it's interesting that the Appeals court gets it completely wrong, because in their summary they *DO* say they're finding her guilty of downloading tracks
Where do you see that? They uphold the trial court's finding that she downloaded the files based on the evidence presented in the lower court pretty effectively proving that. And where do you get the idea that once someone else breaks the law by duplicating a file, anyone who does it after that is free and clear?
I could see it being a stretch from a strategy point to argue that she had no way of seeing the copyright notice because she was downloading illegal copies. Kind of like killing your parents and asking the judge for mercy because you're an orphan.
seems to equate 'access' with the mere fact that CDs on sale in stores had copyright notices, and that she was free to go to such stores.
I don't read it like that; the Court seems to be saying the trial judge's ruling, that the copyright notice alone wouldn't bar an innocent infringer defense, is incorrect as a matter of law. Since she did not contest she had access, her understanding (or lack of it) does not support an innocent infringer defense under the statute. If she had argued access, she might have had a shot.
suspect the (I believe unfounded) accusations of libertarians being racist/homophobic are that libertarians don't think a government should have any say in who one associates with,
No, I suspect rather it's because some of the more prominent libertarian organizations have extremely unsavory connections with those kinds of groups.
I think Apple products are way overpriced, and I have no plan to buy an iPad because I don't see much use in it, but even I'll admit the price is decent for what you get (in terms of screen quality and size, battery life, etc.)
Nobody outside of Brazil at least. Never quite understood why Google started it then did nothing that would make it usable, such as run it on something other than a TI-99/4a with 300 baud modem. Laggiest site I ever used.
You communist. Real Americans carry not one but two pearl-handled, silver-plated Colt.45s, which they are permitted to shoot into the air and shout "yahoo."
The sad thing is that environmentalists have a sort of knee jerk reaction every time they hear the word nuclear, even though it is the only power source that is cheap, safe, and good for the environment. The only people who oppose it are the ignorant (Nuclear Power means Nuclear War!) or people who think life would be AWESOME if we could all go back to living in caves.
Wow, you have created some sort of God-Emperor of Strawmen there.
You may be thinking of a "political question" doctrine. I don't even think Thomas is doing it out of any animosity towards this girl, but I do think he has some severe issues and a strong authoritarian bent (weirdly, not as someone who wants to be in charge, but someone who wants to submit to the executive branch).
I've taken tons of s**t for what I attempt to do for the community too. You'd better believe in what you're doing, because there isn't always a thank-you.
Thank you, Bruce, I do think you do good work (though I have criticized you when I felt you deserved it). Honestly I think part of that might just be from your initial involvement with OSI, which comes off to a lot of people as extremely heavy-handed and self-aggrandizing.
Doesn't necessarily mean he's going to lose his job. Especially with a government job, where the protections tend to be a little stronger than in the private sector.
There is a difference between reasonable degree of accuracy, and sufficient mastery to lecture to us about its inner workings. Haselton admittedly has the former. He doesn't have the latter, and it consistently shows up in his writings.
Over 5 years, Bob Jacobsen put in thousands of hours of work on this case. He was threatened with loss of his employment, and with all of the money and property that he had. The $100,000 he eventually received doesn't compensate him for this. But I'm sure that the feeling of achievement does.
Uhhh...thousands of hours? A full-time job is generally around 1800 hours a YEAR; we're expected to believe this guy spent more time than his lawyers should have? Doing what? And how exactly was his employment threatened?
I know a lot of you are computer science guys; do you know how frustrating it is when someone who doesn't really know much about computer technology (politicians, judges, pundits, etc)starts making in-depth public pronouncements about how it does (or should) work? As a lawyer I have the same kind of frustration reading everything Haselton writes on the subject. I even feel guilty getting this annoyed, I'm sure he's a nice guy and he's making a genuine effort to understand the legal system. He just makes so many mistakes, and I don't know why slashdot gives him a forum.
Slashdot Mirror
it's interesting that the Appeals court gets it completely wrong, because in their summary they *DO* say they're finding her guilty of downloading tracks
Where do you see that? They uphold the trial court's finding that she downloaded the files based on the evidence presented in the lower court pretty effectively proving that. And where do you get the idea that once someone else breaks the law by duplicating a file, anyone who does it after that is free and clear?
I could see it being a stretch from a strategy point to argue that she had no way of seeing the copyright notice because she was downloading illegal copies. Kind of like killing your parents and asking the judge for mercy because you're an orphan.
seems to equate 'access' with the mere fact that CDs on sale in stores had copyright notices, and that she was free to go to such stores.
I don't read it like that; the Court seems to be saying the trial judge's ruling, that the copyright notice alone wouldn't bar an innocent infringer defense, is incorrect as a matter of law. Since she did not contest she had access, her understanding (or lack of it) does not support an innocent infringer defense under the statute. If she had argued access, she might have had a shot.
The Ludwig von Mises Institute connections to the League of the South and the Confederacy, and the Ron Paul report are what I'm thinking of.
suspect the (I believe unfounded) accusations of libertarians being racist/homophobic are that libertarians don't think a government should have any say in who one associates with,
No, I suspect rather it's because some of the more prominent libertarian organizations have extremely unsavory connections with those kinds of groups.
I think Apple products are way overpriced, and I have no plan to buy an iPad because I don't see much use in it, but even I'll admit the price is decent for what you get (in terms of screen quality and size, battery life, etc.)
Nobody outside of Brazil at least. Never quite understood why Google started it then did nothing that would make it usable, such as run it on something other than a TI-99/4a with 300 baud modem. Laggiest site I ever used.
slashdot to the way it used to be. That is, with some integrity
Man I wish I had some mod points to mod you up funny.
You communist. Real Americans carry not one but two pearl-handled, silver-plated Colt .45s, which they are permitted to shoot into the air and shout "yahoo."
The sad thing is that environmentalists have a sort of knee jerk reaction every time they hear the word nuclear, even though it is the only power source that is cheap, safe, and good for the environment. The only people who oppose it are the ignorant (Nuclear Power means Nuclear War!) or people who think life would be AWESOME if we could all go back to living in caves.
Wow, you have created some sort of God-Emperor of Strawmen there.
(that even America is making moves to protect its citizens against)
Why the "even"?
The Brits seem to be on the forefront of pseudo-science debunking.
Seems to me to be the exact opposite. The fact that they were funding it up to this point is be a sign of backwardness.
I remember reading it (the reprint, obviously, not the original). It was pretty bad.
You may be thinking of a "political question" doctrine. I don't even think Thomas is doing it out of any animosity towards this girl, but I do think he has some severe issues and a strong authoritarian bent (weirdly, not as someone who wants to be in charge, but someone who wants to submit to the executive branch).
You're right, for some reason I thought there was another dissent or two.
"If you steal this code, then I insist you credit it to Alan Smithee."
Yep went to the Supreme Court. The scary thing is a few of the justices sided with the school
Did you take them down? I'm curious.
I've taken tons of s**t for what I attempt to do for the community too. You'd better believe in what you're doing, because there isn't always a thank-you.
Thank you, Bruce, I do think you do good work (though I have criticized you when I felt you deserved it). Honestly I think part of that might just be from your initial involvement with OSI, which comes off to a lot of people as extremely heavy-handed and self-aggrandizing.
School officials are notorious for being completely clueless about the law; it's amazing what you find in some of the case law.
Interesting to note that two of the slashdot stories for today are programmers giving legal analyses of cases...
His employer got notices from the company.
Doesn't necessarily mean he's going to lose his job. Especially with a government job, where the protections tend to be a little stronger than in the private sector.
There is a difference between reasonable degree of accuracy, and sufficient mastery to lecture to us about its inner workings. Haselton admittedly has the former. He doesn't have the latter, and it consistently shows up in his writings.
Over 5 years, Bob Jacobsen put in thousands of hours of work on this case. He was threatened with loss of his employment, and with all of the money and property that he had. The $100,000 he eventually received doesn't compensate him for this. But I'm sure that the feeling of achievement does.
Uhhh...thousands of hours? A full-time job is generally around 1800 hours a YEAR; we're expected to believe this guy spent more time than his lawyers should have? Doing what? And how exactly was his employment threatened?
I know a lot of you are computer science guys; do you know how frustrating it is when someone who doesn't really know much about computer technology (politicians, judges, pundits, etc)starts making in-depth public pronouncements about how it does (or should) work? As a lawyer I have the same kind of frustration reading everything Haselton writes on the subject. I even feel guilty getting this annoyed, I'm sure he's a nice guy and he's making a genuine effort to understand the legal system. He just makes so many mistakes, and I don't know why slashdot gives him a forum.