I doubt that more than one in a thousand (or ten thousand) complaints will result in any FCC action unless the FCC is specially funded to support these actions (which in this economic climate is highly unlikely). The telemarketers are just playing the odds.
I had an old FAX machine which used coated paper on fairly small rolls. For a while I regularly submitted complaints about SPAM faxes, probably about 20 in all, supplying all requested information and enclosing a copy of the fax. I heard nothing until 3 or 4 months later when I received an envelope from the FCC with a single sheet titled "How to submit a complaint to the FCC" which had nothing at all to do with SPAM faxes.
What you say is all quite true. The interesting thing is that long-term preservation of our cultural heritage in this DRM-crazy/copyright-insanity world may ultimately and largely be due to "piracy"!
Down with the DMCA! Support your local pirate for your grandchildren's sake!
"whats' so draconian about getting people to FUCKING PAY FOR MUSIC."
I think you've missed the point entirely. But to address your question, you should:
Pay for the CD of your favorite artist.
Pay again for a backup CD in case the original gets damaged when the CD is no longer in print.
Pay again for individual songs from the CD to play on your iPod.
Pay again for individual songs from the CD to play on your PC or MP3 player.
Pay again for the same music on whatever future formats replace the CD, iPod, and MP3.
The intention: Since very little is manufactured in the USA any more, one of the few things we have to sell to the outside world is our IP, so we have to protect it.
The Unintended Consequences: As Lawrence Lessig has pointed out, draconian copyright and patent laws are a strong disincentive to building on the works of others, so there will be less IP to sell.
About 25 years ago a directive was issued at my then company to shut down PCs at the end of the workday. The objective was to save money on electric power usage.
This lasted all of about two weeks. Perhaps hardware quality has improved since then, but at the time the rate of hardware failures started to climb dramatically. Another directive was issued canceling the first and asking specifically that the PCs be left running and only shut down on weekends.
Back in the mid 1980's I attended a PC show where a large number of different IBM PC/XT "clones" were on display. Many of the manufacturers had added a few special purpose keys to the otherwise typical IBM PC/XT keyboard layout.
My favorite among them had a "Reset" (reboot) key just above the Escape key. Perhaps the designer had a premonition about the future release of MS Windows ?
US residents can legally download music from iTunes because Apple has a negotiated license from the copyright holder to distribute this music.
It could be argued that Antigua et al. has in effect been granted a license to distribute music copyrighted in the US, and downloading music from servers in Antigua by US residents is therefore also legal.
CompUSA started out as a small storefront in Dallas in the mid-1980s named "Soft Warehouse". They sold IBM-PC software at a significant discount from the MSRP then being charged by the local "mom & pop" computer shops. They grew rapidly and were moving into larger quarters about every three months, and started adding other computer-related stuff to their shelves. When they went public they changed the name to CompUSA, in part because the "Soft Warehouse" name was trademarked in another state.
They seemed to follow the common pattern where a successful specialized discounter becomes a full-range semi-discounter and then a full-range non-discounter. Then dies.
"One thing that would happen is that their exposure would probably triple.
In Capitol v. Foster, 2 1/2 months of such shenanigans caused the RIAA's exposure to increase from $55k to $114k, and counting."
True, but I suspect they care less about the amount of the award than the precedent. Until the time the award is actually paid in full, other defendents will be reluctant to pursue the same course.
Presuming the judge grants her request, the RIAA will no doubt engage in their usual legal shenanigans and manage to delay any final disposition for at least another two years, during which time a lot could happen.
Now we can all look forward to more sleazebags with deep pockets extorting money from small commercial website owners with legitimate domain names but without the resources to defend themselves in court.
that SCO _ever_ thought they had a chance of winning this case; that their intention from the very beginning was just to draw it out as long as possible.
As long as they do, the 800-pound puppetmaster behind the curtain can continue to get mileage out of charges that Linux is tainted by IP infringement and that Linux users may be liable for stiff damages.
"This judge is clearly incompetent, and hopefully the judges along the appeal path aren't as much so."
There probably won't be an appeal unless some interested organization picks up the tab. According to the article the defendant represented himself without an attorney, and from the sound of it didn't present a very competent argument. There may or may not be any basis for an appeal.
IANAL but my understanding is that a district judge's ruling applies only in his own district. If so, a similar case argued by a competant defense attorney in another district will hopefully lead to a different outcome.
Using the logic accepted by the judge in this case, the next step would be a decision that referencing the actual page number of an article in a magazine or newspaper deprives the publication of the additional advertising revenue they could expect if the reader had to search for it in the issue.
The fact that Google is actually copying the whole book is what constitutes the copyright infringement, not just the few "fair use" pages that the reader is permitted to view.
Yeah, it's a stretch, but that's what lawsuits are all about.
Slashdot Mirror
I doubt that more than one in a thousand (or ten thousand) complaints will result in any FCC action unless the FCC is specially funded to support these actions (which in this economic climate is highly unlikely). The telemarketers are just playing the odds.
I had an old FAX machine which used coated paper on fairly small rolls. For a while I regularly submitted complaints about SPAM faxes, probably about 20 in all, supplying all requested information and enclosing a copy of the fax. I heard nothing until 3 or 4 months later when I received an envelope from the FCC with a single sheet titled "How to submit a complaint to the FCC" which had nothing at all to do with SPAM faxes.
Based on my past experiences, whenever I now see the Belkin name on an electronic product I turn around and run away as fast as I can.
How much more tiring will it be to walk on a squishy floor rather than on a rigid or resilient one?
The Stirling engine is pretty neat. It'll run on hot air.
If we install a bunch of them in Washington DC, the energy problem of the US will be solved for good.
What you say is all quite true. The interesting thing is that long-term preservation of our cultural heritage in this DRM-crazy/copyright-insanity world may ultimately and largely be due to "piracy"!
Down with the DMCA! Support your local pirate for your grandchildren's sake!
"whats' so draconian about getting people to FUCKING PAY FOR MUSIC."
I think you've missed the point entirely. But to address your question, you should:
Pay for the CD of your favorite artist.
Pay again for a backup CD in case the original gets damaged when the CD is no longer in print.
Pay again for individual songs from the CD to play on your iPod.
Pay again for individual songs from the CD to play on your PC or MP3 player.
Pay again for the same music on whatever future formats replace the CD, iPod, and MP3.
The intention: Since very little is manufactured in the USA any more, one of the few things we have to sell to the outside world is our IP, so we have to protect it.
The Unintended Consequences: As Lawrence Lessig has pointed out, draconian copyright and patent laws are a strong disincentive to building on the works of others, so there will be less IP to sell.
I guess we're sunk.
That headline will undoubtedly draw the attention of the FBI to the FreeBSD gang.
See! That's what Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have been telling us all along. This real life example proves it!
About 25 years ago a directive was issued at my then company to shut down PCs at the end of the workday. The objective was to save money on electric power usage.
This lasted all of about two weeks. Perhaps hardware quality has improved since then, but at the time the rate of hardware failures started to climb dramatically. Another directive was issued canceling the first and asking specifically that the PCs be left running and only shut down on weekends.
They say "You are what you eat".
I guess that means if we eat enough pork from those genetically engineered pigs which are fluorescent, that we'll glow in the dark under UV too.
Back in the mid 1980's I attended a PC show where a large number of different IBM PC/XT "clones" were on display. Many of the manufacturers had added a few special purpose keys to the otherwise typical IBM PC/XT keyboard layout.
My favorite among them had a "Reset" (reboot) key just above the Escape key. Perhaps the designer had a premonition about the future release of MS Windows ?
US residents can legally download music from iTunes because Apple has a negotiated license from the copyright holder to distribute this music.
It could be argued that Antigua et al. has in effect been granted a license to distribute music copyrighted in the US, and downloading music from servers in Antigua by US residents is therefore also legal.
No matter what you come up with they're going to tell you it's way over budget, and you'll end up at a desk in a corner of the server room.
CompUSA started out as a small storefront in Dallas in the mid-1980s named "Soft Warehouse". They sold IBM-PC software at a significant discount from the MSRP then being charged by the local "mom & pop" computer shops. They grew rapidly and were moving into larger quarters about every three months, and started adding other computer-related stuff to their shelves. When they went public they changed the name to CompUSA, in part because the "Soft Warehouse" name was trademarked in another state.
They seemed to follow the common pattern where a successful specialized discounter becomes a full-range semi-discounter and then a full-range non-discounter. Then dies.
Notepad.
to this absurdity can be most eloquently expressed with one finger.
"One thing that would happen is that their exposure would probably triple.
In Capitol v. Foster, 2 1/2 months of such shenanigans caused the RIAA's exposure to increase from $55k to $114k, and counting."
True, but I suspect they care less about the amount of the award than the precedent. Until the time the award is actually paid in full, other defendents will be reluctant to pursue the same course.
Presuming the judge grants her request, the RIAA will no doubt engage in their usual legal shenanigans and manage to delay any final disposition for at least another two years, during which time a lot could happen.
From my experience thusfar with Fedora Core 6, it ought to be on the list.
Now we can all look forward to more sleazebags with deep pockets extorting money from small commercial website owners with legitimate domain names but without the resources to defend themselves in court.
that SCO _ever_ thought they had a chance of winning this case; that their intention from the very beginning was just to draw it out as long as possible.
As long as they do, the 800-pound puppetmaster behind the curtain can continue to get mileage out of charges that Linux is tainted by IP infringement and that Linux users may be liable for stiff damages.
"This judge is clearly incompetent, and hopefully the judges along the appeal path aren't as much so."
There probably won't be an appeal unless some interested organization picks up the tab. According to the article the defendant represented himself without an attorney, and from the sound of it didn't present a very competent argument. There may or may not be any basis for an appeal.
IANAL but my understanding is that a district judge's ruling applies only in his own district. If so, a similar case argued by a competant defense attorney in another district will hopefully lead to a different outcome.
Using the logic accepted by the judge in this case, the next step would be a decision that referencing the actual page number of an article in a magazine or newspaper deprives the publication of the additional advertising revenue they could expect if the reader had to search for it in the issue.
The fact that Google is actually copying the whole book is what constitutes the copyright infringement, not just the few "fair use" pages that the reader is permitted to view.
Yeah, it's a stretch, but that's what lawsuits are all about.