Federal charges were filed against Adam McGaughey, creator of the popular SG1Archive.com website - a fan website devoted to the MGM-owned television show Stargate SG-1. The charges allege that the website engaged in Criminal Copyright Infringement and Trafficking in Counterfeit Services. The charges were the culmination of a three-year FBI investigation, set in motion by a complaint from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) regarding the content of the SG1Archive.com website.
SG1Archive.com is one of the most popular fan-run websites among the Stargate community. In addition to providing very active fan discussion forums, broadcast schedules, production news, and episode guides, the site heavily promotes the sale of the show on DVD. As of this writing, direct links from SG1Archive.com to Amazon.com have resulted in the sale of over $100,000 worth of DVDs. Many more DVDs have been sold to international fans of the show through sites like Blackstar.co.uk. Upon hearing this news, Stargate executive producer Brad Wright called the site "cool" - which Adam took as an endorsement of his work.
However, instead of thanking Adam for his promotion of their product, officials at MGM and the MPAA have chosen to pressure the FBI into pursuing criminal charges. Adam was first tipped off about the investigation when the FBI raided his and his fiancee's apartment in May of 2002 and seized thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment. Adam later received a copy of the affidavit filed in support of the search warrant, and was shocked to discover that this document, prepared by the FBI, contained significant amounts of erroneous and misleading information. For example, two social security numbers were listed for Adam, one of which is not his. References were made to a cease and desist letter sent by the MPAA to an email address that did not exist. His online friendship with other Stargate fans across the globe was portrayed as an international conspiracy against the MPAA. And perhaps most disturbing of all, it was later revealed that the FBI invoked a provision of the USA Patriot Act to obtain financial records from his ISP. The FBI's abuse of its powers did not stop there. When they seized Adam's computer equipment, he was given written documentation stating that it would be returned within 60 days. The equipment that they did return did not arrive until more than 8 months later, and only then after much prodding from his lawyer. Much of it was damaged beyond repair - one laptop had a shattered LCD screen, an empty tape backup drive was ripped apart for no apparent reason, his fiancee's iBook was badly damaged when it was pried apart with a screwdriver. The FBI's computer crimes staff is either incompetent (at least when it comes to Macintosh computer equipment) or else they just don't give a damn.
Adam has has received positive feedback about his site from multiple members of the Stargate cast and crew at fan conventions. In addition, a representative of MGM's fan publication interviewed Adam about his website several months prior to the FBI raid. As a result, Adam sincerely believed that the show's creators did not have a problem with the content of his website. Many other sites are currently serving content of questionable legality, without promoting the sale of DVDs or offering a community for fans to discuss the show. Why the MPAA and FBI have chosen to ignore these sites and target SG1Archive.com is unclear.
Up until this point, Adam has been fortunate enough to receive pro bono legal counsel in his current hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. However, the charges were filed in Los Angeles county. The cost of travel, trial, bond, etc. is likely to be quite high.
The software is getting better though, GNOME 2.6 is amazing, and in time, a lot of software will improve. That's natural, it's bound to happen, but it's not the goal.
People care about the usability of free software, believe me, but it should never be a market share battle.
It's also worth noting that 'kicking the ass' of Windows is not the goal. The goal is freedom. If users have freedom, it doesn't matter whether their system is better or worse. That's not the issue.
You seem to be making the misconception that "free software" means "gratis software" - this is incorrect.
"Free Software" refers to freedom, not price. I can sell my piece of free software at any price I like, whether you choose to buy it of course, is your own freedom.
For example; a business selling a database product may choose to release it as free software, and offer a gratis download, but offer a support/maintainance license for a fee. The software is still free, and the money from support/maintainance licenses can pay for things like offices, developers, food, water, bills, etc:)
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Hacking - playful cleverness.
Cracking - computer crime.
I think trying to defraud a system would probably all under the Computer Misuse Act in the UK.
Linux is a server/desktop OS. It's not a real-time OS.
It's a kernel. But yeah, it's not a real time OS. Or a dog. Or a salad.
Is Helix friendly to proprietary formats?
MPlayer and Xine are too, right?
"GStreamer aims to support every format imaginable"
While I'd love to see an end to proprietary formats, I can't see an end to people wanting to play them anytime soon, unfortunately.
I got that. I blame Taco.
I hope to play with this later.
Could this be the beginning of a multimedia framework for GNU/Linux?
Apple haven't sued Codeweavers over QuickTime under GNU/Linux so why would they do it over this?
It's running whatever software Apple offer. No DRM is being tampered with.
I think they will worry far more about RealNetworks than this.
Seriously - can anyone think of the kind of thing that anyone could have patented? Disk I/O? Threading?
GPL your CSS file!
Adblock most of the time or PithHelmet for those Safari Moments.
I don't think I've seen a banner ad in a year or so.
I used IE the other day for the first time in ages, and was surprised by a popup.
Exactly.
Freedom, not gratis.
Mind share and market share are different things.
So, no.
I don't think we should be interested in marketshare though.
The goal is freedom, not marketshare. If we can get more people to understand and use free software, then we're doing good.
The GNU/Linux community should eschew the use of any non-free software. It is against the ideas on which the community was founded.
Free Operating System with proprietary software seems stupid to me. It will hurt the community, and should be avoided.
Site seems very slow already, so here's the article text.
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Federal charges were filed against Adam McGaughey, creator of the popular SG1Archive.com website - a fan website devoted to the MGM-owned television show Stargate SG-1. The charges allege that the website engaged in Criminal Copyright Infringement and Trafficking in Counterfeit Services. The charges were the culmination of a three-year FBI investigation, set in motion by a complaint from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) regarding the content of the SG1Archive.com website.
SG1Archive.com is one of the most popular fan-run websites among the Stargate community. In addition to providing very active fan discussion forums, broadcast schedules, production news, and episode guides, the site heavily promotes the sale of the show on DVD. As of this writing, direct links from SG1Archive.com to Amazon.com have resulted in the sale of over $100,000 worth of DVDs. Many more DVDs have been sold to international fans of the show through sites like Blackstar.co.uk. Upon hearing this news, Stargate executive producer Brad Wright called the site "cool" - which Adam took as an endorsement of his work.
However, instead of thanking Adam for his promotion of their product, officials at MGM and the MPAA have chosen to pressure the FBI into pursuing criminal charges. Adam was first tipped off about the investigation when the FBI raided his and his fiancee's apartment in May of 2002 and seized thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment. Adam later received a copy of the affidavit filed in support of the search warrant, and was shocked to discover that this document, prepared by the FBI, contained significant amounts of erroneous and misleading information. For example, two social security numbers were listed for Adam, one of which is not his. References were made to a cease and desist letter sent by the MPAA to an email address that did not exist. His online friendship with other Stargate fans across the globe was portrayed as an international conspiracy against the MPAA. And perhaps most disturbing of all, it was later revealed that the FBI invoked a provision of the USA Patriot Act to obtain financial records from his ISP. The FBI's abuse of its powers did not stop there. When they seized Adam's computer equipment, he was given written documentation stating that it would be returned within 60 days. The equipment that they did return did not arrive until more than 8 months later, and only then after much prodding from his lawyer. Much of it was damaged beyond repair - one laptop had a shattered LCD screen, an empty tape backup drive was ripped apart for no apparent reason, his fiancee's iBook was badly damaged when it was pried apart with a screwdriver. The FBI's computer crimes staff is either incompetent (at least when it comes to Macintosh computer equipment) or else they just don't give a damn.
Adam has has received positive feedback about his site from multiple members of the Stargate cast and crew at fan conventions. In addition, a representative of MGM's fan publication interviewed Adam about his website several months prior to the FBI raid. As a result, Adam sincerely believed that the show's creators did not have a problem with the content of his website. Many other sites are currently serving content of questionable legality, without promoting the sale of DVDs or offering a community for fans to discuss the show. Why the MPAA and FBI have chosen to ignore these sites and target SG1Archive.com is unclear.
Up until this point, Adam has been fortunate enough to receive pro bono legal counsel in his current hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. However, the charges were filed in Los Angeles county. The cost of travel, trial, bond, etc. is likely to be quite high.
Free Software is NOT about price!
I would hope nobody would want Office for GNU/Linux because it wouldn't be free software, and they value their freedoms.
Price isn't an issue. Some people pay for copies of OpenOffice.org, some download it, some would probably pay more for a nice printed manual.
The software is getting better though, GNOME 2.6 is amazing, and in time, a lot of software will improve. That's natural, it's bound to happen, but it's not the goal.
People care about the usability of free software, believe me, but it should never be a market share battle.
You may use it, if you'd like to quote me (Matt Lee) that'd be cool too.
s/a business selling/a business producing
It's also worth noting that 'kicking the ass' of Windows is not the goal. The goal is freedom. If users have freedom, it doesn't matter whether their system is better or worse. That's not the issue.
You seem to be making the misconception that "free software" means "gratis software" - this is incorrect.
/maintainance licenses can pay for things like offices, developers, food, water, bills, etc :)
"Free Software" refers to freedom, not price. I can sell my piece of free software at any price I like, whether you choose to buy it of course, is your own freedom.
For example; a business selling a database product may choose to release it as free software, and offer a gratis download, but offer a support/maintainance license for a fee. The software is still free, and the money from support
It's not like someone you knew ten years ago is going to try to contact you on that IP..
You insensitive clod! Most of my friends don't have DNS, they can only use IP addresses. If my IP changes, they'll be unable to get their email!
Next you'll be telling me that bang path email addresses aren't cool, either!
It's not like someone you knew ten years ago is going to try to contact you on that IP..
You insenstive clod! Most of my friends don't have DNS, they can only use IP addresses. If my IP changes, they'll be unable to get their email!
Next you'll be telling me that bang path email addresses aren't cool, either!
Changed?
Actually, that's one of the freedoms of free software... but you MIGHT get it with open source software, but not always.
My just stupid?
So, Helix can become the Media framework for the GNU system, like QuickTime is for Mac OS?
And this was when? The 1940s? The 1980s?
Germany nowadays is rather nice.