Archive | 2004

Bruce Schneier, in a recent essay in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

The DHS’s incessant warnings against any and every possible method of terrorist attack has nothing to do with security, and everything to do with politics.

Link via Dan Gillmor’s eJournal

Useit.Com: Informational Articles Must Ask For the Order.
“Numerous companies are now producing informative websites that are
rich in content and thin in commercial messages. This is good, because
users are more interested in facts than hype. Unfortunately, many of
these sites are so focused on providing information that they lose the
sale.” Link via Tomalak’s Realm

Dan Gillmor’s eJournal notes “Important Copyright Ruling Favors Freedom. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has upheld the Grokster decision,
in which a peer-to-peer file-sharing service was ruled not to be
violating copyright law. In that decision, a federal judge ruled,
essentially, that a product that has legitimate uses can’t be deemed
illegal because some people use it for unlawful purposes.
The appeals panel’s ruling (PDF) makes vital points including these:

“The
Copyright Owners urge a re-examination of the law in the light of what
they believe to be proper public policy, expanding exponentially the
reach of the doctrines of contributory and vicarious copyright
infringement. Not only would such a renovation conflict with binding
precedent, it would be unwise. Doubtless, taking that step would
satisfy the Copyright Owners’ immediate economic aims. However, it
would also alter general copyright law in profound ways with unknown
ultimate consequences outside the present context.
Further, as we have observed, we live in a quicksilver technological
environment with courts ill-suited to fix the flow of internet
innovation. AT&T Corp. v. City of Portland, 216 F.3d 871, 876 (9th
Cir. 1999). The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to
old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are
sold through well established distribution mechanisms. Yet, history has
shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in
balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a
copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a
karaoke machine, or an MP3 player. Thus, it is prudent for courts to
exercise caution before restructuring liability theories for the
purpose of addressing specific market abuses, despite their apparent
present magnitude.”

“This is an important ruling, and let’s hope its logic spreads widely.

(Via Michael Geist via Interesting People.) “

Reason: John Perry Barlow 2.0.
“Weâve got two distinct strains of libertarianism, and the
hippie-mystic strain is not engaging in politics, and the Ayn Rand
strain is basically dismantling government in a way that is giving
complete open field running to multinational corporatism.” 

“I personally think intellectual property is an oxymoron. Physical
objects have a completely different natural economy than intellectual
goods. Itâs a tricky thing to try to own something that remains in your
possession even after you give it to many others… Royalties are not
how most writers or musicians make their living. Musicians by and large
make a living with a relationship with an audience that is economically
harnessed through performance and ticket sales.”

Well worth reading.

Link via Hack the Planet