A tiny bit of good news on a dreary day:
A United States appeals court tossed out the indecency policy of the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, calling it a violation of the First Amendment.
Let’s hope we can make it stick.
It’s not just for the MPAA anymore. Lots of these films probably made more from the lawsuits than they did in the theater.
If convicted, I want all these fucks behind bars for the rest of their lives. It’s not about revenge, it’s about the punishment fitting the crime. How many lives did they personally help destroy?
This kind of thing is par for the course with major conglomerates like Viacom. They want the “buzz” but have to pretend they’re being horribly damaged financially.
The European Parliament today voted on a resolution that demands transparency in the ACTA negotiations, and that the Commission puts all papers on the table.
The resolution was carried by 633 votes in favour, 13 against, and 16 abstentions.
Way to go, EU. See also: Christian Engström’s talk on ACTA from the European Parliament floor.
Engadget has the documentation. I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of people decrying the use of “user interface” patents. This kind of thing can be pretty vile. For example, one of the patents is for:
“Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,”
Which is absurd.
As a result of the recent court case against the site, they’ve removed all torrents not registered on the site by the copyright holder.
It walks like bullshit, talks like bullshit, and smells a whole lot like bullshit. The EFF is looking for examples of prior art (Prior to 19 November 2003).
Leaked from the secret meetings in Seoul. It’s hard to view this as anything but an attempt by big business to employ government in propping up their busted-ass business models around the world.
Disturbing news from the federal courts today, as a federal judge ruled that “government can obtain access to a person’s inbox contents without any notification to the subscriber.” which means anyone with a job in government can read your email without telling you.
Analysis at the link above, here’s a PDF of the actual ruling.
From a functional standpoint, I am fine (even happy) with this, provided it kills asshole astroturfers dead. From an ideological standpoint, I am pretty well against it. Either way, it’s an important moment in internet history. I wonder what effect this will have on Amazon reviews?
The first blog regulatory laws. Dang.
A light-hearted romp for the whole family.
Since SWARTZ is the potential subject of an ongoing investigation, it is requested that SWARTZ not be approached by agents.
The author assumes that Kirby’s heirs will probably just end up with rights to royalties, which I can’t say I give a shit about it. Jack’s long gone.
You have to admire either their balls or their total disconnection from reality.
Newsarama’s Jeff Trexler on what the recent guilty plea of Christopher Handley in his “possessing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children and mailing obscene material.” case. Handley could be in jail for 15 years for owning some Manga. This is beyond not good.
I’m sure the appeals process will be long:
Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were found guilty of breaking copyright law and were sentenced to a year in jail.
They were also ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.
I feel that their attitude didn’t help them with the judge. Google still indexes millions more torrent files than TPB ever could. Why no attack against them? See also: Wired’s coverage.
Hey. What're you doing all the way down here? You get lost? Just looking around? Cool. I like you.