Quick News Links for Week Ending 11/11/2007
11 November, 2007 (16:30) | Links | By: cmdln
- DVD CCA proposing to close copying loop hole - In response to Kaleidascape ruling but clearly an anti-innovationmove. CD proves that an open disc format, lack of CSS would spur innovation and a rising tide that would lift content creators,too.
- Disproportionate punishment for hacking grades - The punishment would be expulsion at most, otherwise. Identity theft and wire fraud are serious but I don’t see the intent or scope of this crime as comparable.
- Disruptive impact of Asus’ Eee PC - This could be the break for Linux in the consumer market manyLinux supporters have wanted for years. Reviews are unanimouslypositive, including Linux ease-of-use. But this is deliberate, Linux proponents should pay attention to specific features, qualities reviewers like, rather than assume it applies to all flavors of Linux equally.
- Search engines as free speech - A tenuous argument, in a research paper, about search engines standing between free speech and those that would read it. Also argues for regulation on that basis, despite any provable need for doing so.
- RFID guardian sources, plans released - One of these days I will build one.
- Public Knowledge’s six step copyright reform plan - Nothing surprising here and I hate to say a bit disingenuous. This ideas are ambitious and far reaching. It is easy to speak as if they are pat, simple answers. They will take much to implement, even to get consensus to do so.
- Appeals battle over Patriot Act
- Questioning the antecedents of net neutrality
- Broadcast mentalities on the internet, via broadcasters as ISPs
- German copyright may prevent fan creations outright
- DC drivers’ licenses to get SmarTrip RFID - The attractiveness of such IDs goes up the more purposes you stack on them. I am opposed to this more on that basis than any irrational fear of yet another RFID deployment.
- Man jailed for five decades because of mistaken IP address
- FIOS customers getting served ads whether they want them or not - They are already paying for the service. Since fiber doesn’t have line sharing rules, there is no real market response for customers who want fiber speeds but from a provider that want burden them with ads, to boot.
- Two minute video guide to AT&T wiretapping
- Fedora 8 released - Looks a little more bleeding edge than the last few releases. Linux on the desktop may have legs, yet.
- CC and moral rights - Moral rights are different by each jurisdiction, so the question is worth considering even though the CC licenses attempt to be orthogonal to local notions of moral rights.
- Pirate act returns, involves government in civil infringement suits - Outside of commercial piracy, requiring rights holders to act on complaints of infringement still seems more appropriate than the government stepping in. Even in the face of consumer P2P sharing, I think this is true.
- OLPC concessions pragmatism or dilution?
- Early literacy materials available as open source - Maybe open access in early, mandatory education can avoid some of the snarls of journals, peer review in higher education.
- Hack to passively track via Bluetooth - More worrying than any implied threat posed by RFID. Bluetooth is active and provably surveillable at quite a distance.
- IGF to discuss US internet control - Important discussion to answer the question of many rules or one rule on the internet and which one if the model really is the latter.
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