Prentice Hall has made the leap into open source publishing, in no small measure due to the impetus provided by Bruce Perens, author, programmer, researcher, and father of the open source movement. He states on this site, “I’ve convinced Prentice Hall PTR to publish a series of books that have their text under Open Source… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Digital Rights
Music/Tech Industry Reach Digital Rights Agreement
Yesterday afternoon, the Recording Industry Association of America announced via this press release that “key members of the recording and technology industries” had reached an agreement on a set of principles as the foundation for their joint anti-piracy and copyright protection lobbying efforts in the 108th Congress. The agreement is a result of efforts by… Continue Reading
Copyright and Open Source Software
With Microsoft making news today regarding their efforts against government use of open source software (OSS), this newly revised article, Making Copyright Ambidextrous: An Expose of Copyleft, is a useful resource on the history of OSS and associated licensing issues. Continue Reading
Kazaa Will Fight Infringement Lawsuit
Via ZDNet there is news that Sharman Networks, the investment consortium based in Sydney, Australia that owns the popular and controversial P2P software Kazaa will fight the copyright infringement lawsuit brought against them in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California (CV 01-08541-SVW, CV 01-09923-SVW) by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, after the court issued a 46… Continue Reading
Intel CEO and Digital Rights
The CEO of Intel, Craig Barrett, spoke about digital rights at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show. His comments sought to strike a balance between fair use rights for consumers who legally purchase digital services and media, and appropriate punishment for those “who grossly violate anybody’s content.” Continue Reading
New E-Book Software Piracy Issue
The source code for the Microsoft Reader e-book as been hacked and posted online by UK programmer Dan Jackson. The program is aptly named Convert Lit (for the .lit format), and removes Microsoft copy protections from files, thus allowing them to be read on competitiors’ devices. Here is a link to the EU Copyright Commission… Continue Reading
EFF IP Attorney Interview
Via Slashdot, here is a link to an interview on digital IP issues with Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Senior IP Attorney Fred Von Lohmann, conducted by TechFocus. Topics covered include Kazaa, DVRs, the impact of the DMCA and the need for legislative reform of the act, and balancing fair use with the rights of authors. Continue Reading
Teen Found Not Guilty in DVD Case
On January 7, teenager Jon Lech Johansen was acquitted by a Norweigan criminal court of charges related to creating a utility (DeCSS) that descrambled the code for DVD players, and publishing it on the Web. For other articles on this decision, see CNN, The Register, BBC, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Continue Reading
Boucher First to Intro Tech Bill in 108th Congress
Rep. Boucher of Virginia was the first to introduce a tech-related bill in the 108th Congress. The bill, called the Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act (H.R. 107), is a twin to H.R. 5544, which he introduced on October 3, 2002. See my previous posting for a section-by-section description of H.R. 5544. H.R. 107 amends sections… Continue Reading
File Swapping Kazaa's Nimble, Global Enterprise
Kazaa, the immensely popular P2P file swapping software that claims to have 163 million users worldwide, remains one-step ahead of law suits for infringement. The company’s catch me if you can business operations model is purposefully convoluted and complex, stretching across three continents, according to this interesting BizReport article. Continue Reading
DMCA Remains in Spotlight in 2003
According to the Boston Globe, the DMCA will be the focus of increasing controversy and lobbying by industry and consumer advocates in 2003. The Business Software Alliance, one of the act’s powerful backers, is fighting any expansion of consumer rights concerning the use of music and movie industry products, including legislation introduced by Rep. Boucher.… Continue Reading
ISP Dispute and the DMCA
Wired details a DMCA dispute that is pitting ISP Verio against veteran thing.net communications from New York, a hybrid non-profit (serving the arts community) and for-profit telecom service. Thing.net hosted a site that lampooned Dow Chemical, using the company’s trademark, resulting in the termination of their service by Verio. Continue Reading
