The guy who has the photo credit in the article (Kirk French) was my Archaeology TA during my freshman year. (I'm currently attending PSU for an EE degree). He's a really cool guy, glad to see he's doing well.
That aside, this is actually a pretty big discovery; very few ancient civilizations actually managed complex engineering achievements like running water. If anything this just adds to the mystery, if they had engineering knowledge of similar level to the Romans, why did their civilization suddenly die out?
As I'm currently in the "poor college student" demographic, I feel as if I can give a little insight into what these "alternative offerings" actually end up being.
I attend a rather well known college, and we were supposedly one of the first in the country to adopt a service that provided an 'alternative' to media piracy for students to obtain material by. This was originally provided by Napster, and for the the most part it wasn't a bad deal. At no extra cost to the students, you were able to get (mostly) DRM free music for your listening pleasure (or, it could be stripped out easily; through various methods)
Fast Foreward to 2007 -
As soon as my university's contract ran out for the Napster service, they picked up another service called "Ruckus" which, unlike Napster, is a dismal failure in what a digital media service should be. The catch line was "Expanded digital offerings then just music", but the reality of the situation ended up being:
- Almost no mainstream record companies signed up with the service. Most of what was provided is from independent or self publishing labels. Not the popular music people want
- There are 'movies' you can download with the service, but they consist almost entirely of music videos, again, of those strange bands you've never heard of. They also delete themselves after 2 days.
- Massive, MASSIVE amounts of DRM. Everything WMA or WMP formatted, and cannot be ported to multiple devices. Files expire after x period, etc.
The result of this means that for the student, you're back to square one, with piracy usually the most desirable option for obtaining media. It's not uncommon for underground networks to pop up, such as Dtella in such an environment, and if anything seems to further encourage such behaviour.
The wording here then, is what everyone is having a problem with. Determining exactly WHAT "In excess of a license" is rather vague, especially in regards to the computers RAM. This isn't really covered in tfa.
"In this Circuit, the âoecopyingâ element may be proved in software cases by showing an unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted software program in the computer userâ(TM)s Random Access Memory (âoeRAMâ). The Ninth Circuit has recognized that âoethe loading of software into the RAM creates a copy under the Copyright Act.â MAI Sys. v. Peak Computer, Inc., 991 F.2d 511, 519 (9th Cir. 1993), cert. dismissed 510 U.S. 1033 (1994); Triad Sys. Corp. v. Se. Express Co., 64 F.3d 1330, 1334 (9th Cir. 1995); see also Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. Cablevision Sys. Corp., 478 F. Supp. 2d 607, 621 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (agreeing with the âoenumerous courts [that] have held that the transmission of information through a computerâ(TM)s random access memory or RAM . . . creates a âcopyâ(TM) for purposes of the Copyright Act,â and citing cases.) When such a copy is made in excess of a license, the copier is liable for copyright infringement. Ticketmaster LLC v. RMG Techs., Inc., 507 F. Supp. 2d 1096, 1107 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (ââoeWhen a licensee exceeds the scope of the license granted by the copyright holder, the licensee is liable for infringement.ââ(TM) (citation omitted))."
Wait, so if I open WoW, or ANY program for that matter, and it loads into ram (And according to this; 'makes a copy') I'm in contempt with the law?
So, by the wording of this, merely turning on your computer and posting on slashdot makes me a software pirate.
This reminds me of the Heads up displays in many RTS and RPG games, where you look at an object and it tells you what it is. I can see more advanced versions of this technology doing exactly that, having applications in almost every field, along with military use. And if the database was made large enough, the ability to look at literally anything and know instantly what it is, and is used for would be downright awesome.
The safety benefits of such a system are immense, but;
Does this mean driving down the highway is going to be like playing some strange version of Grand Turismo?
Slashdot Mirror
The guy who has the photo credit in the article (Kirk French) was my Archaeology TA during my freshman year. (I'm currently attending PSU for an EE degree). He's a really cool guy, glad to see he's doing well.
That aside, this is actually a pretty big discovery; very few ancient civilizations actually managed complex engineering achievements like running water. If anything this just adds to the mystery, if they had engineering knowledge of similar level to the Romans, why did their civilization suddenly die out?
As I'm currently in the "poor college student" demographic, I feel as if I can give a little insight into what these "alternative offerings" actually end up being.
I attend a rather well known college, and we were supposedly one of the first in the country to adopt a service that provided an 'alternative' to media piracy for students to obtain material by. This was originally provided by Napster, and for the the most part it wasn't a bad deal. At no extra cost to the students, you were able to get (mostly) DRM free music for your listening pleasure (or, it could be stripped out easily; through various methods)
Fast Foreward to 2007 -
As soon as my university's contract ran out for the Napster service, they picked up another service called "Ruckus" which, unlike Napster, is a dismal failure in what a digital media service should be. The catch line was "Expanded digital offerings then just music", but the reality of the situation ended up being:
- Almost no mainstream record companies signed up with the service. Most of what was provided is from independent or self publishing labels. Not the popular music people want
- There are 'movies' you can download with the service, but they consist almost entirely of music videos, again, of those strange bands you've never heard of. They also delete themselves after 2 days.
- Massive, MASSIVE amounts of DRM. Everything WMA or WMP formatted, and cannot be ported to multiple devices. Files expire after x period, etc.
The result of this means that for the student, you're back to square one, with piracy usually the most desirable option for obtaining media. It's not uncommon for underground networks to pop up, such as Dtella in such an environment, and if anything seems to further encourage such behaviour.
The wording here then, is what everyone is having a problem with. Determining exactly WHAT "In excess of a license" is rather vague, especially in regards to the computers RAM. This isn't really covered in tfa.
Here's the meat straight from the TFA:
"In this Circuit, the âoecopyingâ element may be proved in software cases by showing an unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted software program in the computer userâ(TM)s Random Access Memory (âoeRAMâ). The Ninth Circuit has recognized that âoethe loading of software into the RAM creates a copy under the Copyright Act.â MAI Sys. v. Peak Computer, Inc., 991 F.2d 511, 519 (9th Cir. 1993), cert. dismissed 510 U.S. 1033 (1994); Triad Sys. Corp. v. Se. Express Co., 64 F.3d 1330, 1334 (9th Cir. 1995); see also Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. Cablevision Sys. Corp., 478 F. Supp. 2d 607, 621 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (agreeing with the âoenumerous courts [that] have held that the transmission of information through a computerâ(TM)s random access memory or RAM . . . creates a âcopyâ(TM) for purposes of the Copyright Act,â and citing cases.) When such a copy is made in excess of a license, the copier is liable for copyright infringement. Ticketmaster LLC v. RMG Techs., Inc., 507 F. Supp. 2d 1096, 1107 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (ââoeWhen a licensee exceeds the scope of the license granted by the copyright holder, the licensee is liable for infringement.ââ(TM) (citation omitted))."
Wait, so if I open WoW, or ANY program for that matter, and it loads into ram (And according to this; 'makes a copy') I'm in contempt with the law?
So, by the wording of this, merely turning on your computer and posting on slashdot makes me a software pirate.
This reminds me of the Heads up displays in many RTS and RPG games, where you look at an object and it tells you what it is. I can see more advanced versions of this technology doing exactly that, having applications in almost every field, along with military use. And if the database was made large enough, the ability to look at literally anything and know instantly what it is, and is used for would be downright awesome.
The safety benefits of such a system are immense, but; Does this mean driving down the highway is going to be like playing some strange version of Grand Turismo?