In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:29:15 +0000
<1541174.BFMSLNZ9bK@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed
> | earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from
> | legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.
> |
> | "I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York
> | lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic
> | principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to
> | be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going
> | around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."
> `----
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html
Pedant Point:
A personal copy on one's computer is a physical copy,
as it requires physical manifestation of one's data in
order to record it. Depending on media, one has:
- magnetic domains on standard disk drives
- charge packets on FLASH units
- aluminum pits on CD-ROM
- various polarization methods on recordable CD media
- other methods on DVD and recordable DVD; I'd have to look up the
details
All of these are physical copies. The RIAA's position
is defensible, if a little ridiculous since intent to
distribute is not a priori showable simply by having a
ripped copy of a song, movie, or album on one's system,
especially if that system has no running daemons (ftpd,
sshd, apache, etc.) to allow for distribution.
Hell, might as well argue that putting a CD into a PC
and mounting it is intent to distribute, as a daemon can
easily read it and give outsiders coming in on port 20,21
(FTP), 22 (SSHD), 80 or 443 (HTTP/HTTPS), 2049 (NFS),
or ??? (CIFS/SMB) access thereto!
Then again, if it's on an unsecured Windows system, anyone
can get at it with a little hacking, apparently. The RIAA
will be most unhappy with an individual who gets hacked and
allows his computer to become a bandwidth hog.
And all PCs have code allowing access to the file system.
Fortunately, this code is only accessible to local executables.
Unfortunately, those include daemons.
>
> Funny. Bill Gates, co-founder of the company which openly says that it likes
> DRM, advised everyone to just rip their CDs. That makes him a 'criminal', as
> the MPAA/RIAA call it, with public advice for others to 'pirate' content
> (incitement of 'crime'). Well, he has already admitted watching 'illegal'
> movies on (Google's) YouTube and installing Firefox, so....
It will be interesting to see if someone sues Mr. Gates on this.
>
>
> Related:
>
> RIAA files supplemental brief in Atlantic v. Howell; argues personal copies
> ripped to computer are unauthorized
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The RIAA's brief makes the novel contention, contradicting its lawyers'
> | arguments at the Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster, that making personal
> | copies of songs from one's CD onto one's computer is an infringement.
> `----
>
> http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/12/riaa-files-supplemental-brief-in.html
This is correct; they *are* unauthorized. After all, if someone buys a
CD or DVD, then rips it, the RIAA et al have no control over the
process.
Whether that's illegal or unreasonable is an interesting question.
>
>
> German Supreme Court rejects copyright fee for printers
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard has announced that the German Supreme
> | Court ruled in a hearing that the firm will not have to pay a flat fee to
> | German copyright collective VG Wort to cover copyrights.
> `----
>
> http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/100227/from/rss09
Why HP announces this is far from clear to me. Shouldn't this have been
announced by governmental media?
Still, good for HP; they'll not have to pay that fee.
>
>
> Overly-broad copyright law has made USA a "nation of infringers"
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Tehranian's paper points out just how pervasive copyright has become in our
> | lives. Simply checking one's e-mail and including the full text in response
> | could be a violation of copyright.
> `----
>
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071119-overly-broad-copyright-law-has-made-us-a-nation-of-infringers.html
>
It's the law, duly passed; until someone goes in and
repairs it -- and Congress is overloaded so I'm not holding
my breath -- we'll have to live with it, assuming the
Courts don't overthrow it in the meantime.
(The Courts are also overloaded.)
>
> Western Digital DRM'd Hard Drive Won't Let You Share MP3, DivX ... Or Impulse
> Tracker
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The manual's appendix and online support site provide setup instructions for
> | SAMBA, allowing access over IP instead of with the DRM-infested and
> | poorly-reviewed client app, elsewhere claimed to be "required."
> |
> | MOAR! Samba not enough? Gut the firmware and install made-to-measure Linux:
> | An entire community of folks is here to help you hack your MyBook:
> | mybookworld.wikidot.com.
> `----
>
> http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/12/western-digital.html
Can't be too careful nowadays, I guess.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Useless C/C++ Programming Idea #992381111:
while(bit&BITMASK) ;
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