[JackSpratts]

Fighting File Sharing
Patrick Giblin

File traders beware:

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a new law that says anyone who trades computerized music, movies or game files with 10 or more people a year must attach their legitimate e-mail address to those files.

Those who fail to do so face fines of $2,500 and a year in jail.

Critics believe anyone who follows the law will face being sued by the recording and movie industries.

But California's law may simply be a sign of things to come. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to debate a bill that would make it illegal to trade any copyrighted material on the Internet. It also would give the federal government the right to sue file traders in civil court on behalf of the recording and motion picture industries.

"This is like Big Brother," said Michael Francis, 20, of Ceres. "This is completely whacked."

Cody Jackson, 17, of Riverbank, said he likes to trade music files with his friends, so he wasn't pleased to hear of the new California law. He believes it's another way for the recording industry to scare people away from listening to music online.

Since last year, the Recording Industry Association of America has filed more than 6,000 lawsuits against individuals it said illegally traded copyrighted music online. So far, 64 of those lawsuits have been settled, each for $5,000 or less.

This week, the Motion Picture Association of America filed dozens of lawsuits against people it accused of trading films online. The association sponsored the California bill.

"I'm not against restrictions and understand the reason the companies want to make money," Jackson said. "But instead of finding ways to work with people on the Internet, they are just looking for easier ways to sue you."

The California law — originally called Senate Bill 1506 — was introduced by Kevin Murray, D-Los Angeles, over the summer. It was passed and signed into law in September, and takes effect Jan. 1.

It updates current copyright law in the state, said Bryan Crabb, spokesman for Murray's Sacramento office.

Crabb said existing law requires anyone who duplicates copyrighted material to provide valid contact information while doing so.

"This law simply updates the existing statute to the electronics age," Crabb said. "It adds e-mail to the list of ways to provide valid information."

'Fair use' laws

Under current "fair use" laws, copyrighted material can be duplicated without permission or without providing personal contact information if it's being used as part of:

· An educational course.

· Research.

· A public or educational library.

· A news story, critique, satire or as part of another artistic work.

· A personal "back up" of a legally purchased copy of the work.

The new law — it only lists computerized music, video and game files — also makes exceptions for files that are distributed in a local "home" computer network, to family members or by people who share less than 10 files a year.

While many computer users are just learning of the California law, the legislation now before Congress is even more far-reaching.

The Intellectual Property Protection Act is scheduled to be debated by the Senate this week. The bill already has been approved by the House.

That legislation includes provisions making it a federal crime to use a handheld video camera to capture a movie in a theater. The bill eases the burden on federal prosecutors to go after pirated films and sound recordings before they are released to retailers.

The recording industry association said the bill would provide law enforcement a better set of tools to help deter electronic theft.

"This legislation enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress," said recording industry spokesman Jonathan Lamy. "The intellectual property industries are one of our leading national exports, and it's appropriate for the federal government to have a role in protecting those sectors from rampant piracy."

Officials in the recording industry said their profits have plummeted as the popularity of peer-to-peer file swapping has risen.

Compact disc sales fell from a high of $13.2 billion in 2000 to $11.2 billion in 2003, according to the recording industry association, which put much of the blame on an exponential increase in file sharing. CD sales bounced back in early 2004, but have not reached their previous high levels, the group said.

Does the federal law go too far?

However, critics believe the proposed federal law goes too far.

The law will lower the burden of proof for prosecutors, so that they will only have to prove a "reckless disregard" for the law. In other words, critics said, prosecutors no longer would have to prove that a suspect wilfully distributed illegally copied files.

This is a problem, opponents said, because most Internet file-sharing software is designed to automatically share the contents of people's music libraries with other members on the network. This means that people could face jail time even if they never intended to share their music, critics said.

Several consumer rights groups contend that by lowering the burden of proof for copyright violations, it suddenly makes previously legal behavior illegal.

"It is another step in Hollywood and the recording industry's campaign to exert yet more control over content," said Gigi Sohn, president of the nonprofit fair-use advocacy group Public Knowledge. "We should be very careful as we think about extending more power to large media companies at the expense of society."

Some wording draws objections

Critics object to language in the bill that would allow people to use technology to skip objectionable content on DVDs, but would make it illegal to skip commercials or previews added to the recording.

The proposed law also would permit the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers.

"It just plain turns the Justice Department into Hollywood's private law firm," American Conservative Union deputy director Stacie Rumenap said.

While many computer users said they understood the need to protect copyrighted works, some believe the entertainment industry is missing an opportunity.

Daniel Dunn, 27, of Modesto thinks record studios could make a lot more money by selling songs online than trying to get people to buy full albums that have "only one good song and are overpriced."

"But this is just an underhanded effort by the industry to get the state's help in tracking you down and getting money from you," Dunn said.


A Look At The New Laws

An overview of a new California law and proposed federal law on computer file sharing.

California Internet Piracy Bill:

· Requires people who share music, film or computer gaming files with 10 or more people a year to add their legitimate e-mail address to the file. The law becomes effective Jan. 1.

· Computer users who share files with immediate family members, other users on a network at home or who share less than 10 files a year are exempt. Violators could face fines up to $2,500 and up to one year in prison.

· Minors caught violating the law face fines of $250 for their first and second offenses. The punishment increases to $1,000 and up to a year in jail for each additional offense.


Federal Intellectual Property Protection Act:

· Gives the attorney general’s office the power to file civil lawsuits against file traders.

· Creates punishments of three to six years in a federal prison for people convicted of using a handheld video camera to record a movie in a theater for the purpose of sharing it on the Internet.

· Makes it illegal to trade more than 1,000 copyrighted works online in any 18-month period, trade copies of any copyrighted work that’s worth more than $1,000 or to release any copyrighted material on the Internet before it has been given to retailers.

· Allows individual users to use computers or other electronic devices to skip over violence, gore or sexual scenes on pre-recorded DVDs.

· Prohibits using these electronic devices to skip over commercials or other content in, or added to, the original film, including previews found on DVDs.

Sources: U.S. Senate, California Legislature
http://www.modbee.com/business/story...10355423c.html


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P2P paranoia prompts premature release, pushes pop to peak

Eminem's 'Encore' Debuts at Top of Charts
Alex Veiga

Eminem's new album debuted atop the charts, following a decision by the rapper's record label to move up the album's sale date amid piracy concerns.

"Encore" sold 711,000 copies between Friday and Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The media tracking firm's figures cover all U.S. album sales for the week that ended Sunday.

Behind "Encore" were three compilations by country music acts Shania Twain, Toby Keith and pop diva Britney Spears. Twain's "Greatest Hits" sold 530,000 copies, while fans bought 435,000 copies of Keith's "Greatest Hits 2." Spears' "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative" sold 255,000.

"Encore" was originally slated to be released Tuesday, but Eminem's label, Universal Music Group's Aftermath/Interscope, decided to move up the sale date after tracks began turning up on Internet file-sharing networks.

The release date of Eminem's previous album, 2002's "The Eminem Show," was released four days before its original sale date, selling 285,000 copies in three days. A week later, it sold 1.3 million copies.

Record labels put a premium on racking up strong sales in the first week. But last-minute changes in release dates can be dicey, because advertising and promotion deals often hinge on the timing, which can be designated months or weeks in advance.

That hasn't kept record labels from altering the release date of recordings by several high-profile acts in recent weeks.

Universal's Geffen label moved up the release of rapper Snoop Dogg's latest album, "R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece," to Tuesday, a full week ahead of the original Nov. 23 sale date.

Sony BMG Entertainment's Columbia Records label also opted to release the new album by pop trio Destiny's Child a day ahead of schedule, citing worries over piracy.
http://www.teenmusic.com/d.asp?r=84494&cat=1020

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Universal Music Licensing Songs With Eye Toward File-Sharing
Alex Veiga

Universal Music Group has licensed songs from its stable of artists including U2 and Eminem to a company that has developed technology designed to prevent the unauthorized distribution of audio tracks over online file-sharing networks, a source familiar with the venture said.

The record company signed the deal with San Francisco-based Snocap Inc. with an eye toward eventually having its music sold over one or more file-sharing networks, the source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

So far, the major record companies have opposed licensing their content to file-sharing software firms, refusing to offer their artists' music for sale while unauthorized, CD-quality versions of the songs are being traded for free over the same networks.

Still, the recording industry is interested in turning millions of computer users now swapping music online into paying consumers on ready-made online distribution networks.

The filtering technology developed by Snocap, which was launched by Shawn Fanning, creator of the original Napster file-swapping network, has generated interest as a way to make a recording company-friendly file- sharing network a reality.

The company's service is expected to launch before the end of the year, according to a source close to the company.

Both Universal and Snocap declined to comment on the licensing deal Tuesday.

Sony BMG Entertainment has also been in talks to sell its music on a new file-sharing service dubbed "Mashboxxx."

That service is expected to use technology to block computer users from trading copyright songs without permission, but would allow them to download promotional or restricted versions of songs at no charge.

It's expected to debut early next year.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...0198583.htm?1c


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TECH BUZZ: File sharing - CD Urges Swapping
Dawn C. Chmielewski

It wasn't so long ago that Apple invited us all to "Rip. Mix. Burn." -- an invitation that almost appeared to challenge the recording industry's crackdown on downloaded music. Now the Beastie Boys, David Byrne and other artists have issued "The Wired CD," a compilation of new music that invites listeners to "Rip. Sample. Mash. Share."

The artists on the disc, distributed with the November issue of Wired magazine, have agreed to give music lovers the freedom to transfer the songs to their computers, distribute them over Internet file-swapping networks like Kazaa, and even sample the rhythms to create their own compositions. The only thing you can't do is use them in commercials or, in a handful of instances, a song you plan to release.

Byrne, who contributed a track called "My Fair Lady" to the disc, said Internet file-sharing networks are akin to cultural libraries, repositories for the world's music.

"When you take away that stuff and say, 'No, we own this. You can't have it unless you're ready to pay for it,' . . . it basically cuts the whole culture off at the knees," he said.

Some artists, notably Byrne and former Replacements singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, embraced the concept immediately. Others, including the musically experimental Moby, declined. No hard feelings, said Wired articles editor Thomas Goetz, who spent a year assembling the CD.

"These people make their livelihood through their music. They had to want to sacrifice that," Goetz said. "There was a leap of faith we were asking people to take."
http://www.freep.com/money/tech/tech...e_20041115.htm


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SBC in Deal With Microsoft to Provide TV on High-Speed Lines
Ken Belson and Matt Richtel

SBC Communications, as part of its effort to compete head-on with the cable industry for television subscribers, plans to announce today that it will pay $400 million to Microsoft for software used to deliver TV programming over high-speed data lines.

It would be a crucial move into unproven territory for SBC, which like the other regional telephone giants wants to grow by expanding beyond phone and Internet services and into entertainment. To do that, SBC expects to spend more than $4 billion over the next three years on its fiber optic network to offer faster Internet connections able to carry digital video programming.

The deal is also a milestone for Microsoft. The company has spent roughly $20 billion in the last decade trying to break into the television business, but has little to show for that investment, industry analysts said. The 10-year agreement with SBC is Microsoft's first commercial contract to help deliver programming to millions of homes.

SBC plans to deploy Microsoft's software to encode television programming before it is sent to subscribers and then decode the same programs on TV set-top boxes in customers' homes. Most important, the software compresses digital signals so that video programs can be sent over high-speed data lines.

Microsoft has been testing this technology, called IP-TV, with several telecommunications companies outside the United States, including Bell Canada and Reliance Telecom, one of India's largest phone providers.

Though some analysts are skeptical of how quickly and cheaply the regional Bell companies can enter the television market, SBC plans to start selling programming through its fiber and copper network from the satellite provider, EchoStar, by the fourth quarter of 2005. SBC already has a separate agreement to market EchoStar's satellite service known as the Dish Network.

Like SBC, the Bell giants Verizon Communications and BellSouth, as well as many smaller phone companies also plan to sell television in the coming years to increase revenue and challenge the cable industry, which is fast moving into the phone business with Internet-based phones.

Richard Doherty, research director of the Envisioneering Group, a technology consultant on Long Island, said SBC's deal with Microsoft underscored how fierce the competition between cable and telephone companies was about to become.

"For the first time we hear the cable companies saying, 'the telcos are coming,' " he said.

Microsoft's software, along with SBC's plans to extend fiber optic cables to within a few thousand feet of customers' homes, will help the company provide digital video to consumers quickly, according to Lea Ann Champion, who runs Internet-based operations at SBC.

Speed is crucial, she said, because cable companies are urging their customers to replace their older analog TV services with advanced digital services.

"It's our window of opportunity to reach cable customers," she said.

The SBC-Microsoft alliance underscores the changing nature of how telecommunication services are delivered. To compete with cable's high-capacity pipe into the home, phone companies are rushing to invest billions in fiber optic networks that make it possible for them to send larger amounts of data to homes and businesses.

"This is a very big endorsement," said Moshe Lichtman, vice president of Microsoft TV. "It's a signature of confidence in the direction Microsoft has been taking in this space."

Consumers will potentially have hundreds of channels to choose from, although the delivery of that programming will be different from cable's. All IP-TV programs will be delivered as video-on-demand - consumers request a program from a central server and it is delivered immediately. In contrast, cable companies typically send hundreds of channels to customers' homes all at once - although newer, digital cable systems can also send programs one by one as in video-on-demand.

Initially, SBC hopes that the Microsoft technology will allow it to simultaneously send two high-definition channels and two standard-definition channels for consumers with two televisions on at once, as well as a high-speed Internet connection to consumers. Subscribers will need to add only a new set-top box to receive the programming. SBC will also have to achieve vast increases in data speeds on its network.

Microsoft's technology will also make it easier for SBC to offer TV programming to its customers on a variety of devices that might eventually include cellphones and personal digital assistants, when wireless speeds become fast enough.

The deal with SBC comes after several high-profile failures by Microsoft in its efforts to enter the lucrative television market. Since 1993, Microsoft has invested $20 billion in cable companies and other television-related endeavors, said Mr. Doherty, adding that several of those ventures soured.

But Microsoft appears to have learned from earlier mistakes. Instead of trying to win business by become an equity partner in cable companies, Microsoft is instead focused on improving the server computers and set-top boxes for IP-TV.

Other phone companies are looking at using Microsoft's technology.

Together, the Bells are expected to acquire 6.1 million television subscribers, or 6.2 percent of the national market, by 2010, according to Jeffrey Halpern, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York.

A major hurdle for SBC, however, is how to increase the speed of its network to deliver the television and Internet services it promises. SBC will have to increase its current connection speeds by sevenfold, which may make the company's goal of providing television programming within a year difficult to achieve.

SBC said yesterday that it would start offering Internet-based phone service that operates over broadband lines in early 2005. The company is testing the service in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Antonio. Verizon and Qwest plan to offer similar services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/te...gy/17soft.html


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Trio Of Hot Games Appear On File-Sharing Networks
Matt Slagle

A month before the video game's scheduled release last Tuesday, illegal copies of the hot sci-fi action title "Halo 2" were already circulating on the Internet.

It's had a lot of company lately.

Several highly anticipated games, such as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Half-Life 2," have fallen victim to copyright theft. Illegal, often incomplete versions have appeared on file-sharing networks, news groups and Web sites.

"You spend three years of your life pouring everything you have into this project, and then somebody gets their hands on the game and gives it away to the world for free," said Brian Jarrard of Microsoft Corp.'s Bungie Studios, maker of "Halo 2." "We made this, and these guys had no right to give it out to the public."

High-profile titles are commonly pirated before they are released, certainly within days after they arrive in stores, said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association.

In the case of "Halo 2," the French-language version appeared on file-sharing networks and news groups in October.

Microsoft said it was still investigating, working with authorities to track down those responsible. It remains unclear how the leak occurred, but it did not affect the game's release date.

That wasn't the case for "Half-Life 2."

Fans were waiting last fall for the imminent arrival of the sequel to the popular "Half-Life" when unplayable source code from the personal computer game was stolen from developer Valve Corp. and circulated over the Internet. The investigation has led to one arrest so far. FBI agent Ray Lauer in Seattle identified the suspect as a male from Germany but had no other details.

"Half-Life 2" developer Valve Corp. said the game will arrive in store shelves on Nov. 16.

By the time New York-based Rockstar Games, a division of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., released its PlayStation 2 crime saga "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" on Oct. 26, an illegally obtained version as well pictures of the game and the instruction manual had been on the Internet for a week.

A spokesman said Rockstar is investigating. No one has been charged or arrested thus far.

While Lowenstein of the ESA said it can be difficult to pin the leaks on a single cause, he blamed multinational crime syndicates for much of the theft. Security experts, meanwhile, say the problem often stems from employees involved in game creation.

Gabe Zichermann, vice president of strategy and communications of security company Trymedia Systems, said video games are particularly vulnerable because so many people handle the games - from artists and programmers to workers who package the final product.

He said 70 percent of corporate security breakdowns are caused by insiders.

Many consumers, meanwhile, said they'd never consider pirated versions. Not only would it spoil the surprise, gamers tend to be devoted followers of game creators.

Soon after the "Halo 2" leak, the forums at halo.bungie.org were closed so the experience wouldn't be ruined come November.

"I was expecting to get all sorts of hate mail, but instead I've had hundreds of letters from people saying thank you, you've helped keep us pure," said Claude Errera, a 38-year-old from Bethany, Conn., who runs the popular fan site.

Fans helped track and curb the spread of the pirated versions of "Half-Life 2" and "Halo 2."

Jarrard credited incensed fans and community policing efforts for informing Bungie about Web sites hosting the illegal "Halo 2." The leak certainly hasn't affected sales - Microsoft said more than 1.5 million copies of the Xbox exclusive have been pre-ordered.

And Valve, based in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Wash., said its legions of devoted gamers provided thousands of tips that helped lead to the arrest.

There are many obstacles to snaring the thieves, much less prosecuting them. Many are based overseas, protected by a patchwork of law enforcement and copyright laws.

Efforts to stop the piracy include the ESA's Online Enforcement Program, which claims to have shut down more than 35,000 sites dealing with pirated games since 1998.

Lowenstein conceded that piracy will be tough to stamp out.

"The problem and challenge with piracy is that there are people out there on a worldwide basis who've identified piracy as a very profitable enterprise," he said. "You don't end this problem overnight."
http://www.dailyherald.com/search/ma...?intid=3830681


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Wirehog P2P Melds Social Networks and File-Sharing
John P. Mello Jr.

Programs like Kazaa emphasize searching: You want a file and you search everyone's computer on the P2P network to find it. "There's no searching involved with Wirehog," co- creator Mark Zuckerberg told TechNewsWorld. "It's about sharing interesting personal files with your friends."

Two rapidly growing Internet technologies in recent months have been social networks and peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. Now three whiz kids have coupled those technologies together with a program released this week called Wirehog.

Wirehog is a P2P application that works in conjunction with thefacebook.com, a social networking Web site for more than 250 colleges and universities.

Both Wirehog and thefacebook.com are the cerebral offspring of three undergrads: Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew K. McCollum of Harvard and Adam D'Angelo of Caltech.

File Sharing with a Twist

Wirehog, now in beta, allows facebook members to trade files with each other, as users trade files with P2P programs such as Kazaa , LimeWire and Grokster, but with a twist.

Programs like Kazaa emphasize searching. You want a file and you search everyone's computer on the P2P network to find it. "There's no searching involved with Wirehog," Zuckerberg told TechNewsWorld. "It's about sharing interesting personal files with your friends."

"A lot of people have tried to do social networking with file-sharing applications," he said. "One reason why ours is perhaps more exciting is because our users don't need to develop their own social networks around this. You don't need to add people as friends when you get on to Wirehog because of the integration with facebook."

Friendship Trumps File-Sharing

Wirehog is meant to emphasize friendships, not file-sharing, Zuckerberg maintained. With other P2P applications that have social functions, there's a barrier created by the necessity to add people as friends once you install the program, he explained.

"That creates a different kind of network," he said, "because the people you're adding as friends isn't based on anything social but on who has the most files. But if you base the file-sharing application on an existing social network, then that social connection already exists."

Echos of Aimster

According to Greg Bildson, COO of LimeWire, a P2P software maker based in New York City, the blending of P2P and social networks has been a hot subject recently.

"Social networks are a special type of group with useful trust and taste relationships," he told TechNewsWorld via e-mail. "You will tend to trust your friends and share various tastes."

"People in your social network will tend to help you develop your taste and introduce you to new ideas," he explained. "It is very natural to want to share information and files with these people."

He asserted that getting the interaction of social networks and P2P right is going to take a lot of work and experimentation. "WireHog sounds like a preliminary step in this direction," he said.

"I would expect this area to evolve slowly over the next 5 years," he added, "but it has a lot of potential for blockbuster applications."

Jarad Carleton, an IT Industry Analyst with Frost & Sullivan in Palo Alto, California, likened Wirehog to Aimster, a P2P application that piggybacked on AOL's instant messaging software.

"The theory was that you could more safely trade copyrighted material if you were only trading within a trusted community of friends that you choose to include in your contact list," he told TechNewsWorld via e-mail.

Avoiding Prosecution

"It's a good concept for avoiding prosecution by the RIAA [Recording Industry Association of America] or the MPAA [Motion Picture Association of America]," he contended. "However, I would expect both trade organizations to take a close look at this software and work to find a way to possibly tap into some of the activity on the network to see what is being traded."

He sees Wirehog as a great way to collaborate on projects without leaving home.

For some of those projects, he explained, there will be a need for an easy way to transfer large files to classmates without running into file size restrictions with programs such as Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Instant Messenger.

"This would be a useful and very legitimate reason to use this type of software on campus and is in fact what corporations have wanted from P2P software in the corporate environment," he observed.

"Regardless of the original intentions," he added, "I'd have to say that the RIAA and the MPAA will view this software as a potential threat, and if the creators are not careful, they could find themselves facing lawsuits from the RIAA just as Aimster did."

Although the RIAA hadn't scrutinized Wirehog in depth yet spokesperson Jonathan Levy told TechNewsWorld via e-mail that "the laws remain the same whether it's 'sharing' copyrighted works without permission to one person or to a million people."

"It's a violation of federal law and subjects a person to potential civil and criminal liability," he declared. "Not only is it illegal, it deprives those who produce the music the ability to benefit from their creative efforts."
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/W...ing-38188.html


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Police Break Up European Piracy Ring

Greek and British police in a joint operation cracked an illegal software sales ring, arresting two people and seizing thousands of pirated software programs, Greek police said on Friday.

Police said they had arrested a Greek citizen and a Briton who pirated and sold an expensive computer software program for the car and aeronautic industry, charging only about $905 (700 euros).

"The copyrights to the program belong to a multinational software development company that lost $360 million because of the illegal distribution," police officials said in a statement.

They did not name the company involved but said the man and his British accomplice in London were selling the pirated program to buyers through the Internet.

Police in Athens also found dozens of copies of the software as well as 7,000 CDs containing "every kind of program on the world market."

Officers also confiscated documents of bank accounts, orders, a computer and three hard drives.
http://news.com.com/Police+break+up+...3-5449951.html


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Ottawa's Copyright Plans Wrongheaded, Experts Say
Jack Kapica

Ottawa is about to blunder in cyberspace, lawyers and academics warn.

Last week, the standing committee on Canadian Heritage resubmitted its recommendations for updating the Copyright Act of 1998 and ratifying the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty. Copyright lawyers say that if the changes are made into law, you will not even be able to own your own wedding pictures or save a Web page without paying for it.

Subscription required
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...copy11/BNStory


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ILN News Letter

Developing A Cultural Policy For The 21st Century

My weekly Toronto Star Law Bytes column features part two of an examination of cultural policy. The column argues that the current Canadian culture toolkit must be recast for the 21st century by adapting it to emerging technologies and to legal frameworks that render obsolete longstanding policy mechanisms. The column identifies three key principles -- (1) acknowledgement that Canadian content requirements are only marginally effective and Internet distribution provides a more useful channel; (2) discarding the notion that cultural foreign ownership restrictions provide effective protections; and (3) avoiding unnecessary protectionist legislation that serves primarily to benefit foreign interests and marketplace incumbents. Column at
<http://geistculturetoolkit.notlong.com>
Part one column at
http://geistnetandculturepolicy.notlong.com


Singapore Passes DMCA-Style Provisions Into Copyright Act

Singapore's Parliament has passed several amendments to its Copyright Act, designed largely to ensure compliance with the U.S. - Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The amendments include a new criminal offence for end-user infringements that occur on a "commercial scale". Legislation at
<http://singaporecopyrightact.notlong.com/>
Coverage at
http://straitstimes.asia1.com/sub/si...285456,00.html


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Federal Judge Tosses Porn Purveyor's Copyright Suit Against Credit Card Companies
Brenda Sandburg

Credit card companies aren't liable when someone uses their charge card to buy purloined pornography, a federal court in San Jose, Calif., ruled Monday.

Ruling from the bench, U.S. District Judge James Ware tossed out a copyright and trademark infringement suit brought against Visa International Service Association and MasterCard International Inc. by Perfect 10 Inc., which publishes an adult magazine and operates an adult Web site.

Perfect 10 claims hundreds of Web site operators around the world are selling its trademarked images of women -- and that the credit card companies that process these transactions are liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.

Andrew Bridges, a partner in Winston & Strawn's San Francisco office representing MasterCard, said Perfect 10 was trying "to impose a commercial blockade on anyone accused of infringement." Ware found the credit card companies "are not obliged to manage their merchants away from infringement," Bridges added.

Perfect 10's attorney, Howard King, of Los Angeles' King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner, said his client would appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"It's an area where the copyright law has not been directly applied, but it's logical given the case law," King said, citing suits against Napster and Grokster Ltd., whose software programs allow music file-sharing over the Internet.

While the courts ruled against Napster -- which subsequently sold its assets and is now a subscription service -- the 9th Circuit found Grokster did not infringe copyrighted music since it did not have a centralized index it could police.

King, who also represented Metallica and Dr. Dre in a suit against Napster, said Grokster had no direct contractual relationship with infringers and no ability to deny them access to copyrighted material. By contrast, he said, MasterCard and Visa have a direct contract with the Web site operators infringing Perfect 10's images and have the ability to cancel that contract.

The only way to stop the wholesale theft of copyrighted images "is going to the people who benefit financially from it," King said. "A worldwide theft ring is being fenced by the processors."

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Perfect 10 claims credit card companies have a "special relationship" with the infringing Web site operators since they have enhanced requirements for processing the transactions of such high-risk merchants and impose higher fees for disputed charges on them.

The case, of course, could have ramifications for businesses in general. And King and Bridges said Ware was cautious about how broadly his decision may be applied to other industries and other plaintiffs.

Bridges said the application of the Napster case in Perfect 10 v. Visa International, 04-0371, shows how law made in extreme cases can later be applied in different scenarios.

"A lot of copyright [litigation] is being pushed by pornographers who are trying to take advantage of cases brought by more mainstream media," Bridges said.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1100535339538


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Too dangerous for ordinary citizens

Russian Minister Urges Control Of Internet

The Russian segment of the Internet must be controlled by the state, Andrey Fursenko, the Russian Minister for Education and Science, said at the first World Scientific Forum in Kyoto, the Novye Izvestia newspaper reported.

According to Mr. Fursenko, access to the Internet is very easy in Russia, which is dangerous for ordinary citizens. In his opinion, access to the Internet should be restricted.

This statement stirred the entire computer world, which branded the proposed measure as “draconian” and “totalitarian”. Along with indisputable advantages of introducing scientific achievements to everyday life, this could also have negative consequences, said Mr. Fursenko. In his opinion, “easy access to the Internet creates certain problems connected with relations between individuals and society”. “The government bears responsibility for control over the use of scientific technologies, including the Internet,” the Minister stressed. It is unclear whether he was speaking about private e- mails or surfing the net for information.

Earlier, concerns about the Russian segment of the Internet were expressed by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Lyudmila Narusova, a member of the Federation Council Information Policy Commission. Ms. Narusova said the Internet “turned into a stinking garbage pit”.

Mr. Fursenko had not discussed his complaints about the Internet with the Federation Council Internet Law Making Committee or with the State Duma Information Committee. Alexander Klyukin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Information Committee, criticized Mr. Fursenko’s initiative. “In North Korea, the government took cyber space under its control. If the Minister meant that, then a totalitarian society should be created in Russia, according to him,” he said. At the same time, he agreed that the government should control various pornographic websites and websites disseminating defamatory and false information. “For my part, I want to participate in the development of laws restricting dishonest activity involving the Internet. But such bills have not been discussed by the committee,” the deputy said.

There are more than 15m Internet users in Russia. According to some analysts, the figure will rise to 50m people by 2010. The number of Russians using the Internet has been rising by 35 to 40 percent annually over the past 4 years.

At the same time, there are 13m to 15m computers in the Russian Federation - about 15 computers for every 100 citizens. Today, Internet penetration in Moscow and St. Petersburg is about 30-40 percent, and the regions are not far behind.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cn...shtml?nd=46369


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Off The Desk



This black brushed aluminum box looks more comfortable on a shelf with home entertainment components than on a desk next to a computer monitor. And that's the way it should be: the $2,000 HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center (shopping.hp.com) is designed to store all your media files and integrate and control your entertainment devices. Inside is a 3-gigahertz, Pentium 4-based computer with 360 gigabytes of storage and more: dual television tuners, FM tuner, DVR, DVD player and recorder, and video-audio jacks and ports for practically any electronic device with a screen or speaker.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/te...rtainment.html


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Microsoft Cracks Down On Xbox Modifications
AP

In the days before Microsoft Corp. released the hotly anticipated Halo 2 video game for the Xbox game console, some gamers noticed a sudden spike in the number of people being kicked off the company's online game service.

That was no coincidence. With Halo 2 expected to entice a new batch of users to the Xbox Live online gaming community, Microsoft says it got tougher with people suspected of making unauthorized modifications to their Xboxes.

Gamers who modify Xboxes usually do so either to be able to cheat on games or use pirated copies, although some also have made changes so they can use the Xbox for other functions, from running Linux to playing music.

Cameron Ferroni, general manager of the Xbox software platform, says Microsoft is not interested in suing individual users. But the company does want to banish scofflaws from its online service, Xbox Live.

It's hard to know how many of Microsoft's 15.5 million Xbox users have modified their game consoles, although the percentage is believed to be small.

Microsoft has a unique glimpse into the approximately 1 million Xbox Live users' computers because, by virtue of signing up for the service, users agree to let Microsoft gather certain information from their machines.

Ferroni declined to go into specifics on how the company can check Xbox Live users' machines for suspected modifications. He said Microsoft has no way of checking whether players who don't use Xbox Live have modified their machines.

Neil Smith, an intellectual property lawyer with Howard Rice in San Francisco, said there's little legal risk in modifying a game system for relatively benign personal use, such as making players invulnerable.

But it is important to Microsoft to prevent such cheating on Xbox Live, where multiple players can take part in games. Ferroni said the goal is to make sure there's a level playing field.

Smith, who has represented several video game companies, said users face greater legal risk -- and companies have more leverage -- if a person is modifying the system to play pirated or other unauthorized games. That's especially true if the person is altering their system's security codes or settings.

Microsoft says it has focused its legal efforts on those it believes are manufacturing pirated games or mass-producing Xbox modifications.

Smith said the legality of modifying other people's technology remains hazy.

Other technology companies have grappled with how much can be done to their systems without their consent.

Earlier this year, Seattle-based RealNetworks caused a stir when it said it had developed software that allows songs purchased from its online music store to transfer to Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod by skirting internal copy protections.

Apple, which has closely guarded control of its music player, responded by accusing RealNetworks of adopting ``the tactics and ethics of a hacker.''

Other video game consoles don't seem to face as much tinkering for the sake of piracy as the Xbox, said PJ McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research.

Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 doesn't have as complex antipiracy measures, he said, and Nintendo Co.'s cartridge-based games are much more difficult to pirate than the CDs that Microsoft and Sony use.

Analyst Rob Enderle said Microsoft's Xbox is also much more vulnerable to tinkering because its popular built-in hard drive more closely mimics a regular personal computer, whereas the other systems rely on less familiar technology.

``The very thing that made the Xbox a rapid success is also what made it easy to hack,'' Enderle said.

McNealy thinks Microsoft is right to go after those who are playing pirated games, but he thinks Microsoft might be flattered by some of the other homemade tweaks.

``To modify it to the umpteenth degree is simply a byproduct of the geek culture of the hardcore gamer,'' McNealy said. ``It should be good news for Microsoft that there's that much demand (for Xbox) that people want to spend so much time figuring that stuff out.''
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...l/10189248.htm


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U.K. Music Charts Make Way For Downloads

Britons may soon be buying more music singles over the Internet than the counter, forcing the U.K. chart into its biggest shake-up in more than 50 years of tracking and ranking sales.

Early next year the singles chart apparently is set to be merged with the download version launched in September, reflecting rapid changes in how people are listening to music.

Already between 200,000 and 250,000 singles are bought via music download services every week in Britain, approaching physical sales that regularly drop below 400,000, according to the Official U.K. Charts Co.

More than half a million singles are being sold weekly in Britain in the run-up to Christmas, but industry experts believe they will one day be overtaken by "virtual vinyls."

"Downloads is another choice, so it will take awhile" to take over, said Paul Clifford, a manager at the Charts Company.

"There are still a hell of a lot of people who don't have an iPod and don't know how to download," he added, referring to the pocket-size digital music player made by Apple Computer.

Worldwide music downloads still represent a fraction of total sales for the recording industry, but they are growing fast. Executives and artists hope the new technology will arrest an overall decline in singles sales in recent years.

Last month, Swedish DJ Eric Prydz became Britain's lowest-selling No. 1 act on record with only around 23,500 singles.

Clifford said the download chart's merger with the regular chart was almost certain to go ahead.

"In principle it's all been agreed," he said. "We're having to change with the times."
http://news.com.com/U.K.+music+chart...3-5453020.html


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Top 10 File-Sharing News Alternatives
Thomas Mennecke

Where do you get your file-sharing news? There are plenty of sites out there; of course some offer more information than others. Each file-sharing site has its strengths and weaknesses, and most individuals find themselves traversing several sites in order to get their P2P news fill. Take a look below and perhaps you will find a new site to supplement your search for file-sharing news.

10 – UniteTheCows.com

UniteTheCows.com came very close to becoming a top P2P news site. Original content was being developed and its population became considerable. However, a merger with PCTechTalk.com – a move that has haunted the site – would prove to be its downfall. After the merger, UTC.com no longer existed as an independent site and instead traffic was diverted to PCTechTalk.com (a computer/technology site.) Losing its P2P news nature, those still faithful to delivering file-sharing news split from the site and created P2PForums.com. Although UTC.com would eventually reemerge as a file-sharing news site, it never regained the near-glory it once achieved. The site is currently under redevelopment; we wish their reemergence the very best.

9 – GnutellaNews.com

One would think that with a name like GnutellaNews.com, this site would be on the ball when it comes to interviews with LimeWire developer Greg Bildson or covering the Gnutealla2 vs. Gnutella conflict. Unfortunately it does not. GnutellaNews.com is an aggregate of other news and offers little revelation into the Gnutella network. However, it does have a good following of individuals which allows an for intelligent discussion of current P2P and file-sharing issues.

8 – Peerevolution.com

Peerevolution.com is a general aggregate P2P news site with little or no original content. However, it is home of the Ares Forums, and offers the members of this community a great place to hang out and discuss the latest in Ares Galaxy.

7 - P2Pconsortium.com

An exciting new member of the P2P news community, P2Pconsortium is made up of UniteTheCows.com refugees that hung around despite the PCTechTalk.com merger. Although the site is currently generic in nature, the site is looking to be a P2P uniter; and is not looking to complete with other file-sharing sites. This is evidenced by their extensive listing of various other P2P communities and news sites. Although this site has only been up for a week, it already has an active forum. Should be interesting to see how this site works out.

6 – P2Pchat.net

Although this site has little in the way of original content (virtually all aggregate), it does provide other useful services. P2Pchat.net’s perhaps greatest contribution is its extensive IRC network. P2Pchat.net hosts the IRC chat rooms of several players in the P2P community such as BeatKing.com, Shareaza and Morpheus. In addition, P2Pchat once hosted an extensive community where members of the file-sharing community can post pictures on an online album. This was a interesting addition the placed a face with familiar names, however this feature seems to have vanished.

5 - OpenP2P.com

OpenP2P.com often has good original content and interviews with leading P2P developers. However, their interviews tend to be generic in nature and seem to avoid hard-hitting questions. In the last several years, the site has not changed much and the news is not updated with any frequency. However, as a supplement to already existing news, OpenP2P.com is an excellent news site. OpenP2P.com tends to focus of course on open source P2P issues, and for those involved in this arena, the site is a valuable resource.

4 – Zeropaid.com

Zeropaid.com was one of the first file-sharing websites to hit the Internet. It arrived shortly after the excellent file-sharing news site CyberTropix.com was publishing original P2P content. Zeropaid.com is an aggregate news site, although at one point it did occasionally have original content in the form of interviews and various other guides. There is a wealth of information contained in the forums, however finding this wealth can be on the tricky side. Zeropaid.com needs to encourage its more knowledgeable posters to become writers and turn helpful forum content into news articles.

3 – InfoAnarchy.org

InfoAnarchy.org has been involved with the P2P community for a considerable amount of time – about the same as Zeropaid and Slyck. Like P2Pnet.net, InfoAnarchy.org contains an impressive amount of original content written by owner Erik Möller. One of its major accomplishments is an extensive Wikipedia containing a wealth of P2P and file-sharing information. Members of the site maintain the Wikipedia. All InfoAnarchy.org needs is more frequent news updates to make this a leading P2P news site.

2 – P2Pnet.net

Once just another newcomer, P2Pnet.net has gained a tremendous amount of respect due to its original news content. Jon Newton, the writer of P2Pnet.net, generates at a minimum of 8 articles a day on various file-sharing and technology related issues. While most of his articles are brief roundups, many are full length and investigative in nature. In addition, P2Pnet.net has established several media contacts allowing viewers to see in-depth, albeit one sided, perspectives. P2Pnet.net would greatly benefit from a user forum, although the comment system has been excellent addition.

1 – P2PForums.com

P2PForums was initially composed of refugees from UniteTheCows.com. Starting off as nothing more than another run of the mill P2P V-Bulletin site, P2PForums has grown into serious file-sharing news site. Although much of their content is aggregated from other news sites, it is slowly beginning to develop original content and file-sharing guides. In addition, its highly active forums are almost a sure bet for those looking for information regarding various P2P or other file-sharing related issues. Its members are well versed in the ways of Usenet, IRC, BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 – allowing for a wide range of discussion.

Other news sites worthy of mention:

P2P-Zone.com is the home of the Napsterites forum. Although not a news site, it is a large forum full of intelligent discussion.

Like Napsterites, GnutellaForums.com is not a news site but a forum. However it offers a great place to discuss various Gnutella related issues.

NapJunk.net is an on again, off again site that does have some original content in the form of software reviews, definitely worth a visit.

RespectP2P.org is run by “Simon Moon”, the once administrator of the now defunct eDonkey2000 link site Sharereactor.com. Although there is some news, the site functions more as a discussion forum in addition to hosting the RespectP2P.org IRC network.

If you are caught up in your French, you may want to check out Ratiatum.

When most of EarthStation5’s forum members departed, they started a new forum/ news site named IntegrityP2P.com. Also make note that Slashdot.org often covers P2P and file-sharing related news.

The fact that all these sites have members and administrators that take time out of their lives to dedicate towards the advancement of knowledge is commendable, and each one of the above mentioned sites deserver a tremendous amount of credit.
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=609


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'Music Is Not a Loaf of Bread'
Xeni Jardin

Giving away an album online isn't the way most artists end up with gold records. But it worked out that way for Wilco.

After being dropped from Reprise Records in 2001 over creative conflicts surrounding Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the Chicago-based band committed what some thought would be suicide -- they streamed it online for free.

The album's subsequent release on Nonesuch debuted higher on the charts than any of their prior releases. That success gave both band and label confidence to try new internet forays: the first-ever MPEG- 4 webcast with Apple, as well as more free online offerings of live shows and an EP's worth of fresh tracks. The band's 2004 release, A Ghost Is Born, hit No. 8 on the Billboard charts -- their highest position to date.

By conventional industry logic, file sharing hurts the odds for commercial success. Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy disagrees. Wired News caught up with him during his current tour to find out just what makes Wilco so wired.

Wired News: What sparked the idea of offering your music online for free?

Jeff Tweedy: Being dropped from Reprise in 2001. They weren't going to put out Yankee Hotel Foxtrot the way we'd created it. They wanted changes; we weren't willing to do that, so they rushed a contract through their legal department to let us go. It was the fastest I'd ever seen a record company work. Once they let us go, we were free to do with the album what we chose.

We'd been noticing how much more important the internet had become -- once information is out there in the world now, anyone can get it. Since that was beginning to happen with the record anyway, we figured, OK, let's just stream it for free ourselves.

WN: Did you minimize the quality of the files you offered online, so that people would be encouraged to pay for a higher-quality "real thing" when you signed to a new record label?

Tweedy: We didn't go out of our way to make it sound low-res. MP3s are poorer quality anyway. That's part of why the record industry's argument against file sharing is so ridiculous -- nothing out there on P2P networks sounds as good as the original CD or vinyl record.

WN: Did the free online release make it hard for you to find a new label home?

Tweedy: That's why we ended up with Nonesuch. They weren't intimidated by the fact that hundreds of thousands had already downloaded it.

WN: What was your reaction when copies of A Ghost Is Born started showing up online this year, before the official release?

Tweedy: Something interesting happened. We were contacted by fans who were excited about the fact that they found it on P2P networks, but wanted to give something back in good faith. They wanted to send money to express solidarity with the fact that we'd embraced the downloading community. We couldn't take the money ourselves, so they asked if we could pick a charity instead -- we pointed them to Doctors Without Borders, and they ended up receiving about $15,000.

WN: What are your thoughts on the RIAA's ongoing lawsuits against individual file sharers?

Tweedy: We live in a connected world now. Some find that frightening. If people are downloading our music, they're listening to it. The internet is like radio for us.

WN: You don't agree with the argument that file sharing hurts musicians' ability to earn a living?

Tweedy: I don't believe every download is a lost sale.

WN: What if the efforts to stop unauthorized music file sharing are successful? How would that change culture?

Tweedy: If they succeed, it will damage the culture and industry they say they're trying to save.

What if there was a movement to shut down libraries because book publishers and authors were up in arms over the idea that people are reading books for free? It would send a message that books are only for the elite who can afford them.

Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can't be cheap, either.

WN: How do you feel about efforts to control how music flows through the online world with digital rights management technologies?

Tweedy: A piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience. How they perceive your work changes your work.

Treating your audience like thieves is absurd. Anyone who chooses to listen to our music becomes a collaborator.

People who look at music as commerce don't understand that. They are talking about pieces of plastic they want to sell, packages of intellectual property.

I'm not interested in selling pieces of plastic.

WN: Your critics might say that it's easy for you to say that, given that you're already a commercial success.

Tweedy: I'm grateful that I've sold enough to have a house, take care of my kids and live decently. But that's a gift, not an entitlement.

I don't want potential fans to be blocked because the choice to check out our music becomes a financial decision for them.

WN: How do you feel about some of the new kinds of rights management alternatives some are proposing, instead of our current copyright schemes -- for instance, Creative Commons licenses that would allow your fans to remix your material for personal, noncommercial use?

Tweedy: Commercial use is one thing, but I have no problem with fans tinkering with it on their laptops, then sharing it with their friends -- that's just a new way for them to listen.

WN: Wilco is involved in a lot of non-music projects -- you published a book of poetry called Adult Head this year, the band was the subject of a 2002 documentary film, and the band just released a new book of photos, art, essays and previously unreleased tracks on an accompanying CD -- The Wilco Book. Is there a link between all the multimedia exploration and the relaxed attitude you seem to have about what happens to your music in the digital realm?

Tweedy: We're a collective of people who live to create things. When we released A Ghost Is Born, we decided to do that in an enhanced format for a number of reasons. We get to deliver more art that way. It's also a concession to the fact that we're artists who do work within the industry infrastructure. This offers something more than a downloaded MP3 can.

WN: What's next from Wilco in the way of online experiments?

Tweedy: Every few months or so we put a new live show on our site for download. And between YHF and AGIB, we released some tracks exclusively on our site for free. We've been encouraged by the response.

This has just become part of the way the band interacts with our audience. It's part of what we do now, and I don't think we're going to stop anytime soon.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65688,00.html

















Until next week,

- js.














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Current Week In Review.





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Jack Spratt's Week In Review[i] is published every Friday. Please submit letters, articles, and press releases in plain text English to jackspratts (at) lycos (dot) com. Include contact info. Submission deadlines are Wednesdays @ 1700 UTC.