Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Intellectual rights and technology.
There seems to be a lot going on now with regard to intellectual rights and technology. Part of this is fueled by a recent loss of the studios to the makers of P2P file sharing software as found in the case MGM v Grokster. Since Grokster did not have access to centralized servers or a centralized directory, it could not shut down the system. I think that a case could have been made (or can be made) enjoining the ISPs to help. With the ISPs help, the P2P players could have been able to twart file sharing.
But, restricting activity becomes a double edged sword. My former employer Al Teller had it right. Treat the musicians fairly and they will come to us. The musicians did not mind putting their items on the internet. As a matter of fact, R.E.M. has their entire album on myspace.com right now.
Copyrights
The RIAA solution is sue the end user. I imagine that what the RIAA has in mind is to teach the public that copying is against the law by burning the offenders hands when they touch them on the proverbial stove. It does educate people to go to sites like itunes.com, real.com, or windowsmedia.com. Perhaps pleasure can be used as a means as well. From the neuron to society in general, pleasure is sought after and pain is avoided (The Hedonistic Neuron: A Theory of Memory, Learning, and Intelligence).
Here are a couple more references: Emotion as Heterostasis, and A BIOSEMIOTIC MODEL OF COGNITION.
Continuing the pain route (with some pleasure added -- to the perceived pain of the artists)
If this bill continues on, video taping movies may become a federal offense:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/09/29/647801.html. One of the things that it does allow for is technology which allows for the selective removal of offensive items from a movie (swear words for example). There is an argument that this technology *should* be monitored, however, otherwise the movies may loose their artistic appeal.
Question: Can record companies be sued for recording the clapping of an audience? I am just kidding. Although an interesting line of thought can be found here at wearcam.org.
Internet Governance:
The United Nations is working towards a takeover of core internet functionality driven by the International Telecommunications Union. The Europeans seem to be really against intellectual rights when it comes to software. I wonder if that is because over there the rule is whoever files first files best. I believe that here in the US it is whoever invented something first wins (so, if someone patents an idea you invented first you can do something about it).
It really seems to be a hot topic. A few threads of discussion came up, and it was not so long ago that Microsoft left the table allegedly (there's the lawyer in me talkin!) due to a worry about potential loss of IP interests (I think it was this group: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11991&Cr=internet&Cr1=) Spam and cyber crime working group.
Visions of the information society shows the international telecommunications union's view:
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/visions/free/index.html
Here is a petition for a software patent free europe: http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en.
And we are working at copyrighting databases which Europe did a while ago do protect the effort and expense involved in their creation.
It seems to be that we are heading towards a common ground. I am just not sure yet what that ground is.
Free speech
Media Outlets Agree to End Suit Over Erasure of Scalia Speech
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1095434495696
The folks here should be happy: http://wearcam.org/sousveillance.htm. The worlds first cyborg and inventor of wearable computing can be found there. From MIT as a student walking around with devices on his face and computers on his body to a professor in Canada.
And...
Completely off track (but it is 231 AM in the morning)... there have been a few quakes out here in California and Washington is getting "one or two quakes a minute" at mount saint helens.
With dreams of RSS filled in my head... I bid you a mountain dew... good night (oh my, 3:38 AM)
There seems to be a lot going on now with regard to intellectual rights and technology. Part of this is fueled by a recent loss of the studios to the makers of P2P file sharing software as found in the case MGM v Grokster. Since Grokster did not have access to centralized servers or a centralized directory, it could not shut down the system. I think that a case could have been made (or can be made) enjoining the ISPs to help. With the ISPs help, the P2P players could have been able to twart file sharing.
But, restricting activity becomes a double edged sword. My former employer Al Teller had it right. Treat the musicians fairly and they will come to us. The musicians did not mind putting their items on the internet. As a matter of fact, R.E.M. has their entire album on myspace.com right now.
Copyrights
The RIAA solution is sue the end user. I imagine that what the RIAA has in mind is to teach the public that copying is against the law by burning the offenders hands when they touch them on the proverbial stove. It does educate people to go to sites like itunes.com, real.com, or windowsmedia.com. Perhaps pleasure can be used as a means as well. From the neuron to society in general, pleasure is sought after and pain is avoided (The Hedonistic Neuron: A Theory of Memory, Learning, and Intelligence).
Here are a couple more references: Emotion as Heterostasis, and A BIOSEMIOTIC MODEL OF COGNITION.
Continuing the pain route (with some pleasure added -- to the perceived pain of the artists)
If this bill continues on, video taping movies may become a federal offense:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/09/29/647801.html. One of the things that it does allow for is technology which allows for the selective removal of offensive items from a movie (swear words for example). There is an argument that this technology *should* be monitored, however, otherwise the movies may loose their artistic appeal.
Question: Can record companies be sued for recording the clapping of an audience? I am just kidding. Although an interesting line of thought can be found here at wearcam.org.
Internet Governance:
The United Nations is working towards a takeover of core internet functionality driven by the International Telecommunications Union. The Europeans seem to be really against intellectual rights when it comes to software. I wonder if that is because over there the rule is whoever files first files best. I believe that here in the US it is whoever invented something first wins (so, if someone patents an idea you invented first you can do something about it).
It really seems to be a hot topic. A few threads of discussion came up, and it was not so long ago that Microsoft left the table allegedly (there's the lawyer in me talkin!) due to a worry about potential loss of IP interests (I think it was this group: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11991&Cr=internet&Cr1=) Spam and cyber crime working group.
Visions of the information society shows the international telecommunications union's view:
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/visions/free/index.html
Here is a petition for a software patent free europe: http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en.
And we are working at copyrighting databases which Europe did a while ago do protect the effort and expense involved in their creation.
It seems to be that we are heading towards a common ground. I am just not sure yet what that ground is.
Free speech
Media Outlets Agree to End Suit Over Erasure of Scalia Speech
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1095434495696
The folks here should be happy: http://wearcam.org/sousveillance.htm. The worlds first cyborg and inventor of wearable computing can be found there. From MIT as a student walking around with devices on his face and computers on his body to a professor in Canada.
And...
Completely off track (but it is 231 AM in the morning)... there have been a few quakes out here in California and Washington is getting "one or two quakes a minute" at mount saint helens.
With dreams of RSS filled in my head... I bid you a mountain dew... good night (oh my, 3:38 AM)
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