(entry last updated: 2002-07-09 18:27:26)

Today must be the day for Rep. Berman to introduce his bill. He gets a platform at CNet to make his views known — luckily, CNet also gives room for an opposing view. Worth reading!

Rep. Boucher’s speech is getting a little more coverage today. And one of the Gnutella team has died.

And Dan Gillmor has beaten us all to the punch! And here’s Donna’s ILaw summary

Update: Slashdot has started a discussion of the MS Passport-Visa alliance; and they finally heard about the Janis Ian dot-com writeup. And Universal announces a new twist on music sales.

(11 items listed below)

• CNet News gives Rep. Berman a place to formally fire a shot across the industry’s bow (in anticipation of the introduction of his bill). Thankfully, an opposing view is supplied. Excerpt from Steve Griffin’s rebuttal:
  

  Congress has already given copyright owners a variety of tools to fight piracy, including the ability to force ISPs to identify suspected infringers, which was passed as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998. Once identified, suspected infringers can be brought into court and penalized for their activities (up to $150,000 per work infringed). Yet there has not yet been a single reported case of a copyright owner suing a peer-to-peer user for infringement. Makes you wonder if this is actually about piracy or if it’s actually about controlling new technologies.

• Rep. Boucher’s take on the need for MOCA gets some more coverage. GrepLaw covers it as well.
• More on the Danish deep-linking decision is available.
• Gene Kahn has died at age 25. Wired offers up a more complete eulogy and GrepLaw gives more information and links.
• The Berkman ILaw program has prompted me to pay a little more attention to wireless. The NYTimes notes that Nokia and IBM are setting up some DRM technology in this space.
• Dan Gillmor’s summary of the Internet Law Program is online.
• I missed GrepLaw’s coverage of the MPAA-EFF FAQ/counter-FAQ on the broadcast flag. Some excellent links there.
• Slashdot has finally posted a discussion of Janis Ian’s writeup of music in the .com era. Compare with David Bowie, Courtney Love and Steve Albini - plus tons of industry discussions (note that I do not to include the recent Michael Jackson nonsense).
• MS Passport and Visa link up; Slashdot discusses - and my favorite Slashdot comment is:
  

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  New Passport Slogan: (Anonymous Coward)

  • Linux Redhat: $59
  • AOL Account: $20 a month
  • Contribution to OSS fund: $1000
  • Charging it to Bill Gates’ Credit Card: Priceless

  There are some rights money can’t buy.

  For everything else, there’s Microsoft Passport.
  

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• Vivendi-Universal announces an try at selling digital versions of old music (also here at CNet), so as not to cut into CD sales. A try at the Hollywood model of distribution?
• Sharman Networks is included in the KaZaA lawsuit.