http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog Technology, Culture, Policy Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:52:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Judge throws book at Usenet.com in RIAA lawsuit A federal judge yesterday found Usenet.com liable for just about every copyright infringement claim on the books: direct infringement, inducement of infringement, contributory infringement, and (just for good measure) vicarious infringement. Not content to be loud and proud about its pro-pirate agenda, Usenet.com ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7771 From Geoff Taylor of the BPI, via the BBC: Napster - 10 years of turmoil Napster understood the internet's potential for decentralised music distribution, and offered it to consumers in a way that was simple to understand and use. Many critics have argued that the music industry could have avoided some of ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7769 Seriously? China Limits Use of Online Currency Used by Game Players China made public on Tuesday regulations aimed at cracking down on the use of virtual currencies amid worries that a huge underground economy was developing out of the country’s online gaming community. [...] Beijing said the regulations would curtail ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7767 Beijing Delays Rule on Software Censor China’s state-run news agency said late Tuesday that the government had postponed a requirement, set to take effect Wednesday, to equip all newly sold computers with software to filter out objectionable Internet content. [...] As a practical matter, the abrupt postponement bows to reality, because most ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7765 Outside of the parliament, I mean: Global Gaming Factory Buys the File-Sharing Site Pirate Bay A small Swedish software company said Tuesday that it would buy the Pirate Bay, a notorious Internet file-sharing service whose founders were recently sentenced to prison for copyright violations, and hoped to turn the site into ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7763 Supreme Court Clears Way for Wider Use of DVR (pdf) The Supreme Court on Monday delivered a blow to the television networks when it declined to hear a case about a digital video recorder technology, opening the gate for wider use of DVR systems. The case began in 2006 when Cablevision Systems, ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7759 Some interesting stuff to review here: Behavioral Advertising: Industry Practices and Consumers’ Expectations. Ed Felten was on the witness list, and he gives a nice synopsis of the technology, with the following conclusion: Citizens are rightly concerned about the possibility that commercial entities will build extensive profiles of who ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7756 Instead of a settlement: Music Labels Win Almost $2 Million in Internet Case (pdf) The Universal Music Group, owned by Vivendi, and other record labels were awarded $1.92 million on Thursday in the retrial of a Minnesota woman accused of swapping music over the Kazaa Internet service. The federal jury in Minneapolis ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7754 Use Their Work Free? Artists Say No to Google (pdf) Mr. Taxali, an illustrator based in Toronto whose work has appeared in publications like Time, Newsweek and Fortune, received a call in April from a member of Google’s marketing department. According to Mr. Taxali, the Google representative explained that the ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7750 E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress (pdf) Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, has been investigating the incidents and said he had become increasingly troubled by the agency’s handling of domestic communications. In an interview, Mr. Holt disputed assertions by Justice Department ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7744 The Iranian reaction to their election seems to have freed up a number of NYTimes articles looking at the influences of the Internet on social discourse: Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online (pdf) Not all the crusades are entirely civic-minded. In more than a few cases, virtual mobs have harassed offending officials, ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7742 Who "owns" Holden Caulfield? J. D. Salinger’s Suit Over ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ Sequel Goes to Court (pdf) Both novels are set in New York, feature the same characters and use similar language. Mr. Salinger’s work opens with the 16-year-old Holden’s departure from a boarding school; the new book begins ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7740 Universal Music and Virgin Media in Anti-Piracy Pact Universal Music Group and Virgin Media, a British cable television and broadband provider, said Monday that they would enter a digital music partnership that breaks new ground by combining the carrot of unlimited downloads with the stick of stronger anti-piracy enforcement. Universal, the largest ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7738 Or failure to acknowledge or accommodate the "you're not the boss of me!" reaction to enforcement policies: Politicians Fail to Grasp Peer-to-Peer (pdf) In a video shot for an online news site, French legislators were asked whether they were familiar with peer-to-peer file-sharing technology. “No,” one lawmaker responded, rolling his eyes. ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7734 Cyberwar - Privacy May Be a Victim in Cyberdefense Plan (pdf) There is simply no way, the officials say, to effectively conduct computer operations without entering networks inside the United States, where the military is prohibited from operating, or traveling electronic paths through countries that are not themselves American targets. The cybersecurity ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7732 French Council Defangs Plan to Crack Down on Internet Piracy (pdf) The highest constitutional body in France on Wednesday defanged the government’s plan to cut off the Internet connections of digital pirates, saying the authorities had no right to do so without obtaining court approval. The decision, by the Constitutional Council, which ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7728 Danger Mouse’s New CD Has No Music, but Lots of Pictures (pdf) It was classic teaser marketing. And yet when “Dark Night of the Soul” was finally unveiled a few weeks ago, it still left fans puzzled. The project, it turned out, is a large-format book-and-CD package that Danger Mouse was ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7726 Another constituency heard from in the run-up to the 111th Congress' hearings on S.379/H.R.848 in the effort, once again, to BROADEN copyright protections: Film, TV music composers urge copyright law change (pdf) Nathan Barr has scored horror films like "Hostel" and the HBO vampire series "True Blood," but what really keeps ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7722 Not resolving anytime soon: U.S. Steps Up Inquiry of Google Book Settlement (pdf) In a sign that the government has stepped up its antitrust investigation of a class-action settlement between Google and groups representing authors and publishers, the Justice Department has issued formal requests for information to several of the parties ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7717 I know where I stand: The Smartphone’s Rapid Rise From Gadget to Tool to Necessity (pdf) The smartphone surge, it seems, is a case of a trading-up trend in technology that is running strong enough to weather the downturn. And as is so often true when it comes to adoption of ... http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?p=7715