|
Used News: RIAA Conscripts Feds, Microsoft Passes the Buck and Comcast Cleans up their Act
|
|
By Jeff Foster, Section UnFairUse
Posted on Sun May 30, 2004 at 09:10:01 PM PDT
|
 |
|
Well, I don't want to talk about the RIAA in my intro 2 weeks in a row, but, uh, I'm gonna. Specifically, I'm going to try and answer a question Ed had about the Pirate Act (which is detailed below). As a real quick summary, the Pirate Act is a law being considered by Congress which would allow federal prosecutors to sue File sharers in Civil Court. Ed assumed that the MPAA (the Motion Picture Association of America) would be involved as well, as they often have the same interests as the RIAA in terms of piracy. In this case however, they don't, and here is why: The MPAA does not currently sue people for file sharing. The reason is probably because suing people en masse tends to make people rather upset, and is really a desperation strategy. The MPAA is not desperate, therefore, they have no need to get in on a law that could only make people mad at them. That's how I see it anyway. Next week I promise to not talk about any acronym that ends in AA, unless I really, really have to.
Is there something I missed this week or something you think I should know about? Let me know by leaving a comment below or emailing me at Jeff@malgenic.org
|
The Pirate Act
Congress is considering a bill called the Pirate Act, a bill that will allow the federal government to file civil lawsuits against copyright violators on Peer to Peer networks. The voting could take place next week. Here, from Reference.com, is the definition of civil law: Relating to the rights of private individuals and legal proceedings concerning these rights as distinguished from criminal, military, or international regulations or proceedings. Yup, the government filing civil lawsuits against the citizenry for something allegedly done to the RIAA sure does makes sense. The RIAA is also pushing for a broadcast flag for digital radio, similar to the broadcast flag that the FCC has defined for the MPAA on HDTV. Oh, and the RIAA filed 493 more civil lawsuits against IP addresses to which they object.
Comcast Trys to Stop Spambots
Comcast has a problem with spam. As was recently revealed, Comcast is responsible for more spam then any other network on the Internet, sending out an incredible 700 million spams a day. This is due to computers that have been turned into spamming zombies by virus infected email attachments. Comcast now has a plan to stop the spam, but by a rather clever method. Instead of blocking the port from which email is sent (port 25) like most ISPs, they are going send “the subscriber's cable modem a new configuration routine that prevents outbound connections on port 25.” This will keep people that run their own e-mail servers happy, and the people who are infected probably won't notice. Sounds like a good idea to me, which worries me, since I'm pretty sure I've never thought that about anything Comcast has ever done.
Microsoft MUST Pass on Legal Bill to Consumers
From the BBC, comes the story that Microsoft has announced that it would be best if the government stopped suing them, because otherwise they will just have to pass the bill onto their customers. This announcement came via a lawyer of Microsoft's who gets paid $3,000 an hour. Speaking of Microsoft settling, it appears that Opera Software, the maker of the Opera web browser, has received a $12,000,000 payout from Microsoft, due to Microsoft making their MSN website load incorrectly in Opera on purpose. I'm sure that they will be forced to pass the $12 million bill onto their customers as well.
Instant CD Patent Bought by Clear Channel
DiscLive, a company that sells CDs to allow fans to buy a burned CD of a show they just attended is having the squeeze put on them by Clear Channel Entertainment, which has purchased a patent that apparently governs the technology behind the DiscLive concept. Clear Channel is the largest entertainment company in the world, controlling more then 50% of all radio stations and 133 Concert venues around the country. Clear Channel does not appear to be interested in licensing the technology to DiscLive (although the article says it has licensed it to a few bands for a dollar). It's a terrible patent, and it's a terrible shame that Clear Channel had to get their hands on it.
SCO Stock Watch
UP 9.4% to 5.19
:(
Other News Of Note
Creative Commons 2.0
Accidental Bomb threat due to Grand Theft Auto Video Game
R.I.P Linux Counterculture
Espionage, Murder, and a Chatroom |
|
|
Sign up for my newsletter |
|
To have my column automatically e-mailed to you, submit your email address in the form below. Of course, I will not turn your address over to any other party or send you any unrequested e-mail.
|
|
