headers
Seth Johnson | 1 Jan 2006 08:16
Picon

Re: pho: Who Railroaded Peter Quinn? Following Gates' Attack Money


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [fairuse-talk] Re: pho: Who Railroaded Peter Quinn?
Following Gates' Attack Money
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:38:41 -0500
From: Little White Mouse <lilmouse <at> littlepeople.net>
To: fairuse-talk <at> nyfairuse.org

On Sat, Dec 31, 2005 at 10:29:26AM -0800, Bob Bellin wrote:
> This is too complicated for me to follow. Can someone summarize it? That will probably have to be done
anyway if more than a few will be able to grasp its meaning.

First, here's a 30 second (ok, more like 5 minute) summary of the
ODF situation in Mass and Quinn's resignation.  Skip ahead if you
already know the power of MS.

As we all know, Massachussettes, under Quinn's leadership,
decided that they would require all documents to be saved in the
OpenDocument format, which is an open format.  The main reason, I
gather, is to avoid vendor lock-in and to ensure that citizens of
that state will be able to, in perpetuity, access state
documents.

Microsoft was not happy about this & had tried to push through
their own format (with some "Open"s in the name and some
mostly-worthless agreement about interoperability).  They failed
at their first attempt.

Then, out of the blue, Mass lawmakers try to strip the ITD
(Mass's  Information and Technology Division) of its ability to
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 3 Jan 2006 03:28
Picon

The Khronos Projector


Dynamic works.  Not static.

Interactive.  Not broadcast.


Seth


> http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Khronos_Projector.htm


The KHRONOS PROJECTOR

[a video time-warping machine with a tangible deformable screen]

 

by Alvaro Cassinelli,

with the support of Takahito Ito, Monica Bressaglia & Masatoshi
Ishikawa.

	Ishikawa-Namiki-Komuro Lab
(http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index-j.html) - The University of
Tokyo (http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_e.html) Department of
Information Physics and Computing /Graduate School of Information
Science and Technology.

Image:
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 14 Jan 2006 15:23
Picon

Oram: The Problem with Webcasting: A cast that can be imprisoning


(Article text pasted below.  -- Seth)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IP] The Problem with Webcasting: A cast that can be
imprisoning
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:04:43 -0500
From: David Farber <dave <at> farber.net>
To: ip <at> v2.listbox.com

Begin forwarded message:

From: Andy Oram <andyo <at> oreilly.com>
Date: January 13, 2006 10:27:07 PM EST
To: dave <at> farber.net
Subject: The Problem with Webcasting: A cast that can be
imprisoning

> http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/etel/2006/01/13/the-problem-with-webcasting.html

Andy Oram examines the new concept of a "webcaster's right" that
major Web portals are trying to introduce through a World
Intellectual Property Organization treaty. The treaty would allow
Web sites to control the dissemination of content they put up.
Using the failed database protection laws as an example, and in
the context of the carrier's desire to create a tiered Internet,
Andy analyzes this new threat to the public domain.

-------------------------------------
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 16 Jan 2006 07:35
Picon

Fwd: Patents back on EU agenda


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Patents] Patents back on EU agenda
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 05:42:21 +0100
From: Florian Mueller <fmueller.nosoftwarepatents <at> googlemail.com>
To: <patents <at> aful.org>

PATENTS BACK ON EU AGENDA

Anti-software patent campaigner warns that the community patent
project might give software patents a stronger legal basis in
Europe

Brussels (16 January 2006) - The Financial Times reports that EU
internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy will today announce
"one final effort" to establish an EU-wide community patent:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bfc7f6a-85e7-11da-bee0-0000779e2340.html 

McCreevy played a key role in the EU's recent push for software
patents, which ended on July 6, 2005, when the European
Parliament rejected a bitterly contested proposal by 648-32
votes. Anti-software patent campaigner Florian Mueller, who
founded the NoSoftwarePatents.com Web site, issued a first
warning in October that the EU's community patent project might
legalize software patents "by the back door". Mueller now views
the Commission's announcement of consultations with industry
lobbyists as "a definitive indication that our camp has to take
action again".

The current proposal for an EU community patent regulation, on
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 16 Jan 2006 16:04
Picon

Miceli: The Software Patent Fairy Tale


Attached is the best summary yet of the situation with software
patents in Europe, by someone who says he believes in the term
"Intellectual Property Rights."  :-)

Preface by Seth:

But what matters is that this article is the natural development
of the effective methods applied by the movement in Europe, where
the law stipulates that software is not patentable.  The movement
has been feeding the right messages since shortly before the
First Reading, and now the narrative is being fully presented. 
The lucidity of this article is stunning for anybody who has
watched the arrogant obfuscation that has pervaded the EU
political community and media regarding this issue.  But it's all
here.

I disagree with Miceli on a certain key point, when he says the
"CII Directive" was not killed by the anti-sw-patent folks, but
by a decision of the pro-sw-patent lobby to kill the Directive
when it became evident that they were about to actually achieve
clarity regarding how to handle inventions that contain software,
without making software patentable.

I like to emphasize that it was indeed the movement that
triggered that, that it was the specific decision to draw the
line by focusing on highlighting the contradictions throughout
the campaign, that both forced that moment to a head and made
this article possible.  This is how a principled movement was
created.  Once this occurred:
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 23 Jan 2006 04:57
Picon

EFF: RI/MPAA replacing Fair Use with "customary historic use"


(I have lots on my plate right now, so haven't been transmitting
like usual, but this is important.  -- Seth)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: pho: EFF: RI/MPAA replacing Fair Use with "customary
historic use"
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 11:17:09 -0500
From: Campbell Vertesi <vertesi <at> gmail.com>
Reply-To: campbell <at> vertesi.com
To: Pho <pho <at> onehouse.com>

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060121-6025.html

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

1/21/2006 1:06:35 AM, by Hannibal

The EFF's Deeplinks section has a pretty alarming post about the
RIAAand MPAA's attempts to freeze the progress of consumer
electronicstechnology and then start turning back the clock on
all of us. Fairuse, meet your successor: "customary historic
use."

The post points to broadcast flag draft legislation sponsored
bySenator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) that contains provisions which
appear tolimit digital broadcast media reception devices to
"customary historicuse of broadcast content by consumers to the
extent such use isconsistent with applicable law and that
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 24 Jan 2006 13:39
Picon

CFP: Fair Use Free Speech Documentary Competition


Fair Use Free Speech
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Deadline: May 1, 2006
Go to www.ufva.org for a flyer and entry forms

UFVA is hosting a contest for the best short documentaries
employing fair use, made by higher education students and
faculty.

Fair use is the legal use of other people's copyrighted work
without permission or payment--in certain circumstances. Fair use
ensures that freedom of speech survives, even though usually
copyright holders have the right to control use of their
material.

The law does not specify exactly what fair use is, in order to
leave a great deal of flexibility for different creative
communities and changes over time. When in doubt, the courts turn
to professional and creative practice and understanding. In
recent years, documentary filmmakers have found that broadcasters
and cablecasters, lawyers and insurers tell them that fair use is
too hard to define, and therefore they cannot invoke it. Since
fair use is interpreted by discipline and profession, working
professional documentary filmmakers through their organizations
established basic principles to make fair use more useable. That
statement, along with more information, is available at
centerforsocialmedia.org/fairuse.

Entrants should employ fair use in quoting material in their
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 24 Jan 2006 15:10
Picon

Draft GPLv3 bans DRM


-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin <at> lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin <at> lists.essential.org] On Behalf Of
teresahackett <at> eircom.net
Sent: January 21, 2006 11:14 PM
To: A2K (E-mail)
Subject: [A2k] Draft GPLv3 bans DRM

Irish Times Published:  20/01/2006

Free software movement faces down big business
Danny O'Brien

Wired on Friday: It's not often that the editing of a piece of
legal boilerplate 3,000 words long requires a grand unveiling at
a two-day conference, heated discussion across the globe and a
solemn declaration that nothing will be done with it for over a
year.

But then, the general public licence (GPL) version 3 is not just
any bit of legalese. It's the long-awaited sequel to one of the
key documents in the world of open-source or free software - an
ingenious bit of legalese akido that turned traditional copyright
on its head.

Every Linux-driven webserver you've ever visited (and, if you
wander the web at all, it will be quite a few) has a copy of it
buried somewhere on its drives. Much of the free software that
drives the internet is distributed according to its rules - and
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 24 Jan 2006 21:21
Picon

Internet Freedom Under Fire - Act Now


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [FORUM] Internet Freedom Under Fire - Act Now
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:30:59 -0500
From: Andy Valeri <avaleri <at> mvcc.net>
To: access-forum <at> lists.alliancecm.org

After destroying TV and radio, mega-media corporations are
scheming to  control what content you can view and which services
you can use online.

Streaming video, Internet phones, podcasting and online games are
the  future of the Internet. But companies like Verizon, AT&T and
Comcast want  Congress to let them deliver only their own
products at super-high speeds  ... while sticking the rest of us
in the slow lane.

This predatory scheme would be a dead end for independent voices
and  Internet innovators: bloggers, producers, and any new
channels and services  that might compete with the conglomerates.

The only way to stop them is to raise hell right now:

Tell Big Media and Congress: Hands Off Our Internet.

Go to http://www.freepress.net/action/neutrality

 From its beginnings, the Internet was built on a cooperative,
democratic  ideal. The infrastructure’s only job was to move data
between users —  regardless of where it came from or what it
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Seth Johnson | 25 Jan 2006 00:45
Picon

"Analog Hole" Bill to impose secret requirement?


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IP] This is outragious -- "Analog Hole" Bill to impose
secret requirement?
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:01:22 -0500
From: David Farber <dave <at> farber.net>
To: ip <at> v2.listbox.com

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall <rvh40 <at> insightbb.com>
Date: January 24, 2006 5:38:44 PM EST
To: Dave <dave <at> farber.net>, Dewayne Hendricks  
<dewayne <at> warpspeed.com>, cyberia <CYBERIA-L <at> LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Subject: "Analog Hole" Bill to impose secret requirement?

[First seen on the Telecom Digest]:

http://htdaw.blogsource.com/post.mhtml?post_id=198659

Monday January 23, 2006 by Ed Felten

If you've been reading here lately, you know that I'm no fan of
the Sensenbrenner/Conyers analog hole bill. The bill would
require almost all analog video devices to implement two
technologies called CGMS-A and VEIL. CGMS-A is reasonably well
known, but the VEIL content protection technology is relatively
new. I wanted to learn more about it.

So I emailed the company that sells VEIL and asked for a copy of
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |

Gmane