Category: Political

The Betamax case of the digital age

Wired News: File Sharing Goes to High Court
I have my fingers crossed on this one. If these file-sharing services can be held responsible for the actions of their users, what does that mean for any company developing software that allows people to connect via public networks? What about ISP’s and common-carrier laws? What about FTP, IM, Email and so on?
The devil in this one may be that the media companies will renew vigor in lobbying congress for legislation like the INDUCE act.

Decide where your money will go


Choose The Blue
ChooseTheBlue tells you what corporations donated to political parties.
Here is a quick example:

Brand Parent Company % to Dem % to Rep $ to Dem $ to Rep Other Brands of Parent
Gap Inc Gap Inc 61% 38% $144,621 $90,092 None Known
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble 98% 2% $101,283 $2,067 None Known
Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond 93% 7% $76,725 $5,775 None Known
Bigg’s
Circuit City Stores Circuit City Stores 3% 97% $3,496 $113,053 None Known
Costco Companies Costco Companies 98% 2% $196,296 $4,006 None Known
Home Depot Home Depot 6% 94% $40,642 $636,727 None Known
JC Penney Co JC Penney Co 18% 81% $17,921 $80,647 None Known
Saks Inc Saks Inc 5% 95% $5,830 $110,770 None Known
Sam’s Club Wal-Mart Stores 19% 81% $356,355 $1,519,201 Wal-Mart Stores, others…
Sears, Roebuck & Co Sears, Roebuck & Co 24% 76% $63,706 $201,737 None Known
Staples Inc Staples Inc 42% 58% $46,819 $64,655 None Known
Target Corp Target Corp 28% 72% $81,133 $208,629 None Known
Wal-Mart Stores Wal-Mart Stores 19% 81% $356,355 $1,519,201 Sam’s Club, others…
Walgreen Co Walgreen Co 47% 53% $59,671 $67,289 None Known
Wax Co Wax Co 0% 100% $0 $77,000 None Known

Hillary support’s The INDUCE Act

I was dismayed to learn that Senator Hillary Clinton has come out and in fact co-sponsored Senator Hatch’s Induce Act. What follows is a draft of a letter that I am writing to Sen. Clinton to express my concern. I hope that others will do the same.

Here is some background material:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2560:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64315,00.html
http://techlawadvisor.com/induce/
http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/004563.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20040618-3906.html
http://www.futureofmusic.org/articles/INDUCEanalysis.cfm
http://action.eff.org/site/pp.asp?c=esJNJ5OWF&b=164928

Like your iPod, read this:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Apple_Complaint.php

Please comment on the letter as you see fit.

Dear Senator Clinton,

I was dismayed to learn that you have come out in support of Senator Hatch’s Induce Act. I hope that on further consideration of the issues that this bill covers that you change your stance to better reflect the opinions of your constituents and for the betterment of our society.

The Induce act as it currently is written does much to stifle free-speech, artistic and fair uses of media. Imposing legal responsibility on the makers of devices and software for illegal use such device or software will create a burden so great on manufacturers and creators of such programs that they will not develop or offer products that have potential for misuse.

I fear that by trying to curb the theft of copyrighted material you will instead be curbing the ability for individuals and groups with legitimate uses for the technology that enables such to use it. Being thoroughly immersed in an academic and artistic atmosphere, I am witness every day to fair uses of technology that would not exist today were such a law in existence. In fact I feel that the software that I am using to write this letter would not have been developed simply because it includes the ability to cut and paste text from any source into the document.

I believe that should this Bill become law that it will undo much of the progress of free-speech and alternative media creation that has been enabled by the internet, personal electronic devices, computers, tape recorders and so on. Furthermore it will be a giant step backwards and lead to increased power by the media and further relegate citizens to the role of consumer without a voice.

I hope that you will reconsider your position on this matter.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Shawn Van Every

Why I LOVE the direction of this country – This is ridiculous

Boston.com / News / Nation / Aid cuts threatened by US over tribunal
From the article:
The US government is quietly threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid aimed at combating terrorism, resolving conflicts, and building democracy unless countries agree to shield Americans from prosecution at the UN permanent war crimes tribunal.

Thanks to Ann for the Link.

Here we go again…

Wi-Fi Acacia’s next patent target | CNET News.com
Acacia, a representation of all that is wrong with our patent system, having successfully extorted companies using streaming technologies has turned to companies using WiFi, attempting to enforce another patent that they apparently have purchased.
I heard a while ago that they Acacia was short on money. Hopefully a couple of high-profile legal battles will drain them and we can sing good night Acacia, good night (until they sell their patent portfolio to another company willing to sue sue sue).