Slashback: Archives, Leak, Fanfilm

Slashback tonight brings some corrections, clarifications and updates to previous Slashdot stories, including word from the worlds of corporate patent lawsuits, secretive publishers vs. inquisitive readers in Canada, and the pitiful teachers versus the splendid kids in Pennsylvania. Read on for the details. Sir, this sentence mangling machine is Pl88^74djliivc33mq again! I posted a story earlier this week which scrambled in its summary the facts of the matter. My post, as reader Raymond Fingas points out, said that the "Internet archive ... has been sued by the firm Harding Earley Follmer & Frailey." Fingas was one of several readers (thanks to all!) to correct me on this, writing "According to the linked article that isn't the case; instead they are being sued by Healthcare Advocates, represented by the firm McCarter & English. Further, the article says that Harding Earley Follmer & Frailey is actually being sued along with the Internet Archive.."

Alacritech settles litigation with MSFT and BRCM An anonymous reader writes "Alacritech, Microsoft Corporation and Broadcom Corporation today announced that they have entered into agreements that settle all outstanding disputes between Alacritech and Microsoft, as well as provide Microsoft and Broadcom access to Alacritech's patent portfolio relating to scalable networking. (Previously mentioned on Slashdot here and here.)"

Sir, you have no right to read about your rights. Hobart writes "Richard Stallman has just posted on his personal website a request for his readers to 'Don't Buy Harry Potter Books,' and offered to leak the plot - in protest of the Canadian Supreme Court ruling forbidding the purchasers from reading the books they paid for. A memorable quote in the Times article says '...There is no human right to read.'"

Don'tcha think felony is a bit strong for a few button presses? ZombyHero writes "In a follow-up to a previous story, the 13 high school students from Kutztown, PA charged with felony computer trespassing for violating district usage policy are fighting back. They've hired lawyers have begun talking with the Assistant DA. As a former student of the school, I know that the district is used to getting its way. Hopefully this will knock them down a few notches."

Starship Exeter flies again! An anonymous reader writes "There's a new episode of Starship Exeter, a fan-made feature set in the original series Star Trek universe. The new episode, The Tressaurian Intersection, follows on from The Savage Empire, which was featured on Slashdot before. This time it's better than ever... better than the original series, in fact! You can watch the entire episode online."

Treasure hunts, commence. We've posted quite a few interesting applications for Google's mapping service; now phauly writes "I created an Animated Google Map (with some gnus and mozillas attacking Microsoft office) using Google Maps API. I think it would be easy to create real playable Games on Google Maps. For sharing ideas (and implementations!) I created the Games on Google Maps wiki page. For now some ideas are: risk, freeciv, freecraft, car races on real maps! Feel free to edit the page suggesting/revising/implementing ideas."

Comments

Linux Desktop of the Future Follow Up Article

[Anonymous Coward]

The author of the controversial Linux Desktop of the Future essay has posted a follow up article containing clarifications and defying misconceptions.

Canadian Supreme Court

[JohnWiney]

It was not the "Canadian Supreme Court" that made this ruling, it was the Supreme Court of British Columbia, according to the link new report. I know foreign geography is tough for Americans. It does make a difference - I am virtually certain that the injunction would be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada if it was ever taken that far.

Yet again Slashdot mangles the story

[Lew Pitcher]

No, it was not the Canadian Supreme Court (aka the Supreme Court of Canada) that permitted the injunction.

Instead, it was the Supreme Court of British Colombia that made that ruling. There's a world of difference, just like the difference between the State Supreme Court of California and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

It would be nice if the submitter of the story (or the editor who summarized it) could RTFA, but I guess that would be too much for Slashdot

Correction, you can watch it in a month or two

[Devistater]

"You can watch the entire episode online."
Not correct.
Here's quotes from the official page about it
Part one:
" This portion of "The Tressaurian Intersection" is
in the final stages of post production.
for details, please visit EXETERSTUDIO.COM."
Part two:
" This portion of "The Tressaurian Intersection" is
scheduled for release on Friday, July 22, 2005."
Part three:
" This portion of "The Tressaurian Intersection" is
scheduled for release on Friday, August 5, 2005."
Credits:
" This portion of "The Tressaurian Intersection" is
scheduled for release on Friday, August 19, 2005."

Thanks for getting my hopes up and not bothering to check if you could actually watch it before submitting it.

Missing tag

[Noksagt]

Clearly the article didn't quote THAT much...Corrected:

I've heard of worst protests than the one Richard proposes...

a request for his readers to 'Don't Buy Harry Potter Books,' in protest of the Canadian Supreme Court ruling forbidding the purchasers from reading the books they paid for.

But, quote the article:

But readers will be unable to share their knowledge after Raincoast Books, the book's Canadian publisher, was granted a "John Doe" injunction prohibiting the buyers from even reading their copies before the publication date.

You need to hurt Raincoast Books and the Canadian Supreme Court [sic--really B.C.], not J.K. Rowling, or the U.S. publisher of her books, Arthur A. Levine Books, or anyone else.To protest the publisher, don't buy ANY Raincoast Books. If you are a .ca resident who wants to protest, but also wants to read Harry Potter, grab it from you library or pick up an import copy. If you want to protest the Supreme Court, don't obey this mandate, write protest letters, and work on getting better justices picked.

If you aren't in Canada, laugh at them. What else do you expect from a counyty where a pizza can get to your house faster than an ambulance, there is handicap parking places in front of a skating rink, and people leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put useless junk in the garage?

Re:No human right to read

[Anonymous Coward]

The injunction had nothing to do with not allowing people to read the book. It was about preventing people from publishing information about the contents of the book, ie the plot or reviews.

Wrong Supreme Courg

[darkonc]

It's not The Supreme Court of Canada, It's the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The later is more like a State Superior Court in the US. It can be overruled by the BC Court of Appeals which can then be overruled by the SCC. It's a little bit confusing, but -- hey! It's law.

The Pecking Order for BC:

1. Supreme Court of Canada Court of last resort
2. BC Court of Appeals Normally sits as 3 judges but can reconsider it's own rullings with a bank of 5 or 7
3. BC Supreme Court Civil court, major felonies and appeals of lower courts
4. BC Provincial Court non-indictable crimes

Somewhere about the provincial court level you can also throw in family and small claims court.

BTW: The injunction is probably unconstitutional, but I can't see anybody appealing it.. By the time the appeal went thru, the book would be released. I'm guessing that the judge who issued it just didn't want to face down his/her kids for not protecting 'ol Harry.

Re:When someone puts up a website...

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone who spends as much time posting on /. as you do should really learn how a web browser works. Go to a page, click a few links, then pull out your internet cable. Does the page vanish from the screen? If you have a good browser your back button should still work too...

p.s. the answer to the problem here is that people shouldn't be so hung up on other people's past.

Haunting past

[phorm]

People have had foolish incidents from their past haunt them long before the internet was around. People do stupid things, and one of the deterrants against doing stupid things is that they may catch up to you in the future. Plenty of people have had their reputations/careers impacted upon when an old news article, police report, etc has surfaced... sorry but we don't need dumn legal wrangling to protect people from their own stupidity.

Followup - with a copy of the Potter Injunction

[Hobart]

Professor Michael Geist of the University of Ottowa has several informative entries on his blog, including a PDF of the Order issued by the British Columbia Supreme Court against the Harry Potter #6 purchasers.

Memorable quote:

"...the judge that issued this order did indeed consider the consequences of the order and amazingly felt that it was appropriate to limit the freedom to read, freedom of speech, and the freedom of personal property."

(Coralized link to go easy on his server, direct link here -> . )

Re:RMS doesn't understand the meaning of free spee

[DaveV1.0]

Wrong. If the owner or their designated agent request it, the police an remove a person from anywhere, and issue a trespass warrant barring one's return. You don't even have to make a scene.

Disturbing the peace is a crime. Making a scene can be disturbing the peace and can get you arrested.