Ryan Tomayko

Walmart Changes Mind on DRM, Keeps Servers Running —

That makes sense to me. Gizmodo seems to think ripping off all those people who purchased that crap is a better idea. I hate DRM as much as the next guy but that’s a really dumb take on the situation, IMO.

A Big Change for Open Source —

Bruce Perens on the recent JMRI/GPL ruling:

“For a decade there’d been questions: Are Open Source licenses enforceable at all? Are their terms, calling for a patent detente or disclosure of source code, legal? Are they contracts, which require agreement by all parties to be valid, or licenses, which are binding even if you don’t agree to then? What legal penalties can a Free Software developer employ: only token damages, or much more? The court’s ruling makes the answers to these clear. Did such weighty questions come up in cases involving IBM, Sun, HP, or Red Hat? No, this is the quirky world of Free Software: it was a court case about model trains.”

Court: violating copyleft = copyright infringement —

“Unlike the lower court, the appeals court seemed to understand that reciprocity lay at the heart of free software licenses. Just as traditional software firms thrive on the exchange of code for money, free software projects thrive on the exchange of code for code.”

Don't give Microsoft the remote control —

Short and exceptionally well written take on Microsoft’s Vista DRM strategy. I’m really enjoying the FSF going on the offensive with sites targeting very specific issues (badvista.fsf.org).

Reasons Not to Use a Creative Commons NonCommercial (-NC) License —

Sold! All my stuff will soon be non-NC.

GPL workarounds —

“Ten months later the company dies from a sudden buffer overflow.”

The recursive implementation of /bin/true —

This is why I love Unix.

Under pressure from EMI, RIAA could disappear —

Could be huge: “rumors continue to swirl that EMI will pull its funding from music trade groups like the RIAA and IFPI, an IFPI spokesman tells Ars that the group is in the middle of a major internal review of its operations.”

Fair use advocates hit back with copyright principles of their own —

“The Fair Use Principles for User Generated Content offer a set of guidelines that video sites should use in order to ensure that their attempts to keep infringing video offline don’t run roughshod over users' rights to fair use of the content.”

Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret government project —

“The e-mail was leaked to the public by a group that calls itself MediaDefender-Defenders.” … “Apparently, MediaDefender employee Jay Mairs forwarded all of his company e-mails to a Gmail account, which was eventually infiltrated.”

Last Harry Potter leaks online [boingboing.net] —

“With the last book, the publisher was so freaked out about ebook piracy that they refused to release an official electronic edition. The result? Fans made their own electronic text in 24 hours. And other fans translated the book into German in 45 hours.”

Gonzales proposes new crime: "Attempted" copyright infringement [news.com] —

“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including ‘attempts’ to commit piracy.”

Reclaiming the Oxford English Dictionary for the public —

“That means that every page I scan, out of the fifteen thousand or so, produces about $19.5 million of value for the world; that’s about $9.8 billion an hour. My hourly wages have usually been less.”

Senators figure out the Broadcast Flag, curse it as an abomination! —

or, “How the iPod destroyed the Broadcast Flag” :)

"Customary Historic Use" to replace "Fair Use" —

Big Content would like to outlaw things no one has even thought of yet

HP DRM Talk —

A sequel to Doctorow’s “Microsoft DRM Talk”

JHymn —

Oh wow, I just ripped all my iTunes DRM’d songs down to unprotected AAC in about 10 minutes. These guys did a great job.

Gallery of DRM-Related Antipixel Buttons and Badges —

If you must put badges on your site, make it one of these…

Blogs on today's SCOTUS rulings, Xeni on Grokster on NPR —

Initial coverage on MGM v. Grokster from BoingBoing. I’d like to hear what Cory has to say… and I’m sure we will shortly…

File-Sharing Networks Can Be Held Liable, Court Rules —

New York Times covers the MGM vs. Grokster decision

Grokster, StreamCast Lose —

“The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that developers of software violate federal copyright law when they provide computer users with the means to share music and movie files downloaded from the Internet”

Picker MobBlog —

Grokster MGM supreme court opinions are out. These guys are covering all the angles.

Microsoft releases under Creative Commons ShareAlike —

Holy shit Microsoft is copylefting stuff. What’s going on?

Patent absurdity —

Stallman on the EU software patent mess.

Mark Cuban: Why Macrovision's customers are fools —

This horse should be dead by now.

Register of Copyrights Misunderstands Copyright —

Ed Felton digs into the Register of Copyrights. More informative than dig, really…

Prison terms on tap for 'prerelease' pirates —

New law puts your ass in jail for 3 years for leaking a pre-release movie.

Cornell Copyright Debate In Pieces —

The 3.5 hour copyright debate featuring all the players from the EFF, RIAA, MPAA, acedemia, etc. cut up into little pieces for ease of viewing.

Stupid (c) laws block me from publishing own work online —

Clay Shirky on how he doesn’t have access to his own copyrighted works.

MGM v. Grokster - Law and IT —

Panel discusses the Supreme Court ruling in the MGM vs. Grokster case.

Fred Von Lohmann (EFF) vs. Theodore Olson (RIAA/MPA) on CSPAN —

The RIAA/MPA lawyer is a complete tool, yo…

DRM-free iTunes interface "PyMusique" (written in Python) —

Looks like this let’s you use iTMS like normal but the files are stripped of DRM on the way down or something. And it’s written in python.

Word-of-mouth is why authors succeed —

Doctorow explains that the way to be successful in a distributed culture is to exploit long-tailisms like word of mouth…

A Note to the FCC - Call their bluff… —

Mark Cuban on why the FCC should tell CBS (and the MPAA) to go screw themselves.

Courts question anti-piracy rule —

“You crossed the line,” Judge Harry Edwards told a FCC lawyer during arguments before a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.“Selling televisions is not what the FCC is in the business of.”

Broadcast Flag Oral Arguments —

This guy is live-blogging the broadcast flag hearings. Looks like the good guys did pretty good in oral arguments.

Who did MPAA rip off "You can click but you can't hide" from? —

Some dogfood for the MPAA. This kind of theft is obviously unacceptable. I’m sure they will be contacting Barlow and Joe Lewis' successors to work out a royalty program.

Chicago's public sculpture can't be photographed by the public —

Oh horse shit!

Cory Doctorow: "Copyright vs Community" (MOV, MPEG) —

Feature length lecture by Cory Doctorow on copyright, DRM, and other digital rights issues. CC share-alike licensed.

The Globe and Mail: How copyright could be killing culture —

Thanks Globe and Mail!

Jailed for a Song —

“Congress isn’t listening to the public, and we need to be loud if we want to be heard over the Hollywood lobbyists and record label flunkies.”

Commons-based Peer Production —

Ted Leung generalizes his involvement w/ free and open source software as being a simple contribution to the societal commons. Interesting viewpoint.

Comic Sans Anti Fucking Piracy —

A nice rant against the Movie Picture Association’s recent inclusion of scary anti-piracy propoganda in DVD and cinema reels.

Students Fight Copyright Hoarders —

Katie Dean following Free Culture activism on college campuses.. looks promising.

Is Microsoft Ready to Assert IP Rights over the Internet? —

Microsoft is claiming some form of IP rights over “a total of 130 protocols which Microsoft is offering for license.” The list includes TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, Bluetooth, FTP, HTTP, SSL, etc. Looks like a new FUD strategy.

One Internet, Many Copyright Laws —

New York Times article on copyright law differences across countries and how the internet complicates enforcement.

Lexmark Loss Good for Consumers —

Katie Dean with more on the Lexmark DMCA smack-down. EFF and others are hopeful this will send a message that DMCA abuse won’t be tolerated by the courts and slow the recent cease-and-desist tyrany.

Lexmark Injunction Overturned —

Sheeewww. Lexmarks attempt to stifle competition using the DMCA is overturned.

How I Learned to Love Larry —

Hilary Rosen (former head of RIAA and usher of DMCA) is promoting Creative Commons… I’m skeptically optimistic.

Digital Media Consumers Rights Act (DMCRA) —

Proposed amendments to the DMCA for limiting anti-circumvention, reaffirming the betamax standard, and ensuring proper labelling of copy-protected media.

Good Bad Attitude —

Paul Graham on why hackers have “shitty attitudes” when it comes to topics of IP and removal of natural liberties. (Feynman’s safe cracking gets a mention, btw).

The good of McCain —

Sen. McCain delivers a letter to the president questioning HR 4077 (THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION ACT). Looks like Public Knowledge and Consumers Union have McCain’s ear. Great to hear!

SCO CEO admits IP license revenue disappointment —

imagine that.

Doctorow speaking tomorrow night in Edinburgh —

Maybe we’ll get another transcript.

HOWTO censor the net with a Hotmail account —

Sad. ISPs not performing fact checking on copyright cease-and-desists.

New Induce Act Alarms Foes —

New draft of Induce Act looks like old version of Induce Act.