Quotes Of The Week
"One of the biggest subjects I think is not written about very much--but it is so obvious and it is going to be the story in a year or two-- are the trends around storage. The fact that right now we carry around, you know, 20-, 30-, 40-, 60- gigabyte hard disks. In two to three years, it is going to be 100-terabyte hard disks." – Ray Ozzie, Groove Networks.
"Creators need to maintain the freedom to distribute their ideas any way they want. They shouldn't be bogged down by 20-year copyrights and other old restrictions that bottle up good ideas." - Lawrence Lessig
"We're saying the FCC action went beyond its jurisdiction, we don't think there was enough basis to support the [anti-piracy] ruling." - Fred von Lohmann
Well Done, Not Rare
That it doesn’t happen often anymore is evidence of the growing sophistication of U.S. courts, but just because it doesn’t happen often
here doesn’t mean it’s rare elsewhere. Indeed, between the anti democratic actions in Australia, the equally draconian laws recently passed by the European Union and the latest news from Switzerland, it may be argued that the situation is getting worse, not better. I’m talking about attacks against purveyors of information.
In last weeks WiR it was reported the popular and well regarded Sharereactor site had been down for a few days and nobody seemed to know why. Rumors of the always present P2P bogyman, the “DNS attack,” abounded throughout the trading communities, particularly after a cryptic announcement appeared suggesting just such an attack had occurred, but the announcement made clear it was a guess, not a certainty. Later on however a more pessimistic note was posted from the “SR crew” stating Shareactor was down, and “maybe forever.” But again, the info was sketchy, and the posters admitted they “didn't know what happened,” which left at least a little hope in the air. Things stood that way for a few days until this week when a story moved in the Swiss press, reporting Shareactor was shut down by Swiss authorities “due to the suspicion of breach of copyright and trademark laws.” So there it was, another site closed that did not provide copyrighted material, but distributed only
links. Sort of a “3 Degrees Of Separation” legal opinion that casts a very wide net, at least in Switzerland. First Degree being someone who sells a copy without authorization, Second Degree being the “swap meet” where such a sale takes place - as well as other legal sales of course, and now the Third Degree being the
directions to the swap meet. At the moment all are against Swiss law in what will come to seen as a profoundly shortsighted opinion.
This ruling would seem to make newspapers illegal, or any publication that in the course of its affairs reports information that
if utilized could contribute to law breaking. Performance reviews for automobiles leap to mind when anyone using the information breaks the speed limit. Hardware store notices could force newspapers to close if vandals using the advertised items cause mischief. Since in most countries legal rulings provide precedence for later cases this one will in time come back to haunt the Swiss, and if the past is any guide it will happen sooner than later. One can only marvel at the myopia of the decision and hope that a people with as long a history as the Swiss will see the error before too much damage is done. The bad decision has already had it’s second negative effect on the free flow of
non-copyrighted information when another site sacrificed itself this week, voluntarily closing in a final act of self censorship. One hopes this misguided ruling will quickly collapse on appeal.
Fortunately other countries have sensed that such decisions allow media companies license to trample the rights of the citizenry, and are beginning to take steps to protect them. In Norway this week a high court threw out a similar lower court judgment against a student. Frank Bruvik appealed his 100,000 Crown fine for providing links on his website
napster.no., pointing out the obvious - he didn’t distribute copyrighted material. The court agreed, ruling any potential violations that may occur must be the result of the actual distribution of copyrighted content, not the distribution of content-free links. Well done Norway! They’ve taken the first big step. Whenever a state recognizes the basic human right to freely share information we all benefit.
Enjoy,
Jack.
P2P Firms Face New Legal Threat
Declan McCullagh, John Borland and Stefanie Olsen
Peer-to-peer companies are facing new and unwelcome scrutiny from state prosecutors, in a recent development that powerful Hollywood lobbyists are backing.
A 25 February draft letter that appears to have been edited for California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office places the controversial networks in the centre of a set of legal crosshairs. It demands that peer-to-peer companies do a better job of protecting customers from numerous "known risks" of their products and warns them against developing features that would hinder police from pursuing criminals such as copyright infringers.
Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar did not directly confirm or deny the authorship of the document, which was apparently leaked to file-swapping companies last week. Lockyer and other state attorneys general are gathering in Washington, D.C., this week for their spring meeting.
But Dresslar acknowledged that his boss is investigating peer-to-peer networks. "The attorney general has several concerns related to peer-to-peer file sharing, including exposure of kids to pornography, identity theft, viruses and copyright infringement. He's asked for ideas and suggestions on how to address those concerns and is working with his colleagues in other states to address the concerns."
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it had discussed the matter with Lockyer's office and agreed with the views of the letter. MPAA spokesman Rich Taylor said, "they did approach us, and we provided some background."
Included in the "metadata," or electronic history, of the Microsoft Word draft letter was a reference to Vans Stevenson, the MPAA's vice president for state legislative affairs.
Stevenson said in an interview on Monday that it should "come as no surprise to anybody that we talked to attorneys general, particularly the chief law enforcement officer in California, because of the impact that illegal file copying and stealing has on motion pictures and sound-recording industries, the lifeblood of California."
File-swapping companies have come under increasing pressure from federal lawmakers to implement filters and other measures blocking copyright infringement and access to pornographic material, even as they continue to fight in courts for their legal right to exist. The creation of new state legislative or legal fronts would make this battle even more difficult.
Stevenson would not say how many other states he had contacted. But he added that "you would expect us at one time or another to try to get to every one of them."
Lockyer's office would not elaborate on what the attorney general might be planning in terms of legislative or legal pressure.
The draft letter is deeply critical of companies for failing to warn consumers of the legal dangers of sharing copyrighted works using the software or of the widespread availability of pornography. Those omissions could trigger state legal action, the letter warns. "A failure to prominently and adequately warn consumers, particularly when you advertise and sell paid versions of your software, could constitute, at the very least, a deceptive trade practice," according to the letter.
Fred von Lohman, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the draft letter suggests a questionable interpretation of product liability law akin to requiring car manufacturers to provide warnings on new vehicles instructing drivers that they could face jail time, if they use the car for holding up a bank.
Others said they believe that peer-to-peer companies could face legal headaches from states, if they aren't careful. "There's potential liability, if peer-to-peer providers have not adequately disclosed to users the operations of their systems," said Chris Kelly, an attorney who represents technology companies.
The P2P United group, which represents companies such as StreamCast Networks, Grokster and eDonkey, on Monday replied with its own letter to Lockyer, asking for a meeting with the attorney general, if he planned to take action against peer-to-peer companies.
"The letter contains... many factual errors concerning peer-to-peer technology and the allegedly disproportionate 'danger' that it poses to the public," the group told Lockyer. "We... respectfully request that you defer circulating or sending your letter until such a meeting can be arranged and our input and materials deliberately considered."
Microsoft Word document metadata has exposed
other private internal dialogs in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, CNET News.com discovered that the SCO Group, a company that has filed several high-profile lawsuits alleging that part of the Linux operating system infringes on its copyrights, had planned to sue the Bank of America before ultimately settling on DaimlerChrysler instead. Evidence of the last-minute change of target was exposed by metadata in a Word version of the SCO Group lawsuit.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/leg...9149312,00.htm
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Consumers Challenge FCC Antipiracy Rules
John Borland
A lawsuit challenging new digital television antipiracy rules is moving ahead, with consumer groups fighting communications regulators' foray into the copyright realm.
A coalition of groups, including the American Library Association, the Consumers Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is suing the Federal Communications Commission over rules adopted last year aimed at blocking digital TV piracy. Last week, they filed the first documents with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., outlining their case.
In its decision, the FCC said any devices capable of receiving digital television signals must include support for a "broadcast flag," or digital marker, within a broadcast that would prevent copies from being made without some kind of copy protection being added. The consumer groups say the FCC has overstepped its mandate by getting into the copyright protection arena.
"We're saying the FCC action went beyond its jurisdiction," said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We don't think there was enough basis to support the ruling."
The broadcast flag controversy, while far less visible than the debates over peer-to-peer networks, is one of the key issues in the passage of traditional entertainment companies into the digital world.
The Motion Picture Association of America, along with television companies, have argued that moving their content to digital television would be impossible, if people could easily make perfect digital copies of movies and other programming, and swap them online.
The broadcast flag is viewed by regulators as a way to stop online distribution of over-the-air transmissions. Cable TV and satellite customers already receive encrypted signals that are difficult to copy.
Under the rules passed last November, support for the flag must be built into all digital TV devices by July 2005. That wouldn't stop all copies from being made. Analog copies, as to a VCR, would not be blocked, and digital copies made to "approved" devices that include some level of copy protection would also be allowed. The aim is not to stop personal copying but to prevent those copies from finding their way into mass distribution, regulators said.
The consumer and civil liberties groups say this would infringe protected use of content and would disable features people have come to expect in their own property, however.
The court case may be put temporarily on hold while the FCC itself hears other objections to the ruling, a typical process for controversial issues, an FCC representative said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5172171.html
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Apple Faces Claim In France For Royalties Levy On iPod
PARIS (AP) - A French group representing recorded music rights holders threatened Wednesday to take Apple Computer Inc. to court in a dispute over lost music royalties due
to sales of its iPod player.
The argument centers on a fee levied in France on sales of blank CDs, tapes, disks and other hardware that can be used to copy music. The proceeds go to musicians and other rights holders who lose money to piracy.
The Society of Music Creators, Composers and Publishers, or Sacem, accuses Apple of consistently refusing to pay the levy on sales of the iPod, which contains a hard disk drive.
In an e-mailed statement, Sacem said that unless Apple settles its growing account, the agency that collects the payments ``will have no other option than to go immediately to court to make sure that the rights of artists, composers and producers are respected.''
Contacted through its French public relations agency, Apple declined to comment Wednesday. The dispute comes as Apple is in talks with record labels over the planned launch of its iTunes online music platform in Europe. The paid-for download service is already up and running in the United States.
The pocket-sized iPod can download and store up to 10,000 music tracks from a home computer and play them back from its hard disk through headphones or an amplifier and speakers.
The French royalties levy was first introduced in 1985 and was extended in July 2002 to cover hard disks built into music players, which incur levies in proportion to their memory capacity.
For example, the charge on a top-of-the-range iPod, which retails at 550 euros ($677) at French department store FNAC, would come to 20 euros ($24.63). Sacem estimates that Apple sold 20,000 iPods in France last year, with disk capacities ranging from 10 to 40 gigabytes.
Last year, the society collected some 150 million euros ($185 million) in levies on hard disks and blank media sales on behalf of artists and other rights holders.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/8151728.htm
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Files Show Utah Had Key Role In MATRIX
Kirsten Stewart
Whether they know it or not, at least 33 states have released government and commercial records on residents to the controversial MATRIX antiterrorism network, reputed to be a pilot project involving just 13 states.
And more than a willing partner, Utah was a driving force behind the project.
These and other revelations about MATRIX and Utah's pivotal role are disclosed in Public Safety Department documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune under the state Government Records Access Management Act.
New details about MATRIX have government watchdogs and lawmakers suspecting a cover-up by the executive branch. Some have called upon Gov. Olene Walker to demand the return of Utah's information, which is known to include law enforcement files such as prison data, driver licenses and criminal histories but could extend to credit records, phone numbers and home addresses of law-abiding residents.
"We don't want our information floating out there when we don't know what's on the database or who has access to it," said Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park.
Said Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups: "I'd like to know our motivation for getting involved. There does seem to be some deception."
Walker said through a spokeswoman Wednesday that she is waiting for recommendations from an oversight committee before taking further action on MATRIX.
The Republican governor suspended Utah's participation in MATRIX on Jan. 29, saying neither she nor legislative leaders had been briefed on the program authorized by former Gov. Mike Leavitt, who has repeatedly refused to comment on the matter.
Public safety officials tout MATRIX -- the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange -- as an important crime-fighting tool. They say the information provided is already available to state and federal law enforcement officials, but the difference with MATRIX is the speed with which it can be accessed.
But the program also matches law enforcement files with private databases containing billions of public and commercial records from a wide variety of sources. And this has civil libertarians and those opposed to big government fearing it violates privacy rights. Similar concerns have prompted six of the original 13 participating states to drop out.
"When you start collecting information on people who have done nothing wrong, it's the first step toward treating every American like they could be a criminal," said Chris Calbrese, a New York City-based attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Billions of records: The trouble with MATRIX, said Calbrese, is the volume of data it contains, much of which was purchased unbeknown to states by Seisint Inc. Seisint is the Florida information-technology company that developed the idea for MATRIX and landed a $1.6 million contract with that state's Department of Law Enforcement to pilot it.
"We've always known the database contained billions of records," Calbrese said, "but we weren't aware of the breadth" until the new release of Utah records highlighting Seisint's data inventory. That data include four states' criminal histories, 33 states' correctional data, sexual-offender lists from 27 states, driver licenses from 15 states and motor-vehicle registrations from 13.
"We're probably talking about 90 percent of the country," said Calbrese.
Verdi White, Utah's deputy commissioner of public safety and MATRIX point man, downplays the threat to citizens' privacy, noting most of Seisint's data are public. "A lot of that stuff was purchased on the open market," White said.
Documents obtained from White's office, however, show Utah officials have been less than forthcoming about MATRIX and may have a lot to lose should the program be permanently unplugged.
"These papers show, contrary to what's been reported in the past, Utah was deeply involved and taking something of a leadership role in the development of this whole consortium of states," said Steve Erickson, a governmental watchdog with the Citizens Education Project who also obtained copies under GRAMA.
MATRIX pioneers? According to the records, almost a year prior to Utah's official participation, the state was connected to the information-sharing backbone that would evolve into MATRIX.
White's staff and state information technology officials acted as consultants to the project in its formative stage, even offering up Utah's award-winning Web site as a prototype interface to connect users to the backbone. White confirmed that the $22 million in "seed" money that funded Utah's participation was payment for this Web interface. He couldn't say whether Utah expected a cut of future MATRIX profits.
Utah's involvement doesn't stop there. The state's former top law enforcement official, one-time Public Safety Director Doug Bodrero, administers federal funding for MATRIX through his Florida company, Institute for Intergovernmental Research.
Leavitt teamed up with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- President Bush's brother -- to pitch MATRIX to other states. The two briefed other governors on the project during a conference call referred to in Feb. 6, 2003, MATRIX board minutes.
Erickson said such documents show Utah officials have not been consistent about the timing of Utah's involvement. They also prove that Leavitt and others moved forward with MATRIX, despite privacy and security concerns raised in September 2003 when the Associated Press reported that the founder of Seisint had once been implicated in a Bahamian drug-smuggling scheme.
In January, Walker released a memo showing that Leavitt authorized Utah's participation in December 2003. But White's records show he signed another agreement in November 2002.
"It's odd that when I asked the governor's office for this information, they came up blank," said Erickson.
"What happened to the governor's records?"
Leavitt, now head of the Environmental Protection Agency, reiterated Wednesday via an EPA spokesperson his refusal to discuss any Utah policy and political matters, including MATRIX.
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03112004/utah/146669.asp
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Two More States Withdraw From Controversial Database Program
AP
New York and Wisconsin have joined the list of states that have pulled out of an anti-crime database program that civil libertarians say endangers citizens'
privacy rights.
Just five states now remain involved in Matrix out of more than a dozen that had signed up to share criminal, prison and vehicle information with one another and cross- reference the data with privately held databases.
Questions over federal funding and the waning potential for benefit to law enforcement ultimately prompted New York's withdrawal, said Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Public Security.
In a letter earlier this week, New York State Police Lt. Col. Steven Cumoletti noted that as more states withdraw, Matrix's usefulness diminishes.
The administrator of the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, meanwhile, cited cost, privacy and potential abuses of such a large database.
``When you added it all up, there were more negatives than positives,'' said the administrator, Jim Warren. He said the state signed up for Matrix about a month ago, but withdrew this week without having put any money into it or trained anyone.
Known formally as Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, Matrix links government records with up to 20 billion records in databases held by Seisint Inc., a private company based in Boca Raton, Fla.
The Seisint records include details on property, boats and Internet domain names that people own, their address history, utility connections, bankruptcies, liens and business filings, according to an August report by the Georgia state Office of Homeland Security.
Officials with Seisint and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union has complained that Matrix could be used by state and federal investigators to compile dossiers on people who have never been suspected of a crime. Seisint officials have said safeguards are built into the system to prevent such abuses.
``We're pleased New York has finally seen the light and opted out of this data-mining program that would allow the government to troll billions of private, personal records for information they have no business getting,'' said Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
New York started questioning Matrix when several other states dropped out because of privacy or cost concerns, Rasic said. Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia have all left or declined to join after actively considering it.
``It was going to end up costing a lot for something we already had,'' Tela Mange, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said Thursday.
Matrix, short for the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, began in 2002 in Florida. Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania also remain participants in the program, which was helped by $12 million in initial funding from the federal government.
Julie Norris, spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, said the state plans to stick with Matrix, considering it ``a powerful investigation tool'' that uses information already available through public records.
``It allows for an intelligent search that is quick, fast and efficient,'' she said.
The Michigan State Police use Matrix on a limited basis and continue to support it, said spokeswoman Shanon Akans.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/8161155.htm
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Privacy Fears Erode Support for a Network to Fight Crime
John Schwartz
Matrix, a controversial multistate program that hoped to find criminals or terrorists by sifting through databases of public and private information, has lost more than two-thirds of its member states and appears to be withering under its critics' attacks.
The Matrix program - the name is derived from Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange - was originally developed for the state of Florida by Seisint, a Florida company, in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. At its peak, 16 states were members, and the program received pledges of $12 million from the federal Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.
Supporters of Matrix envisioned it as a powerful computer-driven program that could integrate information from disparate sources - like vehicle registrations, driver's license data, criminal history and real estate records - and analyze it for patterns of activity that could help law enforcement investigations. Promotional materials for the company put it this way: "When enough seemingly insignificant data is analyzed against billions of data elements, the invisible becomes visible."
This kind of system has long been the stuff of dreams for high-technology companies, which saw in it both a valuable service to society and a chance to recapture profits after a long technology downturn. But it also drew strong opposition from civil liberties organizations, which found Orwellian overtones in the collection and analysis of database information that would include people who have committed no crime. The American Civil Liberties Union filed Freedom of Information Act requests to uncover the inner workings of the system, and other high-tech policy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have voiced concerns.
The announcements made last week by New York and Wisconsin that they were withdrawing from Matrix means that only five states remain actively involved- Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Ohio.
Utah has suspended its participation, and in January Gov. Olene S. Walker appointed an oversight committee to evaluate security and privacy issues.
Supporters of Matrix, including the Florida officials who have worked with it from the beginning, say that it merely gives law enforcement agencies quicker access to data that they already have the legal authority to see. "It's an extremely valuable tool," said Mark Zadra, the chief of investigations for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
States provide information like arrests and convictions, Social Security numbers, driver's license data and birth and marriage records. Seisint, the company that created Matrix, then adds what the company has described as "in excess of 7 billion public records from thousands of locations on U.S. individuals and businesses, including information about neighbors, relatives and associates."
Matrix officials have declined to describe all the data that goes into the system, but they insist that nothing goes into Matrix that police would need a subpoena or other judicial order to obtain, like full credit reports or library lending records.
Officials in Florida point to success stories like a hit-and-run accident involving a white, 2000-2002 Chevrolet Avalanche that left the scene. The system was able to provide a list of all the vehicles fitting that description within a 10-mile radius of the accident. Investigators were able to find the Chevrolet, according to Florida officials.
But opponents of the program say the ability of computer networks to combine and sift mountains of data greatly amplifies police surveillance power, putting innocent people at greater risk of being entangled in data dragnets. The problem is compounded, they say, in a world where many aspects of daily life leave online traces.
In a recent report on the program, the A.C.L.U. called Matrix "a body blow to the core American principle that the government will leave people alone unless it has good reason to suspect them of wrongdoing."
The same critics have called Matrix a state-run version of Total Information Awareness, a program that was being developed in the Pentagon to search an even broader array of databases for patterns of terrorist activity. Congress froze financing for that program last year in response to a public outcry over the privacy implications of the system.
Opponents of the Pentagon program regarded the development of Matrix as a sign that the bubble was simply moving under the wallpaper: with the federal program blocked, some surveillance functions were being shifted to the states. And as Matrix started to draw attention, member states began to drop out.
"When these programs get exposed to the light of day, they get shut down," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the A.C.L.U.
Mr. Steinhardt said that his organization was worried that other, similar programs might be operating more stealthily. "While we're gratified by the demise of T.I.A. and the continuing collapse of Matrix, there's a much larger phenomenon of widespread surveillance that still occurs out there," he said. "What we're not sure about is what's still operating underground."
In leaving the program, New York said the network's shrinking size was a deciding factor. A March 9 letter from Steven F. Cumoletti, the assistant deputy superintendent of the New York State Police, to Commissioner Guy Tunnell of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and chairman of the Matrix executive committee, said, "Unfortunately, instead of increasing the number of participating states over time to improve the potential benefits of the pilot, to date nearly two-thirds of the initial states have opted out of the project."
James W. McMahon, director of the New York State Office of Public Security, said in an interview that the program "seemed to be going backwards instead of going forward." New York, he said, had never provided information on its own citizens to the program.
Matrix has been especially controversial because its technology was developed by Seisint, a private company in Florida whose founder, Hank Asher, was involved in the 1980's with a group of cocaine smugglers, according to court records. He was not charged, and became an informant. Mr. Asher resigned from the company last year.
Most of the states have cited tight budgets in their withdrawal from the program. "Money is always an issue, regardless of who you deal with, even in the most noble of causes," said Clay Jester, the Matrix coordinator for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, the nonprofit organization that administers the program.
"If you see there's a significant investment you're going to have to make down the road, you may choose not to see the potential benefits," he said. "When it comes down to new cars or this great new database application, it's easier to show somebody a car."
But Liz Krueger, a New York state senator from Manhattan, who opposed Matrix, said that the real issue was privacy. "Even in a time of increased security, we have to be perhaps even more vigilant to make sure that fundamental rights to privacy are protected," said Ms. Krueger, a Democrat. "The more people knew about it and thought about it, the more dangerous they thought this exercise was."
Mr. Zadra, the Florida investigator, said that the program was intended for fighting crime, not surveillance, and that its creators had included privacy safeguards. "We've gone overboard to put in security, and put in privacy controls," he said. He acknowledged that the system could be abused by some law enforcement officers, but said that every profession had bad actors. Matrix, he said, was too valuable to abandon because of such concerns.
He said that the program was "not quite as effective" if states do not provide their data, but said that there was enough information to be gleaned from other publicly available databases to make the powerful search capabilities of Matrix valuable. He said, for example, that even if a state refused to provide driver's license information to Matrix, that information is often available from private databases.
"If there was no other state data but Florida's, we would want to be continuing the project with no other data but Florida's," he said.
Mr. Zadra said proponents of the program were "moving forward, and meeting with other states that have expressed interest." But he acknowledged that no announcements of new states coming into the program were imminent.
Mr. McMahon, the New York law enforcement official, said the importance of a program like Matrix could best be shown in the case of a child's kidnapping, when "you've got minutes instead of hours" to prevent a tragedy.
"You might be able to save somebody's life in producing the information you need," he suggested, as in, for instance, quickly finding the names of convicted sex offenders who own a specific model of car.
Mr. Zadra also used kidnapping as an example of database use, citing the possibility of a law enforcement official's having to tell the parents of a kidnapped child that " 'we did have a tool, but we can't use that tool any more, and I can't find your daughter.' How sad would that be?"
Others can worry about hypothetical threats to privacy, he said. "Meanwhile, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to solve crimes with the best technology available."
Ultimately, he said, "It really comes down to trust. Do you trust law enforcement to do what is right?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/te.../15matrix.html
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Prestige 2000W
VoIP Wi-Fi Phone
Press Release
The Prestige 2000W VoIP Wi-Fi phone, compatible with IEEE 802.11b wireless standard, is a perfect solution for Voice over IP applications. It allows users to make or receive phone calls as long as they are in the coverage of IEEE 802.11b or 11g wireless Access Points. By using the Prestige 2000W, users no longer have to pay expensive communication fees and can enjoy the convenience of wireless mobility.
The brand new application is developed to support open standard SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), which interoperates with major SIP-based call servers, IP-PBXs and various VoIP client devices. It is not only an ideal alternative for ITSPs (IP Telephony Service Providers) to deploy their VoIP services; it can also be the wireless handset, which is applied in corporate IP-PBX centric VoIP environment.
The Prestige 2000W is very easy to use and configure. It allows users to configure with LCD screen menu or web browser. Meanwhile, with the smart auto-provisioning mechanism, ITSPs can easily deploy and manage the VoIP services. Easy-to-use and convenient, the Prestige 2000W delivers high quality voice functionality in a cost-effective way.
http://www.zyxel.com/product/P2000W.html
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Click here to increase download speed, (but first ask your banker)
BT Puts Faith On Broadband Extras
BBC
Broadband users in Britain will be able to temporarily boost their speed under plans put forward by BT.
It is to try out a "flexible broadband" scheme which would allow surfing speeds to quadruple at the click of a mouse.
The trial is part of four broadband schemes announced by BT, which it hopes will help it reach its target of five million high speed connections by 2006.
The telecoms giant is facing strong competition from other internet providers such as Tiscali and Telewest.
With BT's flexible bandwidth service, customers will be able to increase the speed of their connection from 512Kbps to 2Mbps whenever they need a faster downloading speed.
These new products and services provide broadband that is flexible and powerful enough to meet the customer's every need
Though the price is yet to be finalised, it is expected to cost one to two pounds per gigabyte downloaded.
The trials are due to start next month and the service due to be officially launched in the autumn.
BT is also strengthening its ties with Yahoo, with a new product that will allow people to make phone calls over Yahoo's instant messenger software.
Called Yahoo Messenger with BT Communicator, it is to be launched later this year using the voice over internet protocol technology.
It is designed to make it easy for people to switch from exchanging instant messages to a telephone conversion. Calls will be charged at normal rates and appear on the phone bill.
Tough arena
Among BT's other plans are a new service deal using intelligent net routers in a customer's home and a "rich media" digital rights scheme to manage and distribute content.
BT has signed a deal to show episodes of ITV drama The Bill on a pay-per-view basis and is also promising more DVD-like quality content.
"These new products and services provide broadband that is flexible and powerful enough to meet the customer's every need," said Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail.
"They demonstrate clearly that there is far more to broadband than speed, as there has to be if we are to realise mass adoption far beyond the current two million mark."
BT dominates the broadband retail market in the UK. But its rivals are snapping at its heels, competing on both price and range of services.
"Broadband is key to BT," said Michael Philpott, an analyst with the telecoms research firm Ovum.
"They will have to be successful on the wholesale and retail level if the company is going to succeed in the future. But they are in a worrying state at the moment."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3502742.stm
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Sing a New Song
The recording industry continues to move toward digital distribution. Yet the Internet has also given unheard musicians a platform for getting noticed, while technology has made home recording affordable. If change is in the air, why is the indie movement left gasping for it? Rick Munarriz ponders the possibilities.
It's been three months since Vivendi (NYSE: V) unplugged its MP3.com site and handed the domain name over to CNET (Nasdaq: CNET). For the more than 250,000 artists that had made the music site their hub to be heard, they better not be sticking around this long in the dimming hopes of an encore.
MP3.com isn't coming back. Well, at least not literally. Vivendi wiped its servers clean. While CNET plans on launching a new site for musicians later this month, it will be doing so on its music.download.com subdomain. It has earmarked MP3.com to serve as an informational site the way it has groomed news.com into a news haven for technophiles.
That doesn't mean that Vivendi has rid itself of the strolling musicians. Complaints fill the CNET-manned forum it has set up until MP3.com's transformation is complete. Many artists and listeners who paid Vivendi for CDs just before the site went down are still waiting for their music. Thousands of artists who paid Vivendi nearly $100 for a year of premium services and were promised a pro-rated refund back in November have also been left with empty pockets.
Poor CNET is the one stuck with the rants because the previous tenant ran away without much in terms of a legal forwarding address. Yet CNET's waiting game may ultimately be the best way to distance itself from the resentment toward Vivendi.
Where's the beat?
Digital distribution has become a tantalizing notion now that companies like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and to a lesser extent Roxio (Nasdaq: ROXI) are showing the major labels that it can work.
The overprotective, pirate-weary purveyors of pre-recorded music hamstrung their initial efforts to make a difference in the digital space by putting out a product that was less desirable than what was being swapped at peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. How do you compete with free? How do you compete when your product is inferior? The five major labels, under the guise of the Recording Industry Association of America, went after the MP3 traders.
With tens of millions of home-based pirates swearing off rich rock stars and their greedy labels, illogically or not, this should be the era of crowning achievements for independent artists. So why does the headpiece feel like it's layered with cubic zirconium?
As the uncola to commercial pop swill, this should be the golden age of garage bands. Instead, it has been as stifling as carbon monoxide. Home-recording software like Apple's new iLife '04 has made quality digital recording affordable and accessible. Satellite radio upstarts Sirius (Nasdaq: SIRI) and XM (Nasdaq: XMSR) have broadened the radio dial, including stations playing unsigned artists around the clock. The Internet should be arming clever marketers with ways to drape cyberspace with lawn chairs to enforce their grassroots efforts. Well?
Bought for a song
The playing field has never been this level. Yes, music sites have an uphill battle. Mark Cuban was a genius for cashing out his Broadcast.com puppy to Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) for billions because the chunky broadband required to deliver song files doesn't come cheap.
Text-based content sites can carve a cozy living offsetting free access with advertising and enhanced services, but the dynamics aren't as compelling for music sites. Even at $0.99 a track, Apple isn't exactly rolling in the iTunes money from the downloads themselves. After paying the content providers and dealing with the micropayment transaction charges, there just isn't much left for Apple. That's fine. Taking a 180-degree spin on the razor and blades model, Apple's making the money on the razor instead of the blades as it sold nearly as many iPods as it did iMacs this past quarter.
Others like Roxio and RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) have software to move. That's the key. If you don't own the content, the feasible distributors will be the ones willing to take a hit for the sake of improvement elsewhere.
That's why the original MP3.com never stood much of a chance. Where was the razor? Where were the blades? It could have subsidized the site by promoting Vivendi's own catalog of Universal content, but it lacked conviction in doing so. It could have made an effort to acquire a stake in its most promising resident artists, but it never stopped to consider the merits of vertical integration.
So long, CD
The entire pre-recorded music industry can afford to get leaner because the CD is dead. I mean, beyond it serving as a flawed disposable medium for portable mix tapes, what's the point? While it has been a noble effort to pack CDs with enhanced features and DVD footage to make the physical purchase more practical and worthwhile -- something that should have been done en masse years ago as a proactive move to deter file sharing rather than as a late reactive move today -- it's played. The savings in an inventory-free digitally distributed future are huge, and third-party outlets for distribution like Apple's iTunes store are more motivated in making it work than the layered labels themselves ever were.
Which may make it surprising to note that Apple never made a play for Vivendi's MP3.com site and has not taken an active role in recruiting unsigned artists.
Everything that has happened in the music industry over the past few years points to a fragmented sector that will ultimately reward smaller sums to a greater number of artists. Even a niche will have a niche to serve as the experience is further specialized and personalized.
So, yes, these are exciting times in music. If you don't hear it, you're just not listening hard enough.
http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/...y040312RAM.htm
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Starbucks Readies Music Download Service
Tony Smith
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the company's iTunes Music Store, he compared each song's 99c price tag with the cost of a latte. The coffee analogy has proved oddly prescient, since Apple may soon be serving up song downloads to Starbucks customers.
Next Tuesday, the coffee shop chain will announce its intention to launch an in-store music download service, BusinessWeek reports today. Starbucks calls the service "a completely new retail experience" and "represents a breakthrough for music consumers, providing them with enhanced music customization, greater convenience and new ways to discover emerging artists".
Its partner is HP, which will be providing a stack of tablet PCs punters can use to select songs, play them and even burn them to CD. It's also providing server infrastructure and printers for label art, apparently.
Presumably all this will happen over the store's wireless network, courtesy of Starbucks' deal with T-Mobile.
The Apple connection is provided by HP, which will this summer launch branded iPods and an online music store that is basically ITMS with an HP-branded front end. None of the companies concerned have commented on the relationship, but it's certainly tempting to view the new service as a tri-partite program.
The first Starbucks site to offer the download service will apparently be located in Santa Monica. The service will be rolled out across 2500 further sites over the next two years, the company said. Prices will match those at ITMS, though there's a minimum purchase of five songs. Five songs cost $6.99, while albums will cost $12.95.
Starbucks is essentially pitching itself against high street record retailers. Why buy CDs in Virgin or Tower when you can create your own compilations while you're enjoying your coffee? it asks. Certainly Starbucks' weekly customer count of around 30 million individuals provides a far greater walk-through than any record store gets.
The potential downside is that the stores are being branded as HearMusic, the small record shop chain Starbucks acquired five years ago. The chain currently has five HearMusic music shops running, including the one offering the download service.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/36196.html
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Next-Generation File Sharing with Social Networks
Robert Kaye
Editor's note: At the recent O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, CA, Robert Kaye lead a talk on Next Generation File Sharing with Social Software. For those who were able to attend, this essay builds upon that session. And if you missed the talk all together, you can now get up to speed.
Open file sharing systems like Kazaa welcome everyone on the net and enjoy a broad selection of content. The selection is so vast that Cory Doctorow calls it "The largest library ever created." (Personally, I'd call it the "largest and messiest library ever created," but that is another essay entirely.) However, this vast selection comes with a significant risk attached -- outsider attackers who want to stop you from sharing files and would like to throw you in jail or pilfer your college fund.
The natural reaction is to run away and hide from the bad guys and play in your own sandbox that the bad guys cannot even see. Due to the recent massive lawsuit waves from the bad guys, there is more talk than ever about Darknets, which are networks that hide themselves and their members from public view.
Combining file sharing applications with social networks enables people to create a trusted network of their friends to keep out the bad guys. The definition of bad guys is up to the user to determine -- in a lot of cases, the bad guys would be the lovely folks slinging lawsuits. But these networks can easily be used for legitimate non-infringing uses, such as sharing personal information with a network of friends while keeping it out of reach of marketers and identity thieves.
Social networks designed for file sharing should focus on three goals: share your files with others in your network, discover new files from other members, and protect the network from outside attackers. To achieve these goals, the social network needs to be founded on a well-defined social model.
Social Models
To find social models that can be employed for these next generation networks, we can look toward human evolution. Jared Diamond's perspective on human evolution, as told in Guns, Germs and Steel, points out that humans first formed hunter-gatherer tribes in order to share the burden of food production. As tribes grew in size, they combined to create chiefdoms, and from there they created states like those in which we live now.
To apply this concept, the network starts with a group of trusted people forming a tribe of people. Starting a tribe as a friendnet, where each connection is backed up by a meatspace connection, is an excellent starting point. However, sharing files inside of a small tribe is only interesting for a short while because it presents a limited search horizon. If tribes connect with other tribes to form chiefdoms, the search horizon expands with each new connection in the chiefdom. Finally, connect chiefdoms to other chiefdoms to form states, and the search horizon may start to look similar to the search horizons in open file-trading systems.
Each tribe should carefully select tribal elders who will set the tone of the network and determine social policies for the network. The elders should be aware of the tribal members and their strengths and weaknesses in order to set policies that are effective for the group. The elders should focus the tribe on its primary goals and continually evaluate the state of the tribe to ensure that its members are well educated on the tribal policies.
Tribal elders must be aware that outside attackers can use social attacks on the network. For instance, if a number of members of a movie-swapping tribe are hanging out at their local coffee shop, they should be aware that attackers may appear as smooth-talkers with lots of knowledge about movies and claims of having a large collection of relevant movies. If one tribal member falls for the attack and invites the attacker into the network, the entire network is at risk. We'll go into the risks from attacks in more detail later, but tribal elders need to understand these risks and educate their tribe to act accordingly.
The tribal elders are the guardians of the network who should use their awareness of the network and its members to continually reevaluate the relationships between members and other tribes. These elders should select or design the appropriate social policies for their tribes and oversee privileges of their members as members establish (or destroy) their reputations.
Social Policies
Social policies dictate who can be invited to the network; how must the reputation of a potential member be verified, if at all? What other tribes can this tribe link to and trade with? Is it OK for the tribe to end their questions in prepositions? What structure is appropriate for the tribe? A loose collaboration or a rank-and-file hierarchy?
All of these questions will influence the social policies of the network, and unlike open file-trading systems, care must be exercised when creating and expanding networks that are designed to keep out attackers. The social policies of these networks have a direct impact on the security of the network. A loose network with few rules and lax reputation verification is more susceptible to compromise. A tight network with many access controls will be more secure, but it will have more restricted search horizons. The key for the tribal elders is to pick a set of policies that balances security with the utility of the network.
The social policies also determine what sort of social network will be created. Loose connection policies will yield more chaotic systems that look like Friendster, and more refined policies will yield systems that resemble systems like LinkedIn. Social policies will need to address the most pressing social issues before they arise. For instance, Friendster should have anticipated Fakester accounts and set a policy for these accounts before it ever opened its doors. Changing terms of service and social policies radically after a network has been formed only serves to alienate its users.
Search Horizons
One of the drawbacks to using a social network to enable file sharing is that the search horizons will be more limited in comparison to Kazaa/Napster/et al. There will be fewer people in the network and you will not have terabytes upon terabytes of data. Is having the world's largest, messiest and duplicated library going to help you discover new items of interest?
Not likely -- I think that file sharing through social networks enables users to explore their strong and weak ties. Random connections in P2P networks are not even weak ties -- they are random ties. Exploring the weak ties in your network is likely to give you access to more relevant information/content than a random tie. People tend to associate with friends with whom they share some common bond, and this common bond is likely going to result in some shared tastes.
Perhaps these social networks can influence some change and shift users away from a "I'm looking for this track!" mentality to a "What are my friends listening to?" mentality. Napster exemplified this focus on quantity; it is time to consider quality above quantity and use the network for discovery as well as sharing.
Architecture: Central Server
At the heart of this system lies a central server that implements the social network features. This server would implement a generic social network system via web services that could be used to create open social networks like Friendster, or Darknet applications like underground apple-pie recipe trading. This central server would be used for identification, authentication, availability, and network relationships of users. The server should not know what the social network is being used for -- a legitimate application should look exactly the same as an infringing application to the outside world.
P2P advocates will be quick to point out that a central server is a weak link in the system -- both from a technical and an outside attacker perspective. Granted, the server is a central point of failure, but so far, algorithms that implement a distributed web-of-trust have not come of age. As far as I can see, there isn't a solid solution for implementing a distributed social network that is resistant to outside attacks -- yet.
From a legal attackers perspective, the central server presents no useful information. Should a server be compromised, the legal attacker would find no proof that any illegal activities were happening. In fact, the central server should contain no incriminating or otherwise useful information about the social network. The most useful thing gleaned from the central server would be the IP addresses of other members of the network -- that's all.
This approach has two other benefits: legal attackers cannot use direct or vicarious infringement attacks on the server, since the server cannot know if the networks are used for infringing uses. Also, the central server solves the pesky P2P bootstrapping problem of finding the network to join. Here the central server will be able to give clients the IP addresses of other members who are currently online.
Architecture: P2P Client
To build a P2P client for this network, an existing client could be employed or a new one could be developed. All of the learning from P2P research in the last few years could be applied to creating a high-tech client that uses best-of-class software like BitTorrent and Kademlia. Given how many good P2P systems are floating about the world today, it is clear that this is not a difficult problem.
The P2P client could employ a Gnutella-like query-routing protocol or use external identifiers like Bitzi's Bitprints, MusicBrainz identifiers, or IMDB identifiers, coupled with a distributed hash table like Kademlia.
The system should undoubtedly use a system that automatically creates the BitTorrent trackers to maximize the bandwidth utilization of the file sharing clients.
No rocket science here, move along.
Invitations and Detection Avoidance
To join a social file-sharing network, you will need an invitation from an existing member. Invitations are simply small XML files that contain the right keys for joining the network. The invitations may also specify the right parameters for finding the network, since Darknets do their best to not operate out in the open.
First off, all traffic flowing through the social network, including file transfers, should be tunneled via SSH, so that someone sniffing your network connection cannot tell the difference between a legitimate VPN connection or an infringing trade of the hottest apple-pie recipe.
Second, the applications that form the social network should attempt to blend into the landscape and either be invisible or indistinguishable from normal network infrastructure, such as an SSH server. The easiest form of this is to operate on the same port as the SSH server itself. A more complicated approach of Port Knocking was recently proposed on Slashdot -- it requires a series of predetermined failed connection attempts to the server before the server opens the real port for the client.
Another approach is port changing, where the server and the client frequently switch ports on which they listen to for connections. The invitation could include the parameters needed to calculate which port a server would be listening on for any given time.
Regardless of which technique is employed, the goal is the same: outside attackers see nothing but SSH connections.
Security
The applications that make up the social network should employ standard off-the-shelf tools like SSH, PGP and BitTorrent. After all, these tools specialize in their respective areas, and it is not wise to reinvent the wheel -- especially when it comes to security. Any network connection made by the file-sharing software should be tunneled via an SSH connection.
The baseline security model of this software should be to revert back to the same security of an open system in the case of a system compromise. If the system is busted wide open for some reason, only the IP addresses of the participants should be exposed. In today's legal climate, having solely an IP address forces the attackers to file anonymous John Doe lawsuits. This is exactly the same procedure reserved for people who use open systems like Kazaa.
This fact gives users of social software file-sharing applications a leg up on file sharers using Kazaa. Mounting an attack on Kazaa users requires freely available and easy- to-use network tools. Mounting an attack on a network fortified with SSH requires vastly different tools and a brute-force attack is out of the question. Thus, the attackers are more likely to stick to pursuing the users of open file-trading applications.
The most vulnerable part of a social network is the users themselves. As security experts have been saying for a long time, most successful attacks are not technical attacks, but attacks that exploit the weaknesses of the users. Passwords jotted down in insecure locations, or smooth-talking attackers convincing users of their benign nature, present far greater weakness than the SSH protocol.
Ultimately, the security of the network lies in the hands of the users. This is why the social policies set by the tribal elders are so important -- the policies affect the mindset of the user, which in turn affects their behavior. Social policies that permit promiscuous behavior can lead to security breaches.
Attack Model
Analyzing the possible attacks on a social file-sharing network gives us three possible attacks:
Server attack: The central server gets hacked, raided by legal attackers, or otherwise compromised. Since the server operates blindly with respect to what the clients are doing, the server contains no incriminating evidence. The attacker cannot tell a recipe-trading network from a movie-trading network. At worst, the IP addresses of the members can be exposed and those must be pursued with a John Doe lawsuit.
Client attack: A client gets hacked, raided by legal attackers, or otherwise compromised. The compromised client could potentially continue operating and collect the IP addresses of everyone in the network. Incriminating behavior could be observed.
Social client attack: An attacker gets invited to the network and starts participating in the network. Over time, the attacker can collect all of the IP addresses of the members and possibly observe incriminating behavior.
At worst, the server attack yields IP addresses that may not have committed any infringement. Client attacks expose the IP addresses and possibly allow the attacker to observe infringing activities. While this model may seem catastrophic, it's better than the open P2P system model that Kazaa uses. Given that attackers are likely to attack the easy targets first, using a social network to share files presents an increased level of security -- for now.
File Sharing goes Social by Clay Shirky
Should a time come when all open systems have been eradicated, this system will need extra fortification. As the much discussed web-of-trust algorithms and anonymization algorithms come of age, these algorithms should be adapted for use with social file sharing to continually improve the attack resistance of these networks.
Conclusion
Over the past few years, we've learned a number of legal and technical lessons that allow us to build more secure and effective file- sharing systems today. Using detection-avoidance schemes and common security tools like SSH and PGP forces the attackers to take a different track when attacking next-generation file-sharing systems. Attackers must now employ social attacks to take down file-sharing systems, and social attacks don't scale as well as online attacks that can be assisted with computer tools.
The security model presented here is only sufficient for a limited time -- over time, more advanced web-of-trust algorithms should be used to further mitigate the damage of a compromised network.
Finally, it should be stressed again that the security of a social network grows out of the social policies set for the network. Tribal elders and members of the network need to be continually vigilant to keep the network safe from outside attackers.
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/200...ile_share.html
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Covering Net Tracks Has A Cost
David Canton
Protecting one's personal information from probing eyes when surfing the Internet has spurred reactions and counter-reactions toward anonymity time and time again. This struggle to defend each party's interests has perpetuated another overarching problem, which is often lost in the shuffle. This dilemma involves the legal and moral disconnect experienced on both sides.
The struggle between owners of material trying to control its use and turn it into revenue and users trying to make use of it, legitimate or otherwise, is a long-standing theme for intangible property, such as literary works, computer programs, music and movies.
Each party tends to rely on its moral and logical compass to decide what use should occur. The problem is each side's compass points in a slightly different direction.
The law to guide them is probably somewhere in the middle -- and may be unclear, especially where new technology is involved.
An example of this detached state occurs when individuals try to copy materials off the Internet they perhaps ought to be paying or getting permission for. This, in turn, triggers the owners of this same material to use tools that clamp down on the use more than is reasonably necessary.
As more organizations join forces to bring lawsuits against individual file- swappers, peer-to-peer software developers respond by attempting to develop new ways to hide their customers' tracks.
To protect privacy, programs are being created that claim to shield the identity of individuals passing files between computers. The idea is to hide the source of downloads.
Users should beware, because the results of improving privacy have been anything but perfect.
Most peer-to-peer systems require some amount of openness to work. To download a program or a song from another computer online, your computer must make some kind of connection -- and this automatically leaves a digital record that can be traced back.
Many Internet Service Providers (ISP) keep logs of what sites your Internet Protocol (IP) address visits on the Internet. The IP address is the identification given to your machine each time you log on the Internet. It's not very difficult for a website owner to match your IP address to the ISP you use.
Many file-swapping keeners use some kind of encryption to scramble the files and provide protection from unwanted eyes. This alone will not protect the privacy of the individual, because most monitoring services simply pretend to be an ordinary file-swapper.
There has been a move toward Internet "proxies" as a way to mask identities. By using this technique, the connection between the uploaders and the downloaders is interrupted by a digital middleman. The downloaded file is actually handed off to another web server or passed through another set of computers before it finds its way to the intended target.
A more extreme version of this proxy idea has every computer on the file- swapping network become a middleman. This method causes quite a backlog in the transferring of information.
There is a cost for the extra protection on anonymity. It can lead to longer download times.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/London...13/380271.html
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DJ's Remix Charts Legal 'Grey' Area
Greg Kot
The most buzzed-about album of the year isn't on the Billboard charts, and it can't be found in record stores. But even as DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album has restoked the decades-old debate about sampling, it further demonstrates that record companies and copyright law are being left in the dust by Internet- savvy musical innovators and the technology that stokes them.
The Grey Album conflates two revered albums: The Beatles' self-titled 1968 double album, better known as the White Album, and Jay-Z's 2003 swan song, The Black Album. But it's more than a simple "mash-up," in which a disc jockey syncs up the beats of two vastly different pop songs to create a hybrid track for playing at dance clubs.
Danger Mouse, aka Los Angeles DJ Brian Burton, spent countless hours splicing musical bars and looping beats off the Beatles masterwork, then laying them underneath an a cappella version of Jay-Z's chart-topping disc. The result is, if not greater than the sum of the two parts, certainly an ear-expanding reinterpretation, a recontextualization so spirited that it will drive listeners back to both original works with fresh ears.
Danger Mouse circulated 3,000 copies of The Grey Album last month, giving most of them away. Some of the records turned up in record stores, others were being sold on eBay, and MP3 files began circulating on peer-to-peer file-sharing sites such as Kazaa and Soulseek. That's when EMI, which owns the publishing rights to the White Album, jumped in and sent cease-and-desist letters to Danger Mouse, Web sites and stores, demanding that the record be destroyed. In response, more than 150 Web sites staged "a day of coordinated civil disobedience" Feb. 24 and offered the album for download.
Lawyers and the record industry saw the "Grey Tuesday" protest as copyright infringement run amok, a low blow directed against one of the pillars of the recording industry. The Web sites and Danger Mouse, arguing that they weren't profiting from the downloads, saw the cease-and- desist orders as an affront to creativity and new technology, an attempt by the multinational corporations that dominate the music business to maintain complete control over the creative process at any cost.
At the heart of the current debate is the long-running battle over sampling. In 1991, rapper Biz Markie was sued by Gilbert Sullivan for using an unauthorized sample of Sullivan's 1972 hit, Alone Again (Naturally), on Markie's album I Need a Haircut, and a judge ruled in the singer's favor. I Need a Haircut was pulled from stores and quickly went out of print. Ever since, record labels have been more diligent about clearing permission for using copyrighted material, sometimes paying copyright holders tens of thousands of dollars to use even a four-bar snippet of a recording.
Danger Mouse didn't seek EMI's or Jay-Z's permission to sample the Beatles, asserting that his request would have been denied anyway because he didn't have the financial means or major- label connections. Instead, he refers to the album as an experiment and has declined to make money off it. There is little doubt he also has created a significant work of new electronic art.
Even a cursory listen to The Grey Album should be enough to persuade any open-minded listener that it's clearly a creative work that doesn't just capitalize on its source material but casts it in an entirely new light.
Purists contend that music can be created only on "real" instruments and look askance at the mixing desks, turntables, samplers and computers that are the remixers' tools. But remixers are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do what an entire orchestra can sometimes not do: turn a song into a hit record, often by replacing all the backing instruments with countless bytes of electronic data culled from original and pre-recorded sources.
The Grey Album succeeds in making the Beatles sound funky, turning the stately piano chords of While My Guitar Gently Weeps and the harpsichord in Piggies into break beats on What More Can I Say and Change Clothes, respectively. The intensity of Jay-Z's angry riposte to his critics, 99 Problems, is ratcheted up considerably by the roller-coaster guitar riffs from the Beatles' Helter Skelter, punctuated by Paul McCartney's exultant "Yeah!"
One wishes that EMI's response to Danger Mouse's remix had been as creative as the work itself. Why not license the tracks against future royalties or, better yet, sign Danger Mouse and build a marketing campaign around the album?
In this scenario, everyone wins: The sales of Jay-Z's and the Beatles' catalogs would be boosted by renewed interest in their work, the record labels and Danger Mouse would be financially rewarded for their efforts, and consumers wouldn't have to scrounge to find an instant-classic remix album that is still more heard about than actually heard.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/8168991.htm
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Rash Of Remixes In U.S
Kester Alleyne-Morris
Illegal and hugely popular remixes of hip hop legend Jay-Z's work have put the genre at the centre of a murky battle over U.S. copyright law, experts say.
In recent months, last year's "The Black Album" by Jay-Z has prompted a slew of unauthorised remixes, meshing the rap with the music of the Beatles, Metallica and Kenny G.
The remixes, described by their creators as "experiments" and acts of "civil disobedience," have drawn the ire of the music industry who say their copyright's have been infringed.
At the centre of the battle between the established music business and deejays using authorised "samples" of music to create their work is "The Grey Album" -- an innovative mix of Jay-Z's "Black Album" with the fab four's "White Album."
The mix prompted EMI to secure a cease and desist order against the man behind "The Grey Album," a little-known deejay called Danger Mouse.
But if EMI was hoping to squash distribution of the few thousand copies of "The Grey Album" in circulation, its actions instead made the recording the surprise hit of the year.
Owners of myriad file sharing sites recently held "Grey Tuesday," when more than 100,000 people downloaded the illegal album.
"To the extent that these (remixes) are recognisable songs or music, it is unquestionably copyright infringement," said Randy Lipsitz, a partner and intellectual property lawyer at New York-based law firm Kramer Levin, on Friday.
But with many of the remixes featuring tiny snippets and heavily reworked samples from other albums, it's hard to link the music to its forbearers.
Sampling advocates maintain they should be allowed use clips of music to make new art because the law allows for use of copyrighted material for criticism, parody and certain other uses like education -- called "fair use."
But not everybody agrees.
"The 'fair use' expression has been thrown around a great deal to justify behaviour that courts have frowned on," said Judith Saffer, vice-president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Producer Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, said, "every lick and snare and drum" backing Jay-Z's lyrics on his remix album was drawn from the Beatles but many listeners would hardly be able to tell where Jay-Z begins and the Beatles end.
"If it's not recognisable, who cares," said Lipsitz.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackage...7§ion=news
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Uploaders Key To Court Case
CP
TORONTO -- Internet service providers shouldn't be used as the music industry's private investigators to smoke out the names and address of 29 so-called uploaders, lawyers argued yesterday in Federal Court. The case is to determine whether the record industry should be granted a court order forcing high-speed Internet providers to release the names of people who allegedly shared hundreds of songs with others using programs such as KaZaA last November and December.
Without the names, the Canadian Recording Industry Association can't begin filing lawsuits.
"This is a complicated and imperfect process at best," said Joel Watson, a lawyer representing Telus Corp.
"It will never identify who was using the PC at the time."
Last month, the association moved to begin civil litigation against individuals who store songs on their hard drives to share with others through file-sharing software.
It filed motions against 29 John and Jane Does who it alleges are high-volume music traders.
They're identifiable only through a numeric Internet protocol address and user handles such as Jordana(at)KaZaA who, according to court documents, allegedly uploaded songs by Jay Z, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.
Telus and Shaw Communications say linking actual names with the handles and IP addresses is hard.
It requires the companies to analyse data and use deductive reasoning to make accusations against their customers.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Calgar...13/380636.html
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Music Uploading Case Back In Court Friday; New Ways To Hide From Law
Angela Pacienza
The recording industry's motion asking that Internet service providers be forced to reveal the names and addresses of song uploaders will resume Friday in federal court.
And given the possibility of lawsuits against people who swap the latest Outkast or Hot Hot Heat singles, there's a flurry of activity among music fans who've come to rely on the Internet for a steady diet of MP3s - how to hide from the recording industry?
"It's a critical case because it lies at the intersection of so many interesting online issues, both copyright and privacy and the right to anonymity and responsibility of intermediaries, namely the ISPs," said Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa specializing in Internet and e- commerce law and technology counsel with the law firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt.
"All are issues that on their own are significant. This is almost the perfect storm where you bring together all of those issues into a single case."
Since the case will no doubt spread beyond the 29 people the Canadian Recording Industry Association, or CRIA, is trying to currently smoke out, parties with a vested interest are coming out of the woodwork.
Instructions on how to destroy hard drives or employ routers to hide the identity of KaZaA-using computers have been flowing rampant on the Net.
"The best way to destroy hard drives is to take them apart, break the platters inside into many pieces, and then throw them into the fireplace," wrote one unidentified visitor to CanFLI.org, a Windsor, Ont.- based file-sharing information network that sprang up after CRIA demanded ISPs hand over names and addresses of alleged criminals last month.
But even more telling of the lengths people will go to for free music is new software that makes it harder to ID song-swappers.
You may have never heard of Mute-Net or Blubster but the services could soon become as notorious as KaZaA and its predecessor Napster.
"The technology is getting better and better," says Nicholas Reville, co-owner of the Massachusetts- based Downhill Battle,
www.downhillbattle.org, a group set up to boycott record labels and fight the U.S. recording association lawsuits.
"If they try to stomp it out in one place, it's going to pop up somewhere else. The record companies are trying to fight technology and that tends to be a losing strategy."
Mute-Net and Blubster are third generation file sharing software that purport to hide the identity of those sharing music by hiding people behind a network of randomly generated virtual IP addresses so an outsider can't tell the original source of a new U2 song or who downloaded it.
It was only a matter of time before someone was going to create a new method of hiding from authorities, says Geist.
"Essentially they read the court's decision in Napster and then architected a system that put it outside of the specific Napster issues," he said. "Many people have expected, given the current litigation strategy, we will see yet a third generation of file sharing services that seek to combat attempts to identify who the file sharers are."
CRIA, which represents music labels including BMG, EMI and Sony, wants Bell Canada, Rogers Cable, Videotron, Telus and Shaw Communications to identify 29 subscribers who are allegedly pirating music. If a judge gives permission, the plan is to sue those people in order to recoup some of the losses from file-sharing networks, including over $400 million in retail sales of CDs since 1999.
The case has been causing quite a stir, attracting a wide range of interested parties. Two advocacy groups - the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), a group of law professors from the University of Ottawa, and Electronic Frontier Canada, a Kitchener, Ont.-based organization - came on board last week to intervene on behalf of the public's interest.
Many experts don't expect the judge to render his verdict Friday. But even if Justice Konrad von Finckenstein did rule and he ordered ISPs to hand over the information, it wouldn't necessarily mean the recording industry will have successful lawsuits.
"Even if the information is released to the recording industry, it's not clear how much legal clout they'll have in civil court," said Teresa Scassa, an intellectual property professor at Dalhousie University's law school. "It's not entirely certain that that will be sufficient to establish the link between the activity the recording industry has identified and particular individuals."
The problem, explained Scassa, is that if the owner of one IP address turns out to be John Smith and he has three teenage children who frequently have friends over to use the computer it's going to be nearly impossible to prove who actually did the upload.
"It may mean that if they bring a lawsuit against John Smith he might be able to successfully defend himself by saying 'You simply can't prove that I did this,' " she said. "There's always the possibility that people are going to argue that someone has spoofed their IP address or done something that means the information from the ISP doesn't lead to who it's supposed to lead to."
http://www.canada.com/technology/sto...F-956B87F2A2B8
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DVD-Copying Sales Ban Reinstated
c|net
A New York federal judge on Monday reinstated a ban on sales of 321 Studios' DVD copying software. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen had previously decided the program violated federal copyright laws and told the company to stop selling it, but had temporarily put his own order on hold.
Owen's set of rulings have had little actual effect on the market, since a California judge's ruling barring sales of the DVD copying software remains in effect. 321 Studios is appealing both orders.
http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5103813.html
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More evidence emerging
Microsoft Said to Encourage Big Investment in SCO Group
Steve Lohr
More evidence emerged yesterday about Microsoft's role in encouraging the anti-Linux campaign being waged by the SCO Group, a small Utah company.
BayStar Capital, a private investment firm, said Microsoft suggested that it invest in SCO, which is engaged in a legal campaign against Linux, a rival to Microsoft's Windows.
BayStar took Microsoft's suggestion to heart and invested $50 million in SCO last October. But a spokesman for BayStar, Robert McGrath, said, "Microsoft didn't put money in the transaction and Microsoft is not an investor in BayStar." He added that Microsoft executives were not investors as individuals in the investment firm, which is based in San Francisco.
Mr. McGrath said the suggestion came from unidentified "senior Microsoft executives" but not Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, or Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive.
Microsoft, Mr. McGrath said, is not indemnifying the investment firm against risk or otherwise indirectly supporting BayStar's move. "The issue for BayStar," he said, "is whether there is a good return on its investment in SCO."
Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and a few other companies have struck deals with SCO to license its technology. SCO owns the rights to Unix, an operating system initially developed at Bell Labs. SCO contends that Linux, a variant of Unix, violates its contract rights.
SCO's legal campaign began last year when it sued I.B.M., a leading corporate supporter of Linux, and recently stepped up its legal attack by filing suit against two companies that use Linux, DaimlerChrysler and AutoZone.
The defendants are fighting the lawsuits, saying they have done nothing wrong and challenging SCO's claim that its rights are as broad as the company contends.
Microsoft stands to gain most from any slowing of the advance of Linux, which is maintained and debugged by a network of programmers who share code freely. That model of building software is called open source development.
It is not particularly surprising that Microsoft, given its interests, played the go-between for an investment in SCO. "But this shows is that there is a lot more than meets the eye in SCO's litigation strategy," said Jeffrey D. Neuburger, a technology and intellectual property expert at the law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. "SCO has an agenda, and Microsoft clearly has an agenda, and it's doing whatever it can to further its cause."
The extent of Microsoft's behind-the-scenes role in SCO's legal effort has prompted questions and speculation for months. Last week, a leaked e-mail message from an adviser to SCO to the company added to the controversy in the industry. In the memorandum, sent to two SCO executives, Mike Anderer of S2 Strategic Consulting discussed a role in financing SCO, writing that "Microsoft will have brought in $86 million for us including BayStar."
SCO acknowledged that the e-mail message, obtained by the Open Source Initiative and posted on the open-source advocacy group's Web site, was authentic.
But SCO added that it was a "misunderstanding of the facts by an outside consultant" who was not working on the BayStar financing. SCO added that Microsoft did "not orchestrate or participate in the BayStar transaction."
A SCO spokesman, Blake Stowell, said yesterday, "We stand by that."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/te...OteTQuNa1R+oww
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iPod 'Murder-Horror' Hoax
Macworld staff
A diverting yet disturbing slice of iPod-related satire appeared online this morning – a seemingly hoax news report describing death by iPod.
The report is appearing on a series of blogger sites, and states the case of 'Arleen Mathers, 23', who was arrested yesterday morning after killing her boyfriend with a series of blows to the head with a blunt instrument – an iPod.
"Police said no motive has been confirmed, although evidence suggested the murder was the result of a domestic dispute after the victim erased the contents of Mathers' iPod."
The (hopefully) satirical report grows worse: "Mathers was hysterical when police arrived and told them she killed her boyfriend after he accused her of illegally downloading music and erased about 2,000 of her MP3s."
The source of the story appears to be the LiquidGeneration website. To give this report extra credibility, the site designers built it into a page that reflects the appearance of a CNN Web-site story.
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_...fm?NewsID=8138
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Lost E-Votes Could Flip Napa Race
Kim Zetter
Napa County in Northern California said on Friday that electronic voting machines used in the March presidential primary failed to record votes on some of its paper ballots, which will force the county to re-scan over 11,000 ballots and possibly change the outcome of some close local races.
The glitch is the latest in a string of problems with the new generation of electronic voting machines being rolled out across the United States. Critics of the machines say they are inaccurate or susceptible to tampering, and can't be trusted in this year's presidential elections.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,62655,00.html
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US govt buys world's biggest RAM disk
2.5TB In Solid State Memory - But What's It For?
Chris Mellor
The US government has just bought the world's biggest ever solid state disk from Texas Memory Systems.
The 2.5TB system is "the largest SSD installation in the world by far, without question", the executive VP for TMS, Woody Hutsell, told Techworld. The previous biggest one was under 500GB, he told us. At 2.5TB, it is roughly 10,000 times the size of the RAM in your PC.
The list price of the system, which is made up from 40 RamSan 320 units, reviewed here, is $4.7million, although the US government received a discount. It was installed by TMS' OEM Dynamic Solutions International.
So where is it and what's it to be used for? Well, the installation site is in Washington DC and the application involves hosting metadata for large file systems, several databases including Oracle and the acceleration of other storage-based applications by holding, for example, journal files in the SSD.
What that means in simple English is that the US government has just bought the world's biggest RAM drive in order to speed up cross-checking across several vast databases. The way databases work, a query will tend to scan an entire table if it thinks that anything more than a small percentage of the table's contents are relevant.
However, when you are talking about vast databases, that process requires a huge amount of memory to store all the details. Unless you can store all that information temporarily (say in RAM), the query has to read from disks and that is a far, far slower process. The problem is compounded hugely when you are running a query across multiple databases. So, if you want to get at the information as fast as possible you need a monster RAM memory to temporarily store the details while it is sifting through.
We do know that several of the servers using the SSD storage are running Solaris and that altogether the site has about 100TB of storage, but the specific government department and applications involved have not been revealed.
However, not that many departments could possibly want to run such vast queries regularly. It would also be extremely difficult to justify a $4.7 million investment unless that work was seen as vital and speed was a main consideration in that work. It is also peculiar that such a large purchase could be approved at a time of tightening belts.
Now, we're not saying that the Department of Homeland Security is behind the purchase. Or that it is using the technology to search the various databases of people that it, the government, the NSA and the Pentagon possess. But all of them are based in Washington DC and there are of course some issues about Islamic terrorists already living in the States.
A RamSan 320 unit holds up to 64GB of RAM in a 3U rack unit. The US government order is housed in three full height rack units. There are over 320 2Gbit/s Fibre Channel ports and the aggregate I/O rate is 36Gbit/s. That is some serious hardware.
Hutsell tells us that "the customer has been happy so far". He expects there may be additional purchasing later this year.
http://www.techworld.com/news/index....ws&NewsID=1176
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Uncle Sam wants to wiretap you (and charge you for it too!)
FBI Adds To Wiretap Wish List
Declan McCullagh, Ben Charny
A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police.
The FBI's request to the Federal Communications Commission aims to give police ready access to any form of Internet- based communications. If approved as drafted, the proposal could dramatically expand the scope of the agency's wiretap powers, raise costs for cable broadband companies and complicate Internet product development.
Legal experts said the 85-page filing includes language that could be interpreted as forcing companies to build back doors into everything from instant messaging and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) programs to Microsoft's Xbox Live game service. The introduction of new services that did not support a back door for police would be outlawed, and companies would be given 15 months to make sure that existing services comply.
"The importance and the urgency of this task cannot be overstated," says the proposal, which is also backed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration. "The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised today."
Because the eavesdropping scheme has the support of the Bush administration, the FCC is expected to take it very seriously. Last month, FCC Chairman Michael Powell stressed that "law enforcement access to IP-enabled communications is essential" and that police must have "access to communications infrastructure they need to protect our nation."
The request from federal police comes almost a year after representatives from the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section approached the FCC and asked that broadband providers be required to provide more efficient, standardized surveillance facilities. Such new rules were necessary, the FBI argued, because terrorists could otherwise frustrate legitimate wiretaps by placing phone calls over the Internet.
"It is a very big deal and will be very costly for the Internet and the deployment of new technologies," said Stewart Baker, who represents Internet providers as a partner at law firm Steptoe & Johnson. "Law enforcement is very serious about it. There is a lot of emotion behind this. They have stories that they're very convinced about in which they have not achieved access to communications and in which wiretaps have failed."
Broadband providers say the FBI's request would, for the first time, force cable providers that sell broadband to come under the jurisdiction of 1994's Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which further defined the already existing statutory obligations of telecommunications carriers to help police conduct electronic surveillance. Telephone companies that use their networks to sell broadband have already been following CALEA rules.
"For cable companies, it's all new," said Bill McCloskey, a BellSouth spokesman.
Several cable providers, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems, had no immediate comment on the FBI's request.
The FBI proposal would also force Vonage, 8x8, AT&T and other prominent providers of broadband telephone services to comply with CALEA. Executives from these companies have said in the past that they all intend to comply with any request law enforcement makes, if technically possible.
Broadband phone service providers say they are already creating a code of conduct to cover some of the same issues the FBI is addressing--but on a voluntary basis, according to Jeff Pulver, founder of Free World Dialup. "We have our chance right now to prove to law enforcement that we can do this on a voluntary basis," Pulver said. "If we mandate and make rules, it will just complicate things."
Under CALEA, police must still follow legal procedures when wiretapping Internet communications. Depending on the situation, such wiretaps do not always require court approval, in part because of expanded wiretapping powers put in place by the USA Patriot Act.
A Verizon representative said Friday that the company has already complied with at least one law enforcement request to tap a DSL line.
This week's proposal surprised privacy advocates by reaching beyond broadband providers to target companies that offer communications applications such as instant- messaging clients.
"I don't think it's a reasonable claim," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "The FCC should seriously consider where the FBI believes its authority...to regulate new technologies would end. What about Bluetooth and USB?"
Baker agrees that the FBI's proposal means that IP-based services such as chat programs and videoconferencing "that are 'switched' in any fashion would be treated as telephony." If the FCC agrees, Baker said, "you would have to vet your designs with law enforcement before providing your service. There will be a queue. There will be politics involved. It would completely change the way services are introduced on the Internet."
As encryption becomes glued into more and more VoIP and instant-messaging systems like PSST, X-IM and CryptIM, eavesdropping methods like the FBI's Carnivore system (also called DCS1000) become less useful. Both Free World Dialup's Pulver, and Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype, said last month that their services currently offer no easy wiretap route for police, because VoIP calls travel along the Internet in tens of thousands of packets, each sometimes taking completely different routes.
Skype has become a hot button in the debate by automatically encrypting all calls that take place through the peer-to-peer voice application.
The origins of this debate date back to when the FBI persuaded Congress to enact the controversial CALEA. Louis Freeh, FBI director at the time, testified in 1994 that emerging technologies such as call forwarding, call waiting and cellular phones had frustrated surveillance efforts.
Congress responded to the FBI's concern by requiring that telecommunications services rewire their networks to provide police with guaranteed access for wiretaps. Legislators also granted the FCC substantial leeway in defining what types of companies must comply. So far, the FCC has interpreted CALEA's wiretap-ready requirements to cover only traditional analog and wireless telephone service, leaving broadband and Internet applications in a regulatory gray area.
Under the FBI's proposal, Internet companies would bear "sole financial responsibility for development and implementation of CALEA solutions" but would be authorized to raise prices to cover their costs.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5172948.html
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Cable Taps Into Wiretap Law
Ben Charny
At least one cable operator is starting to comply with a federal law that has long required telecommunications carriers to help police conduct electronic surveillance, according to a source familiar with the company's plans.
Time Warner Cable is the first cable company to begin trying to adhere to the Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act, the source said. Cable companies are not yet required to comply with the 1994 wiretap law, but they see the writing on the wall.
Vernon Irvin, executive vice president at security vendor VeriSign, said during a recent interview that his company had signed a deal with a "major cable operator" in the United States to help it follow CALEA. He did not identify the provider, but the source tagged Time Warner as the company. A Time Warner representative did not have an immediate comment.
Irvin, however, did assert that other cable companies are sure to follow. That's because the FBI has made public a far- reaching proposal to require all broadband Internet providers--including cable modem and digital subscriber line (DSL) companies--to restructure their networks to support easy wiretapping by police.
"The cable guys aren’t waiting," Irvin said.
The FBI's proposal would, for the first time, force cable providers that sell broadband to come under the jurisdiction of 1994's CALEA, which further defined the already-existing statutory obligations of telecom carriers to help police conduct electronic surveillance. Telephone companies that use their networks to sell broadband have already been following CALEA rules.
Because the eavesdropping proposal has the support of the Bush administration, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to take it very seriously. Last month, FCC Chairman Michael Powell stressed that "law enforcement access to IP-enabled communications is essential" and that police must have "access to communications infrastructure they need to protect our nation."
Irvin said that details of the VeriSign deal will be announced next week.
http://news.com.com/2100-1034-5173320.html
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Sharereactor down,
and now out.
Internet-Site vom Netz genommen
Ernst Vogelsanger
FRAUENFELD (kapo) Wegen Verdachts von Widerhandlungen gegen das Urheberrechts- und das Markenschutzgesetz hat das Kantonale Untersuchungsrichteramt Thurgau eine Internet-Site abgeschaltet, die als Link-Plattform für Angebote von Tauschbörsen diente. Gegen den 25-jährigen Betreiber aus Frauenfeld läuft ein Verfahren.
Die Internet-Site mit Serverstandort Frauenfeld war rund 30 Monate online und verzeichnete zuletzt durchschnittlich rund 220'000 Zugriffe pro Tag, bevor sie vor einigen Tagen von den Thurgauer Behörden vom Netz genommen wurde. Die in Suchmaschinen toprangierte Site funktionierte als Drehscheibe für Links zum Download vorwiegend von urheber- und markenrechtlich geschützten Computerspielen und Filmen, die auf Angebote von Peer-to-Peer-Tauschbörsen führten.
Nach einer entsprechenden Anzeige diverser Grossfirmen, vertreten durch die Schweizerische Vereinigung zur Bekämpfung der Piraterie, eröffnete das Kantonale Untersuchungsrichteramt Thurgau eine Untersuchung, beschlagnahmte die Server in Frauenfeld und liess die Site abschalten.
Der verantwortliche Betreiber, ein 25-jähriger Schweizer, zeigte sich in den ersten Einvernahmen zur Erhebung der Sachlage sehr kooperativ. Die Ermittlungen dauern an und werden einige Zeit in Anspruch nehmen.
http://ww3.tg.ch/default.cfm?TreeID=...TOKEN=75096023
Translation from
slyck
Internet-Site Taken Offline
Ernst Vogelsanger
FRAUENFELD (kapo) Due to the suspicion of breach of copyright and trademark laws the cantonal judicial Inquiry department of Thurgau has taken down an Internet-Site that served as a link platform for filesharing offerings. A process concerning these matters against the 25 year old owner from Frauenfeld is underway.
The Internet-Site located in Frauenfeld was online for about 30 months and last had over 220.000 hits per day bevor it was taken offline by the Thurgau officials. The in search engines toprated site worked as a anchorpoint for links to downloads of copyright and trademark protectet games and movies that were offered on the filesharing network.
After a complaint from several large corporations, represented by the swiss association against piracy, the cantonal judicial inquiry department of Thurgau initiated an investigation, seized the servers in Frauenfeld and had the site taken offline.
The responsible owner, a 25 year old swiss proved to be very cooperative in explaining matters at hand. The inquiries continue and will take some time.
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California AG Wins Role In New Hollywood Spooker, "P2P: The Reckoning"
John Paczkowski
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's close ties to the entertainment industry have never been more evident and more troubling than in a letter circulated last week by Lockyer's office. In that letter, Lockyer condemns peer-to-peer software and calls upon the companies who develop it to warn their customers about the "legal and personal risks" they face while using it. "It is widely recognized that P2P file-sharing software currently is used almost exclusively to disseminate pornography and to illegally trade copyrighted music, movies, software and video games," the letter states. "File- sharing software also is increasingly becoming a means to disseminate computer worms and viruses. Nevertheless, your company still does little to warn consumers about the legal and personal risks they face when they use your software to 'share' copyrighted music, movies and computer software. A failure to prominently and adequately warn consumers, particularly when you advertise and sell paid versions of your software, could constitute, at the very least, a deceptive trade practice." The letter is troubling for a number of reasons and sadly its questionable interpretation of product liability law is the least of them. Wired News reports that it was edited and perhaps even drafted by Vans Stevenson, senior vice president for state legislative affairs for the Motion Picture Association of America.
I'll have a grande CD of the Brazilian-Caribbean blend to go ... oh, and some coffee: Beginning today, coffee beans won't be the only thing Starbucks burns. Patrons of the ubiquitous coffee chain's Hear Music Coffeehouse in Santa Monica can now listen to MP3s from 20,000 albums at one of the cafe's 70 PC listening-station tables and even burn them to their own personalized CDs for a fee. It's an interesting, albeit unproven, model, but one Starbucks is confident in. The company plans to expand the service to 10 Starbucks stores in Seattle next month and roll it out to 2,500 stores over the next two years. "It would be sad if the only way to discover music was home, alone in your room, on your PC," Don MacKinnon, Starbucks vice president of music and entertainment, told USA Today. "The traditional model is walking into the store and knowing what you want. We're trying to turn that model on its head by helping people discover new music."
It took them more time than it should have, but Hollywood marketers have finally realized that online trailers and Flash-heavy sites aren't the only ways to promote films on the Web. Case in point: Warner Bros.' latest thriller, "Taking Lives." The film doesn't premiere in theaters until March 19th, but anyone who's interested can watch its first nine minutes and eight seconds online at Yahoo Movies. A savvy move, this. Give us 10 minutes of a film, just enough to suck us into the action, and then leave us hanging. "The Internet is a terrific way of sampling the product," Nancy Utley, president of marketing for Fox Searchlight, told the L.A. Times. "Trailers are powerful tools, but moviegoers recognize they are heavily edited. They feel it's clever marketing but not really representative of the product. It's hard to argue with that. What Universal is doing is pushing this idea further, and I think it's very smart."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...sv/8199961.htm
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Repercussions.
Site announcement, Jigle.com:
Sorry, this service is closed until further notice.
Reason: The ShareReactor has been shut down due to legal issues (if you speak german read here) and it is unclear whether and when it will return. I'm not aware that anything is going on against my person, but I do not want to cause further costs to SimonMoon and therefore have decided to shut my services down.
So long and thanks to all the people that helped me through the previous two years with this project,
Melange.
http://www.jigle.com/