Mr. Wade's point is not very interesting. To rephrase his opinion: (1) America has a lot of influence in the world
No. His point is that "The framework yields disproportionate benefits to Americans" (My emph.) I know, as a european I also get disproportionate benefits as compared to say, asians, but the current American quasi-hegemony is nevertheless problematic.
When reading the directive, remember that the only the articles really have force, not the recitals. A quick selection of quotes:
'database` shall mean a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means. [...]
The copyright protection of databases provided for by this Directive shall not extend to their contents and shall be without prejudice to any rights subsisting in those contents themselves.
[...]
the author of a database shall have the exclusive right to carry out or to authorize:
(a) temporary or permanent reproduction[...]
(b) translation, adaptation[...]
(c) any form of distribution to the public[...]
Member States shall have the option of providing for limitations on the rights set out in Article 5 in the following cases:[...]
(d) where other exceptions to copyright which are traditionally authorized under national law are involved [...]
SUI GENERIS RIGHT
Article 7
Object of protection
1. Member States shall provide for a right for the maker of a database which shows that there has been qualitatively and/or quantitatively a substantial investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents to prevent extraction and/or re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that database.
[...]
The right provided for in Article 7 shall run from the date of completion of the making of the database. It shall expire fifteen years from the first of January of the year following the date of completion.
1. Buy SCO sell options - enough to gain $200 for every point it falls.
2. Buy SCO stock - enough to lose $100 for every point it falls.
3. ??? (Something involving IBM, I suspect)
4. PROFIT!!!
5. Sue SCO execs for loss incurred due to point 2.
6. FUN!!!
Suppose you labor extremely hard to create something, it took so much of your time, might have cost you a marriage, every single penny in your account, and someone comes and swipes it from under your feet what would you do?
Getting a bit emotional, are we? Try to stay with the facts instead of conjuring up heartbreak stories. (Alternatively pursue a career as Hollywood script writer)
Having some country throw patent ideas out is rather lame, and in the long run is only going to hurt those who innovate more than anyone else.
Uh-huh. That't why researchers from MIT and the Federal Reserve Bank in an empirical study concludes that "greater use of software patents is associated with lower R&D intensity. [...] we can reject the argument that software patents have on average
increased R&D incentives." Now how does that happen if limiting patentability "hurts innovators more than anyone else"?
Personally, I am supporting Howard Dean for president.
Has he made any statements on this issue - or the wider issues of "intellectual property"? When he was on Lessigs blog his response basically was "we're thinking about it". What conclusion will he come to when the IP lobbyists start forking over $2000 a plate?
1. Buy SCO sell options so you gain $200 for every point their stock goes down.
2. Buy SCO stock so you lose $100 for every point their stock is down.
3. ??? (Something involving IBM, I suspect)
4. PROFIT!!!
5. Sue SCO execs for loss incurred due to point 2.
6. FUN!!!
What's more, with the fighting in the west-bank over the last two years,
I doubt that people there had time to run any OS project
According to my traceroutes, they may very well be in occupied Palestine, note especially step 13 - a forwarder in Israel (.il)
/usr/sbin/traceroute www.es5.com traceroute to www.es5.com (213.152.100.163), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets [...] 9 goldenlines-4-il-pal6.seabone.net (195.22.197.18) 66.267 ms 65.256 ms 64.544 ms 10 212.199.28.4 (212.199.28.4) 65.075 ms 65.954 ms 65.379 ms 11 212.199.28.242 (212.199.28.242) 83.267 ms 83.360 ms 83.277 ms 12 212.199.26.35 (212.199.26.35) 83.541 ms 82.899 ms 83.291 ms 13 * 212.199.218.130.forward.012.net.il (212.199.218.130) 82.169 ms 81.092 ms 14 213.152.100.254 (213.152.100.254) 83.539 ms 84.474 ms 83.524 ms 15 www.es5.com (213.152.100.163) 83.324 ms 82.545 ms 85.788 ms
The route to download.es5.com is different, I can't trace it beyond Amsterdam:
/usr/sbin/traceroute download.es5.com traceroute to download.es5.com (213.152.119.5), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets [...] 10 ae0-53.mp1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net (195.122.136.65) 23.155 ms 23.107 ms 22.959 ms 11 so-3-0-0.mp1.Amsterdam1.Level3.net (212.187.128.14) 18.825 ms 18.865 ms 18.684 ms 12 gige7-0.ipcolo1.Amsterdam1.Level3.net (213.244.165.7) 19.967 ms 19.835 ms 19.773 ms 13 unknown.Level3.net (213.244.164.18) 21.935 ms 20.048 ms 20.404 ms 14 213.152.119.253 (213.152.119.253) 22.642 ms 20.689 ms 20.641 ms 15 download.es5.com (213.152.119.5) 19.875 ms 18.925 ms 19.824 ms
we want to discourage systems which facilitate abuse by evading accountability
So what should be done about Freenet? Their stated goal "is to ensure that the government cannot control its population's ability to share information, to communicate".
I think Freenet is a good example for discussion since it's build from the ground up to minimize accountability.
MS will now say "Use Linux at the risk of patent infringement suits or let us take care of it for you." This strategy could be expensive in the long run though:
I feel certain that some large company will patent some [...] crucial technique. If we assume this company has no need of any of our patents then the have a 17-year right to take as much of our profits as they want.(Bill Gates, 1991)
Of course, we could just abolish software patents and make the question moot...
(Disclaimer: Neither German nor English is my 1st language. I recommend
dict.leo.org)
The quote is discussing the improved offer made by IBM/SuSE after Ballmers visit. It mentions where the new offer shaves off costs:
Considerable savings were found since
[...]
based on its competences in questions of desktop migration The SuSE company was basically prepared to warrant significantly lower costs of PC-emulation (VMWare) through deployment of alternative emulation products or migration methods.[1]
[1] Partially because of caution in calculations the client study had assumed that 80% of the desktops would have to be equipped with VMWare for a duration of 4-5 years.
My interpretation: the 80% mentioned come from the orgiinal "client study". SuSE has said "We'll guarantee that you can save money by using win4lin/wine/whatever". The quote doesn't give the impression that VMWare would completely replace the Linux desktop. I'd rather bet that they'll be using it for legacy programs, but I'd have to read the client study to find out.
Responsibility to the generations who will live with the trends we set. The model from the article would definitely set a trend giving artists very little incitement to produce. That wrong would not make a right out of RIAA's wrongs.
The only solution that's going to work is one that directly connects musicians to music listeners, without involving RIAA, ASCAP, or BMI.
I don't think so. Middlemen are often very practical, for instance for helping spot good music. We just need to build a system where middlemen get no more control or money than their services are worth. (In that respect the current system has a pretty poor price/performance ratio IMHO)
The web has the potential to be the ultimate "fair trade" platform, if we in the geek community can roll the tools to automate negotiating non-compulsory licenses, and devise a artist-collective alternative to ASCAP & BMI.
That's a bold statement but wishful thinking, I fear.
To convince me you should be more specific so please share your ideas - I like fresh inspiration. The greatest problem is probably to get sufficient market traction.
would add even more DMCA-like protections to technical measures.
That's unfortunately a blunder in the EFF statement. Read the
directive yourself. The article in question is article 21:
"technical device" means any technology, [...]
designed for the manufacture of authentic
goods and the incorporation therein of elements which are manifestly
identifiable by customers and consumers
and which make it easier to recognise
the goods as being authentic.
So, for instance, unless, say, CSS is "manifestly identifiable by customers" "to recognise the goods as being authentic" deCSS doesn't fall under this provision.
This is not true. In Denmark, the national broadcasting corp (dr.dk) was lobbying against the "anti-circumvention" provisions. They recently had to go to court to secure the right to use harddrives as intermediate storage for the songs they play. Obviously, they don't think it's cool that technical copy restrictions suddenly have legal authority.
It doesn't help that there's been very few people fighting this from the beginning. Check the EUCD status page. Of the groups listed there, most didn't exist five years ago. Now we are teaming up, making sure we won't be late next time. (The directive was passed spring 2001, no protests)
I believe these organizations are going to make a real difference in the coming years. If you live in Europe, contact the nearest, especially if you are eastern european (We need contacts in the soon-to-be-EU countries)
and, if some of the posters above are right, probably is.
The whole point of his idea is to transform the webcasting royalties into a device for selling mp3 files on demand. Buying mp3 files on demand is a great idea, possibly even under a compulsory licensing regime, but 0.07 cents a song is really too little.
I recently heard someone describe the current stage of the IP discussion as "prerevolutionary rigidification". He then shared his worries that the harder the forces of change were bolted down, the more destructive an explosion would follow. This article would then be an "early warning" shrapnel sample.
Enraging RIAA may be very funny, but he's considering the whole copyright system collateral damage. Our generation will set the trend for copyright in the information age and should show more responsibility.
the DMCA has no teeth in Austria where these guys seem to live
The european version of the DMCA, the EUCD came into force in Austria on
July 1st. (I even think the directive could be used against them before that, though it hasn't been transcribed into austrian law). The mailing list message was sent on July 4th. (quite symbolically...)
On the other hand, the picture's pretty murky anyway. The EUCD doesn't change the status for computer programs, and that's what we're really talking about here. It's also important that this exploit has several effects. It may be used for playing pirated games, (nono) but it is also a tool for using the X-box for quite legitimate purposes, like building a home media system etc. Also, the exploit is not done on the programs themselves, but on the platform. Then there is the issue of changing the font files. I don't quite get whether they used changed MS font files or rolled their own. If they use changed MS files, MS might be able to go after them on their "artistic rights".
I recommend finding an austrian lawyer. (And a sympathetic judge...)
Slashdot Mirror
Mr. Wade's point is not very interesting. To rephrase his opinion: (1) America has a lot of influence in the world
No. His point is that "The framework yields disproportionate benefits to Americans" (My emph.) I know, as a european I also get disproportionate benefits as compared to say, asians, but the current American quasi-hegemony is nevertheless problematic.
Is known as the database directive
When reading the directive, remember that the only the articles really have force, not the recitals. A quick selection of quotes:
'database` shall mean a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means.
[...]
The copyright protection of databases provided for by this Directive shall not extend to their contents and shall be without prejudice to any rights subsisting in those contents themselves.
[...]
the author of a database shall have the exclusive right to carry out or to authorize:
(a) temporary or permanent reproduction[...]
(b) translation, adaptation[...]
(c) any form of distribution to the public[...]
Member States shall have the option of providing for limitations on the rights set out in Article 5 in the following cases:[...]
(d) where other exceptions to copyright which are traditionally authorized under national law are involved
[...]
SUI GENERIS RIGHT
Article 7
Object of protection
1. Member States shall provide for a right for the maker of a database which shows that there has been qualitatively and/or quantitatively a substantial investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents to prevent extraction and/or re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that database.
[...]
The right provided for in Article 7 shall run from the date of completion of the making of the database. It shall expire fifteen years from the first of January of the year following the date of completion.
Wouldn't you like to pay $120 per year and be able to "rent" any 60 songs at any time for as long as you want???
But.... Will it work on Linux???
1. Buy SCO sell options - enough to gain $200 for every point it falls.
2. Buy SCO stock - enough to lose $100 for every point it falls.
3. ??? (Something involving IBM, I suspect)
4. PROFIT!!!
5. Sue SCO execs for loss incurred due to point 2.
6. FUN!!!
Suppose you labor extremely hard to create something, it took so much of your time, might have cost you a marriage, every single penny in your account, and someone comes and swipes it from under your feet what would you do?
Getting a bit emotional, are we? Try to stay with the facts instead of conjuring up heartbreak stories. (Alternatively pursue a career as Hollywood script writer)
Having some country throw patent ideas out is rather lame, and in the long run is only going to hurt those who innovate more than anyone else.
Uh-huh. That't why researchers from MIT and the Federal Reserve Bank in an empirical study concludes that "greater use of software patents is associated with lower R&D intensity. [...] we can reject the argument that software patents have on average increased R&D incentives." Now how does that happen if limiting patentability "hurts innovators more than anyone else"?
Personally, I am supporting Howard Dean for president.
Has he made any statements on this issue - or the wider issues of "intellectual property"? When he was on Lessigs blog his response basically was "we're thinking about it". What conclusion will he come to when the IP lobbyists start forking over $2000 a plate?
1. Buy SCO sell options so you gain $200 for every point their stock goes down.
2. Buy SCO stock so you lose $100 for every point their stock is down.
3. ??? (Something involving IBM, I suspect)
4. PROFIT!!!
5. Sue SCO execs for loss incurred due to point 2.
6. FUN!!!
According to my traceroutes, they may very well be in occupied Palestine, note especially step 13 - a forwarder in Israel (.il)
The route to download.es5.com is different, I can't trace it beyond Amsterdam:
Current uptime 253 days, apparently they dropped SCO on the web server 3 years ago.
From Netcraft
OSS | Server | Last changed
Linux | Apache/1.3.27 (Unix) PHP/4.2.3 mod_ssl/2.8.12 OpenSSL/0.9.6h | 28-Jan-2003
Linux | Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) PHP/4.2.2 mod_ssl/2.8.10 OpenSSL/0.9.6g | 2-Dec-2002
SCO UNIX | Stronghold/2.4.2 Apache/1.3.6 C2NetEU/2412 (Unix) | 6-Nov-2000
- they just decay on a timescale significantly longer than your marriage.
- and in Europe it's called EDRi
I think a lot of slashdotters are supporting one of these orgs, at least casually, or through some EDRi member.
we want to discourage systems which facilitate abuse by evading accountability
So what should be done about Freenet? Their stated goal "is to ensure that the government cannot control its population's ability to share information, to communicate".
I think Freenet is a good example for discussion since it's build from the ground up to minimize accountability.
MS will now say "Use Linux at the risk of patent infringement suits or let us take care of it for you." This strategy could be expensive in the long run though:
I feel certain that some large company will patent some [...] crucial technique. If we assume this company has no need of any of our patents then the have a 17-year right to take as much of our profits as they want. (Bill Gates, 1991)
Of course, we could just abolish software patents and make the question moot...
(Disclaimer: Neither German nor English is my 1st language. I recommend dict.leo.org)
The quote is discussing the improved offer made by IBM/SuSE after Ballmers visit. It mentions where the new offer shaves off costs:
Considerable savings were found since
[...]
based on its competences in questions of desktop migration The SuSE company was basically prepared to warrant significantly lower costs of PC-emulation (VMWare) through deployment of alternative emulation products or migration methods.[1]
[1] Partially because of caution in calculations the client study had assumed that 80% of the desktops would have to be equipped with VMWare for a duration of 4-5 years.
My interpretation: the 80% mentioned come from the orgiinal "client study". SuSE has said "We'll guarantee that you can save money by using win4lin/wine/whatever". The quote doesn't give the impression that VMWare would completely replace the Linux desktop. I'd rather bet that they'll be using it for legacy programs, but I'd have to read the client study to find out.
The only things we export to the world are our own ignorance and our own fear.
As a non-american I'm forever grateful for rock'n'roll and the Apollo program. Oh, and winning WWII and all that. Thanks.
Responsibility to whom? Our corporate masters?
Responsibility to the generations who will live with the trends we set. The model from the article would definitely set a trend giving artists very little incitement to produce. That wrong would not make a right out of RIAA's wrongs.
The only solution that's going to work is one that directly connects musicians to music listeners, without involving RIAA, ASCAP, or BMI.
I don't think so. Middlemen are often very practical, for instance for helping spot good music. We just need to build a system where middlemen get no more control or money than their services are worth. (In that respect the current system has a pretty poor price/performance ratio IMHO)
The web has the potential to be the ultimate "fair trade" platform, if we in the geek community can roll the tools to automate negotiating non-compulsory licenses, and devise a artist-collective alternative to ASCAP & BMI.
That's a bold statement but wishful thinking, I fear. To convince me you should be more specific so please share your ideas - I like fresh inspiration. The greatest problem is probably to get sufficient market traction.
will ReiserFS be ready for the 2.6 kernel? Just curious.
none of the copyright holders nor politicians have been intimidated by a bunch of whiners on/.
So are you going to join one of the organisations fighting this?
would add even more DMCA-like protections to technical measures.
That's unfortunately a blunder in the EFF statement. Read the directive yourself. The article in question is article 21:
"technical device" means any technology, [...] designed for the manufacture of authentic goods and the incorporation therein of elements which are manifestly identifiable by customers and consumers and which make it easier to recognise the goods as being authentic.
So, for instance, unless, say, CSS is "manifestly identifiable by customers" "to recognise the goods as being authentic" deCSS doesn't fall under this provision.
This is not true. In Denmark, the national broadcasting corp (dr.dk) was lobbying against the "anti-circumvention" provisions. They recently had to go to court to secure the right to use harddrives as intermediate storage for the songs they play. Obviously, they don't think it's cool that technical copy restrictions suddenly have legal authority.
It doesn't help that there's been very few people fighting this from the beginning. Check the EUCD status page. Of the groups listed there, most didn't exist five years ago. Now we are teaming up, making sure we won't be late next time. (The directive was passed spring 2001, no protests)
I believe these organizations are going to make a real difference in the coming years. If you live in Europe, contact the nearest, especially if you are eastern european (We need contacts in the soon-to-be-EU countries)
and, if some of the posters above are right, probably is.
The whole point of his idea is to transform the webcasting royalties into a device for selling mp3 files on demand. Buying mp3 files on demand is a great idea, possibly even under a compulsory licensing regime, but 0.07 cents a song is really too little.
I recently heard someone describe the current stage of the IP discussion as "prerevolutionary rigidification". He then shared his worries that the harder the forces of change were bolted down, the more destructive an explosion would follow. This article would then be an "early warning" shrapnel sample.
Enraging RIAA may be very funny, but he's considering the whole copyright system collateral damage. Our generation will set the trend for copyright in the information age and should show more responsibility.
Post links with HTML tags. It's easier for us all.
a RFID tag is a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work
No it's not. "Work" in the copyright sense means a literary work. This applies to household objects. Read up on the law. Really.
the DMCA has no teeth in Austria where these guys seem to live
The european version of the DMCA, the EUCD came into force in Austria on July 1st. (I even think the directive could be used against them before that, though it hasn't been transcribed into austrian law). The mailing list message was sent on July 4th. (quite symbolically...)
On the other hand, the picture's pretty murky anyway. The EUCD doesn't change the status for computer programs, and that's what we're really talking about here. It's also important that this exploit has several effects. It may be used for playing pirated games, (nono) but it is also a tool for using the X-box for quite legitimate purposes, like building a home media system etc. Also, the exploit is not done on the programs themselves, but on the platform. Then there is the issue of changing the font files. I don't quite get whether they used changed MS font files or rolled their own. If they use changed MS files, MS might be able to go after them on their "artistic rights".
I recommend finding an austrian lawyer. (And a sympathetic judge...)