I found this obscure note tacked on the end that if nothing else in the bill appealed to you, you might still want to see on a future bill:
(d) DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNET PRIVACY PROGRAM- The Institute shall encourage and support the development of one or more computer programs, protocols, or other software, such as the World Wide Web Consortium's P3P program, capable of being installed on computers, or computer networks, with Internet access that would reflect the user's preferences for protecting personally-identifiable or other sensitive, privacy-related information, and automatically execute the program, once activated, without requiring user intervention.
Wouldn't it be nice to see most browsers configured with P3P warning messages whenever non-P3P sites tried to get you to give up your info.
Suddenly, Bill Gates announces that he can patch all Microsoft products the government is using against viruses and security holes as a gesture of good faith?
Reading this story takes a little more than a grain of salt.
I would have been kept interested if there was a single piece of factual evidence to this story instead of a thinly-veiled shot to convince those in the technology field that the govenment is hiding something.
I feel that this is yet another piece of non-news that will just get hyped up because the general/. community is all ready to jump on the government for anything they do that might be wrong and will gobble this up even with no facts.
Please understand that when you read this article and come to your own conclusions, not ones that someone else is feeding you.
This may come as a shock, but until I inhale more carcinogens daily just driving to work. Not to undermine the work thes fellows have done, but until second-hand smoke and exhaust fumes are dealt with in a signifigantly better fashion, this is a small drop in a very large bucket.
Believe it or no there is a little bit more to it than this. As part of its new initiative to stop people from cheating on their closed system, Blizzard is supposedly deactivating cd keys which is valid under the game's liscencing agreement. Making sure that all third party servers follow suit on that is a much bigger undertaking than you would think.
Since War3Pub seems to be getting hit pretty hard here is the full text:
We didn't have long, but here's what I could get. Turns out this fellow is actually above the people on this case, and did not know as much of the details as I had hoped. However, he provided us with some legal information which describes Vivendi's reasoning for the complaint against the BNetD project.
---------------
P-T: what is your stance on making open source software illegal?
Vivendi Rep: If the open source code is being used by someone other than the creator for a profit, then it is illegal under the DMCA.
P-T: Why is Vivendi suing on the claims of making the BNetD software for money? It's open source, no one is making any money off of it.
Vivendi Rep: The basis upon this charge lies on the idea that BNetD will eventually begin using their software, that they did not create, in order to make a profit. Though they have not used it yet for a profit, Vivendi believes that they would have or will use it in the future for a profit.
P-T: Is use of DMCA and attacking bnetd simply a publicity stunt to hype up Warcraft 3 before it's release? Were the supposed losses due to piracy used to justify the increased prices (compared to Diablo 2 regular and collector's edition) of Warcraft 3 regular version (from $30 to $50) and collector's edition (from $50 to $80)?
Vivendi Rep: No. We feel as though the intellectual property of the Battle.net coders has been stolen by the BNetD project. As far as I know, there are no publicity aspects involved in the suit against BNetD. It is a legal issue that needs to be cleared up and this is the way that we can do that.
P-T: Did Blizzard/Vivendi ever consider purchasing bnetd and fsgs technology as a way to improve and lessen the load off their b.net servers?
Vivendi Rep: I don't know. It's a possibility.
P-T: What do you think about the attempted hiring of a successful cracker of the Warcraft III Beta by Blizzard?
Vivendi Rep: Hiring your largest threat is one easy way to get rid of the threat of piracy.
P-T: What positive outcomes (for the gaming community and product development) do they expect to achieve by pursuing the lawsuit?
Vivendi Rep: We feel the restrictions against the theft of intellectual property will be cleared up in this suit, and will lead to a more clear idea of what is and what isn't internet piracy for the general public. In general, Blizzard is being used as a "first time" suit for this kind of piracy, and we want the public to understand that what is going on with the BNetD project cannot be done without legal ramifications under the DMCA.
P-T: Do you feel that the huge number of pirated Blizzard games will hurt BNetD in the court cases?
Vivendi Rep: Yes. The fact that it is not only pirated server software but also pirated game software will do nothing but hurt BNetD in the courts.
---------------
There it is. I feel as though I got a few good answers out of him, and I hope that this helps to answer any possible questions that you all might have. My impression is that Vivendi really doesn't know as much about the dirty details of the situation, and they are filing suit on a truly legal basis. Once again, I hope this helped, and I am hoping to get some answers from the same representative over email.
Bill Gates: NOBODY expects the Microsoft Monopoly! Our chief weapon is
suprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two
weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our
*three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an
almost fanatical devotion to the Bil Gates.... Our *four*...no...
*Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as
fear, surprise.... I'll come in again. (Exit and exeunt)
Congress: I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.
Slashdot Mirror
I found this obscure note tacked on the end that if nothing else in the bill appealed to you, you might still want to see on a future bill:
(d) DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNET PRIVACY PROGRAM- The Institute shall encourage and support the development of one or more computer programs, protocols, or other software, such as the World Wide Web Consortium's P3P program, capable of being installed on computers, or computer networks, with Internet access that would reflect the user's preferences for protecting personally-identifiable or other sensitive, privacy-related information, and automatically execute the program, once activated, without requiring user intervention.
Wouldn't it be nice to see most browsers configured with P3P warning messages whenever non-P3P sites tried to get you to give up your info.
Suddenly, Bill Gates announces that he can patch all Microsoft products the government is using against viruses and security holes as a gesture of good faith?
Tim
Reading this story takes a little more than a grain of salt.
/. community is all ready to jump on the government for anything they do that might be wrong and will gobble this up even with no facts.
I would have been kept interested if there was a single piece of factual evidence to this story instead of a thinly-veiled shot to convince those in the technology field that the govenment is hiding something.
I feel that this is yet another piece of non-news that will just get hyped up because the general
Please understand that when you read this article and come to your own conclusions, not ones that someone else is feeding you.
Tim
The government wants to quash this for a good reason.
We can't all be beautiful people walking around in skintight suits with Borg implants in our faces.
Tim
This may come as a shock, but until I inhale more carcinogens daily just driving to work. Not to undermine the work thes fellows have done, but until second-hand smoke and exhaust fumes are dealt with in a signifigantly better fashion, this is a small drop in a very large bucket.
Tim
is that most of the uneducated masses are quick to blame any quirky behavior on their machine as a virus.
I get at least 3 calls a week from people who swear they have a virus, but in reality just have a setting wrong.
This all still goes back to the problem that there is not sufficient computer education for the average person.
Tim
If the various .orgs that are technology based (slashdot.org, linux.org) got together and did ran this themselves?
Tim
Just point at a vendor table and be able to see their website.
/. users have their Usernames and kharma ratings built in so you can see your friend/foe rating on line-of-site)
Even better, being able to point at a prospective new hire at a job fair and call up their resume.
(Not to mention having all
Tim
Believe it or no there is a little bit more to it than this. As part of its new initiative to stop people from cheating on their closed system, Blizzard is supposedly deactivating cd keys which is valid under the game's liscencing agreement. Making sure that all third party servers follow suit on that is a much bigger undertaking than you would think.
Tim
Since War3Pub seems to be getting hit pretty hard here is the full text:
We didn't have long, but here's what I could get. Turns out this fellow is actually above the people on this case, and did not know as much of the details as I had hoped. However, he provided us with some legal information which describes Vivendi's reasoning for the complaint against the BNetD project.
---------------
P-T: what is your stance on making open source software illegal?
Vivendi Rep: If the open source code is being used by someone other than the creator for a profit, then it is illegal under the DMCA.
P-T: Why is Vivendi suing on the claims of making the BNetD software for money? It's open source, no one is making any money off of it.
Vivendi Rep: The basis upon this charge lies on the idea that BNetD will eventually begin using their software, that they did not create, in order to make a profit. Though they have not used it yet for a profit, Vivendi believes that they would have or will use it in the future for a profit.
P-T: Is use of DMCA and attacking bnetd simply a publicity stunt to hype up Warcraft 3 before it's release? Were the supposed losses due to piracy used to justify the increased prices (compared to Diablo 2 regular and collector's edition) of Warcraft 3 regular version (from $30 to $50) and collector's edition (from $50 to $80)?
Vivendi Rep: No. We feel as though the intellectual property of the Battle.net coders has been stolen by the BNetD project. As far as I know, there are no publicity aspects involved in the suit against BNetD. It is a legal issue that needs to be cleared up and this is the way that we can do that.
P-T: Did Blizzard/Vivendi ever consider purchasing bnetd and fsgs technology as a way to improve and lessen the load off their b.net servers?
Vivendi Rep: I don't know. It's a possibility.
P-T: What do you think about the attempted hiring of a successful cracker of the Warcraft III Beta by Blizzard?
Vivendi Rep: Hiring your largest threat is one easy way to get rid of the threat of piracy.
P-T: What positive outcomes (for the gaming community and product development) do they expect to achieve by pursuing the lawsuit?
Vivendi Rep: We feel the restrictions against the theft of intellectual property will be cleared up in this suit, and will lead to a more clear idea of what is and what isn't internet piracy for the general public. In general, Blizzard is being used as a "first time" suit for this kind of piracy, and we want the public to understand that what is going on with the BNetD project cannot be done without legal ramifications under the DMCA.
P-T: Do you feel that the huge number of pirated Blizzard games will hurt BNetD in the court cases?
Vivendi Rep: Yes. The fact that it is not only pirated server software but also pirated game software will do nothing but hurt BNetD in the courts.
---------------
There it is. I feel as though I got a few good answers out of him, and I hope that this helps to answer any possible questions that you all might have. My impression is that Vivendi really doesn't know as much about the dirty details of the situation, and they are filing suit on a truly legal basis. Once again, I hope this helped, and I am hoping to get some answers from the same representative over email.
_________________
--PT.
Bill Gates: NOBODY expects the Microsoft Monopoly! Our chief weapon is
suprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two
weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our
*three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an
almost fanatical devotion to the Bil Gates.... Our *four*...no...
*Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as
fear, surprise.... I'll come in again. (Exit and exeunt)
Congress: I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.