Last week marked an historic step in the record industries battle against P2P with the summary judgement issued by Judge Wilson in favour of Grokster Ltd and Streamcast Networks. Slyck has spoken exclusively to Wayne Rosso the outspoken President of Grokster Ltd about the summary judgement and other issues...
The iRiver iFP-195T is a 512MB Flash unit and is available on Amazon
Slyck Ciarán: Firstly, tell us your reaction to the extremely important summary judgement.
Grokster: We at Grokster are obviously very happy with the Judge's decision. The Court recognized that our file-sharing software has numerous legal and beneficial uses. This opinion lifts the cloud the plaintiffs have attempted to cast over innovation and investment. It makes clear that innovators will not be held liable for creating or investing in new technologies. This ruling also means that the labels and studios cannot ban 21st-century technology in defence of their inefficient and outmoded 20th-century distribution models
Slyck Ciarán: What is the next step in the lawsuit for you?
Grokster: The plaintiffs have commented publicly that they intended to appeal the ruling, so we assume they will and we will, of course, fight the appeal.
Slyck Ciarán: Janus Friis recently told Slyck that "Grokster is an older customized version of KMD/FT" and that older versions "supernode server to fetch seed IP addresses when not available locally". The verdict seemed to clear Gokster Ltd of operating any supernode server. Can you categorically say that Grokster does not need a supernode server and if not how does it fetch the location of supernodes when not availably locally?
Grokster: Grokster does not operate a Supernode server or a server with IP addresses or any type of server that interfaces in any way with the operation of Grokster or FastTrack with the exception of ad serving via the Start page. Grokster does not need a Supernode server to operate.
Slyck Ciarán: A side note in the summary judgement said that Sharman/Kazaa BV operates one such superode server/root supernode. Do you believe this statement to be accurate?
Grokster: We have no information as to whether they do or do not.
Slyck Ciarán: What is your understanding of how Morpheus was removed from the FastTrack network. Could the same not be done to Grokster?
Grokster: Some time after this occurred we found out that Kazaa and Grokster were issued upgrades to the communication encryption protocols and Morpheus was not, so the Morpheus clients could no longer communicate with the other programs
Slyck Ciarán: How is your relationship with those who own the FastTrack protocol. Why have they not supplied you with updates to the FT software in recent months? Were they annoyed by your postings of "we do not have an brilliant digital software" on your homepage as they have a direct interest in Altnet.
Grokster: fine (!)
Slyck Ciarán: A lot was made in the media about you speech at the Financial Times new media conference recently. You used the opportunity to attack the recoding industry for not licensing their music to P2P companies like yourself. Tell us more about why you think they should licence music to Grokster?
Grokster: It's not so much that they should license to Grokster, it's more a call for blanket compulsory licensing of some kind. At the moment content licensing negotiations are a one-way street. And what has happened is that record companies have used their content to slow the growth of ecommerce and the Internet until they can figure out how to co-opt the technology. Simply put, they want to own or control the technology themselves.
Slyck Ciarán: Anything else you would like to say to Slyck readers?
Grokster: Yes. Thanks for your support during this long court battle and we hope that you continue to use Grokster. I've gotten many emails from Grokster users congratulating us on our victory and I'd like to thank them as well. You're all terrific!
Slyck would like to thank Wayne Rosso for taking time out to do this interview.
Me. I find it much easier to read a 22 page article mushed into 1, compact, space saving paragraph. Even if he only posted the first page, it's all you really need to know. Someday, when it's not slashdotted anymore you can check out the full article below. Although, like I said, you won't need to, because the grandparent post summed up the article so well, in a nice easy to read format. Mod him up please.
Microsoft is known for constantly reworking its software products until they get them right, and MSN Search is a shining example of the company putting that same effort into an online product. In particular, the company has its own team of editors that monitors the most popular searches being performed and then hand-picks sites that are believed to be the most relevant. After performing a search, "Popular Topics" shown below the search box on the results page are also suggestions built largely by editors to guide you into making a more refined search. When appropriate, search results may also feature links to encyclopedia content from Microsoft Encarta or news headlines, at the top of the page.
Of course, humans editors can't do everything, so MSN Search also relies on search providers for answers to many of its queries. Usually, it will be human-powered results from the LookSmart directory that dominate the page. Unlike when MSN editors are involved, these human-powered results are not hand-picked to match a query. Instead, MSN uses its own search algorithm to sift through all the listings from LookSmart to automatically find answers that are believed to be best.
Slashdot Mirror
By Ciarán Tannam 4/30/03
Last week marked an historic step in the record industries battle against P2P with the summary judgement issued by Judge Wilson in favour of Grokster Ltd and Streamcast Networks. Slyck has spoken exclusively to Wayne Rosso the outspoken President of Grokster Ltd about the summary judgement and other issues...
The iRiver iFP-195T is a 512MB Flash unit and is available on Amazon
Slyck Ciarán: Firstly, tell us your reaction to the extremely important summary judgement.
Grokster: We at Grokster are obviously very happy with the Judge's decision. The Court recognized that our file-sharing software has numerous legal and beneficial uses. This opinion lifts the cloud the plaintiffs have attempted to cast over innovation and investment. It makes clear that innovators will not be held liable for creating or investing in new technologies. This ruling also means that the labels and studios cannot ban 21st-century technology in defence of their inefficient and outmoded 20th-century distribution models
Slyck Ciarán: What is the next step in the lawsuit for you?
Grokster: The plaintiffs have commented publicly that they intended to appeal the ruling, so we assume they will and we will, of course, fight the appeal.
Slyck Ciarán: Janus Friis recently told Slyck that "Grokster is an older customized version of KMD/FT" and that older versions "supernode server to fetch seed IP addresses when not available locally". The verdict seemed to clear Gokster Ltd of operating any supernode server. Can you categorically say that Grokster does not need a supernode server and if not how does it fetch the location of supernodes when not availably locally?
Grokster: Grokster does not operate a Supernode server or a server with IP addresses or any type of server that interfaces in any way with the operation of Grokster or FastTrack with the exception of ad serving via the Start page. Grokster does not need a Supernode server to operate.
Slyck Ciarán: A side note in the summary judgement said that Sharman/Kazaa BV operates one such superode server/root supernode. Do you believe this statement to be accurate?
Grokster: We have no information as to whether they do or do not.
Slyck Ciarán: What is your understanding of how Morpheus was removed from the FastTrack network. Could the same not be done to Grokster?
Grokster: Some time after this occurred we found out that Kazaa and Grokster were issued upgrades to the communication encryption protocols and Morpheus was not, so the Morpheus clients could no longer communicate with the other programs
Slyck Ciarán: How is your relationship with those who own the FastTrack protocol. Why have they not supplied you with updates to the FT software in recent months? Were they annoyed by your postings of "we do not have an brilliant digital software" on your homepage as they have a direct interest in Altnet.
Grokster: fine (!)
Slyck Ciarán: A lot was made in the media about you speech at the Financial Times new media conference recently. You used the opportunity to attack the recoding industry for not licensing their music to P2P companies like yourself. Tell us more about why you think they should licence music to Grokster?
Grokster: It's not so much that they should license to Grokster, it's more a call for blanket compulsory licensing of some kind. At the moment content licensing negotiations are a one-way street. And what has happened is that record companies have used their content to slow the growth of ecommerce and the Internet until they can figure out how to co-opt the technology. Simply put, they want to own or control the technology themselves.
Slyck Ciarán: Anything else you would like to say to Slyck readers?
Grokster: Yes. Thanks for your support during this long court battle and we hope that you continue to use Grokster. I've gotten many emails from Grokster users congratulating us on our victory and I'd like to thank them as well. You're all terrific!
Slyck would like to thank Wayne Rosso for taking time out to do this interview.
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 1
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 2
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 3
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 4
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 5
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 6
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 7
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 8
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 9
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 10
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 11
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 12
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 13
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 14
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 15
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 16
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 17
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 18
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 19
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 20
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 21
The Tech Report - NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5200 GPU - Page 22
That's a big paragraph.
Microsoft is known for constantly reworking its software products until they get them right, and MSN Search is a shining example of the company putting that same effort into an online product. In particular, the company has its own team of editors that monitors the most popular searches being performed and then hand-picks sites that are believed to be the most relevant. After performing a search, "Popular Topics" shown below the search box on the results page are also suggestions built largely by editors to guide you into making a more refined search. When appropriate, search results may also feature links to encyclopedia content from Microsoft Encarta or news headlines, at the top of the page.
Of course, humans editors can't do everything, so MSN Search also relies on search providers for answers to many of its queries. Usually, it will be human-powered results from the LookSmart directory that dominate the page. Unlike when MSN editors are involved, these human-powered results are not hand-picked to match a query. Instead, MSN uses its own search algorithm to sift through all the listings from LookSmart to automatically find answers that are believed to be best.
Ned: And Harry Potter... and all his wizard friends... went STRAIGHT to hell for practicing witchcraft!
Todd: Yay!
Yes, yes, yes, and yes.