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Slashback: Spamnation, Long-Distance, Libel
But sir, all of these songs are under the Open Content License! atta1 writes "In an article on The Register, EasyInternetcafe has lost its court battle against British Phonographic Industry (BPI) over burning downloaded music to CD."
When last mentioned (August of last year), EasyInternetCafe was trying to avoid fines from BPI for letting Internet cafe customers burn to CD music they'd downloaded there.
After all, somebody's got to write 'em. g_adams27 writes "Several weeks ago, Larry Lessig proposed anti-spam legislation he'd like to see Congress pass -- legislation which he was willing to bet his job on. Now it looks like Washington might be taking his bet... and they want us to help out!
A congressional aide appears to be drafting legislation based on Larry's suggestions and is asking the Politech list for suggestions. The proposed law is posted here."
IP leases are nicer than telephone leases. Lots of people were interested in the story posted the other day about VoIP support in GnomeMeeting. I mentioned there that theKompany had a VoIP application for Zaurus owners; Shawn Gordon of theKompany writes with information about a forthcoming desktop version as well.
"So we released tkcPhone a few weeks ago, we found some issues with Net2Phone that we've just finished sorting out today, and we've about wrapped up the tkPhone beta, which we expect in a day or two. Having tkPhone allows us to do some things we couldn't on the Zaurus, like make use of a Speex codec which is part of the Xiph umbrella these days, we couldn't use it on the Zaurus because it requires floating point support. We also can have a system tray notifier and a roomier user interface. Because we spent so much time optimizing everything to work on the Zaurus, it means your desktop performance is going to be very good.We decided to use SIP as opposed to H323 for a lot of reasons: smaller, faster, lighter, newer, easier hardware requirements. So with our phone a regular sound card and a headset/mic will typically suffice for what you need or want to do. Our arrangement with Net2phone means that in addition to PC-to-PC calls, you can make PC-to-phone and PC-to-mobile calls as well. The prices range from free to as little as $0.02 per minute in the U.S. and $0.03 minute internationally. You're already paying for your internet access, might as well start to piggyback this stuff.
tkPhone is not free however, it is $9.95 for the electronic version of the application. We expect to have it up for sale about February 10, 2003."
And as several readers pointed out, if you're interested in VoIP on Linux, you should also check out the sites of both the Bayonne project (mentioned several times before)and asterisk (also discussed here).
You mean they're against my inalienable right to watch movies for free? geekee writes "An article on CNET states that the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) will include DRM support in the MPEG-4 open standard. Without DRM, the ISMA doesn't believe MPEG-4 will be able to compete against proprietary standards such as that provided by Microsoft since content owners 'want continually improved tools, with rights management.' For instance, Movielink, an online movie rental source, has opted to support Microsoft and RealNetwork formats because of their DRM capabilities. An interesting thing to note is that Apple is a member of the ISMA, and has previously declared its opposition to DRM."
Money talks, and sometimes it says nasty things. scubacuda writes "Since eBay removed the alleged libelous statements, Roger Grace has agreed to drop his libel lawsuit for $2.5 million in punitive damages from eBay and $100,000 from Tim Neeley (who wrote that the magazines he bought from Grace had arrived late and in a worse condition than advertised). Interestingly, eBay removed the feedback not because it was 'negative,' but rather because 'the contact information for the seller was not correct.' Chris Donlay, eBay spokesman, says, '[T]hat is one of the circumstances in which we will consider removing the feedback,' EBay attorneys even went to far as to claim that Grace's original lawsuit is 'completely without merit.'"
(Here's the Slashdot post from last Saturday, 'Attorney Sues eBay over Negative Feedback'.)
I would bet that their disclaimers get more detailed and precise in the near future!
I am me...I think
i have my own domain and i get spammed at random address that don't exist, mainly by yahoo. Does this happen a lot or is it just me?
-- OMFG = Oh My Floatse Goatse
Who read that as "EasyInternetcafe has lost its court battle against British Pornographic Industry"?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
And as several readers pointed out, if you're interested in VoIP on Linux, you should also check out the sites of both...
Might I also add (the albeit not particularly well named, IMHO) Linphone.
Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
so we get a few versions of mpeg4 with DRM attached. Doesn't mean we won't see those rogue codecs without DRM floating around just like we have tons of flavors of DivX codecs right now to chose from.
-my other sig is your mom
It is no strange occurance for eBay to remove feedback. One party having invalid contact info is just one of the reasons. Others include feedback that contain swear words, real names, website ads, and underage bidders.
The person who sued eBay is an idiot, because eBay removes feedback if a court orders that feedback made by an individual is libel. Don't sue eBay, sue the person.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
What if we had an open-source codec, which was capable of operating with or without DRM? Without DRM we could all use it and be happy knowing we aren't lining any corporations pockets, and don't have to worry about the situation changing in the future. With DRM, companies who wanted to stream secure video would be able to know that the DRM mechanism is secure (because everyone has the code for it!)
Just a thought...
===
You know that guy who stole your girlfriend away from you in the summer of '95? He's going to die.
It's interesting that the ISMA wants to put DRM in MPEG4, and that Apple is part of the ISMA, but does anyone know how much of a part? There are plenty of alliances where the members have very little say in what gets decided.
Also, it should be noted that Apple will find any alternatives necessary to avoid DRM. This isn't one of those huge developments that completely shifts a company's views on a certain matter. Apple will simply find another way...
"Several weeks ago, Larry Lessig proposed anti-spam legislation he'd like to see Congress pass -- legislation which he was willing to bet his job on. Now it looks like Washington might be taking his bet... and they want us to help out!"
When will they be willing to "help us out" and get rid of the DCMA?
Can't fault the lawyers or the company, really, for not wanting to become a big fat test case. I wonder though whether they pulled the comment after the contact info was wrong because a) it allowed them to save face because it was within their policy; or b) the guy who posted it doesn't exist or couldn't be found and the legal types thought they were hooped without his testimony.
MHO. YMMV. Any resemblance between this post and real persons, or reality in general, was accidental.
We're on the brink of getting all sorts of content available through the Internet. It is not inconcievable that many of us will actually abandon TiVO, mini-satellite systems, and cable and hook our computers directly up to our televisions to get all of our video content within the next couple of years. DRM in no way hampers our ability to make and distribute video -- it's just a necessary step towards permitting the creators of such content to share their work with us on their terms.
Just as rules about driving are necessary to facilitate the sale of vehicles, so too rules are necessary to protect the investment of content creators that we may be able to experience their work without exploiting it. Rogue mpeg4 would just harm the acceptance of real mpeg4 by Hollywood because it would be seen as a simple way for pirates to ship a comparable movie experience without making sure everybody bought a ticket.
I'm not arguing this is right, but recent history would have a hard time proving this wrong.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Beats me how selling a physical object can be copyright violation, and I thought that part of buying something was the right to sell it. Unlike Google and Slashdot, eBay has no balls. (Granted they gave in, but in a way that the Happy Fun Cult really wouldn't have wanted.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
This is not a goal worth supporting. Let them have their fucking Microsoft Media Shit.
After taking the time to read the proposed law concerning spam, I have to say that it seems to be fairly well thought out (with one exception that I'll get to in a second). The requirement that there be a subject line beginning with either 'ADV:' or 'ADULTADV' is spot on what I would like to see more than anything else. If such a requirement could be enforced, it would be incredibly simple for ISPs to allow you to configure your email account so that any message with such a subject line be automatically deleted, or better yet, rejected by the mailserver as delivery is attempted. I'm not sure exactly how the latter would work with standard mail daemons, but I'm sure someone would code for it.
The other requirements and restrictions mentioned are perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned, but subject line requirements would go a long way towards relieving the burden of both users and ISP who have to prrocess mail.
I'd also like to see open mail relays be made illegal , but the technical challenges of writing such a law in a way that didn't unintentionally totally screw things up beyond belief is probably too bug a hurdle for legislators to deal with.
The main problem with laws such as these is that they just will not work. Forged 'from' headers (also dealt with by the law) exist in spam because it is so universally hated. It is dangerous to post spam from your real address. This is why many spammers make use of unsecured overseas servers to spew their garbage. Without the cooperation of the foreign countries, it is going to be difficult, if not impossible to police or enforce this without the rest of us falling prey to unintended consequences like some ISPs disallowing the use of mailing lists because they are afraid of some nebulous FUD that will be spread about the consequences of such a law no matter what it actually says.
I hate spam as much or more than anyone, but it is my firm opinion that national laws are no more than mere annoyances on the internet.
This is an ex-parrot!
"Having tkPhone allows us to do some things we couldn't on the Zaurus, like make use of a Speex codec which is part of the Xiph umbrella these days, we couldn't use it on the Zaurus because it requires floating point support."
How many of those are typos and how many are actual product names?
"Derp de derp."
I remember seeing "media keys" in quicktime for a long time now.. nothing new.
I don't think Apple is against DRM in the sense that they won't ever touch it. I think they just don't like to tie their customer's hands to please the media corps. If they have to choose between MPEG4 with DRM capabilities, and nothing, they'll choose the DRM.
I doubt they'll go out of their way to secure the keys in memory, etc. Why would they? If it sells a few more Macs because people whisper to each other: "Mac MPEG4 is easy to crack", why not?
It's all irrelevant anyway, it will be completely cracked at some point and everybody but Apple will look stupid.
They (RIAA, MPAA, et. al.) all need to get a grip on reality and understand that once something is digital, it is going to be zapped accross the globe in seconds. That is the power of the internet.
Pot and Coke, unlike MP3's and movies, are tangable items that take up lots of space, and require airplanes and boats to smuggle into the USA(TM). Billions are spend on the "War on Drung(TM)" and what are the results? A 15 year old can more easily procure Pot than a beer. Slipping "Matrix 5 - Overloaded" accross the globe is a mouseclick or two, no problem at all. My point is that something that can be transported so easily can NOT be stopped. If you can't stop shipments of Pot, how the hell can you stop something that can me shipped instantly and anonomously?
We're on the brink of getting all sorts of content available through the Internet. It is not inconcievable that many of us will actually abandon TiVO, mini-satellite systems, and cable and hook our computers directly up to our televisions to get all of our video content within the next couple of years. DRM in no way hampers our ability to make and distribute video -- it's just a necessary step towards permitting the creators of such content to share their work with us on their terms.
You sound like you hold with the idea that people have the moral right to place any restrictions on any content they redistribute. I do not believe this, and as long as you define moral right here as being the greater good for the greater people, the legal opinions have grappled with this in a moral way, and have always upheld the idea that there are limits to the rights we grant copyright holders-- that fair use is still protected.
In essence, we as a society lease provided content to the content providers-- if it is intellectual property, it is owned by the public as a whole. This is why, I believe that the Constitution of the United States of America specifically states that Congress may provide for exclusive rights (aside from fair use as interpreted by the courts) for a LIMITED TIME.
If we are so interested in "Their Terms" then we should go to a model of perpetual copyright. Why not? We do seem to be moving in that direction. And I do not think that all cultural expression should be owned forever.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
DRM is acceptible when it is designed with the idea of allowing a certain set of things based upon an idea of fair use, and allowing people to regulate everything else.
Of course, the market will select against it, so we are better not trying.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Whether you like it or not.
Microsoft Windows will remain the most popular operating system in the world, whether you like it or not.
Proprietary, patented video codecs will remain the "de facto" standard, whether you like it or not.
The open source movement is so often full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Open source technologies are not driven by the impetus to make money, the way proprietary technologies are. Thus they will be pushed to the fringes by aggressive, profit-minded corporations who are willing to pony up for the marketing, research and development, partnerships with movie companies, etc. it takes to become accepted.
That's the American Way.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
DRM...DRM...DRM.....how do you spell that?
I still say spam should be given the same treatment as junk faxes. I'd say the only way putting "ADV:" in the subject header would cut back on the volume is if the SMTP servers were able to scan e-mail subject lines before sending the mail over the network. Otherwise, all you're doing is making it easier to delete by the end-user instead of actually freeing up expensive bandwidth.
And then there are the exceptions, which include (surprise surprise!) political campaign solicitations.
- Linphone (http://www.linphone.org/)
- SIPSet (http://www.vovida.org/)
Neither has g.729a support, though, so they're not going to work with net2phone, i don't think.I think I see a loophole in the proposed bill. There does not (yet) seem to be a prohibition against intermediate mail relays stripping the "ADV:" (or "ADULTADV:") tag from the subject line. The unscrupulous initiator could route it through some equally unscrupulous server that strips such tags and forwards the mail. "Gee, it had the tag when it left MY server..."
:)
Better get that closed, guys... wouldn't want Larry to lose his job.
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
If we're going to get anything done we need to get with it!
"Ford," he said, "you're turning into a penguin. Stop it."
If ($movie->{MPEG4Header}{isCopyProtected} = 0) {
$movie->play();
}
... and very very very few spammers ever follow it. They just add "This email not intended for residents of CA" or some crap to the email.
Right on, Bro :))))*sneeze*
db
Cig:
ôô
I can filter for "residents of CA" and "105th U.S. Congress" to eliminate large amounts of spam. Thanks to spammers everywhere using
Now that I'm using that Bayesian-style analysis of spam this gets even better...
Token, Spam Hits, Real Email
105th, 462, 0
Congress, 636, 8
transmissions, 632, 2
residents, 342, 11
CA, 10240, 606
So forcing/encouraging spammers to add "some crap" to their email (even if it is trying to avoid the effects of a law) just makes it easier to pick them up.
Recycle PCs and build a wireless community network www.hillsborough.org.nz
remove the 'catch-all' feature so that only mail addressed to real addresses get through.
I read it two or three times & still got it wrong, not less! If it hadn't been for this, I'd have been left wondering... :)
Maybe you didn't read the article closely enough, but he DID sue the individual as well as Ebay. Straight from the article it reads
I agree w/ the AC post above that he sued Ebay only for the money, but the guy did sue the person as well.
There does not (yet) seem to be a prohibition against intermediate mail relays stripping the "ADV:" (or "ADULTADV:") tag from the subject line.
I think that would make a pretty bad defense. Citing the proposal:
No person or entity conducting business in the United States may electronically mail, or cause to be electronically mailed [...] unsolicited advertising material [...] unless the subject line of each and every electronic document or message includes ''ADV:'' (My emphasis)
You could hardly have used a tag-stripping relay by accident, and so you have consciously "caused" tagless mailing.
Also note that the clause permitting normal internet routing applies only "to the extent that the tele-communications utility or Internet service provider merely carries that transmission over its network."
A relay that actively modifies subjects would hardly be able to use that defense...
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
However, Open source technologies are driven by poory identified impetuses that do not drive proprietary technologies.
I don't know what keyboard layout you're using, but I can't figure out how the hell you accidentally typed that.
-a
Open source can be better because it does a better job of giving people what they want. It is written by the people who want these things. Proprietary software is not concerned with giving people what they want, it is only concerned with giving people what they can make money off of.
--Your list leaves out the real #1, I think you list needs to be bumped down-it's accurate as far as it goes and is currently correct, but not totally.
Here's my corrected list--> insert
1-A real artist, dedicated to his art,no matter what else, makes his own work, because it's just cool, and does it on his own time and on his own nickle.
Mate, you're right, but you're wrong at the same time.
I think we're arguing along slightly different fronts -- we have to distinguish between amateur artists, and professional artists. Amateur artists may well create art 'because it's just cool', but they are primarily creating art for their *own* gratification.
Not for the Pope. Not for anyone else. They probably don't even care if their art gets locked up in their basement. The only thing that matters is that they get enjoyment out of it.
And that's fine, as far as it goes.
A *professional* artist, on the other hand, devotes his or her time to creating art on the basis that others will compensate them for their work. And they have probably only got to that stage by getting sufficient kudos from other people for their previous, amateur works.
*That's* where my list kicks in.
Love art, and create art for free, by all means. But if people are to be able to devote all their time to using their talent to the best of their ability, at some point, they need to be able to get paid for that.
-- Askari: Give JavaScript the bird.
Setting up the required subject lines will simply mean that I will be able to identify incoming commercial e-mail more easily. If I don't wish to look at it, I know which e-mails to delete without opening. I already do that with the subject line since sometimes I like to see what a couple people have for sale and other times they go straight to the bit bucket.
The main thing making SPAM illegal will do is it will make it easier for ISPs to be proactive in preventing SPAM from entering their systems. It will also allow them to make quicky SPAMer accounts harder to get. Right now, they can't really do either at least in the states without supposedly infringing on the SPAMer's right to free speech. Make SPAM illegal and that argument goes away. It also means that ISPs can take other actions such as filtering incoming e-mail again without worrying about complaints about limiting free speech. The ISPs have an incentive to do this to save on bandwidth and storage plus they can probably charge extra for providing the SPAM filter. Think about how many Nigerian money scams you've gotten and you'll get an idea of how much bandwidth and storage we're talking about for stuff that is easily identifiable as pure SPAM.
This still won't eliminate overseas SPAM but it will make it much less profitable and that is all it takes to cut down on how much of it is generated.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Yeah, like a handfull of geeks (relative to the general media market) is going to affect the ways corporations do business. Knock yourself out, go picket. Or, perhaps, maybe you could get creative and think outside the box...
1. Get a private person to sponsor your work....
None of these methods are used widely today.
Hmmm... So I suppose that the various companies that make up the RIAA are not sponsoring bad music? Or Random House is not sponsoring writers with their contracts?
In fact the general complaint is that *just a few* people are sponsoring the VAST majority of widely sirculated works. Sure it is not the exact same as the old patronage system, but I trhink that the Patronage system may have led to better art...
Of course that is what we have the National Endowment for the Arts for, I suppose.
Oh, wait, that is 3. Get the government to sponsor your work. Seems old systems never die.
As for the notion of incentive, I believe the incentive is not just to create new works but also with the price that we all have access to fair use, and that the works eventually become part of the Public Domain.
I think what concerns many of us is that, like software, much of it may be subject to less and less fair use, and will never realy become public domain in any real sense if DRM-based formats are the only ones used. If, in 100 years, most of the movies of tomorrow are no longer accessible, then copyright is failed us.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
The War on Drugs is a failure!
Legalize them! It would save the law enforcement billions of dollars a year!
Also, it would allow for cheap drugs that people need, such as, the elderly living on a fixed income.
These drugs companies charge an arm and a leg for some of these drugs. Legalizing drugs would force them to compete! Thus, their prices on their drugs would become cheaper!
But this won't happen because drug companies are in the pockets of the law makers.
All I was waiting for is to get a nice reference code for your DRM, so that I can use it in my own software for making backup copies of my movies that my friends can store for safekeeping.
I can't get nothing done for free these days, even with all the hidden gold and porn in the basement.
Something tells me I should apologize for the whole Crusades thing to, but that wasn't my fault dammit!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Lawyer rule #1: Don't sue poor people.
I never said he didn't, I said what he should have done in any case in order to have a legal leg to stand on.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
--I think you are misinterpreting what I wrote. I was making a list to address the historical perspective about how art first comes about. I sincerely doubt the first artists decided to create art because they got paid to do it. And just noting that doesn't imply that the list-now to 4 reasons-has to be kept in that order for any person, any artist is more than free to choose which method they want to adopt, or combination thereof, I was just adding to it to more accurrately reflect past reality.
A requirement that all commercial email senders provide a valid email address for responses, and the address and telephone number of the company providing the goods/services.
Pass that into law, and POOF! No more spam. Spam only works because the sender can hide in relative anonymity. Of course there are exceptions, but this would rid America of the run-of-the-mill penis enlargement for the purposes of having sex with hot teens and their naughty housewife mothers while sending out envelopes to get rich quick to save money to send to Nigeria emails.
Furthermore, anything pornographic should be OPT-IN!!!!!! $500 fine for the first violation. I'm for free speech, but that doesn't give you the right to put sexually explicit email in front of my kid.
Even furthermore, it should be a jailable offense to hijack a mail server for the purposes of sending out spam. Make the spammers pay for the use of special spamming servers, which we can all blackhole and forget about.
All in all, though, this proposed law is a DAMN sight better than nothing. Congress will enact somthing like this eventually, it's inevitable. They owe nothing to the porn or penis enlargement industries, it's a perfect case of low hanging fruit feel good legislation that everyone will love and costs them nothing politically. They're just slow to act on anything involving technology.
In short, it doesn't go far enough, but if it passes I'll be happier.
WWJD? JWRTFA!
for saying this. You hear that crap about "artists would NEVER create things without copyrights" regurgitated by idiots so often that you start to think that you are the ONLY ONE in the universe who knows that the statement is complete and total bullshit. Nice to know at least ONE other person has TRIED, at least, to remove the blinders of popular culture.