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Downhillbattle.org Bounty For P2P Gaim Plug-in

Posted by timothy on from the don't-cross-the-streams-of-bits dept.

thecombatwombat writes "Music activism site Downhillbattle.org has started a fund to pay a bounty on a peer-to-peer plugin for Gaim. With new laws threatening peer-to-peer, Downhill Battle thinks this is the future. Regardless, it's an interesting funding of open source."

3 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Strange, I was just looking into this today by complexmath · · Score: 5, Informative

    and ran across Grouper. Only for Windows, but it does almost exactly what these folks want.

  2. Re:Gaim is excellent by pyite · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no controversy. Technology is not illegal. Uses of it are. People like etree make such a mockery of the RIAA's claims that filesharing is only used for evil that it's not even funny. Perhaps the RIAA is pissed off that so many bands are content with giving their music away for absolutely free.

    --

    "Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman

  3. You Can Make Filesharing Legal by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 5, Informative
    It is within your power to make the sharing of files - any file - completely legal. While the Constitution permits Congress to enact copyright laws, it doesn't actually require it to do so. Copyright is not a constitutional right like free speech is.

    In Change the Law I discuss the constitutional basis of copyright law in the US, and suggests a number of steps you can take to bring about much needed copyright reform. The steps range from speaking out to practicing civil disobedience.

    There are over sixty million people using p2p networks in the US. That's more than voted for George Bush in 2000. That's enough people to bring about change, if you can work together effectively.

    My article has been read by over six hundred thousand people so far but I'd like to see all sixty million American p2p users read it by the time of the 2006 midterm elections. I'd like to see copyright reform become a hotbutton issue in the next election.

    If you're sad that Kerry lost November 2nd, consider that Kerry voted for the DMCA. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are on the side of the RIAA and MPAA. They're on the side of the big-money donors after all. That needs to change.

    There are very few elected officials who feel that the DMCA is any sort of problem. They think it's the solution. Our elected officials view people who share files as the problem.

    If you feel as I do that more people need to read my article, you can help by linking to it from your website, weblog or from message boards.

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.