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Sen. Norm Coleman, who has taken an active interest in the agressive efforts by the music industry to prevent music downloading, issued a statement on September 8 responding to the RIAA’s amnesty program, which said in part: “The newly proposed “amnesty” is clearly a strategy by the industry to address some of the concerns I …
“Recording Industry Begins Suing P2P File Sharers Who Illegally Offer Copyrighted Music Online.” This press release, from the RIAA website, may be difficult to access as the site has been intermittently unavailable, due no doubt to the volume of press attention to these lawsuits.
Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, of the US District Court, Eastern District of Virginia released a decision on September 5 that stated “Alas, we computer users must endure pop-up advertising,” in the case of U-Haul International, Inc., v. WhenU.com, Inc., et al., Civ. Act. No.03-1469-A. Partial summary judgment had already been granted on June 23 against …
Reuters reported that House Committees, Judiciary and Energy and Commerce, will hold joint hearings in the near future on a proposed bill “that would prevent wholesale copying of school guides, news archives and other databases which do not enjoy copyright protection.” Thanks to Marv Johnson for the link to the draft of this bill, the …
Via Kuro5hin.org, links to websites for legal music downloads, which is a timely resource in light of this news from the RIAA today that states in part: “..its member companies have filed the first wave of what could ultimately be thousands of civil lawsuits against major offenders who have been illegally distributing substantial amounts (averaging …
Music industry to unveil amnesty offer for Internet downloaders: “The recording industry is expected to announce as early as next week an amnesty program for people who admit they illegally share music files across the Internet, promising not to sue them in exchange for their admission and pledge to delete the songs off their computers.”
Cem Kaner, Professor, Department of Computer Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, posted on his blog the text of ten suggested principles that comprise a “Software Customer Bill of Rights” which he authored in an effort to “restore integrity and trust — and consumer confidence, consumer excitement, and sales – in this stalled marketplace.”
Cryptome.org has a free link to this informative WSJ article from August 27, “A New Battleground In Web Privacy War: Ads That Can Snoop -Software Programs Track Where Users Go On Net, Then Target Them With Pop-Ups.” Although certainly not a new story, it is nevertheless worth reading as it succinctly addresses privacy, copyright and …
Princeton University computer science professor, author, security expert, and of course, blogger (his blog is called Freedom to Tinker, Ed Felten warns in this interview of “A collision is happening between creativity and protecting intellectual property.”
Today, the California Supreme Court issued a decision (53 pages, pfd) in DVD Copy Control Inc. v. Andrew Bunner, resolving “the apparent conflict between California’s trade secret law and the free speech clauses of the United States and California Constitutions.” Thanks to Jim Tyre for the heads-up. For reference, see this EFF press release: “The …
The Escalating Copyright Wars by Peter K. Yu, Michigan State University-DCL College of Law, to be published in the Hofstra Law Review, Vol. 32, Spring 2004: “Piracy is one of the biggest threats confronting the entertainment industry today. Every year, the industry loses billions of dollars in revenue and faces the potential loss of hundreds …
RIAA’s Subpoena Strategy is Chilling Downloads: “The possibility of a copyright infringement suit from the Recording Industry Association of America is apparently having a chilling effect on individuals who swap online music, according to new research from the NPD Group. The market research firm said households acquiring music files online illegally reached a high of …
