording industry lawsuit machine is not unconstitutionally excessive. More »
roundup
Afternoon News: Microsoft Shares, BMW Networks, Feet Smell Heavenly and More
• God-Cleaner foot bath claims to draw toxins out of your body through your feet. Cleanliness may be next to Godliness, but in this case it's pretty darn close to Rip-off-iness. [BBG]• Internet Explorer has fewer security vulnerabilities than Firefox, according to security analyst Jeffery Jones. In other news, Mr. Jones probably knows your bank password. [Ars Technica]
• Microsoft buys file-sharing startup WebFives. File-sharing just got way less fun. [Infoworld]
• BMW testing iDrive, an IP-networked car computer system. Who needs to play license plate bingo when you can have a LAN party? [Autoblog]
• Universal forces their artists to cut songs streamed on MySpace to 90 seconds. But they were just getting to the good part! [Idolator]
net neutrality
Comcast Blocking Gnutella and Lotus Notes Traffic?
The fact that Comcast was caught by the AP blocking BitTorrent last week wasn't much of a surprise (even if it was a disappointment), but more people have done self-tests and discovered they're possibly blocking even more application traffic. The EFF found that not just Gnutella—another file sharing app—was being blocked, but Lotus Notes, an app businesses use to share calendars, emails and files over the net had its traffic interfered with as well. It's fine to piss off a bunch of file sharers, but when Comcast starts making sure that a CTO can't get the files off his work machine, that's a different story altogether. Net Neutrality, we need you! [EFF via Ars Technica]
home entertainment
File Sharing, Like Drugs and Dissent, Supports Terrorism
A 2006 report by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office called "Filesharing Programs and Technological Features to Induce Users to Share" was just released to the general public yesterday, and it contains some interesting governmental observations as to the dangers of digital piracy. More »
software
