   September 2004 ArchiveSeptember 30, 2004VeriSign Plans to ID Your Kids Online
How do you make kids safe from Internet predators? According to VeriSign and the government-funded i-Safe, you give them hardware keys that verify their age and gender!
The Senate's Taste for RIAA Kool-Aid
There's so much bad press about the Induce Act that we can't keep up, yet Hatch & Co. remain stubborn.
PubPat Busts Microsoft Patent
The Public Patent Foundation has succeeded in blowing one of Microsoft's amazingly broad patents out of the water. Way to go!
More Induce Act in the News
The New York Times on today's negotiations.
September 29, 2004Innovating by Ear
Our own Annalee Newitz on how innovation happens.
IPac - Supporting Copyfighters in Congress
There's a brand new nonpartisan PAC that supports legislators who stand up to the entertainment industry on intellectual property issues - meaning you can help the good guys get elected.
Internet Voting in Switzerland Deemed a Success
By Swiss authorities, that is. Security experts weren't nearly as convinced.
ACM Opposes E-voting
The world's oldest professional society of computer scientists recently came out against voting machines that don't provide a paper trail.
IBM Puts Big Bucks Behind RFID
The company will spend $250 million over the next five years on its "pervasive computing" initiatives.
Induce Act Still Gag-Inducing
The latest version of this nasty bill is no easier to swallow than the first. Wired News explains why.
Bits v. Discs: Plastic Is King - For Now
A European study says CDs rule - but predicts that digital downloads will outsell them by the end of the decade.
ACLU Wins Huge PATRIOT Act Victory!
Great news - a federal judge sided with the ACLU and found some powers under the PATRIOT Act unconstitutional!
The Long, Winding Road to Digital Hollywood
Movie studios and tech companies at the Digital Hollywood conference pondered the perpetual problem: how to put even stronger locks on the stuff you buy.
Biting the Hand that Feeds You
EFF's Fred von Lohmann on why suing customers is (still) a bad idea.
September 24, 2004"PATRIOT II" On Deck
The GOP hopes to revive the controversial bill by attaching it to the coattails of the 9/11 Commission Report.
September 23, 2004Beastie Boys, David Byrne, Others Release New Compilation CD
And check this out: it's *meant* to be copied/remixed/shared.
Microsoft Would Like to See Your Registration, Sir
The OS giant is introducing a program that would require customers to provide proof-of-purchase in order to get security patches.
SCO No! Yet Another Open Source Lawsuit!
In eery copycat fashion, a small software company is suing companies that use open source software in which it claims to hold copyrights.
Enormous Group of Technology Heavy-Hitters Oppose Induce
The list includes Intel, Google, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, EarthLink, Verizon, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA), and Radio Shack. Still think it's just about file sharing, Senator Hatch?
More Flaws in Diebold Code
We're *so* relieved that we don't have to do that company's PR.
GREAT song A+++++ WOULD LISTEN AGAIN!!!!
You guessed it: eBay will offer digital music downloads.
Microsoft - Net Radio Station K-O-P-Y
Microsoft is copying radio station playlist selections and broadcasting them sans DJ chatter -- even using the real station's call letters to identify the material.
Inducing America to Give Up Innovation
Guy Kewney, a UK journalist, hopes that if the misguided Induce Act becomes law, the bone-deep chill will remain within US borders - leaving companies in the rest of the world free to out-innovate us.
What the Next President Thinks About Tech Policy
PC Magazine provides questions & answers from Bush and Kerry on the PATRIOT Act, broadband, file sharing, and a host of other techie topics.
How the iTunes Pie Is Divided
This article claims that about $0.10 of each iTunes song goes to the artist.
Pretty Version of Cory Doctorow's DRM Talk
Our dear colleague Cory Doctorow gave a wonderfully written and well-received speech on digital rights management this year, and now the folks at "Change This" have turned it into a great-looking PDF.
$1 Billion to Turn Off Your TV
Your *old* TV - the government wants to use that money so you can get a new, spiffy, digital one.
September 16, 2004Law Lets Public Library Kick Out Patrons for Surfing
The ACLU is challenging the law on behalf of a man who was banned from the Hawaii State Library for visiting a gay & lesbian website.
CD Lock-Down Technology: There Can Be Only One
That's Microsoft's plan, anyway. The company wants record companies to rally 'round its plan to create a digital dystopia of consumer rights.
Free Samples: 3 Notes and Runnin'
Downhill Battle's latest bit of genius agitprop takes aim at the ridiculous state of musical sampling law.
Lemley on the Economics of IP
Stanford law professor Mark Lemley on why intellectual property isn't the same as the tangible stuff.
TiVo, ReplayTV Agree to "Limits" on Relationship with Public
It was getting cozy. Living together, watching movies every weekend - there was even talk about letting the public keep programs "forever." But then TiVo & Replay's on-again, off-again relationship with Hollywood began to heat up. Hollywood apologized for suing Replay into bankruptcy and made nice with TiVo. In the end, the thrill of that abusive relationship overwhelmed the companies' better judgment...and they broke the public's heart *again.*
Netting Free Music
And it's quality stuff, too! This NY Times article surveys the free, legal offerings of the Internet.
September 15, 2004Chicago Residents Wave Hello to Big Brother
The city recently installed 2,000 surveillance cameras throughout the city.
R.E.M. Guitarist Gives Away iPods Stuffed with Music
A terrific gift on many levels.
Nothing New Here, Move Along
It's only Acacia Research targeting even more victims in lawsuits asserting patent dominion over technologies to stream audio and video over the Web.
Limousine Ride for Election Officials: $300
Knowing that it helped your voting-machine company win a $100 million contract: Priceless.
The Story of Your Life...
...may be digitally recorded and kept on file by the Pentagon, if you're a soldier in the Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology (ASSIST) program.
RIAA Sued for Patent Infringement
From the Department of High Irony: the recording industry heavies have been sued for infringing - and *inducing* the infringement - of a patent on P2P "spoofing."
MD Court Sides with Paperless E-voting
The state's highest court ruled that its Diebold voting machines - the subject of three critical security reviews - nevertheless pass muster for the November election. Only a few days earlier, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) cast a vote on a Diebold machine at a demonstration. It failed.
September 09, 2004Republicans Oppose National ID
From the official 2004 Republican Party Platform: "As tagging and tracking citizens is inconsistent with American freedom, we oppose the creation of a national identification card or system." We couldn't agree more.
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Posted at 10:18 AM by Ren Bucholz | Permalink | Other Links:
Anonymity
| Privacy
| Surveillance
September 08, 2004Canada Considers Broadcast Flag
Michael Geist gives his perspective on the move.
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Posted at 11:09 AM by Ren Bucholz | Permalink | Other Links:
Broadcast Flag
| International IP
Save Betamax by Calling Out the Induce Act
The folks at Downhill Battle want you to call Congress on the harm the Induce Act would cause to innovation, and they've made it easy with SaveBetamax.org.
Gag-Happy Government Wants ACLU to Shut Up
The USA PATRIOT Act allows the government to issue "National Security Letters," which carry a gag-order for the recipient that prevents the disclosure that one has been received. But the DoJ has interpreted this to mean that the ACLU, in its work to examine how the letters are being (ab)used, can't publicly quote from published Supreme Court opinions or refer even vaguely to the circumstances of its case.
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Posted at 11:01 AM by Ren Bucholz | Permalink | Other Links:
Bad Laws
| Free Speech
| Privacy
| Surveillance
Government Wants Arguments About Secret Law Kept...Secret?
EFF co-founder John Gilmore is suing the government over secret laws governing airport searches and ID requirements, but the Department of Justice wants to keep the everyone - even Gilmore's lawyers - in the dark about what the rules actually say.
"Lion" Bites Mouse
Disney lost the latest round in a South African lawsuit charging that the entertainment giant is the main offender in exploiting "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a song that was copied note-for-note from a deceased migrant farm worker. Piracy indeed, Mr. Eisner.
State of California Sues Diebold for False Claims
The state is joining a civil suit filed by two voting rights activists.
More Independent Software Turns iTunes into P2P Playground
MyTunes Redux allows iTunes users to share song files with multiple computers, not just stream music.
Court to Hear First "Warspamming" Case
That long, ugly word means "finding an open wireless network and sending spam therefrom."
September 07, 2004Congress Set to Vote on Spyware, P2P Bills
The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act (PDEA) cleared another hurdle on Capitol Hill. Tell your representatives to fight it by clicking here.
Why Grokster Rocks
The executive director of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society explains why the Grokster opinion makes sense for the future of innovation.
Patents are Killing Software Innovation
So Martin Brampton argues in this op-ed.
Netflix to Download Movies to Your TiVo
We're pleasantly surprised that Netflix was able to get permission for this neat little trick.
Microsoft Likes the Sound of Competition
Gates & Co. last week revealed MSN Music - the latest way to buy music that won't play on your iPod.
September 01, 2004Resisting RFID Regulation, for Now
Declan McCullagh argues for a "wait and see" approach to the tiny tracking devices, despite the fact that very few people are aware of the privacy risks they pose, and fewer still know how to protect themselves.
XM Pulls Plug on PC Radio
The satellite radio company's PCR could be used in conjunction with third-party software called Time Trax to download music.
FL Judge Rules Recounts Legal. Phew.
A Florida rule barred 15 counties with e-voting machines from conducting manual recounts, but not anymore.
Non Pirate-Related Trouble on High Seas
Sri Lanka has accused an Indian ship of cutting an undersea fiber optic cable that happens to be the island nation's main Internet link.
Microsoft Ordered to Pull Anti-Linux Ad
It seems that the software giant is telling falsehoods in its anti-Linux ad campaign.
25 Nobel Laureates Want Information to be Free
If it's publicly funded scientific research, that is.
Engadget Interviews Valenti
The retiring president of the MPAA provides his unique perspective on things like cryptography and fair use, which he likes to claim doesn't exist in the law. 17 USC 107, anyone?
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