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Old 20-05-04, 07:07 PM   #1
JackSpratts
 
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Join Date: May 2001
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Default Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - May 22nd, '04

Quotes Of The Week

"The Xerox machine has always been the arch enemy of the printed music world, and copying is impossible to police." – Fred Anton, chief executive of Warner Brothers Publications

"If this kind of arrest is allowed, there is no future for the development efforts of software creators." – Toshimitsu Dan

"[The record labels] don't have a future here unless they recast themselves in a dramatically different way, there doesn't seem to be a solution for them and that's their problem, not ours." – Dave Winer




Yearly Porn Perp-Parade

Once again the evil minions of the industrial media complex have snookered global governments into chasing red herrings by going after open P2P networks looking for kiddie porn distributors - instead of getting them where they hide. As everyone who uses P2P knows by now, it’s wide open. Your IP address hangs in the breeze, and any copper looking to score a collar can dial you up in 2 seconds flat. The crooks are onto this of course and that’s why they don’t use P2P for their nefarious schemes; it’s too easy to get busted. It’s also why, with an estimated 100,000,000 P2P’ers in the U.S. alone, this latest porn purge, the third in as many years, netted a paltry 65 arrests. Who’s kidding who here? It’s just a way to make headlines in advance of congressional hearings on copyright "reform," using precious crime busting resources to divert the public eye from uncomfortable truths about media malpractice and turning them into a taxpayer subsidized PR propaganda campaign against regular file sharers. If this was really about stopping criminals the last places they’d look would be peer-to-peer networks of any kind. 65 arrests? It may be a sad fact of modern life but my guess is your local post office probably handles more of the stuff each day. When searching for bugs you don’t waste your time staring at the center of the kitchen floor with the arc lights on, you work the dark recesses under the counters if you really want to get at them.

The Japanese meanwhile, busy cracking down on just about everyone, have recently added posting screenshots to their list of arrestable offences, according to a late report. Not content to lock up software writers and leave it at that the authorities must think free-speachers are getting away with copyright murder because they’re sure treating them as if they were. I’d love to say it can’t happen here but if I did I’d be lying. It can and it probably will, unless we all step up and make some personnel changes in Washington.

No Middlemen Allowed

New on the horizon is a portable product from Delkin devices called the USB Bridge that lets users connect two USB powered devices together and swap files – without the need of a computer playing traffic cop. The $70 item, about the size of a pack of smokes and limited to slow USB 1 transfer speeds allows data to be migrated from a photo memory card to a portable hard drive, or from an iPod to a CD burner, or any two USB storage devices directly, in the field, no PC or Mac required. They tell me they’re considering upgrading the battery powered device to speedy USB 2 and that’s good because as it stands now anyone using it to transfer data from one big hard drive to another might need a week to swap 300 gigs. While that’s orders of magnitude faster than standard broadband, USB 2 would cut that down to a few hours, making the unit really handy. The model debuts in June.

The clever Dutch have come up with a marketing solution that gets movies onto the Internet and directly into your homes months, if not years ahead of feet-dragging studios. In a sale/leaseback scheme so complicated lawyers in Philly were paying not to take the case, Dvdstream.nl is selling films - then buying - to - and from - users - all to stay within the letter of plain old hopelessly convoluted/outdated Dutch copyright law. Insisting it’s “all legal” and backed up in that assessment by the entertainment industry, the service will provide unlimited movie downloads for about $15 a month. Reading from their standard script the film industry meanwhile says they may have a problem with the service, but that’s not news – it’s the same old song and dance.









Enjoy,

Jack.









Arrest Of Japanese File-Sharing Developer Is A Threat, Lawyer Says

TOKYO (AP) - A lawyer for a Japanese professor detained on copyright violations for his file-sharing technology called the arrest ``extremely dangerous'' Monday, saying the move threatened the freedom of software creators.

Isamu Kaneko, a 33-year-old assistant professor at the prestigious University of Tokyo, was arrested May 10 on copyright-related charges for developing and offering the popular Winny software, which lets people swap movies and video games over the Internet.

Kaneko was also accused of helping two people illegally distribute games and films online, police said. The other two were arrested in November.

Toshimitsu Dan, an attorney on Kaneko's defense team, said there were no laws in Japan that declare file-sharing software illegal, adding Kaneko only created the software.

``The police are arbitrarily making their own judgment about what is lawful,'' Dan said in a telephone interview. ``And that is extremely dangerous. If this kind of arrest is allowed, there is no future for the development efforts of software creators.''

Within days of Kaneko's arrest, a defense fund was set up on the Internet, drawing dozens of like-minded users of ``blogs,'' or Internet journals, who'd never met in person but wanted to support Kaneko.

As of Monday, the fund has raised 5 million yen (US$44,000) for Kaneko's defense, said Shunichi Arai, a software engineer and one of the initiators of the fund.

Dan said Kaneko was still in police custody and his release was unlikely for the first 20 days after he was arrested under Japanese law. Kaneko has not been formally charged.

A hearing before a judge is set for Tuesday, but police can continue to hold him for questioning, Dan said.

``It is a system that has serious problems,'' he said. ``But his situation is not unusual.''

Kaneko's arrest is believed to be the first in Japan of a suspected developer of file-sharing software. The charge of violating copyright laws carries up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 3 million yen (US$26,000).

``Why should file-sharing software be illegal?'' said Arai. ``It's a very unfair arrest.''

Winny, which Kaneko developed in 2002, has become a headache for digital content providers here, as users have been drawn by its reputation for protecting users' anonymity. As many as a million Japanese have used Winny, according to media reports.

Kaneko has issued only a brief statement to his backers through his lawyers: ``Thank you for supporting me.''
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/8687322.htm


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Video-Game Website Owner Arrested For Posting Screenshots
Luke Guttridge

Reports this morning inform us of the rather troubling news from Japan that the owner and Editor of popular online gaming site Gamesonline, one of Japan's most popular news sites, has been arrested for alleged breach of copyright concerning screenshots used on his website. The webmaster was deemed to have fallen foul of Japanese copyright law having used hundreds of videogame images taken from overseas press and online media without the permission of the games publishers in question (an offence under Japanese law).

The games publishers in question: SNK Playmore, Capcom, Square Enix, and Namco, allegedly pressed charges after finding 'offending' screenshots on Gamesonline, though other publishers had given their permission for some of the images featured. Before its closure, Gamesonline was a profit making website funded by advertising.

This unprecedented arrest and site closure has apparently come as a genuine shock to the Japanese gaming media, and it's not surprising given that the role such sites fulfil in promoting company's titles would surely suggest that to arrest and close in such a fashion is counter-productive, though further details on the vagaries of the case might present a different view. More as we get it.
http://www.ferrago.com/story/3777


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Moscow Mayor Backs Legislative Limitations for Internet
MosNews

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov stated Monday that a special law on the Internet was needed to raise the “responsibility of network journalists and operators for the objectivity of information”. In his article in the Izvestia newspaper, he wrote that the “vital goal of society” was to bring the Internet “back into the framework of civilized legislation”.

Luzhkov wrote that a simple definition of rights and obligations of web users was needed. Then, Internet providers will be able to receive official licenses and websites will have to be registered as media.

First of all, “the Internet must be put in the law on media as a separate item,” Luzhkov wrote. “The legal channels must appear to release official warnings to web media, and it will be possible to close them only after a court decision.” After that, a special law must appear, he said.

The Moscow mayor described such a law as necessary because the web had turned into “a territory of pirates’ rule”. He accused them of promoting violations and drugs, trading in people and child pornography. “The Internet is gradually being settled by unconcealed terrorists who turn the web not only into their own mailbox but into a real military infrastructure of world underground.”

“The notorious anonymity of real owners of network media is poorly compatible with the principles of an open and democratic society,” the mayor’s article said. And the current laws cannot save a person “offended and slandered by the spiders from the World Wide Web.”

An official from the press office of the Moscow mayor who learned about the article from MosNews staff was unable to give “a hundred percent” guarantee that this article was really written by Yuri Luzhkov. However, the illustration for the article in Izvestia is the mayor’s photo, and the sources in the newspaper said that the author really was the Moscow mayor.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/05/17/luzhkov.shtml


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New Spin on the Music Business
Katie Dean

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- Rather than modify the current, failing copyright system to save the entertainment industry, one legal scholar is proposing radical plans for a system that he claims will pay artists fairly and bring more digital media to the people who crave it.

But convincing the music and movie industries to embrace the idea seems unlikely, at least in the near future.

Harvard Law School professor Terry Fisher detailed his proposal Friday at the Internet Law Program, a three-day event sponsored by the school's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Fisher advocates an alternative compensation system that would pay artists based on the popularity of their music. Artists would first have to register their work with the copyright office, which would track how many times that work was downloaded. Revenue generated from taxes on things like Internet access and the sale of MP3 players would then be used to pay the artists. Similar plans have been proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and University of Texas at Austin law professor Neil Netanel, among others.

The Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, which represents the labels, has used copyright law to sue thousands of music fans for infringement since September. But the problem remains: More than 60 million people -- "more than voted for President Bush," Fisher said -- continue to share music on peer-to- peer networks.

Fisher said his alternative model would allow music fans to obtain more music for less money, without fears of legal action from the RIAA. All artists would be paid better than they are under the current regime.

He said that while record industry execs "hated" his idea, there are "much more significant prospects for building this in other countries."

Fisher said Brazil is interested in exploring the idea and is building a database of digital music, an effort supported by the country's minister of culture, musician Gilberto Gil.

If, in a few years, the system is successful in Brazil and American entertainment industries continue to see their businesses suffer, an alternative compensation system may seem more appealing.

"What's more likely in the United States is a voluntary version," Fisher said. That would require the participation of both musicians and music fans to be successful, and could be financed by subscription revenues.

"I think it's great, but it's so far in the future," said Heather Ford, who is helping to build a branch of Creative Commons, an organization that enables creators to use more flexible copyright licenses, in South Africa.

Others were skeptical about the idea.

"If it was implemented it would create a bureaucracy that would make all bureaucracies benign by comparison because it would intrude the government into an incredibly important part of national life," said Chuck Rosenberg, an entertainment attorney and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.

Also, the idea seems to underestimate the cost and importance of those who help artists create their works and attract the public's attention, he said. For instance, Rosenberg wondered if those who produce the music, promote the band and make the videos would have the same incentive to invest in new talent under this kind of system.

One programmer in the audience said it's up to the recording companies to find a new paradigm for their industry.

The record labels "don't have a future here unless they recast themselves in a dramatically different way," said Dave Winer, who runs Scripting News. "There doesn't seem to be a solution for them and that's their problem, not ours."
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63474,00.html


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The Future Of P2P File Sharing
p2pnet.net Opinion

Janko Roettgers is a German journalist living in Los Angeles.His book "Mix Burn & R.I.P. - Das Ende der Musikindustrie (The End of the Music Industry) - was published in Germany last fall.

Since the recording industry sued Napster in December 1999, the P2P community has tried to evade persecution by making their systems more autonomous and less traceable. Unfortunately this process has also adversely affected the user experience. This may not be so obvious when we look at P2P just from a technological perspective. Today's networks serve many more users than the first generation of file sharing platforms. They also enable us to move bits around the network much faster than before.

But second and third generation networks and services like Fasttrack / Kazaa, Gnutella and Bittorrent lack one thing that Napster had: Community. Napster enabled users to engage in discussions and discover new content simply by browsing the shared folders of random people who happened to attend the same chat room. This sort of accidental collaborative filtering is very unlikely in modern networks.

With the music industry suing users worldwide two main concepts emerged as possible solutions: the concept of anonymity and the concept of darknets. Anonymous file sharing is not a new idea, but with increasing legal pressure more and more users demand technical solutions that allow tham to share content without concealing their identity. Unfortunately in most cases anonymity goes along with a loss of community. If I don't know who is downloading a file from my hard disk I won't have a chance to engage in a discussion about that file.

On the other hand, darknets are small networks that are based on trust rather than on anonymity. The idea of such webs of trust isn't really a new idea either, but it recently received lots of attention when a group of Microsoft researchers envisioned it as a possible future of P2P. The problem with trusted communities is that they face a dilemma of differenciation. If their users trust too many people they could face intrusion. If they are too paranoid they'll suffer from a lack of new content. However this is only true if we define such a group or network as a closed system. I don't think this is necessarily true for today's darknets - people exchanging content with their pals over Instant Messaging or in real life - and it doesn't need to be true for technical more innovative darknets that might eventually be able to replace today's P2P networks.

An interesting model for these future darknets emerged when the social networking site Friendster.com started in spring of 2003. Friendster connects people based on their immediate relations and allows to build quite impressive personal networks. Originally the website connected people up to the fourth degree. Average users could easly be connected to more than half a million fourth-degree friendsters. To sustain a feeling of intimacy Friendster recently reduced the personal network horizon to three degrees. Even with these limitations it is very well possible to build a personal network of tens of thousands of people.

Friendster made the idea of social networking popular, but it is by far not the only platform offering such services. Other websites have introduced significant additions. Tribe.net for example allows to form topic-related networking groups. Orkut offers it's users the chance to distinguish between a general, a professional and a personal profile, offering individual access for many bits of information. The decisions made when completing such a Orkut profile are based on calculated risks. How much can I gain from making such information accessible to other people, and how high are the risks? If I publish my e-mail- address publicly I might risk getting even more spam. Not publishing it at all might make it hard for people that are important to me to get in contact with me.

Such decisions based on calculated risks could also help us to create very effective social P2P networks. Instead of relying on the trust of a closed community, each participant could determine on a case by case basis how much he wants to risk. I might want to share my whole digital music collection with only a handful of close personal friends. However I might be willing to take the risk to share a few hundred files with everyone in my extended personal network. Introducing different layers of groups and relationships might even expand each participant's network horizon.

Unlike closed groups, a social P2P network can not be compromised that easily because each user has different trust settings and in fact, a different network. And finally social networks will almost automatically introduce a whole bunch of collaborative filtering mechanisms. Napster made it possible to accidentally discover new content by connecting with strangers. Social networks automatically connect you to people with similiar interests, making it much easier to find what you want without even knowing what to search for.
http://p2pnet.net/story/1451


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65 Arrests In Child Pornography Sweep
AP

A nationwide inquiry into child pornography trafficking on Internet file-sharing networks has resulted in 1,000 investigations and at least 65 arrests, federal officials said. The investigation centers on the growing use of "peer-to-peer" networks that allow users to connect computers directly with one another to exchange files. That provides greater anonymity than traditional Internet servers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/15/na...rtn er=GOOGLE

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Panel Urges New Protection on Federal 'Data Mining'
Robert Pear

A federal advisory committee says Congress should pass laws to protect the civil liberties of Americans when the government sifts through computer records and data files for information about terrorists.

"The Department of Defense should safeguard the privacy of U.S. persons when using data mining to fight terrorism," the panel says in a report to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. The report, expected to be issued in about two weeks, says privacy laws lag far behind advances in information and communications technology.

The eight-member panel, which includes former officials with decades of high-level government experience, found that the Defense Department and many other agencies were collecting and using "personally identifiable information on U.S. persons for national security and law enforcement purposes." Some of these activities, it said, resemble the Pentagon program initially known as Total Information Awareness, which was intended to catch terrorists before they struck, by monitoring e-mail messages and databases of financial, medical and travel information.

The Pentagon program, later renamed Terrorism Information Awareness, was flawed from the start, though its goal was worthwhile, the panel said. "Our nation should use information technology and the power to search digital data to fight terrorism, but should protect privacy while doing so," it concluded. "In developing and using data mining tools, the government can and must protect privacy."

Data mining is defined in the report to mean "searches of one or more electronic databases of information concerning U.S. persons, by or on behalf of an agency or employee of the government."

The panel, the Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee, said the Pentagon program was "not the tip of the iceberg, but rather one small specimen in a sea of icebergs."

Although the panel was created by Mr. Rumsfeld to scrutinize Pentagon programs, it offers sweeping recommendations for privacy safeguards throughout the government.

"The privacy issues presented by data mining cannot be resolved by the Department of Defense alone," the panel said. "Action by Congress, the president and the courts is necessary as well."

One of the panel's most important recommendations is to involve the courts in deciding when the government can search electronic databases.

In general, it said, the Defense Department and other federal agencies should be required to obtain approval from a special federal court "before engaging in data mining with personally identifiable information concerning U.S. persons."

To obtain such approval, the government would have to show that it needed the information to prevent or respond to terrorism. In an emergency, the government would not have to get approval in advance, but would need to seek a court order within 48 hours of beginning the search.

Lawyers who work with the panel said its report was sent to the printer earlier this month and would probably be issued within two weeks. A copy was obtained by The New York Times.

Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who led opposition to the Pentagon program, said Sunday that he had not seen the report but that it sounded like "a very constructive step."

"This confirms what I've been saying as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee," Mr. Wyden said. "It's possible to fight terrorism ferociously without gutting civil liberties. The challenge in striking that balance is to have ground rules. I've introduced a bill to set rules for data mining by the federal government. I suspect that federal agencies are doing an immense amount of data mining."

The panel said existing laws on information privacy were so disjointed and out of date that they threatened "efforts to fight terrorism and the constitutionally protected rights of U.S. persons," defined as citizens and permanent resident aliens.

"Government access to personal data can threaten individual liberty and invade constitutionally protected informational privacy rights," the panel said, and these risks will grow as the government amasses data on United States citizens who have done nothing to warrant suspicion.

Under the panel's recommendations, a federal agency could search an electronic database of publicly available information without a court order. But the head of the agency would still have to certify in writing that the data mining was necessary and appropriate for a lawful purpose. This requirement would apply to electronic databases of "information that is routinely available without charge or subscription to the public - on the Internet, in telephone directories or in public records."

The panel, headed by Newton N. Minow, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, acknowledged that its proposals would "impose additional burdens on government officials." But, it said, the requirements would enhance personal privacy and national security by clarifying the rules.

"Good privacy protection in the context of data mining is often consistent with more efficient investigation," the panel said.

The greatest risk of data mining by the government is that it "chills individual behavior," so people become more likely to follow social norms and less likely to dissent, the panel said. The report traces the tension between security and liberty to the earliest days of the Republic. "Those who trade liberty for safety all too often achieve neither," it says, echoing Benjamin Franklin.

One member of the panel, William T. Coleman Jr., who was transportation secretary in the Ford administration, filed a lengthy dissent, asserting that the proposed restrictions could cripple the fight against terrorism. The proposals, he said, go far beyond what is required by the Constitution, federal laws or Supreme Court decisions.

But the panel insisted its proposals would not interfere with searches based on "particularized suspicion about a specific individual, including searches to identify or locate a suspected terrorist." Federal agents could still review passenger lists for airlines and cruise ships without new regulatory requirements.

Mr. Rumsfeld appointed the panel in February 2003 to quell a political uproar over the Pentagon data mining program, headed by John M. Poindexter, a retired rear admiral. Congress cut off money for the program in September 2003, with certain exceptions described in a "classified annex" to the 2004 military spending law.

Members of the panel, besides Mr. Minow and Mr. Coleman, were Floyd Abrams, a leading First Amendment lawyer; Zoë Baird, president of the Markle Foundation, which focuses on information technology; Griffin B. Bell, who was attorney general under President Jimmy Carter; Gerhard Casper, former president of Stanford University; Lloyd N. Cutler, who was White House counsel under Mr. Carter and President Bill Clinton; and John O. Marsh Jr., an aide to President Gerald R. Ford who later served as secretary of the Army.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/po...17privacy.html


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For This Animated Movie, a Cast of Household Names
Eric A. Taub

Remember "Toy Story,'' the $191 million blockbuster that introduced Pixar Animation Studios in 1995 as a major producer of computer-animated movies? Two of the most popular offbeat characters were Mr. Potato Head and Slinky Dog, both based on long-established products.

Threshold Entertainment, a modestly sized animation and special effects company that has never made a full-length animated film before, hopes to go "Toy Story" one better - actually, 78 better - with "Foodfight!," an animated movie that takes place in a supermarket after the lights go down.

The company has the right to use animated versions of 80 name-brand products and their associated characters, including Charlie the Tuna and the Brawny paper towel man.

Threshold - like Pixar, DreamWorks and Disney before it - is trying to spin gold from digital threads in the always-challenging animated film business, and it is pinning its hopes on "Foodfight!" The movie is not expected to be released until late 2005, at the earliest, and the company does not yet have a deal with a distributor.

But it does have a clever script, some Hollywood heavyweights, high-powered technology and a widely, even globally, known cast. In the movie, Charlie, Mr. Clean, the Coca-Cola polar bears and other well-known product icons come alive at night after the customers have left. Joining with characters created by Threshold - among them Dex Dogtective, who runs the Copabanana nightclub in the produce section, and Daredevil Dan, a chocolate squirrel - they try to save the store from the evil Brand X.

"I'm fascinated by worlds that are wholly different worlds when you turn your back,'' said Larry Kasanoff, Threshold Entertainment's chairman.

Before starting Threshold in 1994, Mr. Kasanoff, then working with James Cameron, the director best known for "Titanic,'' served as an executive producer on "True Lies," and, along with other projects, as a producer or executive producer of the "Mortal Kombat" movies and television series.

Now, Mr. Kasanoff is striving to make Threshold the next cutting-edge animation studio, building on its broad expertise across various entertainment sectors. "We're the only animation company in the world that does movies, TV shows, direct-to-video movies and theme park attractions," he said.

Some working with the company see "Foodfight!" as Threshold's entry to the big time. "The movie looks wonderful,'' said Mark Mills, president of Motion Picture Magic, a product placement company in Encino, Calif. "Threshold will be considered to be the new and upcoming Pixar.''

But audiences are discriminating, and the popularity of family films is particularly difficult to predict. Depending on how it turns out, word of mouth advertising and its competition when it is released, "Foodfight!" could be a huge success - or bomb at the box office.

Whatever the film's fate, Mr. Kasanoff says that his frugal production methods should be seen as a worthy operating model for new studios trying to break into the movie business.

Threshold, a privately held company, received an initial investment from a venture capital fund run by a predecessor to C. E. Unterberg Towbin.

It has created special effects for movies like "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton,'' and "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,'' and has made digital film attractions for Disneyland Paris, Epcot at Walt Disney World in Florida and Hershey's Chocolate World in Pennsylvania.

In March, Threshold's newest entertainment, "Star Trek: The Experience - Borg Invasion 4D," opened at the Las Vegas Hilton. The 7½-minute film, enhanced by spray-in-your-face effects and gyrating seats, takes participants through the wild ride of a space station under attack, while enveloping them from all sides in 3-D images.

But "Foodfight!" is the company's most ambitious project. To pay for it, Threshold and Natural Image, a Korean investment consortium, have jointly put up $25 million; the rest of the budget, expected to total $50 million, will come from foreign presales and loans against those sales.

In seeking a domestic distributor, Mr. Kasanoff is looking for a deal that would cover an additional $25 million in print and advertising costs in return for a share of the box office revenues.

The theme park attractions help pay the company's bills while also offering a laboratory to test new techniques. For "Foodfight!,'' Threshold is combining elements of the classic Warner Bros. "squash and stretch" style, in which characters expand and contract like Wile E. Coyote, with deeply saturated colors and a dimensionality made possible using digital 3-D tools adapted from computer games.

To hold down costs, Threshold outsources most of its work. It employs only 22 digital animators at its headquarters in Southern California; it expects to use about 100 others, many of them working from their homes in Australia, Europe and South Korea.

Threshold has also struck a deal with I.B.M. to use its Linux server farm in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., when extra processing power is needed to supplement Threshold's 120 on-site PC's.

"We do not want the 200,000-square-foot facility, because the day you build it is the day you can't say 'no' to any job," Mr. Kasanoff said. "This is the future of digital entertainment. You no longer have to live in Hollywood to work in Hollywood."

I.B.M. has taken Threshold under its wing, hoping that the relationship will help it establish a Hollywood beachhead and open the door to other opportunities to offer entertainment companies digital services.

"We can scale Threshold's needs very quickly," said Steven Canepa, an I.B.M. vice president. "There are various times when they need a large capacity, but then we can cut back their usage dramatically when they don't."

For all its technological sophistication, Threshold has struggled to bring "Foodfight!" to the big screen. It was originally announced in 2001 and due to be finished 15 to 18 months later. The expected completion date is still almost 15 months away.

The delay was a result of an unexpected calamity. As one of the film's characters might say, "We wuz robbed!" During the 2002 Christmas holiday, the hard drives that held the film's files were stolen.

"It was an incredibly complex crime,'' Mr. Kasanoff said. "They got into the cold room, a room within a room within a room." Because it was a large-scale theft of intellectual property, the Secret Service took part in the investigation. The crime remains unsolved, and no material has appeared on the black market, Mr. Kasanoff said.

The company was insured for the loss, but except for some reference images, it had to start over.

"Foodfight!" is now half-finished, according to George Johnsen, Threshold's chief animation and technology officer.

The film includes 130 speaking roles and 340 locations. In crowd scenes, as many as 15,000 extras are portrayed. The processing power available to Threshold means that every moving figure in the movie can be animated independently.

Mr. Kasanoff insists that "Foodfight!" will not be one long product commercial. To guard against that charge, the product-based characters will play a lesser role than Threshold's creations and do not overtly promote the packaged goods they represent.

"If you're 11 years old, and I'm going to make you believe this is real, you have to see something that you're familiar with," Mr. Kasanoff said. "But the main characters are the ones we've created."

Mr. Kasanoff nonetheless expects the packaged goods manufacturers featured in the movie to spend heavily to promote it. Amy Donges, a Procter & Gamble marketing specialist supervising that company's interest in the film, said that it might cross-promote the movie on some product labels but that no specific marketing budget has been formulated yet.

Still, she says she is impressed with what she's seen so far.

"The 'Foodfight!' graphics are absolutely amazing, comparable to Pixar's," she said. "It's even more real life.''
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/bu...mate.html?8dpc


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PocketSkype – Peer-2-Peer Voice Over IP On the Xda II

When combining your Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC with a Wi-Fi card you too can have high quality, real-time voice conversations with your contacts from around the world!

After some initial difficulties between the initial public releases of PocketSkype and the Xda II, version 0.94.0.11 has been released which is now compatible with the Xda II.

Skype on the desktop is freeware that will allow you to make free calls to anywhere in the world. It is made by the people who produced the KaZaA file sharing software and uses similar Peer-2-Peer (P2P) technology to connect you to other Skype users. By exploiting the idea behind P2P, Skype will allow you to connect to the network and initiate/receive calls, even from behind the majority of firewalls.

Providing a similar User Interface to other Instant Messaging software such as AOL IM, MSN Messenger, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger etc, Skype allows you to maintain a list of contacts and shows you when contacts are online with whom you can initiate Voice and/or Text conversations.

PocketSkype is a cut down version of Skype for the desktop and is also freeware. Once the software is installed on your Pocket PC, sign in using your Skype login details; add your contacts and you will be talking in moments. Although the functionality provided by the Pocket PC version is limited in comparison to the desktop product, you can still initiate Voice or Text conversations and partake in conference calls with multiple contacts.

After testing the software this evening, I can report that I am very happy with the quality of the voice calls, and the stability of the program. A brilliant idea and so far two fantastic pieces of software.
http://www.mtekk.com.au/browse/page844.html


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Court Clears Dutch Music Search Engine Of Copyright Violation
Joe Figueiredo

A court in the Dutch city of Haarlem has cleared Techno Design, the operator of music search- engine portal, Zoekmp3.nl, of copyright violation. The charge had been brought by BREIN, the Dutch entertainment industry’s anti-piracy association.

Zoekmp3.nl, which appears in the top twenty of the most popular Dutch websites, has access to some 30,000 music links. In its hey-day, Zoekmp3.nl had some 50,000 daily visitors and offered MP3 music files worldwide through an estimated 200,000 web pages.

The court ruled that providing links to an MP3 file did not constitute disclosure or publication of contents according to Dutch copyright law.

It went on to say that what Techno Design did is not unlawful, largely because providing services or assistance that could subsequently lead to infringement and unlawful trade by third parties is in itself not (yet) unlawful.

The verdict means that the portal will not be shutdown and can continue to be used to search for music on the internet, regardless of whether its findings point to music that is legal or not.

This is the very first time that any court in the world has concerned itself with the legality of a software programme that trawls web pages in search of files.

According to Techno’s lawyer, Alberdingk Thijm: "If BREIN wants to do something against unlawful music on the internet, it should go after the music providers and not the search engine."

Commenting on the inadequacy of the copyright law and the need for change, Tim Kruik, BREIN’s director, said: "Justice Minister Donner did say that he finds it undesirable that people are permitted to download [unlawful files], but the average internet user does not seem to give a hoot. The lawmaker should also forbid music downloads, just like the purchase of other illegal goods are."

BREIN is planning to appeal the verdict.
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1789


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AU

Govt Cracks Down On Offensive Tele Content
AAP

Canberra - Risque adult material will no longer be accessible to children using hi-tech mobile phones with internet access, under a crackdown by the federal government.

Communications Minister Daryl Williams said he had ordered the telecommunications watchdog to put in place new measures to protect hi-tech mobile phone users from offensive content.

As part of the new measures, the Australian Communication Authority (ACA) will regulate access to content provided on new premium mobile phone services.

"These new measures will help make access to the internet and mobile communications services safer and more enjoyable for all Australians, particularly children," Mr Williams said.

"These controls will restrict access by children to adult content."

The new access controls will cover text messages deemed to be "of an adult nature" on hi-tech phones such as 3G (third generation) models, and other audiovisual content with MA or R ratings.

Content classified X or which is refused classification will be banned from the premium mobile phone services.

Mr Williams said telecommunications companies and content providers wanting to provide adult services will only be able to do so on specific phone numbers set by the ACA.

The new controls are being introduced after the release of a federal government review of the regulation of content delivered to convergent mobile phones.

The review found that while some types of filtering devices to restrict access to adult material on mobile phones were possible to use, mandating them would be an onerous task.
http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/1...289857211.html


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MIPI Claims Russian Music Download Site Is Illegal
Sam Varghese

A Russian website which is selling music online is doing so illegally, without the authorisation of the copyright holders, the general manager of the enforcement arm of the Australian record industry claims.

Michael Speck, general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations, said the website www.allofmp3.com was an illegal one. "The offered downloads are without the authorisation of the respective rights holders and therefore infringe copyright," he said.

The site sells music by the megabyte, at the rate of 500 MB for $US5.

Speck said the "so-called collecting society" (ROMS or Russian Organisation for Multimedia and Digital Systems) had never had the authority to license sound recordings from record producing members of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

"ROMS did have an earlier agreement with RAO (the authors' collecting society in Russia) and RPA (the record producers' collecting society in Russia) but it was terminated and is not relevant," Speck said.

"There is nothing then, in the way of authorisation from the copyright owners or in Russian law, that allows the website in question to legally offer the downloads in question."


Speck said that purporting to have a licence or authorisation was a standard operating procedure for commercial pirates "and generally anyone who hopes to get away with the use of someone else's work."

Comment was sought from allofmp3.com on May 7. There has been no response.
http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/1...646114240.html


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Bloggers Set Up Defence Fund For Developer Of File- Sharing Tool
AP

TOKYO: Internet users have raised about 3mil yen (RM98,800) for the defence of a Japanese professor arrested on copyright violation charges for his file-sharing technology.

The word about the defence fund for Isamu Kaneko, a 33-year-old assistant professor at the prestigious University of Tokyo, spread mainly through “blogs,” or Internet journals, which are rapidly attracting thousands of users in Japan.

Kaneko was arrested Monday on copyright-related charges for developing and offering a popular software called Winny, which lets people swap movies and videogames. He was also accused of helping two people illegally distribute games and films on the Internet, police said. The other two were arrested in November.

Within days of Kaneko's arrest, his defence movement grew as 200 like-minded blog users – who'd never met in person – found each other on the Internet and decided to take a stand, said Yasutaka Machimura, a law professor at Nanzan University in Nagoya and a proponent of the fund.

“Winny is being viewed as a prototype case at a time when file-swapping is becoming uncontrolled,” Machimura said on Saturday in a telephone interview. “But accusing someone of a crime is out of the question.”

The rise of free file-sharing networks over the past several years has made it easy for millions of individuals to distribute songs, movies and software worldwide.

Like many Internet experts, Machimura believes in the need for a system to charge money fairly for copyright content as file-sharing technology develops.

Kaneko's arrest has drawn almost no criticism in Japan's mainstream media – but it has triggered a heated debate on the Internet.

Critics have compared the arrest to blaming a knife for a stabbing, and fear the arrest may deter advances in software technology.

Kaneko's lawyers said in a statement issued on the Internet Friday that they'll contest the charges, and defended Winny as a useful Internet tool.

“It is clearly the wrongful act of the police authorities to accuse him of the crime of helping the dubious use of that software,” the statement said.

Kaneko's arrest is believed to be the first in Japan of a suspected developer of file-sharing software. The charge of violating copyright laws carries up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 3mil yen.

Kaneko issued a brief statement to his backers through his lawyers: “Thank you for supporting me.”

Winny, which Kaneko developed in 2002, has become a headache for digital content providers here, as users have been drawn by its reputation for protecting users' anonymity. As many as a million Japanese have used Winny, according to media reports.
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/sto...sec=technology


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Judge: MSU Must Identify 9 Accused Of Illegal Music Sharing

A federal judge has ordered Michigan State University to produce the identities of nine people accused of using the campus computer system to illegally make music available to others via the Internet.

The university is one of several nationwide where people have been targeted by lawsuits in the recording industry's effort to stop online piracy.

"If you are offering contents of your hard drive to millions to come and download for free, that's a violation of federal copyright law," Jonathan Lamy, spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, told The Grand Rapids Press.

Residence halls and other campus buildings in East Lansing offer Internet access and users repeatedly are warned against sharing files without the permission of copyright owners. The request was approved last week.

The university hasn't objected to the request, the newspaper said.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/...1_20040515.htm


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P2P “Qtrax” Inks Deal To Pay Royalties

Middle ground created to compensate artist
Ben Fritz

New peer-to-peer service Qtrax has signed a deal with BMI to pay artist royalties on songs illegally downloaded on the Internet.

Unusual relationship creates a middle ground that allows music downloaders to compensate artists at the same rate they receive for radio performances each time they play a song downloaded from Qtrax on their computer. At the same time, they'll be vulnerable to lawsuits from the RIAA for downloading songs without paying.

Songs put onto the Qtrax service, scheduled to launch in the third quarter of this year, will be translated into a new format that tracks playback and prevents users from burning them onto CDs or transferring them to portable devices. Singwell Intl. and LTDnetwork, the companies behind Qtrax, are hoping to sign deals with labels to allow users to purchase the right to burn or transfer those tracks.

"Our view is that free music downloads aren't going away and somebody ought to attempt to find a middle ground between the needs of record companies, artists and consumers," LTDnetwork CEO Allan Klepfisz said.

Royalties will be funded by contextual ads related to searches. When users search for songs from Madonna, for example, they'll be presented with links to purchase CDs, DVDs and books by her in addition to pirated tracks of her songs.

If successful, Qtrax will be the first service to provide some compensation for songs on peer-to-peer networks without user payment. Its model is similar to one long championed by P2P supporters who want artists to receive standard royalty rates for playback of downloaded songs.

It remains to be seen, though, whether other performing rights groups and labels will partner with QTrax or whether BMI will instead find itself allied with another P2P service scorned by the rest of the music industry.

"By signing the BMI agreement, Qtrax is breaking new ground for a new breed of licensed peer-to-peer services," said Richard Conlon, BMI veep of business development and marketing. "We hope that the BMI agreement will be the first in a series of agreements that Qtrax and others will enter into to create totally licensed services."
http://www.variety.com/ index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117905136&category id=1009


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6 Former Fox Staffers Charged With Piracy

Federal inquiry began after Fox's internal probe last year
Claude Brodesser

Internal and external antipiracy probes at Fox have netted six former employees, all charged with conspiring to commit copyright infringement for pirating movies and software from a company computer server, federal prosecutors said Friday.

A federal inquiry began after an internal investigation by Fox, which late last year contacted the Secret Service after finding illegal copies of movies such as "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Daddy Day Care" (Daily Variety, March 17). Software worth more than $121,000 as well as dozens of films owned by Fox and other motion picture studios were pirated, according to Secret Service documents obtained by Daily Variety last March.

Those charged are Lisa Yamamoto, 45, a former message system and services administrator; Kevin Sarna, a former infrastructure consultant at Fox Cable; Jonathan O'Brien, 30, a former network engineer; Christopher Willis, 31, formerly a network engineer; Peter Mariano, 25, formerly a network administrator; and Garry Martin, 32, a former manager of desktop/user support.

All are charged with one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.

Were it not for an apparently unrelated earlier breach of the studio's Internet security in November, Yamamoto might never have surfaced as a suspect, nor would Fox have necessarily discovered that its servers and bandwidth were being used for movie piracy.

In the earlier incident, some 1,800 Fox employees were surprised to receive an anonymous email that contained the names, social security numbers and salaries of hundreds of their co-workers at the FX and Fox Sports cable networks (Daily Variety, Nov. 6).

As a result of that embarrassing leak, Fox Entertainment Group director of corporate security James Chaffee began an investigation. It led to the discovery that a server maintained by Yamamoto and other Fox information technology employees was being used as a "Warez" server. Warez groups are underground Internet communities that compete for high-quality pirated computer software, DVDs and movies.
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=s...117905047&c=22


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Franco-American fascism

U.S., France Launch Global Bootleg Battle
Timothy M. Gray

In a rare display of Franco-American amity, Gallic and U.S. film honchos were united May 16 in a plan to tackle global piracy -- with Americans uncharacteristically happy to let their overseas compatriots take the leadership role.

At a press confab after the closed-door sesh, French Minister of Culture & Communication Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said he'd read the group a statement from Gallic prez Jacques Chirac and that France plans to introduce global-reaching legislation on the matter.

The meeting was hailed as successful, with the promise that such pow-wows will be repeated in the future, including participants outside the film industry.

Asked who will spearhead subsequent gatherings, outgoing MPAA topper Jack Valenti said, "I would have no problem asking the French Minister of Culture to take the lead" adding, "We (Americans) would be avid and energetic participants."

The two-hour high-power huddle included not only U.S. and Euro participants, but honchos from such piracy trouble spots as China, India and Russia.

At the press conference, Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart, who participated in the huddles, described it as "unprecedented in terms of depth and reach" and "unusually candid."

Bart moderated the English-lingo portion of the noon press confab at the Espace Mediteranee at the Palais, while the French-language seg was headed by writer-director Philippe Labro.

Reps of the Hollywood majors included Sony Pictures' Jeff Blake; Warner Bros.' Richard Fox; 20th Century Fox's James N. Gianopulos; DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg; Universal's Rick Finkelstein; and Buena Vista Intl.'s Mark Zoradi.

There were also participants from numerous global companies: Luc Besson, prexy of Europa Corp.; French Telecom exec Franc Dangeard; helmer Jacques Fansten; Vivendi president Jean-Rene Fourtou; Mukta Arts' Subhash Ghai; global producers group prexy Andres-Vincente Gomez; Canal+ prez Bertrand Meheut; Gaumont prez Nicolas Seydoux; Mosfilm's Karen Shakhnazarov; and China Film Group prexy Buting Yang.

Yang said China has adapted some very aggressive policies against pirates, adding, "You need united action."

Similarly, Valenti emphasized that piracy is a problem that affects "every creed and culture" in the world and tech changes in the next two years will be "dazzlingly swift." In other words, he said, no country can do it alone.

Seydoux said "our American friends" will be a big help in the need for international solidarity. Unless piracy is stopped, "Creation itself will disappear. Cultural diversity will disappear."

The event was part of the fest's ongoing effort to tackle the issue, taking advantage of the fact that reps from around the globe are here for the fest. Ministers of culture of more than 20 EU countries will meet on Tuesday, with another huddle the next day.

Many of the participants emphasized that this is not a movement against freedom, but rather, in the words of Donnedieu de Vabres, a matter of finding "the maximum audience for the maximum number of works" while respecting the rights of artists and their creations.

When a journo quoted Quentin Tarantino as saying on May 12 that piracy was OK in some circumstances, Gomez said, "We are not in agreement with Mr. Tarantino. Probably Mr. Tarantino is not in agreement with himself."

But Seydoux clarified that Tarantino was talking specifically about China, where his films are not distributed, and that he wants his films to be seen.
http://www.variety.com/ story.asp?l=story&a=VR1117905029&c=1706

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How To Disrupt The World


Photo: Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail

Zennstrom: ‘Technology is just a tool, like a hammer or scissors. You don’t know what people will use it for.’



Jack Kapica

One of the highest compliments you can pay an inventor is to say a creation is "disruptive technology." It means that the product is revolutionary because it disrupts or even derails the way things are usually done.

Niklas Zennstrom knows better than most engineers that being disruptive can also lead to big trouble.

That happened when he invented Kazaa, the decentralized file-sharing technology. Within months of releasing it in 2000, Mr. Zennstrom found himself in the crosshairs of lawyers representing some of the most fabulously wealthy enterprises, notably Hollywood and the recording industry.

Now he's at it again. As the creator of Skype, a software program that allows free phone calls using the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), he's trying to disrupt the way we've been using the phone since Alexander Graham Bell barked an order to his assistant over copper wires in 1876.

With Kazaa, however, Mr. Zennstrom wasn't trying to disrupt the movie and recording industries, he said Tuesday over lunch in Toronto just before delivering a speech to the VON Conference on the convergence of telecom and Internet technologies. This time, he's more than aware of the strength of the opposition: the global telecommunications industry.

With Kazaa, he had no intention of confronting the big moguls of entertainment. He and his partner, Janus Friis, had created it as a business tool.

They were just a couple of engineers working in Amsterdam trying to come up with a new idea. And Mr. Zennstrom had prepared himself for such a career path, with degrees in science and engineering from the universities of Uppsala, Sweden, and Michigan. He also picked up a business degree as well.

"The architecture of peer-to-peer technology could be used for all sorts of things," he said. "I didn't think it could be used for music — people were using Napster for that. But it's just a tool, like a hammer or scissors. You don't know what people will use it for."

What he imagined for Kazaa was sharing documents within a corporate intranet. Rather than storing documents on a central server, employees could simply get what they need from each other's computers — Kazaa would be disruptive in the sense that it could make complex file servers obsolete. He set about trying to sell the idea in May, 2001.

But music file-sharers were picking it up, the record and movie industries sued Kazaa that October, and more lawyers showed up trying to have Kazaa declared illegal technology. So when he and Mr. Friis finally sold the product to Sharman Networks the following January, the price did not reflect the disruption Kazaa had been creating. The Dutch Supreme Court later ruled Kazaa legal technology, but by then that part of Mr. Zennstrom's life was more or less over.

Last year, Mr. Zennstrom, now 38, and Mr. Friis announced that they had created Skype, which would do to telecommunications companies what Kazaa did to the entertainment industry. It's now a conscious decision to take on the giants — although he says he's not doing it out of revenge, or some political motivation.

But he wants it to be disruptive for a pure engineering reason — it's a technology that changes the way we do things.

He believes that he won't be sued over Skype, simply because telcos around the world are jumping on the VoIP bandwagon, and because there's no copyright violation involved.

"Disruptive technology is about quantum leaps in evolution, and it should disrupt competition in a free market," he said. "And if you're the one who can do that, you will have the ultimate advantage."

His business model is a classic of Internet thinking. He will give away the basic Skype program for free; to make a phone call, a user has to plug in a microphone and earphones into the standard jacks in any computer. The program comes with a global directory of people who use Skype — at last count, Skype downloads have passed the 11 million mark, and there are almost five million unique registrants in 170 countries.

The revenue stream will come from a package of new features — the extra stuff is due to be rolled out this summer — that will include the ability to call any telephone in the world, whether it is using Skype or an old-fashioned land-line. (So far, the free version is limited to conversations between people who are running Skype on their computers, which must have always-on connections.)

He doesn't figure on having a tough time of it, even though many of the new VoIP services being rolled out everywhere are running about $20 to $30, which is already much cheaper than landline phones.

Why?

"Skype isn't about making cheaper phone calls — it's about communicating better. It's much more convenient, has superior voice quality, instant messaging and conference calling."

But disruption has its limits too.

Mr. Zennstrom is in Canada, but not planning a trip south of the border. If he does, the entertainment giants will slap him with a lawsuit over the Kazaa business.

And that would prove to be too disruptive.
http://www.globetechnology.com/servl...ry/Technology/


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Schwarzenegger Files Suit Against Bobblehead Maker
John Broder

Arnold the Litiginator?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's film production company filed a lawsuit last week against a small Ohio toy maker, claiming that the company's $19.95 Schwarzenegger bobblehead doll illegally exploits his image for commercial purposes. The suit says that Mr. Schwarzenegger is an instantly recognizable global celebrity whose name and likeness are worth millions of dollars and are solely his property.

Ohio Discount Merchandise Inc., a family-owned business in Canton, came out earlier this year with a line of dolls of political figures, including Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont, Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Representative Tom DeLay of Texas. The company has long sold bobbleheads of public figures and celebrities. Its two biggest sellers are likenesses of Anna Nicole Smith and Jesus Christ.

But when the company added a doll of Mr. Schwarzenegger last month, wearing a gray suit and a bandoleer and brandishing an assault rifle, lawyers for the California actor-turned-politician pounced.

First in a letter, and then days later in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Mr. Schwarzenegger's lawyers contended that the toy company and its president, Todd D. Bosley, had violated the governor's rights to his image. They cited several California and federal cases that support a public figure's right to control the use of his name and likeness, and to be paid royalties if they are used to sell products.

"California has very strong laws that protect celebrities," said Martin D. Singer, the lawyer for Mr. Schwarzenegger and his company, Oak Productions Inc. "His name, voice and likeness are not in the public domain. If you use them for commercial purposes, you are potentially liable for damages."

Mr. Bosley says the governor should lighten up. The dolls are meant as a political parody and are thus protected under the First Amendment. Besides, he said, part of the profits go to a cancer charity.

"Obviously we're making a little bit of fun of Arnold with a caricature of him," Mr. Bosley said. "No other politician has done this. Jimmy Carter sent me a book. Hillary Clinton signed one and sent it back to me. Rudy Giuliani carried his around with him to several of his speeches. We've never had a problem like this."

The case pits two legal concepts against each other, the First Amendment's protection of free speech and political commentary, and the "right of publicity," a branch of trademark and copyright law that protects an individual's image and voice from unauthorized commercial use by third parties.

The courts have tried to define the difference between protected speech and copyright infringement, though several rulings have left a large gray area, said Eugene Volokh, professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Use of a public figure's name, voice or likeness is permitted for journalistic purposes and as an artistic or political statement as long as the artist "transforms" the image into an original work, according to several court rulings.

The California Supreme Court ruled in 2001 against an artist who rendered an image of the Three Stooges on a T-shirt without making an original statement about them. But last year, the same court ruled in favor of the DC Comics division of Time Warner, which produced a takeoff on the rock musicians Johnny and Edgar Winter, creating figures it called the "Autumn Brothers," half-human, half-worm creatures. The parody was deemed original enough to warrant protection under the First Amendment.

"People have a right to stop their name and likeness being used in commercial advertising, for things other than books and biographies," Professor Volokh said. "If someone's image is used without much transformation, if it's not a parody or commentary, that is indeed legally actionable, and under that theory Arnold has a very good claim."

Hollywood celebrities zealously guard their images and likenesses, he said. Those are, after all, their livelihood. Bette Midler successfully sued the Ford Motor Company in the 1980's after Ford used a sound-alike singer in its advertising. Elvis Presley's estate has filed numerous suits to try to banish the King's unauthorized images from T-shirts, coffee mugs and velvet paintings. Mr. Singer said that Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise have all recently sued over unauthorized use of their images.

That noted, Mr. Volokh said, it is rare for a politician to file a claim based on the right of publicity. "It just doesn't look good when a public official tries to sue this way," he said. "It makes him look like a heavy. It makes him look humorless. It makes him look like he doesn't want his constituents to express themselves this way."

Mr. Bosley said that while he felt significantly outgunned by Mr. Schwarzenegger and his team of Hollywood lawyers, the case has become a matter of principle for him.

"There's a lot at risk here for me and a lot at risk in the future for people like me," said Mr. Bosley. "Do we succumb to threats and heavy-handedness? Or do we stand up for what America really is?"

A San Francisco intellectual-property law firm, Townsend & Townsend & Crew, has taken on the case at no charge. William T. Gallagher, a partner at the firm, said that Governor Schwarzenegger cannot expect to be immune from satire.

"It's clearly a parody," Mr. Gallagher said of the doll. "It is also making a statement about the cult of celebrity in America. If you're famous, then suddenly you're highly electable. That's what the bobblehead does. It is a transformative statement and absolutely protected under the First Amendment."

Not so, replied Mr. Singer. The doll, he said, is nothing more than a rip-off of Mr. Schwarzenegger's solid-gold image, which other companies have paid millions of dollars for the right to use in advertising and marketing.

"Arnold has always been very vigilant about uses of his image. The reason is his name, photo and likeness are one of the most valuable in the world," Mr. Singer said. "It's not being a bully when you're looking at people taking advantage of somebody and making commercial exploitation for their own benefit."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/na.../18arnold.html


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Ventures Aim to Cut Cost of Overseas Cell Calls to Pennies
Ken Belson and Matt Richtel

Mobile phone users have in recent years enjoyed plummeting rates for local and long-distance calling thanks to new technology and fierce competition among cellular companies. Now several entrepreneurs want to use Internet technology to reduce to pennies the cost of using cellphones to call overseas.

Dialing internationally on cellphones is typically so expensive that the service is used mostly by businesspeople on expense accounts. But a two-year-old company called i2Telecom, based in Boca Raton, Fla., plans to release a modemlike device this month that effectively turns an international call into a local one by routing it over the Internet.

Another company, Skype Technologies, recently introduced free software that lets people turn hand-held computers into mobile phones by sending calls over the Internet.

Both ventures take to a new level the market-disrupting potential of the technology called voice over Internet protocol. And both will be on center stage at VON Canada 2004, a conference on Internet telephony opening in Toronto tomorrow that will bring together telecommunications heavyweights like Nortel and Bell Canada, as well as dozens of entrepreneurs and media companies.

Using the Internet to route calls could significantly reduce costs, in part, because data and voice traffic will use a single network, advocates say. The shift presents a threat to traditional telephone companies, which have invested heavily in their networks.

Now upstart companies like i2Telecom hope to shake up the cellphone industry in much the same way that Internet calling is challenging long-distance carriers.

"It puts the cellphone providers under attack for the first time," said Rick Scherle, vice president for marketing at i2Telecom. "The land-line guys have been wrestling this technology," he said. "We're telling the cellphone guys that you have to grapple with it now, too."

I2Telecom's product, the InternetTalker MG-3, is about the size of a hand-held electronic organizer and will cost less than $100. Once connected to a phone and a broadband Internet connection, the router can be programmed to recognize three phone numbers, including those of cellular handsets.

When cellphone users call the phone where the InternetTalker is installed, they receive a second dial tone and access to an Internet calling network from which they can dial any phone number in the world. Instead of paying, say, $1.75 a minute to call London directly by cellphone, people using the InternetTalker would pay for only the local call to their home and just 3 cents a minute, the price of an Internet call on i2Telecom's network. Users can call other i2Telecom subscribers free.

Curiously, cellphone calls routed through the Internet to other cellphones have cleaner signals than cellphone calls sent directly to other cellphones, Mr. Scherle said. Engineers at i2Telecom, who discovered this accidentally, say they believe that by redigitizing the signal, extraneous noise is eliminated.

The new service, however, will not eliminate roaming charges when cellphone users are outside their coverage area. Nor is it likely to offer much savings on long- distance calls if a user has a cellphone plan with unlimited long-distance calling. But the InternetTalker could erode the amount of business cellular carriers have in connecting international calls. It could also hurt overseas phone companies that rely on fees from American carriers to connect international calls.

"There's a huge impact on the international carriers because a lot of carriers subsidize their capital spending with high fees from international voice traffic," said Daniel Briere, the chief executive of TeleChoice, a consulting firm in Mansfield Center, Conn.

Many long-distance carriers have tried to prevent Internet calls from coming into their country, Mr. Briere said, but that requires checking every data packet traveling over their networks, an impractical task.

Wireless carriers in the United States say Internet-based cellular calls will not affect their business because the vast majority of the calls they connect are within North America. They also say the quality of calls traveling over their networks is superior to that of calls routed over the Internet.

"We're a business that trades on quality," said Edward Salas, vice president for network planning at Verizon Wireless. He added that while the Internet technology "has been there for some time, I'm not sure we're ready for prime time to make it a mainstream way of moving traffic." Mr. Salas said the wide-scale use of that technology is about 10 years away.

Skype, a company founded by the creators of Kazaa, the digital music sharing software, also hopes to create software that can route Internet calls from mobile phones. But for now, the company is focused on distributing software that lets people place Internet-based calls through wireless connections to hand-held computers that use the Microsoft PocketPC operating system. Once the software is installed, users attach a headphone to the hand-held computer to make calls.

To use the Skype technology, both the caller and the recipient need the software. But the company plans to make it possible for callers to reach people outside the Skype network. Niklas Zennstrom, Skype's chief executive, said Internet technology eliminates any price difference between calls traveling one mile or thousands of miles. "The concept of national borders," Mr. Zennstrom said, "is disappearing because on the Internet there are no borders."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/business/17voip.html


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The Hon. Al Swift, Home Recordist
EFF

The most remarkable testimony at last week's DMCRA hearings was that of former Congressman Allan Swift.

Swift was testifying as a private citizen, as a "home recordist." Basically, he's been making "mix tapes" for 54 years:

In that time, I have given friends many tapes, cassettes and now CDs containing "programs" I have created from my own collection of LPs and CDs. In that time, I have never made a straight duplicate of a record for anyone. If they ask me to, I tell them politely how easy is it to buy it on the Internet. In that time I have never charged a person a penny - even for the cost of the raw cassette or CD blank. It is just my hobby.

As a copyright lawyer, I know that copyright has a complicated relationship with "home taping." But Swift's testimony tells us how the law ought to be. No member of the committee dared to call him a pirate (with the notable exception of Rep. Mary Bono, who appears not to have learned much since announcing that we should enact a copyright term of "forever less one day").

Perhaps it's time we all focus more on the fans, the people who actually make the entertainment industry possible. For them, we need a copyright law that lives up to Swift's simple statement of common sense:

When I buy a CD or a DVD, that content should be wholly mine to do with as I please as long as I am in no way selling its contents or profiting from it. ... Present law is predicated on the assumption that consumers will rip-off copyright holders. The vast majority are innocent of that assumption, but all are treated as guilty.
http://blogs.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001535.php


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Point, Click And Swap--Digital Photos Go P2P
Paul Festa

Peer-to-peer technology, made famous by music-sharing networks like Napster, may have found a new lease on life in the digital pictures business.

OurPictures, a Palo Alto, Calif., start-up, on Tuesday plans to launch its service for letting subscribers share pictures over the Internet but without the constraints of e-mail attachments or Web sites.

The idea behind OurPictures, which is set to conclude a three-month test of its service, is that subscribers can post pictures to a network of fellow subscribers who transfer the pictures directly from one computer to another.

"Our belief is that the desktop is the right place where a consumer wants to organize and manage their digital photos--not on a Web site," said John Paul, CEO and founder of OurPictures. "If you have one photo you want a thousands people to see, that's one thing. But a Web site is not the right place to place thousands of photos."

Web sites that offer digital photo organization, storage, editing and printing abound. They include Kodak's Ofoto, Shutterfly and services on major portals like Yahoo.

But OurPictures--a privately held upstart whose investors include Sutter Hill Ventures, Foundation Capital and Legacy Venture--is betting that consumers will find file sharing a better way to edit and circulate large numbers of photos.

"You want the speed of the PC to be able to do that," Paul said. "Up until now it's been too complicated. Now you have one piece of software that's easy to use."

In addition to sharing photos with one another, OurPictures subscribers will be able to digitally send pictures to most Ritz Camera or Wolf Camera retail locations in the United States for printing within four hours. Subscribers also can print with their own computer or get prints by mail through an OurPictures-branded service provided by ClubPhoto in Austin, Texas.

OurPictures charges $19.95 per year for membership and is offering a 30-day free trial. The service is available for use with Microsoft's Windows operating system. A version compatible with Apple Computer's Macintosh OS is planned, but with no target release date.

Mindful of legal problems that music-sharing peer-to-peer sites encountered when users traded copyrighted songs without paying for them, OurPictures sets stringent guidelines on what kinds of pictures subscribers may share.

In its end-user license agreement, OurPictures forbids "content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, harassing, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar, invasive of another's privacy or right of publicity, infringing of a third party's intellectual property rights...hateful, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable, encouraging of conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law."

The company isn't the only site offering photo sharing on the peer-to-peer model. In February, a Menlo Park, Calif., start-up called It's The Content launched a service called ShareALot, for which it has a patent pending. Other similar services include How2Share Technologies' Pixpo and Picasa's Hello.
http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5214575.html


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Kids smarter than lawyers?

Majority of youth understand 'copyright,' but many continue to download illegally

New poll indicates more education, parental supervision needed
Press Release

An understanding of copyright law is not enough to stop kids from downloading copyrighted software, games, music and other digital media through illegal, online file-sharing networks, according to a new Harris Interactive(R) poll conducted for the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

"Unfortunately, many kids and teens continue to download copyrighted works illegally even though more than half of them think there are laws against downloading digital works," said Diane Smiroldo, vice president of public affairs for BSA.

"What's most alarming is that eight out of 10 kids and teens understand the definition of copyright and nearly all of them, especially teens, are aware that software, music and movies are protected by copyright. The fact that kids know stealing software is wrong, and yet they behave like it's okay, clearly illustrates a challenging ethical dilemma."
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2004,+09:44+AM


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Intel takes PlanetLab to India
Dinesh C. Sharma

Intel has expanded its PlanetLab project to include two technology institutes in India.

The chipmaker said that the groups, the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Information Technology and the Roorkee-based Indian Institute of Technology, will test the performance of networking and distributed-computing protocols being developed as part of the PlanetLab programme.

PlanetLab is an open, distributed network being used to try out new technologies in areas like distributed storage, network mapping, peer-to-peer systems, distributed hash tables and distributed query processing. The programme operates at 156 sites worldwide. It is one of several research initiatives that Intel is working on in conjunction with universities and other academic groups.

The company said researchers from the two centres will work closely with those from Intel India. Additionally, workers at the Indian PlanetLab institutes will collaborate with those from other countries to solve technical and non-technical problems.

"PlanetLab creates a virtual laboratory that researchers around the world can use to develop novel Internet services, while at the same time exploring how to evolve the Internet to better support continued innovation," Frank Spindler, vice president of Intel's corporate technology group, said in a statement. "India will play a role in developing a new class of services and applications that are distributed over much of the Web and will affect the design of intelligent servers, network storage and network processors."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/dev...9155019,00.htm


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Remembering Brianna LaHara, 12-Year-Old 'Criminal'
Jon Newton

Perhaps Sony and other companies will now apply the same laid-back nonjudgmental philosophy elsewhere, freeing them to deal with the real copyright criminals -- the thousands of organized gangs and individuals around the world who, day in, day out, are counterfeiting and duplicating countless millions of CDs.

Q: What's the difference between Chi-Hi, a high school, and a 12-year-old named Brianna LaHara? A: 500 CDs.

It's now routine for the Big Five record labels to sue innocent people for allegedly sharing music online without permission, and 12-year-old Brianna LaHara was one such person sued by Big Music.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) set its legal teams on her for allegedly downloading "If You're Happy and You Know It" and the Family Matters TV theme, which were among 1,000 songs Big Music claimed Brianna had snagged illegally with a P2P file-sharing application.

"We're trying to send a strong message that you are not anonymous when you participate in peer-to-peer file-sharing," said Mitch Bainwol, RIAA chairman at the time.

What has that to do with Chi-Hi, short for Chippewa Falls High School? The other half of Bainwol's comment was that the "illegal distribution of copyrighted music has consequences," and that's certainly true -- even if the "illegal distribution of copyrighted music" part hasn't yet been upheld in a court of law.

Chi-Hi's Prom Committee

LaHara's mother had to pay the music industry US$2,000 to settle out of court. But Sony (NYSE: SNE) -- one of the Big Five labels -- decided not to sue the members of Chi-Hi's prom committee even though they'd burned Sony songs onto CDs and then distributed them to students so they could remember their prom night.

Chi-Hi is in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and its prom committee bought the custom CDs at $3.69 each, paid for with proceeds from junior-class fundraisers and other proms. The CDs were given to 500 people who each had paid $14 to attend the prom.

"We use the funds to offset the costs of the prom, and if there's anything left over, it goes into the senior-class fund," Chi-Hi principal Dr. Jim Sauter told me.

The prom committee had burned The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian," Sara Evans' "Born to Fly" and "100 Years" by Five for Fighting onto them. No, the committee hadn't considered the possibility that it might have been breaking anyone's copyright.

Nor, apparently, had Stumps, the company that supplied the CDs.

Unwanted Attention?

A Stumps catalog actually suggested making CDs, Sauter told me. "Record songs from prom night on CDs and store them in imprinted cases for memories that will last a lifetime," said the catalog, quoted in a Chippewa Herald story.

Sauter said the thought that burning and then distributing the CDs might bring unwanted attention from the music industry hadn't occurred to anyone.

But it had occurred to the local newspaper that contacted Eugene Quinn, a patent attorney and law professor at Syracuse University -- which is having its own problems centering on the music industry -- asking what kind of danger the school was in.

Predictably, Quinn issued dire warnings.

"This might be big enough for the RIAA to follow up on," he told staff reporter Jeff Hage. "What the recording industry does is pick someone who has a clear infraction and make an example of them."

The bottom line, Quinn said, was that burning the CDs wasn't unlike stealing from the recording artists, who count on the royalties from music sales . "Burning 500 CDs could get the recording industry's attention. A handful doesn't. Hundreds do."

Applying the Philosophy Elsewhere

The copyrights to all of these songs are owned by Columbia Records, which is, in turn, owned by Sony.

"Columbia told school officials that the record company would grant retroactive licensing to the school for three songs that were burned onto a CD used as prom gift on May 8," said the Herald, which went on to quote Sauter as saying of record company officials: "They were very nonjudgmental. They said they get hundreds of request like ours every month."

With that as a precedent, perhaps Sony and the other companies will now apply the same laid-back nonjudgmental philosophy elsewhere, freeing them to deal with the real copyright criminals -- the thousands of organized gangs and individuals around the world who, day in, day out, are counterfeiting and duplicating countless millions of CDs and DVDs for resale on the international underground market.

In the meantime, adds the Herald story, when the dust clears, Sauter said the school might send the catalog company a letter.
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/33876.html#


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When Free Is Profitable
Brian Mansfield

The first time Moe played San Francisco, the band didn't have a song on the radio. It didn't have a video; it didn't even have a record deal. Yet the group sold out the 750-seat Great American Music Hall.

Wilco found that putting out pre-release tracks from its Yankee Hotel Foxtrot primed the pump for bigger record sales when the CD came out.

The secret to Moe's success? A community of West Coast music fans had been trading tapes of the New York band's concerts, duplicating bootlegged recordings and distributing them to friends. The members of Moe never saw a dime off those concert tapes, but they arrived in San Francisco to a full house.

That experience helped shape guitarist Al Schnier's views on the file-sharing debate.

"We always encouraged taping of our shows, from Day 1," Schnier says. "There's tons of live Moe that gets traded over the Internet. We're breeding fans who have an investment in this thing, because they're discovering us. It's very cutting-edge to find something underground.

"The same is true for the file sharing that goes on these days."

Though unauthorized file sharing may be illegal, not all artists view it as bad for business.

"I definitely believe that file sharing has helped our business," Guster guitarist Ryan Miller says. "We've sold only a couple hundred thousand copies of each of our last albums. We've never made a cent from our album sales, so we don't really see that money anyway."

The notion that bands could make more money because people steal their music seems counterintuitive. But Barnaby Greenberg, who manages Donna the Buffalo, says file sharing may help "heavy-touring acts that aren't depending on huge releases."

Greg Joseph, bassist for Pittsburgh-based rock band The Clarks, says, "We're a big enough band that CD sales do affect our bottom line." Joseph says his band sold about 45,000 copies of its 2002 release Another Happy Ending. "And lack of CD sales certainly affects our bottom line. However, we're a small enough band that we still need the free, word-of-mouth spreading of the good news."

Bands such as The Clarks or The Rosenbergs, who once toured under Napster's sponsorship, may not be able to pay (or have their labels pay) hundreds of thousands of dollars to promoters for a chance at getting their songs on the radio. They can, however, give away an equivalent amount in royalties through free downloads and file sharing. The desired result is the same: finding an audience. And to The Rosenbergs' David Fagin, taking that chance is better than not being heard at all.

"That's why we signed on with Napster when it was so controversial," Fagin says. "The alternative was just to be a regular band trying to do radio promo."

A revenue trade-off

Artists generate revenue from a variety of sources — not only through CD sales, but also from publishing income, ticket sales and merchandise. Acts that control most, if not all, of those income streams have the most flexibility when it comes to their position on file sharing. For some, they're essentially trading in part of their publishing income to increase tour and merchandise revenue.

Donna the Buffalo owns its publishing and now releases its own CDs. Greenberg says the band has quadrupled its fan base and tripled its gross income since it started releasing its recordings independently and aggressively giving away copies of its music. Though Donna the Buffalo typically sells around 10,000 to 20,000 copies of a release, Greenberg says, the band played before 300,000 people in 2003 and expects to double that number this year.

"Our approach in that time has been to focus on getting our music heard by new people by any means possible, mainly by giving it away," he says.

Not everybody in the music industry can work with such a business model, particularly record companies, which typically have just one way to make money: selling recorded music.

"Artists obviously have a different blend of revenue — they have endorsements, and they have touring," says Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA). "Sales represents a piece of it, but not the totality. (Related story: Artists mix it up with file sharers)

"For us, the guys who basically are the venture capitalists, the investors in the creation of music, our revenue stream is rooted in sales. That explains some of the perspective differences."

In some genres, the revenue streams run to different places. Country singers, for instance, often record songs written by other people. If unauthorized file sharing undermines the sales of those records, the results can be devastating for songwriters without any other source of income.

"The story I'm getting from most other songwriters is that mechanical royalties are definitely dropping," says Hugh Prestwood, who has written hits for Trisha Yearwood, Randy Travis and others. "If you make songwriting a profession where you can't make money, you're going to completely eliminate the talent from the field."

For some acts, file sharing seems to have actually increased sales. When Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out in 2002, the entire album had been available through peer-to-peer networks for nearly a year. Yet the album sold more than 50,000 copies its first week out — the best debut of the band's career and more than double the first-week tally of its preceding album.

Like a 'down payment'

The band hopes to replicate that success with A Ghost Is Born, due June 22. The album's tracks already are easily available through unlicensed sites Limewire and Kazaa. Anticipating that, the band has begun streaming the album on its Web site and has partnered with a group of fans to accept donations from downloaders via a Web site called Justafan.org. The money raised through that site will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

"They came to us and said, 'We want to encourage the people who are downloading to do something positive,' " Wilco manager Tony Margherita says. "Kind of like a down payment."

Bainwol says the RIAA has no beef with copyright owners who choose to give away music or encourage the sharing of their music.

"There may well be outliers that choose to market their products in a different way," Bainwol says. "That's perfectly fine. It does not change the essential reality, that you have to have an economic basis for an industry to survive."

Even some of the musicians who feel they have benefited from unauthorized file sharing admit to feeling conflicted about the practice. And few endorse it outright. Even Moe, which outlines a concert-taping policy on its Web site, specifically prohibits trading of the group's official releases.

The Clarks' Joseph warns fans to be careful what they wish for when it comes to free music. "If sales are down, the band will not be on the label anymore," he says. "That could end up hurting us, because our label definitely helps us."

At the same time, Guster's Miller is not keen on the idea of sharing his other income sources with his record label.

"It makes more sense for the labels," he concedes, "but it's not like touring is incredibly lucrative. ... We make a decent living, but if the record label was to take a percentage of our merchandise and touring, we wouldn't be able to do it."

But that's exactly where The Rosenbergs' Fagin believes the industry inevitably is headed.

"Labels and artists are going to have to share. The label and the artist will benefit if the label promotes the shows a lot more, and the artist gives them a percentage of concert grosses."

Fans paying 'dues'

In the Moe business model, the band shares with its fans by allowing them to tape its concerts, then trade those files or burn CDs for their friends.

Schnier believes Moe fans who share the band's music feel more invested in the band.

"We have fans who are so dedicated to our music that they want to own everything we put out," Schnier says. "Having a burned version of a studio album is OK, but it doesn't have the artwork.

"Our fans, very much in an NPR/PBS way, feel it's a voluntary effort. You can listen to NPR for free, but the people who understand it pay their membership dues. It's the same way with our fans.

"They're not just consumers; they're part of the equation."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/n...ng-main_x.htm#


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File Sharing Works for Berklee College of Music

Berklee Discloses Berkleeshares.com File Sharing Campaign Results
Press Release

Berklee College of Music, the world's premier music college, announced today that its file-sharing initiative, Berkleeshares.com, providing free online music lessons, is helping the college increase awareness of its programs and its faculty. Both the Berkleemusic.com online school and Berklee Press, Berklee's publishing division, have experienced a 40 percent increase in visitors as a result of the launch of Berklee Shares and increased revenues of 32 percent. Berkleeshares.com was launched on November 10, 2003.

Commenting on the announcement, Dave Kusek, Vice President of Berklee Media said, "The success of Berkleeshares.com is a testament to the need for music education on a global level. It is also proof that file sharing can be embraced by musicians as a meaningful way to share information and knowledge with each other. Berkleeshares.com was launched to initiate a dialogue about the benefits of file sharing in the music community. We have succeeded and we intend to keep the dialog going."

The Berklee Shares online lessons are comprised of a growing catalog of music lessons covering instrument performance, music production and technology, songwriting and arranging, music business and careers, music education and improvisation. The lessons are derived from curriculum developed at Berklee by its world-renowned faculty and are available in the form of MP3s, QuickTime movies and PDF files.

File sharing as a promotional tool has proved to be effective for Berklee. Since its launch, Berkleeshares.com has received more than 250,000 visitors who have downloaded more than 350,000 lessons. The site has received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from within the music industry and others who have made use of the available files.

Respected artist manager and record label owner Ken Levitan, commented: "The music community has changed dramatically in the past several years with the advent of file sharing and related technology and we all have to keep up the pace. Berklee Shares demonstrates how we can all take advantage of these innovations. Education can be brought to students on their own time, in their own homes, reaching that many more people and that much more effectively." Levitan's Vector Management and Vector Recordings clients include Steve Winwood, Patty Griffin, Peter Cincotti, Lyle Lovett, Queen Latifah, Damien Rice and Chris Robinson.

Bruce Kirkland, President of Tsunami Entertainment said: "Berklee College of Music has demonstrated the words 'file sharing' to have a very positive connotation, and indeed be used to further the interests of musicians and their art form. Our artists have always regarded technology as their friend, helping to establish important one-to-one relationships with their fans. Berklee is yet again helping us to be brave in the new world." Tsunami Entertainment clients include Bon Jovi, Sarah Brightman, The Dandy Warhols, GusGus, Goldfrapp, Ozomatli and DJ Dan Mancini.

Berklee is committed to providing music education that is widely available to the global music community. The Berklee Shares program is designed to create an open exchange of ideas for musicians everywhere and as a means to gain unprecedented access to quality education through the Internet. Berklee believes that digital distribution networks will have a significant impact on the future of music and music education.

Berklee continues to explore, through innovative programs such as Berklee Shares, positive ways to take advantage of digital distribution networks and to better understand the future direction of the music industry. Berklee stands alongside other leading organizations that are committed to educating the industry and the general public about important music and technology issues, such as file sharing.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040519/sfw045_1.html
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Cracking Down On University File-Sharing
Colleen Honigsberg

A central computer hub, like the systems in the dorms, monitors multiple computer networks.

The increasing connectivity capabilities of the Internet have created a breeding ground for illegal file-sharing and potential copyright infringement.

This is especially the case in college dorms that utilize the fastest local area network connections.

"With the Internet, there are just so many information and transfer possibilities," said first-year computer science student Angie Yen. "There's nothing stopping people from doing it."

In response to the growing number of online copyright infringements, the UCLA residence halls have reformed their approach to alleged file-sharing violations.

Previously, all potential copyright infringement cases were monitored by an individual from UCLA information technology. The new system is now partially automated.

When UCLA receives a complaint from an outside party, such as the Universal Music Group or the Motion Picture Association of America, an e-mail is automatically sent to the violating computer. Internet access to non-UCLA Web sites is then cut off faster than with the manual response.

"For an institute of higher education to overlook copyright infringement would not be a proper standpoint and would not be appropriate," said Christine Coons, the Office of Residential Life judicial affairs coordinator and Assistant Dean of Students.

"The restricted access policy was a response to try to remain within the law and to preserve students' academic ability online," Coon added.

From July 2003 to March 2004, there were 300 alleged violations, said Jim Davis, the associate vice chancellor of information technology. Six of these violators were repeat offenders.

Most of the violations were for movies, music or software, and involved the perpetrator sharing a copyrighted file without the copyright owner's permission.

UCLA's new response to infringement complaints comes on the heels of a March 23 infringement lawsuit in which the Recording Industry Association of America sued 532 individuals, 89 of whom were from universities -- including the University of California Berkeley and California State University Northridge. Settlements ranged from $12,000 to $17,000.

If a violator at UCLA removes the infringing material within one business day of notification, the only punishment is a day's loss of unregulated Internet access. During this time, the individual still has access to UCLA Web sites such as MyUCLA.

The key aspect of the response is to quarantine the machine to stop the infringement, Davis said.

Students who receive more than one violation face more severe consequences.

Serial violators could potentially be dismissed from the university, but Coon said most usually receive disciplinary probation or suspended suspension. She stressed that each violation is treated on a case by case basis.

The new response also involves a strong educational component.

"We're really hoping that it is an awareness program as much as anything," Davis said. "From talking to students, it seems a number are unaware that they can be caught," he added.

Despite notices on UCLAtv, fliers and various memorandums from UCLA IT, some dorm residents feel the implications and terms of the policy still remain ambiguous.

"We don't know what the new policies are," said Yen.

"Everyone knows (file-sharing) is not something legal to do ... but no one really knows what the consequences are."

Yen was surprised to receive an e-mail infringement notification for downloading a single episode of a television show. The complaint had been from MPAA, which has recently joined the music industry's long battle against illegal file-sharing.

"I felt so confident that I knew what was going on, and I was keeping up with everything," she said.

"MPAA hasn't said anything about cracking down. Everyone thinks it's still just music."
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/...s.asp?id=29061


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An apple a day won’t keep a virus away

Beware Geeks Bearing Gifts
Charles Arthur

Anyone would have thought it a fantastic marketing coup: you release a film about how accepting gifts of unknown content leads to the downfall of your city, and also - major tie-in! - why not do a computer program, too, that does exactly the same thing?

But in fact, the announcement of the first real Trojan Horse program discovered that affects the Mac OS X operating system is not a brilliant piece of publicity for that film with Brad Pitt and his skirt. In case you haven't heard (though schadenfreude will have spread the tale far and wide), a Mac user downloaded a file from a file-sharing network that bore the name "Microsoft Office 2004" - an unreleased piece of software, the latest office suite from the boys in Seattle.

He unzipped the file, he told the Macworld site, "in the hope that perhaps Microsoft had released some sort of public beta", and found a Microsoft icon that "looked genuine and trustworthy". I'm sure that, on the walls of Troy, people were looking down that day, saying: "That horse looks horsey, and certainly a genuine and trustworthy gift."

So, anyway, he double-clicked the file, and at once all of his home directory was deleted. Who'd done this? He had - the "Microsoft" program he thought he was running was instead a rather simple Unix command (it fits on one line) that could have wiped his entire machine had its unknown author so wished. (The Unix command worked because Mac OS X is Unix underneath its pretty face.) So the program wasn't an innocent Microsoft tryout; instead, someone had written a program with that Unix command, stuck a Microsoft-like icon on it, and released it into the world to let someone ruin their own day.

So: it turns out that software with bad intentions - "malware" - isn't the province of Windows alone. Not that it ever has been, but it hadn't been demonstrated before on the OS X platform, which has been around since September 2000.

Apple reacted quickly to the news, saying: "This is not a virus, does not propagate itself and has only been found on a peer-to-peer network. This is an example of the perils of seeking illegal software." That's true enough, although a malware author aiming to go that one step further to something that could propagate itself would only have to take advantage of a bit of user belief. Since one could turn on the in-built mail server in OS X using the administrator password, a Trojan that also asked for a password could mail itself out all over the place. It's not quite Blaster or Sasser, but then malware authors (the more correct term, rather than "hackers") are only just warming up here.

What can Apple do to prevent such Trojans in future? Not a lot. And as the editor of macosxhints.com (a site that seeks Unix workarounds for some of the graphical interface's shortcomings) noted, who's to say that the next Trojan program wouldn't disguise itself as something useful until suddenly, on the 50th run, it just wipes out your hard drive, or begins writing random data into files. Apple can't stop that either. Remember the lesson of the film of the book of the poem: Trojan horses succeed because people trust them. Without trust, they fail. But gullibility is not in short supply today, and never has been.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=522562


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Upgrade

LimeWire 4.0
Press Release

Lime Wire LLC, (http://www.limewire.com), the leading designer and developer of advanced P2P file sharing software, today released LimeWire 4.0, a superior new file sharing application that offers users faster and more successful downloads, improved searches for rare content, and a sleek new interface. LimeWire 4.0 includes a guarantee that users will get no bundled software when they download this new version, and as always, Lime Wire continues its tradition of not utilizing spyware (software which collect personal information that can be used in market research). LimeWire 4.0 is available to Pro customers and available for free download from http://www.limewire.com.

"One of the biggest challenges in a file sharing network is in the ability to locate rare content when a user searches for it," said Chief Operating Officer Greg Bildson. "LimeWire 4.0 does a great job of this with a powerful search engine under the hood. If it's out there, LimeWire 4.0 will find it and with download innovations a user will get the file faster than anywhere else." Bildson adds, "Users have asked for a guarantee that when they download software, it will not be bundled with anything they haven't asked for. We have responded to this request. LimeWire 4.0 is completely free of bundling or spyware."

LimeWire 4.0 runs on the world's most popular operating systems including Windows, Mac and Linux and can be utilized by the entire Internet community. In addition to the features available in the popular version 3.6.15, LimeWire 4.0 also offers users the following:

1) Better search results. Each search shows at least five times as many results as previously.

2) "What's New?" feature. Users can browse the network for the most recent content additions.

3) Search drill down results. Searches in LimeWire now immediately display the artists, albums and other information that fully describes files.

4) Faster connections on start up.

5) Proxy support. Users can now use web proxies to route their downloads to protect their identity.

6) A new search progress bar in each search tab that indicates the percentage of completion of a search.

7) Detection. When the Internet connection is down or a firewall is blocking access to the Internet, Lime Wire will inform the user.

8) Support for International searches and International groups. Users can now search in any language, and LimeWire ensures that a user will be connected to other users with their own language to aide international users to receive search results in their native language and to find content from sources that are close to home.

9) Improved downloads. By excluding the bad file sources, we rapidly make use of all the good sources for faster and more reliable downloads.

10) Many additional changes and improvements offer users the most powerful, enjoyable file sharing experience available.

"LimeWire is the most up to date file sharing technology available today," says Bildson. "Rather than doing a mediocre job of implementing everything, we focused on doing a great job with our network. I challenge file sharers to try us for themselves and see why we're better."
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2004,+08:04+AM


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At the Ready, Sheet Music Minus the Sheets


Photo: Kalim A. Bhatti for The New York Times

Mike Garson, a pianist in David Bowie's band, on tour with his MusicPad, which stores all his music and
allows him to edit it on a touchscreen.


Adam Baer

MIKE GARSON can finally travel light.

A pianist and composer who has played in David Bowie's band since 1972, he fretted for decades over his ever expanding collection of sheet music, stored in dozens of heavy manila folders overflowing with heavily annotated sheets, many of them torn. But on one recent weekday morning, while fighting Los Angeles traffic on his way to an early "Tonight'' show rehearsal, he actually had clean copies of nearly all of his hundreds of works in his car with him - in a thin, lightweight box about the size of a conductor's score.

Mr. Garson was carrying his music in digital form, scanned into his MusicPad Pro Plus, a five-pound tablet computer made by a company called Freehand Systems. The $1,200 device, with a 12-inch liquid-crystal-display touchscreen, is the first of a class of computers that enable musicians to store music and edit it onscreen. Soon it will also allow them to communicate with one another over wireless networks.

In much the way that portable digital audio players have changed the way people consume tunes, tablets like the MusicPad are changing the way musicians use sheet music, which is so compact that it can be digitally stockpiled far more cost-effectively than MP3 audio files.

"It's something I always wanted, and was trying to work out with a computer,'' said Mr. Garson, 58, who has volunteered suggestions to Freehand Systems on how to improve the MusicPad. "But it became so unwieldy.''

Kurt Bester, 48, a pianist and composer who also tested the device, said it had freed him from fumbling with paper when he plays since he can turn the page by tapping the screen or pressing a foot pedal. The bright screen helps him read music in dark rooms, take notes and even archive music he writes before it has been printed.

"This is my sheet-music iPod," he said.

Beyond its usefulness for professional musicians, the MusicPad could help restore sheet music's luster as a tool for amateur entertainment as Freehand Systems seeks to expand the amount of sheet music available online. Through the company's newly purchased Web music store, sunhawk.com, MusicPad users can download and edit 35,000 newly digitized scores.

An average-size music store today carries sheet music for about 2,000 individual works, according to Fred Anton, chief executive of Warner Brothers Publications, and customers generally must order others through the mail unless they live in a metropolitan area with a professional-level sheet-music store. Freehand Systems hopes to use Sunhawk to change that.

It already offers about 20,000 works from the complete 40,000-work Warner Brothers Publications catalog at the Web site (the rest will make it online in a couple of months). And it is working on similar arrangements with other top publishers that could double the amount of music available through Sunhawk. (Of the two other leading online sheet-music stores, musicnotes.com provides nearly 20,000 individual works and Hal Leonard's sheetmusicdirect.com, over 10,000.)

Sunhawk customers can preview songs, transpose them into different keys and hear them in MIDI format. The sheet-music files are encrypted to limit the transfer of a work to the number of MusicPads for which it was purchased; encryption also allows Sunhawk to rent instrumental parts of a composition for limited periods.

Mr. Anton said that the MusicPad and Sunhawk could help resolve two problems that have crippled sales of sheet music online: the limited portability of paper and the fact that the official versions of many pieces are sold only by the publishers.

Mr. Anton dismissed worries about the potential for trading illegal copies of music sold online.

"The Xerox machine has always been the arch enemy of the printed music world, and copying is impossible to police," he said.

Not unexpectedly, Freehand Systems faces competition in the race to take the slow-growing sheet-music industry digital. David Sitrick, a patent attorney and engineer in Chicago, has developed a system called the eStand, which involves proprietary software installed on pairs of Wi-Fi-enabled touchscreen tablet computers. Mr. Sitrick received patents for the concepts behind the eStand in 1998 and 2000, two years before Freehand Systems patented the "music annotation system for performance and composition of musical scores" that led to the MusicPad.

In fact, Mr. Sitrick, 53, has sued Freehand Systems for patent infringement. He has also filed an "interference proceeding" against the musician Harry Connick Jr. over a patent he received two years ago for "a system and method for coordinating music display among players in an orchestra." Mr. Connick, whose system is said to provide for digital conversion of handwriting into musical notation and to distribute electronic scores over a network, declined to comment.

Kim Lorz, the chief executive of Freehand Systems, said his company had not infringed on Mr. Sitrick's patents, although Freehand Systems does plan to release a double-screen model for conductors.

This fall Mr. Sitrick expects to begin selling the eStand, which he says will have more memory and more computing power than the MusicPad - which has 64 megabytes of RAM and 96 megabytes of flash memory, enough for roughly 5,000 pages of sheet music - and will cost considerably more. He also plans to introduce a digital-sheet-music Web site, he said, and is considering selling his music-reading and editing software separately.

Mr. Sitrick has shown the eStand, which mimics the look and feel of an open score, mainly to professional musicians, and he has already won over some prominent artists, including the violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Two years ago Mr. Perlman tested a version of the eStand while conducting the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival. He liked it so much, he said, that he plans to purchase one.

Page turning "is a pain," he said. "Just the fact that you could touch a screen and get to the next page is weird and wonderful."

One of the few people who have assessed both products is Mike Albaugh, director of music at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Mr. Albaugh, who recently bought 25 MusicPads for school use, said he found them more durable than the eStand and that he liked the pledge from Freehand Systems to fix anything that goes wrong.

He said the availability of music to load onto the machines was crucial.

"Freehand has purchased the rights to a lot of works within the general archives of music, and with us, it's about the standard works," Mr. Albaugh said. He said the digital tablets would save paper and serve as a time-efficient teaching tool. What's more, he said, the backlighted screens, which can be used in landscape or portrait orientation, can help ensure that a pit ensemble's sound does not thin out because half the violinists need to turn a page.

Whether the machines will be warmly received by Interlochen students remains to be seen. Liz Koch, 18, an oboist, said she found the MusicPad easy to use but that she didn't appreciate its high price. "It would also be inconvenient to carry," she said.

Travis Dierolf, 17, who plays trombone, said the idea was good but that he would not trust the MusicPad in a performance. "While the marking functions seemed promising, I think that whenever you have you more technology you have more things that can go wrong," he said.

As for David Bowie, Mr. Garson said that all his boss cared about is "making sure you play the right stuff when it matters," and that like most rock stars he never uses sheet music.

"Still, I think I'm going to get him a MusicPad for his birthday with all his thousands of lyrics entered onto it," he said. "I think it would be a really nice thing for someone so prolific to have."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/te...usi.html?8hpib


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Digging Up the Past at 45 R.P.M.
James Gorman

I'VE started buying music online, one song at time. I wanted to catch up to the present, and to have a chance of reaching the future - in music delivery technology, that is. What I didn't expect was that I'd be traveling back in time, revisiting my memories at a dollar a download.

This sort of plunge backward used to happen by accident. I'd be driving on the New Jersey Turnpike and hear the Beach Boys singing "Wouldn't It Be Nice." Suddenly I was 17 again, singing along with my girlfriend, at least until the children in the back seat yelled, "Daaaad!"

Or I'd put on Phil Ochs while I was paying bills and figuring out the best way to refinance my mortgage. He would start singing "The War Is Over" and I'd be singing along again, this time with my college roommates, speakers pointed out the windows of the dorm, letting the rest of the world know what we thought and where we stood, as long as the beer lasted.

These are personal memories, of course. Some remembered songs are so popular they are shared by everyone of a certain age. Others just make the rest of the world shake their head and wonder. But the principle works for most people.

Since I've started downloading songs, I've found I can browse the past. For Proust, sensation - the taste of a madeleine - prompted remembrance. I am the anti- Proust. I have the memory first, and then I look for the song, buy it and listen to it. The immediacy is gratifying. It is as if Proust remembered Combray and then ordered a madeleine online, only to have it pop out of the CD drive a few minutes later.

I have also found that my memories are not just of the melody and the message, but the medium as well. I may be buying and listening to a song in a proprietary digital format, with copyright protection, transferable to other devices, but I'm remembering an old car radio, or the light reflected on the unscratched vinyl of a new 45 as it slides out of its sleeve.

The first song I remember fixing on is "El Paso," a ballad by the country singer Marty Robbins. I listened to it on the car radio while riding with my father (in the front seat without a seat belt, of course). I must have been about 10. Whenever the scene comes to mind I recall the radio's mechanical push buttons for preset stations. I can feel the satisfying chunk when I pushed them in.

The first record I remember buying was a 45 of Elvis singing "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame." I memorized it by listening to it over and over on my record player, a portable enclosed in a case with a handle. It was a box, but it certainly didn't boom.

"Runaround Sue" (Dion and the Belmonts) entered my consciousness a few years later, through my brand new miniature transistor radio (a Hitachi I believe) held next to my ear as I bopped along.

Then of course came the long and winding LP road. For me it began in the early 60's. I suppose it never ended, since I still have my albums: Joan Baez; the Kingston Trio; Gordon Lightfoot; James Taylor; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Linda Ronstadt and the less well-known groups like Ten Wheel Drive and Iron Butterfly. I remember listening to the Beatles' White Album on a roommate's KLH stereo system.

By the time CD's took over the world, my youth was gone. Music stayed important, but songs did not become milestones as they did when every year brought major change. And at some point I fell behind the technological curve. Up until a few weeks ago, when I needed music I got it the old-fashioned way: by shopping online for a CD.

Then I started downloading songs, purchasing them from the iTunes store (www.itunes.com) and the new, non-outlaw version of Napster (www.napster.com). I discovered that, with some gaps because of my taste in music, I now have my whole life in song online, searchable, for sale, accessible within minutes.

By and large the process has been extremely satisfying. The software is easy enough to use, the purchasing quick. The listening, although it would probably revolt an audiophile, is just fine for someone who wants to call up memories of the summer of 1966 by playing "Wild Thing."

I have spent more than I realized. The online music stores use the popcorn principle: one piece of popcorn is insignificant, so you keep eating. Before you know it you have devoured an entire bag, or perhaps a Jumbo Extravaganza Double Feature bucket, and must pay with financial indigestion.

Ninety-nine cents, the basic price for a song at most download sites, is insignificant. But in a matter of weeks I spent about $60 buying songs, much more than I would think of spending on CD's.

The differences in available songs, at least for iTunes and Napster, were small, and odd. For Marty Robbins, iTunes has 62 downloadable entries, a number of them multiple copies of the same song from different albums.

The selection includes the obscure "Running Gun," but not the far more popular "Big Iron." Napster had 51 entries, and no "Big Iron."

There are numerous other legal sources of music online, and change is rapid, so it makes sense to try a few. Several of them are able to use Windows Media player and can live together happily. For instance, Napster and Best Buy seemed to coexist without conflict.

Switching back and forth between iTunes and other services caused me some conflicts and confusion, however. That was a problem, because I liked the look and feel of iTunes, but memory and music are infinite, and you hate to be tied to one time machine.

My guess is that most people are buying new music. But for me the great value of 99-cent songs is that the hundreds of thousands of them on the Web serve as a universal library of quickly accessible information.

It's the kind of information that is a surprise. I expect to find data on the Web and to be able to shop. I never expected to find my emotional autobiography, or at least the musical keys to it, stored for ready access at a small fee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/te...ts/20shop.html


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New iTunes Tools Spur Windows Developers
John Borland

Independent software programmers are using new tools provided by Apple Computer to write add-on applications for the company's iTunes music software, potentially expanding the software's appeal.

Early in the month, the company quietly released a Windows-based software development kit for its media player. The tools provide instructions on how to let other programs talk to iTunes. A similar set of instructions for Macintosh computers had long been available.

The tools do not go so far as to allow other media players to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store, but they do allow a variety of applications to extend iTunes use. For instance, using the tools, a developer could write new software that launches and controls iTunes remotely.

"It looks like it's exactly what I was hoping for," said Andrew Carlson, a Chicago-based developer who is using the tools to create a continuously updated list of recently played songs on his Web log. "Until this release, we haven't had a Windows equivalent to what iTunes users could do with AppleScript on a Mac."

While commercial programs have yet to be released taking advantage of the information in the new development kit, a handful of programmers, including Carlson, have begun swapping ideas for small applications, in some cases posting code on their blogs.

iTunes has been the subject of occasionally intense interest from independent programmers during the past year, particularly since the release of the iTunes software for Windows in October.

Some of this activity followed the release of an earlier software development kit that focused on visual applications.

Additionally, interest has been piqued by unauthorized projects that have sought to evade some of the content-protection rules of iTunes and of Apple's FairPlay digital rights management software.

The latest version of the iTunes disables some of those unauthorized tools, including "MyTunes," an application that, for a time, allowed users to download MP3s from other iTunes users.

An Apple representative said that the development kit was simply intended to give programmers the same tools they are available for the Macintosh.

"There's nothing new here except that it's for Windows," said spokesman Chris Bell, Apple's director of product marketing for the iTunes line of software.
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5216264.html


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Apple Creates Division For iPod
Ina Fried

Apple Computer late Wednesday confirmed that it is splitting its product development into two divisions--one focused on the Mac and the other focused on iPod digital music player.

An Apple representative confirmed the move, which was first reported Wednesday in The New York Times. Jon Rubinstein, the senior vice president who currently heads all hardware development, will lead the new iPod division. Tim Cook, currently executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations, will be in charge of the new Mac division. Also, Tim Bucher, who currently heads Macintosh system development, was tapped to head Mac hardware engineering.

The move comes as Apple's business is increasingly focused on iPod and more generally on music. Last quarter, Apple said it sold more iPods than Macs--the first time that occurred.

"This organizational refinement will focus our talent and resources even more precisely on our industry-leading Macintosh computers and the wildly successfully iPod," Apple said in a statement.

Apple has sold more than 3 million iPods since its launch in October 2001.

The iPod was followed in April 2003 with the launch of Apple iTunes music store--the most popular legal downloading service with more than 70 million downloads.
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5216647.html


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Judge Lets Eminem Suit Against Apple, MTV Continue
AP

A federal judge says rapper Eminem's copyright infringement claims over use of his song ``Lose Yourself'' in a commercial for Apple Computer Inc.
can go forward.

Apple featured a 10-year-old boy singing the Oscar-winning theme song to the rapper's movie ``8 Mile'' in an ad on MTV for the computer company's iPod music player and iTunes music service.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the suit brought by Eminem's publishing company can proceed against several companies, including MTV parent company Viacom and advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Taylor threw out two state law-based claims of unfair competition and unjust enrichment.

The television ad appeared many times during three months beginning in July 2003 and on Apple's Web site, despite the fact that the computer company had unsuccessfully sought Eminem's permission for the campaign.

Herschel Fink, a Detroit lawyer for the defendants, said no viewer would think Eminem was endorsing the iTunes service.

Eminem's lawyers say he has never nationally endorsed any product. ------
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/8694772.htm


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Q ‘n’ A

Overcoming Obstacles to Sharing Your Files
J.D. Biersdorfer

Q. I tried to send a file to a friend using America Online's stand-alone Instant Messenger program, but it wouldn't work. Why not?

A. In addition to real-time text messaging, AOL Instant Messenger software can transfer files directly between two connected users, including documents that might be too large to e-mail.

Firewall protection on either user's computer is one of several factors that can hamper file-sharing. If you suspect that a firewall might be blocking the transfer, select a different port in the AOL Instant Messenger connection preferences or adjust your firewall software settings to allow transfers. If you are trying to transfer files in an office that uses a corporate firewall, you should ask your network administrator which port to use.

Next, be sure that you and your friend have configured the A.I.M. program correctly so that you both are set up to receive files. You and your buddy should be using the same version of the A.I.M. software, preferably the most current edition. If your transfer is between a Windows-based PC and a Macintosh, check the program settings on the Mac version to make sure the file-sharing feature is enabled.

When exchanging files, even with people you know, it is a good idea to have your antivirus program set up to scan incoming files. Spyware that uses the social aspects of instant-message programs to persuade people to download and install an intrusive program should be avoided.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/te...ts/20askk.html


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2 Slow for big jobs but it’s the right idea

Calling All Drive Swappers!!!

Delkin announces USB Bridge
Rob Galbraith

Delkin this week has announced the US $70 USB Bridge, a device that takes the place of a host computer and, as the name implies, acts as a bridge between two USB devices.

The AA-battery powered device supports multiple USB device protocols, include Mass Storage and PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol), which means it can communicate with, and transfer data to and from, a range of digital SLR cameras, card readers, CD- writers and portable digital music players (including Apple's iPod).

We've been working with a prototype unit of the USB Bridge this week, and while we're not sure yet of the utility of the device, we can absolutely attest to its coolness. It's a great idea, now we just have to figure out exactly if or how it can be deployed in our digital photography workflow.

Here's what we've been able to make the USB Bridge do so far:

Transfer photos from a CompactFlash card in a Nikon D70 (set to Mass Storage in its USB menu) via its USB port to a FAT32-formatted 40GB drive inside an OWC Mercury On-The-Go FireWire/USB enclosure. We've also been able to transfer photos from the same camera, as well as the D2H, to a Secure Digital card in the Delkin Reader-29 card reader (though of course there isn't much practical application for this!).

Write photos from a CompactFlash card in a Nikon D2H (set to Mass Storage in its USB menu) to a CD-RW disc inside an aging QPS Que 16x CD writer. CD's written through the USB Bridge are in ISO 9660 format, which is readable across both Mac and PC platforms. Multiple writing sessions on a single disc are said to be possible, though we haven't attempted this, up to the limit of the capacity of the disc.

Transfer photos from one CompactFlash card to another, with various brands and models of card readers on either side of the USB Bridge. We've encountered only one incompatible reader so far: a Lexar USB 2.0 Multi-Card reader (running an older version of firmware in the reader).


Delkin USB Bridge

We managed the above feats with nothing more than a few presses of the power, transfer and verify buttons on the unit. The twin LEDs on top of the USB Bridge appear to provide a reliable method of interpreting its status, while most of the USB devices we've connected to it give a visual indication of a working connection (ie the D2H's card access light blinks while the top LCD displays PC). We've prepped a quick video showing a prototype USB Bridge in action.

The only limitation we've encountered so far in the design of the USB Bridge is its use of Full Speed USB 1.1 instead of the much-faster High Speed USB 2.0. This shouldn't hamper compatibility of USB 2.0 devices with the USB Bridge, but it will limit the speed at which data travels through it. For example, transferring about 345MB of RAW+JPEG photos from a Sandisk Extreme 512MB CompactFlash card inside a Nikon D2H to a Sandisk Extreme 512MB SD card inside a Delkin Reader-29 takes just over 10 minutes, or 575K/sec. The same transfer to a Mac G5/Dual 2.0 GHz (via one of its USB 2.0 ports) running OS X 10.3.3 takes 2 minutes and 13 seconds, or 2659K/sec.

What we haven't yet had an opportunity to evaluate is the transfer of photos from a USB digital SLR or card reader to Apple's iPod. With the use of the iPod's FireWire + USB 2.0 accessory cable (the same cable required to use the iPod with a Windows computer that lacks a FireWire port), the USB Bridge is promised to be able to act as a conduit. This would, in effect, turn the iPod into a digital wallet-type device.

The Belkin iPod Media Reader provides this functionality already, but is hampered by slow transfer rates that gobble up iPod battery life. The USB Bridge and iPod connector cable allows for the iPod to be powered by its external charger if desired. Plus, being able to transfer photos directly from a range of USB cameras or card readers certainly provides greater flexibility. We have our fingers crossed that transfer rates will be somewhat faster as well, though based on testing with other devices it's likely that any speed advantage the USB Bridge- iPod combo might have over the Belkin reader will be slight at best.

No USB 2.0 or FireWire version of the USB Bridge is planned at this time, says Delkin's CEO Martin Wood. The USB Bridge will ship in early June 2004 through Delkin photo retailers, and is available for purchase direct from Delkin for US$70.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/con...id=7-6455-6965

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Tunes, Films and, Now, XP: A Remote Extends Its Domain
J. D. Biersdorfer

onsumers now have another clicker to add to their blooming bouquets of remote controls. SnapStream Media has just released the FireFly PC Remote, which can manipulate not only computers running Microsoft's Windows Media Center operating system, but standard PC's using Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional as well.

The FireFly package comes with a standard-size remote control and a transceiver that plugs into a U.S.B. port on the computer. It comes with SnapStream's Beyond Media Basic program for browsing the computer's content. Once set up, the FireFly can play, pause and maneuver through tracks in the computer's digital audio collection, play CD's and videos, and zip through photo slide shows on the PC's monitor. The remote can start programs with one button and includes a Mouse mode for navigating around the screen by cursor.

The remote can be used to control more than 80 existing multimedia programs, including RealPlayer, QuickTime, MusicMatch Jukebox, Windows Media Player, WinAmp, InterVideo WinDVR and iTunes; a full list and other technical details can be found at www.snapstream.com/products/firefly/.

The FireFly PC Remote sells for $50 and is available from the site and at major electronics stores.

Although fewer calories will be burned once you can manage your MP3 playlists from the couch, the missed exercise will probably be replaced by frantic searches when the remote, inevitably, goes into hiding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/te...ts/20remo.html


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ILN News Letter

Cippic Granted Leave To Intervene In File Sharing Case

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic has been granted leave to intervene in the Canadian Recording Industry Association file sharing lawsuit appeal. CIPPIC raised copyright and privacy issues in its intervetion at the trial level.
Order at
http://www.cippic.ca/uploads/images/...tion_Order.pdf


Study Finds UK ISPs Remove Lawful Content Too Easily

A new study from researchers at Oxford University finds that UK ISPs may be too willing to remove lawful content from the Internet. The study requested removal of perfectly lawful public domain content. While U.S. ISPs refused, the UK ISPs quickly complied with the request.
Study at
http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk/liberty.pdf


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EU Ministers Scrap Quest For Single European Patent, Agree On Software Protections

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Done in by disputes over language and liability, European Union governments on Tuesday killed a proposal for an EU-wide patent that
was a key part of their drive to make European businesses more competitive.

Ministers from the 25 EU countries did, however, reach an initial agreement on a directive backed by big European high-tech companies that would allow software that is part of a mechanical device -- such as a mobile phone -- to be patented.

Their agreement omits amendments added last year by the European Parliament, largely supported by smaller businesses and advocates of ``open source'' software, setting the stage for a showdown in conciliation this fall.

On the EU-wide patent, diplomats said Germany, Spain, France and Portugal voted against a compromise put forward by Ireland, which holds the EU presidency. Italy abstained. Unanimity was required for passage.

It was not immediately clear what would happen now. An Irish spokeswoman said it would be up to the EU's executive Commission to decide whether to draft a new proposal. A Commission spokesman said no decision had been made.

EU leaders made the patent issue a ``top priority'' in 2000 as part of a program to make their economy the world's most dynamic by 2010. They have missed several deadlines.

The EU-wide patent was intended to drive down costs. The European patent now available, which covers five EU countries, is about five times as expensive as patents in the United States or Japan.

The commission says an EU-wide patent would cut the average EU cost in half and cover all 25 EU countries. Yet, language has proved the major holdup.

Last year, governments agreed that patents would be submitted only in English, French and German instead of all official EU languages. But the deal required the part of the patent that describes the invention -- known as the claim -- to be translated into all 20 official languages.

Spain demanded all translations be considered legally binding. Germany objected, backed by business groups that warned it would increase costs and uncertainty to such an extent that no one would use it.

A compromise would have left the issue to courts to decide, but both sides refused to budge.

Germany also is seen as especially reluctant to give up its regional patent courts -- a lucrative source of jobs and revenue. About half of all discoveries in the EU are registered now in Germany, where some 70 percent of disputes are adjudicated.

On software, the EU aims to harmonize how national patent laws deal with so-called ``computer-implemented inventions,'' while avoiding any ``drift'' toward the U.S. system that allows patenting of business methods or computer programs such as Amazon's ``one-click'' shopping technique.

Opponents of software patents argued it would stifle innovation and restrict research, and persuaded lawmakers to broaden the exemptions from patentability.

But big firms like Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Philips and Alcatel warned last November that billions in research and development spending would be wasted if they were denied access to patent protection.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said Parliament's version went ``beyond what was required to set the right balance between rewarding inventors for their efforts and allowing competitors to build on these inventions, and could ultimately harm EU competitiveness.''
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/8695760.htm


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Sharman Presses for Evidence
Patrick Gray

Lawyers representing the makers of the Kazaa file-sharing software, Sharman Networks, told the Australian Federal Court on Friday that their client has in no way infringed copyright.

The counsel for Sharman Networks, Robert Ellicott, said the software maker is not the uploader of music files, and therefore isn't liable for file trading on its network. Furthermore, because the courts have yet to show anyone has violated copyright by using Kazaa, an infringement case against Sharman has no merit in law, the company argued.

"There aren't any allegations of actual infringement," Ellicott told the court. "The law is clear that to attack somebody for authorizing an infringement, some infringement has to be proved. Now, they have neither given particulars nor alleged facts which would establish an infringement and it has to be an infringement, of course, in Australia."

The software company has asked the music industry to provide it with the names and addresses of the Kazaa users it alleges have traded copyrighted works.

"Our evidence contains dozens of incidents of downloading," said Richard Cobden, the lawyer acting for the music industry, during the proceedings. "Why should we be asked now for the names and addresses of these people who operate by pseudonyms? We could not possibly do it, your honor, but we are going to suggest that the evidence is perfectly clear that the recordings are made available."

In another development, the judge presiding over the case, Justice Murray Wilcox, warned both sides to refrain from speaking to the media about the case.

Speculation in the media would lead to in-court matches over statements made to the media, he said. "It may be that in America that is regarded as being part of being a witness, but it is rather foreign to our culture."

Ellicott presented the court with a copy of the May issue of Australian Personal Computer magazine, which contained an article on the March raids. The article featured photographs of the raids.

"Somebody has, we would submit, used the proceedings for the purpose of embarrassing, demeaning, however you like to describe it, our clients," he said.

Since the judge issued his warning, both the music industry and Sharman have refused to make any comment on the proceedings.

Sharman hasn't yet filed a defense against the allegations brought by the music industry.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63509,00.html


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Sharman Pleas 100-Year-Old Defence
Abby Dinham

Sharman License Holdings may be resting its defence on a precedent set over one hundred years ago, according to statements made by its lawyers in court last Friday, as the company prepares to face alleged music copyright infringement charges relating to its file sharing software Kazaa.

Sharman lawyer JR Ellicot referred to the 1899 case of Boosey v. Whight in addressing the courts concerns over the defence's lack of cross-claim, he stated "It will be our submission in this case that we are exactly in that position now in relation to sound recordings."

Boosey v. Whight (1899) involved copyright charges arising over the production of pianola rolls, in which the court found that the reproduction of the perforated pianola rolls did not infringe the English copyright act protecting sheets of music.

Lawyers in the 1899 case forged their defence on the argument that "to play an instrument from a sheet of music which appears to the eye is one thing; to play an instrument with a perforated sheet which itself forms part of the mechanism which produces the music is quite another thing."

Sharman lawyers indicated that they are planning to present a similar defence against the accusation made by Universal Music Australia and its affiliates.

"However you describe it on a computer hard drive, it is not a copy of a sound recording, and it also has the implication that even if you take from a CD and put it on a computer what is on the computer it not a copy," Ellicot said in court last Friday.

Ellicot maintained that an "infringing copy has to be a sound recording", and said his clients are further removed from liability by the fact that they are not responsible for uploading the songs.

"My client's not the uploader. We don’t have anything to do with it and that uploader on a worldwide Web could be in Bolivia, could be in South Africa," said Ellicot. He added that the uploader of the music files that was shared on the Kazaa network must "be in Australia for it to be an infringement".

Following Friday's proceedings, the Universal Music party is under court instructions to issue the Sharman parties with the specific particulars of their allegations of infringement of the Copyright Act, with notification due this Friday.

The Sharman parties then have 14 days to present the applicants with a cross-claim before both parties can submit an application to access the evidence seized in raids from Sharman premises last February.

The evidence is currently being held by an independent solicitor until terms of access can be set.

Parties are due back in court on the 1st of July; the presiding Justice Wilcox said he hopes for a hearing date sometime in this year.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/busines...9148079,00.htm


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Film-Streaming Website Exploits Copyright Loophole

Rotterdam-based website Dvdstream.nl is using the Dutch copyright law that permits the copying of films or music for private consumption, to lawfully provide unlimited film-downloads.

For a monthly subscription of €12.42, Dvdstream.nl will transmit films from its ten servers in Amsterdam over the internet in a special (PaulButler 600) streaming format, and ‘broadcast’ them directly (using complementary software on subscribers’ computers) to subscribers’ television sets.

However, to circumvent copyright and make all of this ‘legal’, subscribers go through the process of ‘buying’ the streamed film from Dvdstream.nl for a fictitious price, and then ‘selling’ it back for the same price - in effect, using Dutch copyright law to gain access to unlimited film downloads for the price of a monthly subscription.

Online film-streaming rentals are not new (Breedbandportal, a subsidiary of Dutch telecom giant KPN, offers such a service), and neither are online DVD rentals. However, combining the two is, claims Eric-Paul Scholten of Dvdstream.nl. "We want to be the digital counterpart of paid television," he says.

And what do the industry’s own watchdogs make of this? "Legally, this service is completely above board," says Bas Vissers of BREIN, the Dutch entertainment industry’s anti-piracy association.

However, NVPI, the Dutch film industry association, has a different opinion: "Which ever way you look at it, they need permission from the film industry. If they don’t get it, they have a problem," says its director, Paul Solleveld.

And there are good reasons for Dvdstream.nl’s decision to go down this particular route. "Buying the rights to stream films costs millions of euros. Furthermore, you will also be required to purchase expensive anti-piracy technology," says Mr Scholten.

He claims the film industry has an ulterior motive for hindering the progress of film-streaming rental sites: "Actual rental shops pay a fixed sum per rental. With streaming rental, these costs are enormous. Film companies just want to prevent others from renting films in this way. They want to save that for themselves to do at some later stage," says Mr Scholten.
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1831


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DVD May Go Day-And-Date

Company's eyes closer release dates with U.S.
Pete Hammond

Now that the film biz is embracing day-and-date openings, DVD may start to embrace the trend, panelists at a Variety Cannes Conference Series panel session said Thursday morning.

Participants included Philippe Cardon, Warner Home Video's managing director, Europe/Middle East/Africa; Malik Ducard, VP of worldwide business development & acquisitions at MGM Home Video; Stephen Einhorn, prexy-CEO, New Line Home Entertainment; and Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

Event was moderated by Variety home entertainment editor Scott Hettrick, who is also editor-in-chief of sister pubs Video Business and the recently launched DVD Exclusive.

Demonstrating the importance of DVD's relationship to the theatrical release, the execs said they are working closer than ever with their studio counterparts to ensure maximum benefits. In fact, the emerging trend of worldwide day-and-date releases is one Cardon feels is imperative for his division as well.

"It is not only a strategy, but a need to have the closer release between the U.S. and international on theatrical, because then it will also be the starting point for the DVD," he said. Scattered releases in different territories are confusing the consumer on DVD availability, he added.

"We are working a lot on this harmonization and simultaneous release of the DVD, which needs to start with simultaneous release of the theatrical."

Much of the discussion centered around the emergence of Netflix, Flexplay and VOD as consumer alternatives to standard retail operations. With its 2 million subscribers, a 21,000-title library and projected revenue flow of $1 billion by 2006, DVD mail delivery outfit Netflix is offering customers smaller movies they can't find anywhere else, Sarandos said.

"The ability we have to match the audience to the film is really the interesting and valuable component both for studios and consumers that Netflix has been able to address," he said.

"Whale Rider" has done better for Netflix than many so-called blockbuster releases, Sarandos said, because the company's technology can target subscribers most likely to enjoy the film.

Netflix will roll out in the U.K. in October.

Flexplay, the inexpensive DVD product that dissolves after 48 hours and has been endorsed by only thus far, drew a mixed response.

"It's very unfriendly to the consumer," said Sarandos, who cited ecological, psychological and business problems as just a few of its drawbacks.

But Einhorn expressed some enthusiasm: "I tend to like it because it's one more way to satisfy consumer demand." He also chimed in on video-on-demand, saying he thinks it is inevitable but won't be nearly as popular as people seem to think.

The wide-ranging panel also hit on direct-to-video products, a trend MGM's Ducard supported.

"A few years ago, direct-to-video meant failed theatrical, but now, with the acceptance of DVD, there is a new vibrant market for it." He estimated this part of the pie at $4 billion out of the overall $20 billion-$25 billion business.

"It all gets down to shelf space, and if you can't get on the shelf at the WalMarts and sell significant amounts the first week, you will be off that shelf," Einhorn said. He sees the direct-to-video biz, with its higher marketing costs, as a significant risk.
http://www.variety.com/ story.asp?l=story&a=VR1117905340&c=1706


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New Ban For DVD Copying Software

A New York federal judge has issued yet another sales ban against 321 Studios' popular DVD-copying software, this time on behalf of copy-protection company Macrovision. The ruling will have little practical impact on sales, because two previous court rulings have already blocked 321 Studios from selling the original version of its software, which could make perfect copies of Hollywood DVDs. The Missouri-based software company has already released a new version of the software stripped of the controversial capability, but it's appealing the earlier rulings.

Macrovision's claim differs from the earlier rulings, based on patent law as well as copyright law. Because the earlier injunctions were already in place, the judge did not address the new issues, however.
http://news.com.com/Briefly%3A+New+b...l?tag=nefd.top


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Report: Kids Pirate Music Freely
David McGuire

More than half of young Americans with Internet access continue to download free music even though they know that they are breaking the law, according to a poll released today.

Eighty-eight percent of the respondents know that most popular music is copyrighted, but 56 percent download it anyway, according to the survey of 1,183 children, ages eight to 18. The survey also found that more kids worry about downloading computer viruses with their songs than about getting in trouble with the law.

Similarly high numbers of children know that books, software and games are copyrighted, the poll found, though a third download games and only 17 percent download considerably larger movie files. About 43 percent of the respondents said that they think downloading music is "OK" and 30 percent said the same about downloading software.

The survey was conducted between April 14 and April 20 by Harris Interactive. It was commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm that fights software piracy. The BSA's members include Microsoft Corp., Apple Computer and Adobe Inc.

The responses show that the software and entertainment industries need to step up their efforts to make sure children behave in a legal manner while they are on the Internet, said BSA spokeswoman Diane Smiroldo.

"It's a very good sign that a lot of kids and youth understand that creative works online are protected by copyright law," Smiroldo said. "[But if] they're still doing the wrong thing, that's not good."

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other lobbying groups that represent the entertainment industry have spent millions of dollars on national campaigns to educate children and adults about copyright law and piracy. The RIAA has enlisted high-profile musicians from Madonna and Mandy Moore to Stevie Wonder and Andrea Bocelli to spread the word, while movie studios run anti-piracy ads in movie theaters. The BSA conducted its own anti-piracy campaign and occasionally coordinates its efforts with the entertainment industry.

The recording industry says compact disc sales have dropped from a high of $13.2 billion in 2000 to $11.2 billion in 2003, much of it because of piracy. The BSA says piracy costs its members at least $13 billion a year.

The RIAA has gone a step beyond its public awareness campaign against piracy, suing more than 1,000 suspected file-sharers, some as young as 12.

The Justice Department launched its own crackdown on file-sharing sites in late April, conducting more than 120 searches in 10 countries and 27 U.S. states on Web site operators suspected of trafficking in illegally copyrighted material. "Operation Fastlink" targeted networks suspected of distributing more than $50 million in software, music and movies.

Nevertheless, recently released figures from the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that file-sharing is growing more popular. There were approximately 23 million regular music downloaders in the United States in March, compared to 18 million in November and December 2003, according to the Pew study. The study said this showed a steady rise, though the number of people downloading music remains far off its high of 35 million users in the spring of 2003 -- around the time that the RIAA first started warning people that they could be sued for illegally sharing music.

The Harris poll shows that "education is important, but without an enforcement component, it can only do so much to influence behavior," said RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy.

Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said the Harris poll strengthens the case for tougher punishments for online pirates.

"People can understand what they're doing is illegal and not feel a great deal of empathy for the entity that's getting shafted," Berman said. "What they need to have also is the fear of getting caught -- that's the stick that needs to be out there."

Berman is cosponsoring a bill with Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) that would send people to jail for up to three years for trading more than 1,000 songs on peer- to-peer networks like Kazaa and Morpheus.

Wayne Rosso, chief executive of the company that runs the Blubster and Piolet peer-to-peer networks, said that file-sharing companies and the recording industry have to find ways to cooperate instead of clamping down on online music distribution.

"Clearly the suggest that changes in the law need to be made," he said. "As opposed to throwing 53 percent of the young people in the country in jail, wouldn't it be better to make sure they can do this safely and legally and with respect for copyright law?"

Rosso and other file-sharing proponents so far have been unable to reach a compromise with the entertainment and software industries to pay copyrighted works shared online. File-sharing companies have proposed a licensing scheme that would force consumers and Internet service providers to be responsible for compensating artists and copyright holders, but intellectual property groups have objected to any plans that would not allow them to set the prices.

Online polls are often not considered to be as accurate as more traditional surveys conducted over the phone or in person. But Harris research official Marc Scheer said his company took a number of steps to ensure that respondents belonged to the eight-to-18 age group targeted in this survey, such as not specifying to a preferred age group in the initial questions. Harris has built a list of several million Internet users from which it randomly selects respondents for various surveys based on demographic and other criteria.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004May18.html


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Oh Oh

SK Telecom's Trademark Dispute

Korea's patent court ruled on Thursday against SK Telecom, barring the country's top mobile carrier from exclusively using ``011’’ as a trademark.

The ruling was in favor of KTF, the No. 2 mobile carrier, by the Intellectual Property Tribunal at the conclusion of a six-month court battle.

KTF had requested SK Telecom to stop claiming the exclusive right to use the cell phone prefix ``011’’ as an advertising or marketing tool because the number is a national asset.

However, KTF has suffered setbacks in another suit to ban SK Telecom from trademarking ``010,’’ the new and unified cell phone prefix.

SK Telecom said it is deciding whether to appeal the court's decision and declined any further comments.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech...5113411800.htm


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Sir Tim: 'No New TLDs Please'
Ryan Naraine

World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee has criticized a plan to create a new Top Level Domain (TLD) for mobile devices, warning that a new .MOBI domain will break device independence and separate the Web into two parts.

Berners-Lee used the spotlight of the World Wide Web 2004 Conference here to highlight the benefits of connectivity with the next phase of the Semantic Web. But he saved his most scathing comments for the .MOBI TLD proposal being championed by Nokia Corp., Vodafone and Microsoft.

"I'm a little bit concerned about these new nine domains [under consideration by ICANN]. People have become used to using 'www' and '.com'. It's already defined as a flat space so why create a tree around it now?" Berners-Lee said. (The nine TLDs under ICANN consideration include .MOBI, .TEL, .TRAVEL, .XXX and .ASIA.)

He warned of "hidden costs" of introducing new TLDs, noting that when new domains were released by ICANN a few years ago, it led to a confusing scenario where businesses were registering URLs in every conceivable format. "They thought that they were protecting their brand and trademark but they were actually devaluing the .COM and .NET names," he argued.

"Don't get me wrong. There are some reasons for which I'd like to open new domain names. It would be great to open new domains but only where a social system or technical system was very different. If you want to open a domain where you are numbering things like telephones, that may be useful. If you make a commitment to the integrity of that piece of the Web, then that would be interesting.

"I'm not against Top Level Domains at all. I think that if you're going to set one up, the governing of it should be fair. It should be run by a non-profit and it should be technically sound. It should provide wider value to everyone and not just be set up to be a cash cow for people who want to sell you things."

Berners-Lee, who is a director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), said the driving force behind the .MOBI domain proposal was the establishment of new standards for mobile compatibility, the enforcement of new standards within the .MOBI domain and the creation of new markets for mobile devices.

He insisted that there were potential problems outweighing the advantages. He said a TLD that only works on wireless devices would separate the Web into two parts. He also wondered aloud what would happen if a user wanted to bookmark a Web page on the phone and revisit it on a laptop of desktop PC.

In December, England's Buckingham Palace announced that Berners-Lee would be knighted by Queen Elizabeth in recognition of his "services to the global development of the Internet" for helping to invent the Web.
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news...le.php/3356081


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In the Era of Cheap DVD's, Anyone Can Be a Producer


Illustration: Viktor Koen

Peter Wayner

IN the fall, on the Monday after each University of Texas football game, the university's athletic department produces a bulk mailing for the post office: DVD's containing a complete video of the game, interviews with the coaches and other features.

There may be more college football on television than ever before, but even so, schools like Texas with prominent football teams can't count on reaching a national audience every Saturday. So the university offers DVD's of its 12 games as a $300 package; so far about 300 fans around the country are subscribers.

Sports events may seem an unlikely subject for distribution by DVD, but football games are far from the only discs in the mail carrier's bag these days. Independent filmmakers, specialty magazine publishers, artists, educators - all those with a video to sell, no matter how narrow the niche - are turning out DVD's and distributing them through the mail. It's a trend that began in the era of videotape but has accelerated with DVD's because they are inexpensive to duplicate and ship.

"The costs have come down, and it's an open market to put whatever you can on a disc," said Maureen Healy, publisher of DVD News, a trade publication.

Poetry Television, for example, a San Francisco-based group devoted to verse, sells a DVD of readings, "Weapons of Mass Production: The Spoken War" for $20 through its Web site, www.poetrytelevision.com. The DVD is part of a planned subscription series.

"We're looking to reach at least 500 subscriptions by the end of the year,'' said Isaias Rodriguez, the group's founder. "It's a small number, but it will have a huge impact."

For $29.95, fans of mountainboarding (a sport best described as all-terrain skateboarding) can subscribe to a year of Mountainboard Video Mag on three DVD's (www .mountainboardvideomag.com). Each installment contains video of daredevil runs and spills, interviews and features on the sport's culture.

And Primedia Workplace Learning, a division of the media company Primedia, ships programs of continuing education for firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers on disc so that lessons can be paused and replayed between calls. February's selection was "The A and the B: Airways and Breathing."

As these and other projects demonstrate, even 500 cable or satellite channels aren't enough for a nation filled with so many stories, lessons and events. DVD distribution has helped create a market for specialized visual programming.

At its most developed, DVD distribution includes companies like Netflix, which rents movies - everything from Hollywood blockbusters to small art films - to consumers by mail. Netflix (www.netflix .com), which charges a flat monthly fee for rentals, had revenues of $272 million last year.

Beyond Netflix, lots of individuals and groups are producing videos in a market that is as varied and heterogenous as the book industry. The market has even spawned companies like CustomFlix (www .customflix.com), the equivalent of a custom book publisher, which for a fee will duplicate DVD's in small runs and help distribute and sell them.

Consider Jimi Petulla, a man who says he invested $400,000 of his own money to produce "Reversal," a semi-autobiographical film he wrote and starred in.

Mr. Petulla said that several early screenings of the film about a high-school wrestler and his father brought about 20 distribution offers from companies specializing in smaller independent films. The terms, however, were too onerous.

"I've met so many people who've done good little movies, and they've never seen a penny from their distributors," he said. "It's insane what these companies can get away with."

Instead, Mr. Petulla began making the DVD's himself. To date, he said, the film has grossed about $650,000 and continues to bring in $15,000 to $18,000 a month. The discs sell for $29.95 at www.reversaldvd.com.

John Geyer, the vice president for marketing at CustomFlix, tells the story of a customer who made "RoadRace," a movie about people who race motorcycles on weekends. "He's an accountant," Mr. Geyer said. "I think he works for a Fortune 500 company and he races motorcycles on the weekend. He went around and put five video cameras on his bike. In two months he sold $10,000 worth of his product."

Mark Brereton, the movie's director, is also the director of credit and payroll for the tire maker Pirelli North America. "I just wanted to film a few things and make something for my friends as a memento," he said. "Then I showed it to some friends and they said, if you put a bit more work on it, you can take it out and sell it."

The final version included video shot from the motorcycle of a friend who races, along with music from a local band. Mr. Brereton is at work documenting this racing season and promises that the next DVD will incorporate suggestions from fans.

Both Mr. Petulla and Mr. Brereton showed a knack for marketing. The DVD for "Reversal," for example, includes testimonials from celebrities like the gymnastic gold medalist Shannon Miller and the track and field star Carl Lewis. Once he received these endorsements, Mr. Petulla paid college students $10 an hour to spread the word about the film by e-mailing wrestling groups, electronic newsletters and Web sites.

Mr. Brereton gained publicity by donating $5 from the sale of each disc to a charity for equipping racetracks with special barriers that can reduce the injury during a crash. Now several Web sites that report on motorcycle racing carry notices about his generosity, and also mention the film.

In some cases, DVD producers get lucky. Mary Dalton, a professor of communications at Wake Forest University, also creates documentaries, including one about an artist named Sam McMillan.

When an article about Mr. McMillan appeared in Smithsonian magazine, Ms. Dalton started receiving requests for copies. So she started making 50 copies at a time, storing them in her bedroom and selling them online.

The Internet is more cost-effective as a medium for advertising and selling DVD's that are delivered by mail than as a video distribution network. Andrew M. Odlyzko, a professor at the University of Minnesota who studies the evolution of broadband, says that it would cost $5 to $10 to deliver the four gigabytes of data on a standard DVD over the best high-speed Internet connection.

Discs, on the other hand, cost between 60 cents and a dollar to fabricate and can be sent through the mail for the price of a first-class stamp. Moreover, some DVD's contain 9 or even 18 gigabytes of data. These cost slightly more to duplicate, but no more to ship.

Videographers for the Poetry Channel discovered the cost advantage recently. They captured poetry readings for the local cable public access channel, then jumped to the Internet when they realized that it would extend their reach beyond the San Francisco Bay area. The video clips at their Web site, however, were small and often took a long time to download.

"The DVD subscription allows people to affordably get more content," Mr. Rodriguez said, adding that their new DVD burner will enable them to duplicate the DVD's themselves.

The notion of DVD's by subscription is growing because of its simplicity and economic stability. Craig Lillard is the owner of Visual Realities, a company that ships a disc called "Video Illustrations for Youth Ministry" to churches four times a year. The vignettes come in two formats and can be displayed either with a standard DVD player or incorporated into a PowerPoint presentation.

"Why sell one when you can sell four at one time?" Mr. Lillard said. "That's really how we started our business. We were selling four videos when we hadn't finished one of them. We were getting payment up front."

CustomFlix and a number of other companies are hoping to help serve niche markets in a similar way. Amazon, for example, stocks DVD's and videotapes from small companies alongside films from major studios. The DVD creator must produce the duplicate DVD's. Amazon collects 55 percent of the list price for the service.

CustomFlix offers a more sophisticated service, bundling manufacturing, order processing, payment collection and shipping. A filmmaker pays $50 to open an account and $9.95 for each film that is produced on demand. The filmmaker receives any revenue beyond that. If the title is popular, the profits can rise because CustomFlix's price drops to $7.95 per disc after 20 copies and $6.95 per disc after 50 copies.

While these companies can help deliver the discs to a niche marketplace, they can't do much for the greater challenge of finding a large audience. It is still difficult for small productions to break into the larger marketplace.

Warren Lieberfarb, the former head of Warner Home Video, said that the big studios continue to dominate the stores and other major distribution channels. "There's a concentration of retail distribution," he said. Although companies like Amazon are doing a good job of reaching out through the Web, he said, "specialty retail akin to what's happened in books and music just hasn't materialized."

"It's hard to get into a store," said Ms. Healy of DVD News. "It's the same problem that we've always had with this industry. The studios dominate the distribution.''

"You can sell it online," she said, "but then you've got to get your Web site out there."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/te...ts/20dvdd.html


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Rewrite CD Copying Law, Congress Told
Lynn Hulsey

The US Congress has been told it should roll back part of a 1998 law against digital piracy to restore consumers' rights to copy DVDs and CDs for personal use. "I didn't grasp what the real issues were when this was approved," said Representative John Doolittle, co-sponsor of a bill that would amend the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The Californian Republican added: "I think we went way overboard as a Congress when we enacted that law."

Backers of the proposed bill told a House of Representatives energy and commerce sub-committee that the 1998 law slows development of new technology, hurts libraries seeking to archive digital information and violates the United States's historical tolerance of "fair use" of copyrighted material.

The new Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act would allow people to bypass discs' electronic encryption in order to make copies for personal reasons; require that companies label copy-protected CDs, DVDs and software; and protect scientific researchers from legal action under the 1998 law.

But Jack Valenti, president and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the proposed bill would legalise piracy and make the problem of illegal copying of films even worse. He said the 1998 law made it safer for the industry to produce digital consumer products because it outlawed using technology to override encryption. But even so, anti-encryption technology was being used to steal the intellectual property Valenti called "America's prize trade export".

Waving a DVD copy of the film Runaway Jury, Valenti told the committee that an associate had bought the illegal duplicate in Washington's Chinatown.

Valenti said it appeared to have been made with software produced by 321 Studio of St Charles, Missouri. The 321 Studio founder and president, Robert Moore, told the committee that its software includes protections against piracy but the movie industry has refused to work with his company to encrypt copies and boost anti-piracy safeguards.

Moore said his company was nearly destroyed by a February court ruling banning sale of the software because it violates the 1998 law.

But Robert Holleyman, chief executive of the Business Software Association, said the law had been a boon to many other software firms because it promoted development of encryption technology and protected companies from software piracy.

Much of the committee debate centred around the concept of fair use of copyrighted material. Some argued that a consumer should be able to circumvent encryption to make copies of songs or movies for personal use, or to bypass commercials or offensive parts of DVD movies they had bought.

Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig said the proposed new law would restore balance lost in the 1998 law.

Joe Barton, a Texas Republican member of the House of Representatives and chairman of the full energy and commerce committee, said he did not support copyright infringement but once he has bought a film or CD, "it should be mine to use once I leave the store".

But Mary Bono (Republican, California) said artists had a right to be paid for their work and there were many opportunities for consumers to download songs from the internet for a small fee.

Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that while much of the focus has been on mass piracy, consumer copying of CDs is also a problem. He said industry sales have dropped 31 per cent in the past four years as CD burners and peer-to-peer file sharing over the internet gained steam.

"CDs are being burned beyond belief," Sherman said.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/0...646114961.html


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Will It Be Free, Or Feudal?

Copyright now applies to everything from e-mail to office memos, and it's giving companies an unprecedented degree of control over popular culture
Andrew Potter

Implausible as it sounds, intellectual property law is all of a sudden hip, happening and sexy. Want to know what the kids are talking about? They're talking about copyright.

It is all thanks to the Internet, of course. The old rigid distinctions between creators and consumers, between mass society and local markets, and thus between commercial and non-commercial culture, have completely dissolved. High-bandwidth connections and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks have turned every dorm room into a broadcast studio, while digital technologies have democratized artistic production. Using the omnipresent sea of symbols, images, sounds and texts as source material, millions of people are laying claim to their cultural inheritance. Call it postmodern, call it open source, call it rip/mix/burn, the upshot is a culture transformed.

It took a while for corporations and governments to twig to what was going on. When they finally clued in around the mid '90s, the effect was tectonic, causing an Andes of angst in the boardrooms of copyright-rich corporations. The very features of the Internet that made it so appealing to business -- the ability to store, alter and deliver content anywhere on Earth quickly and at no cost -- also appeared to make it impossible to enforce intellectual property rights.

These are the roiling headwaters of the coming copyright wars. While a lot of money is at stake, the real issue is one of control over ideas, the way copyright holders are using the power of law and technology to not only set the terms under which culture can be consumed, but also the extent to which it can be remade. The underlying question is, will the culture be free, or will it be feudal?

Every good movement needs an inspirational figure, a philosopher/activist able to both set the terms of debate and lead by example. The "free culture" movement has found its leader in the unlikely figure of Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford University. For years, Lessig has been pushing a somewhat contrarian position about the Internet, arguing, in his 1999 book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace and its 2001 sequel, The Future of Ideas, that the Internet is on its way to becoming the most highly regulated place on Earth.

In his new book, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, Lessig takes on the entire system of cultural ownership and production. The book's subtitle is awkward, and slightly misleading, since his target isn't so much big media as "Big Copyright."

Copyright began as an artificial legal mechanism to provide an incentive to authors for the creation of useful books. The point was not to create an unlimited property right, but to confer a temporary and limited monopoly over the right to make copies of a book, with the goal of cultivating a rich public domain.

Yet, over the years, the length and scope of copyright has been steadily increased. The original term of copyright was only 14 years, renewable once, and it only granted a right over maps, charts and books. Today, the average copyright term in the United States is 95 years, and it applies to everything from e-mails and office memos to poems, plays, songs and software. Furthermore, copyright does not only grant authors the exclusive right to publish copies of their work, it also covers all "derivative" works (such as translations of books or novelizations of screenplays) and "transformative" works (such as parodies, samples, fanfiction, remixes, etc.).

This has given copyright owners -- in particular, copyright-rich corporations -- an unprecedented degree of control over popular culture. Lessig's argument is that, instead of spurring greater creativity, copyright now acts as a brake, stifling creativity, smothering innovation and squandering the democratic potential of the Internet. The jacket blurb on Free Culture reads, "What's at stake is our freedom -- freedom to create, freedom to build, and, ultimately, freedom to imagine."

That might sound a bit overheated, until you consider the steady parade of examples. Lessig tells of a documentary filmmaker who had to cut a scene from a documentary about the staging of a Wagner opera because an episode of The Simpsons was playing on the television in the background. Similarly, screenings of the film Twelve Monkeys were stopped by a court for 28 days after its release because an artist claimed a chair in the movie resembled a sketch of a piece of furniture that he had designed

These sorts of uses are supposed to be protected by "fair use" provisions of copyright law ("fair dealing" in Canada), but the extreme cost of litigation makes everyone utterly risk averse. The mere threat to sue over infringement is usually enough to get copyright holders what they want. Recently, the Canadian artist Diana Thorneycroft voluntarily removed some of her parodic drawings of cartoon characters (examples of which are shown on this page) from a show at a Winnipeg gallery after she was advised by a lawyer that the drawings might violate copyright. Playwright Jason Sherman's new work The Message (about the last years of Marshall McLuhan's life) was supposed to open at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto last fall, but it was cancelled after McLuhan's family made vague threats about suing for copyright infringement.

These are not exceptions, they are the norm. And they are ridiculous. What suffers is the very notion of a public sphere, a commons, where ideas are freely available to be discussed, debated, manipulated and transformed. Ultimately, it is an assault on the very idea of free speech. Former American Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "the general rule of law is, that the noblest of human productions -- knowledge, truths ascertained, conceptions, and ideas -- become, after voluntary communications to others, free as the air to common use."

If only. Ultimately, securing access to the information commons will require a fundamental shift in our legal culture and our attitudes towards intellectual property. Meanwhile, there is always good old- fashioned activism.

Lessig managed to convince his publisher, Penguin Books, to release Free Culture under a "Creative Commons" licence. Drawing on the "copyleft" idea that came out of the free software movement, it is a more relaxed form of copyright that grants a broader range of user's rights. The licence covering Free Culture allows anyone to make and distribute as many copies of the book as they like, as long as it is for non-commercial purposes. It also allows anyone to create non-commercial derivative works based on the book, without needing to ask for permission.

Last month, Lessig posted a PDF version of the book to his Web site. Within two days, users had created versions in nine distinct formats, and competing audio versions had been posted, with different people reading individual chapters. Then another law professor started a legal theory seminar on his blog, using simple formatting tools to mark up and comment on the text of Free Culture. Lessig's Weblogged reaction: "Very cool."

In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan wrote, "The artist picks up the message of cultural and technological challenge decades before its transforming impact occurs. He, then, builds Noah's arks for facing the change that is at hand." His point is the same one that Percy Bysshe Shelley made when he proclaimed that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, "the influence which is moved not, but moves." Art has its own agenda, which moves far in advance of politics and business, but which traces the path they will eventually follow.

The copyright wars are shaping up as the civil rights issue of this decade. And a law professor named Lawrence Lessig is the one setting the agenda.

http://www.canada.com/national/natio...2-303eed5f8ef9















Until next week,

- js.














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Jack Spratt's Week In Review 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.
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