Tag: Technology and Freedom
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Lobbyists to Solve Copyright Problem
Declan McCullagh at news.com reports that “Technology and entertainment lobbyists will sit down at the negotiating table [today] to seek a resolution to the long-running political spat over digital copyright.” The article makes the alarming but unstated assumption that the last Congress’s refusal to pass any “anti-piracy” bills is actually a problem. When Congress rejects…
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Virus With a EULA
Rob Lemos at news.com reports on a new “greeting card” virus that protects its author by using a EULA (End User License Agreement): The FriendGreetings electronic greeting card has all the hallmarks of a mass-mailing computer virus. The e-mail misleads a victim into downloading an application–ostensibly to view a Web card–and then sends itself to…
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More Great Stuff From Seth Schoen
If you want to understand what the whole Palladium/LaGrande/”trusted computing” issue is about, you should read Seth Schoen’s recent writing. His analysis is insightful, technically sound, independent, and hype-free. For the latest example, click here, scroll down to “Trusted Computing,” and read the next several sections.
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Microsoft Ruling Released Early
Ted Bridis at the Associated Press reports that Friday’s rulings on the Microsoft case put on the Court’s website at 2:40 PM, about two hours before their official release. As in the Intentia/Reuters incident, the documents were put on the website in a guessable location, but without any links to them being released. Slashdot published…
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Microsoft Decisions Tomorrow
Judge Kollar-Kotelly has announced that she will release her decisions in the Microsoft antitrust case tomorrow at 4:30 Eastern time.
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Intentia vs. Reuters: A (Slightly) Contrarian View
The recent dispute between Intentia and Reuters has gotten lots of online attention, most of it scornful of Intentia’s position. I think Intentia is wrong, but it’s a closer call than most online commentators seem to think. Here’s the factual background, as far as I can tell: Intentia, a Swedish company, prepared their earnings report,…
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Fritz's Real Hit List
Seth Finkelstein suggests that I should reexamine my “Fritz’s Hit List” feature in light of the “leeway” concept. Seth says, in effect, that it is possible, or at least it might be possible, to redefine the scope of the Hollings CBDTPA so that it covers “what 99.9% of the population uses for business or entertainment,”…
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Microsoft Decision Upcoming?
We’re still waiting for Judge Kollar-Kotelly to rule on the two outstanding issues in the Microsoft antitrust case: whether to approve the settlement between Microsoft, the DOJ, and the settling states; and what remedy to give the non-settling states. She is expected to rule simultaneously on both issues, and the ruling could come at any…
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Too Stupid to Look the Other Way
David Weinberger explains the value of “leeway,” or small decisions not to enforce the rules in cases where enforcement wouldn’t be reasonable. Imagine that your mother were visiting your apartment, and she got sick, so you let her stay overnight because she wan’t well enough to travel home. If this happened, no reasonable landlord would…
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Wishful Thinking
In recent debates about copyright and technology, pro-regulation people have started using an interesting rhetorical tactic. Rather than trying to rebut challenges to the workability of their proposed solutions, they talk instead about how intensely they want their proposals to be workable. For example, my Fritz’s Hit List series points out a serious flaw in…