Or I could do as I am doing, and start a new organization and support EFF.org and EPIC.org and other such general-purpose groups.
As it is, EFF has yet to respond to any of my attempts to contact them. EPIC has.
I'd have to agree that Bad Things(tm) are "going to happen if these schemes are not stopped now." I've been reading what I can of Palladium and TCPA (all the official docs I could find on both) and I've been convinced that no good can come of this.
I've decided to do something about this, rather than sit and whine about how bad this is, and how we are all doomed (not saying y'all have been dong that, but I've seen a lot of that in various places).
What I've decided to do is form a group and try to lobby against this, and try to stop it. The group formed is The Digital Media Consumer Fair Rights Initiative (DMCFUI). Currently, we are in our infancy and not very well organized, but we have a website, http://X-46TCPA.havicaz.com/ (Currently just links to official info and 3rd party info, but I'm working on it) and an IRC channel, #X-46TCPA on souless.org / relic.net
Some of the things I have planned include: original articles and commentary by myself and other members, a letter writing campaign to tell AMD, Intel and other key players that we the people do NOT want this, a BBS/forum and a mailing list.
As I stated above, we are still in our infancy, but we are planning to see this through, regardless the outcome. Those who are interested in helping try to stop this threat to freedom and fair use, please stop by. We could use the help, even if it's just the encouragement of knowing people care and we are not alone in this.
For what it's worth, I'm in the process of forming an anti-Palladium/TCPA group. Currently we have no name and are somewhat un-organized, but we have several members already. In the near future we should have a website and mailing list, but for now I can be reached on irc.dal.net in #freedos (not really associated with the operating system by the same name) using the name FriedBob. Most of that channel is involved in this budding group, so bringing it up will not be off topic. At some point I may form a seperate channel just for this, on a more stable server.
I just read the Kazaa EULA (http://www.kazaa.com/us/terms.htm) and nowhere in there could I find anything where you give consent to help Kazaa steal, oh, I'm sorry, "compete" with other affiliates by diverting commissions. With Morpheus, beofre you get to an EULA, you get to a screen with, among other things, two checkboxes. The first says "Yes! - I want fewer adds and more privace on the internet!" then off to the side "click here for more details" That points to this site, http://www.ipinsight.com/consumer/, where they talk about how they collect information, such as recording the IP each time the progrsam is booted, testing the linespeed, and doing a "Geography Test". They put it best. "Geography Test: IPinsight estimates neighborhood-level geography of the user based upon postal code. The IPinsight Software monitors the users' form submissions for the presence of street name and postal code name value pairs. On a periodic basis these street names and postal code values are communicated to the IPinsight server, along with the street number rounded to the nearest 50 (e.g. 115 Main Street gets transmitted as 100 Main Street). The reason for the acquisition of street names and non-specific but approximated street numbers is to determine the zip+4 location (nine-digit zip code) of the user. Once the zip+4 location has been determined, the street name is discarded."
They also record information such as your computer. To borrow their words again, "This information includes information about the computer's hardware configuration, such as the amount of free space on your hard drive, and information about the computer's software configuration, such as the name and version of the operating system. This information is used to determine whether the IPinsight Software is compatible with your computer."
And what do they do with all this information? Sell it to local advertisers. All this, so there are "fewer adds and more privacy" on the internet.
The second checkbox reads "Yes! - I want to help StreamCast with it's new relationship with IP insight as they continue to strive for an Internet with fewer ads and more privacy, by enabling geolocation services without using personal information."
Perhaps this is where you give consent to steal commissions from other competing affiliates?
Or perhaps it is in a EULA on the next screen where it modifes a webbrowser to track you with a unique ID that is sent to "participating merchnats".
But I am not really sure how this fits into the Morpheus program, as it is not the EULA for Morpheus, but instead is "...IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU, THE END USER, AND WURLD MEDIA, INC. IN DOWNLOADING THE BUYERSPORT(tm) SHOPPING COMMUNITY SOFTWARE (THE "LICENSED PRODUCT")..."
Interestingly enough, it is "StreamCast" that provides Morpheus, not "WURLD Media", so I don't know what sort of problems that creates. As well as according to the license, merely downloading the software means you agree to tbe bound by the terms of it, though it's impossible to get to the license without downloading the software and starting the installer.
And as for LimeWire, I got an internal server error when attempting to view the FAQ on their marketng thing, and since this is getting rather long, I'll cut this short and leave them off for now.
Hope this proves insightful and sparks some meaningful discussion on this rather serious matter.
Slashdot Mirror
Or I could do as I am doing, and start a new organization and support EFF.org and EPIC.org and other such general-purpose groups.
As it is, EFF has yet to respond to any of my attempts to contact them. EPIC has.
I'd have to agree that Bad Things(tm) are "going to happen if these schemes are not stopped now." I've been reading what I can of Palladium and TCPA (all the official docs I could find on both) and I've been convinced that no good can come of this.
I've decided to do something about this, rather than sit and whine about how bad this is, and how we are all doomed (not saying y'all have been dong that, but I've seen a lot of that in various places).
What I've decided to do is form a group and try to lobby against this, and try to stop it. The group formed is The Digital Media Consumer Fair Rights Initiative (DMCFUI). Currently, we are in our infancy and not very well organized, but we have a website, http://X-46TCPA.havicaz.com/ (Currently just links to official info and 3rd party info, but I'm working on it) and an IRC channel, #X-46TCPA on souless.org / relic.net
Some of the things I have planned include: original articles and commentary by myself and other members, a letter writing campaign to tell AMD, Intel and other key players that we the people do NOT want this, a BBS/forum and a mailing list.
As I stated above, we are still in our infancy, but we are planning to see this through, regardless the outcome. Those who are interested in helping try to stop this threat to freedom and fair use, please stop by. We could use the help, even if it's just the encouragement of knowing people care and we are not alone in this.
For what it's worth, I'm in the process of forming an anti-Palladium/TCPA group. Currently we have no name and are somewhat un-organized, but we have several members already. In the near future we should have a website and mailing list, but for now I can be reached on irc.dal.net in #freedos (not really associated with the operating system by the same name) using the name FriedBob. Most of that channel is involved in this budding group, so bringing it up will not be off topic. At some point I may form a seperate channel just for this, on a more stable server.
--FriedBob
I just read the Kazaa EULA (http://www.kazaa.com/us/terms.htm) and nowhere in there could I find anything where you give consent to help Kazaa steal, oh, I'm sorry, "compete" with other affiliates by diverting commissions. With Morpheus, beofre you get to an EULA, you get to a screen with, among other things, two checkboxes. The first says "Yes! - I want fewer adds and more privace on the internet!" then off to the side "click here for more details" That points to this site, http://www.ipinsight.com/consumer/, where they talk about how they collect information, such as recording the IP each time the progrsam is booted, testing the linespeed, and doing a "Geography Test". They put it best. "Geography Test: IPinsight estimates neighborhood-level geography of the user based upon postal code. The IPinsight Software monitors the users' form submissions for the presence of street name and postal code name value pairs. On a periodic basis these street names and postal code values are communicated to the IPinsight server, along with the street number rounded to the nearest 50 (e.g. 115 Main Street gets transmitted as 100 Main Street). The reason for the acquisition of street names and non-specific but approximated street numbers is to determine the zip+4 location (nine-digit zip code) of the user. Once the zip+4 location has been determined, the street name is discarded." They also record information such as your computer. To borrow their words again, "This information includes information about the computer's hardware configuration, such as the amount of free space on your hard drive, and information about the computer's software configuration, such as the name and version of the operating system. This information is used to determine whether the IPinsight Software is compatible with your computer." And what do they do with all this information? Sell it to local advertisers. All this, so there are "fewer adds and more privacy" on the internet. The second checkbox reads "Yes! - I want to help StreamCast with it's new relationship with IP insight as they continue to strive for an Internet with fewer ads and more privacy, by enabling geolocation services without using personal information." Perhaps this is where you give consent to steal commissions from other competing affiliates? Or perhaps it is in a EULA on the next screen where it modifes a webbrowser to track you with a unique ID that is sent to "participating merchnats". But I am not really sure how this fits into the Morpheus program, as it is not the EULA for Morpheus, but instead is "...IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU, THE END USER, AND WURLD MEDIA, INC. IN DOWNLOADING THE BUYERSPORT(tm) SHOPPING COMMUNITY SOFTWARE (THE "LICENSED PRODUCT")..." Interestingly enough, it is "StreamCast" that provides Morpheus, not "WURLD Media", so I don't know what sort of problems that creates. As well as according to the license, merely downloading the software means you agree to tbe bound by the terms of it, though it's impossible to get to the license without downloading the software and starting the installer. And as for LimeWire, I got an internal server error when attempting to view the FAQ on their marketng thing, and since this is getting rather long, I'll cut this short and leave them off for now. Hope this proves insightful and sparks some meaningful discussion on this rather serious matter.