Another rescue package. That's why I probably won't link to media anymore in the future. Newspapers and such nonsense. And to be quite honest? I even hope that Google removes German publishers from the index. Completely. Then let the screaming and later complaining begin, as in Belgium. At least the entertainment value would finally be there again.
rechteabzocker
Open Letter to the Content Industry. The Schockwellenreiter recommends it and I can only agree: it's worth reading. This is a truly well-rounded rant against these pathetic "content producers" who let themselves be used in open letters to make degrading tirades against and spread lies about the online community.
Copiepresse: Google's search engine shows Belgian newspapers again. The internet experts from the large Belgian press outpourings have finally learned to understand the internet (at least the part of "you're out, you're out" that they've gotten themselves into). It's quite embarrassing what they've been up to.
Judgment: Sharehosters must check external link collections. It all sounded somehow absurd, my first reaction was "Landgericht Hamburg" - and indeed, it is the LG Hamburg. And it is as absurd as suspected. And in the case of rulings by the LG Hamburg, I don't necessarily believe that the reporters have simply misrepresented them. Hamburg is Germany's Texas.
Leistungsschutzrecht: Bundesjustizministerin über eine Abgabenpflicht für Zitate. Once again, the politics helps the internet non-understanders and rights extortionists in companies with a broken business model to make money at the expense of others' work. And incidentally, the right to quote is destroyed. Because does anyone really believe that "commercial" won't quickly become "business-like" and then, through legal hair-splitting, "every blogger"? It's enough to have advertising on your own blog to be considered a commercial provider. And of course, the idea of introducing another collecting society for the nonsense is great, which also wants to be paid well again. At some point, we will probably have to pay the gas suppliers when we want to fart.
"In the current terms of service, Twitpic reserves the right to reuse the images that users publish via the service." - and even commercially, and TwitPic has already secured the partner with WENN. via Twitter-Bilder: Verwirrung um Twitpic - Golem.de. This is therefore another service that is better not to use, as of course the creator of the images does not receive any money for the use.
The Self Publishing Revolution: Amazon in the Book Banning Business. This time it's against erotic (ok, let's be honest: pornographic) books by Selena Kitt. But who says Amazon will stop there? And even if Amazon naturally has the right to no longer offer a book in the future (there are enough alternatives for eBook stores), what gives them the right to delete sold books besides their ToS? After the 1984 embarrassment, one thought they had understood. But there the cause was a rights violation by the publisher that Amazon reacted to - this time it's pure arbitrariness. The whole thing confirms my approach of never buying eBooks that I can't free from their DRM. Necessary as an investment protection. (and of course preferably buy books without DRM if possible)
'Hollywood Accounting' Losing In The Courts | Techdirt - think of this article the next time you discuss the poor film industry that is so severely affected by film piracy. How to easily turn a billion dollars profit into a $170 million loss - and then argue why you don't pay actors and other employees full wages, because the film made a loss after all ...
Wal-Mart latest store to shut DRM key servers - and the next DRM debacle. After Microsoft (who backed out) and Yahoo now Wal-Mart.
Copyright infringement: Courts set low threshold for information claim against providers - "If other courts follow this extremely broad interpretation of 'commercial scale', it is to be expected that the civil courts will then be confronted with the same flood of applications that law enforcement agencies are currently confronted with." - well, that was to be expected. So once again, only hope remains for Karlsruhe and a somewhat more reasonable basic decision.
Bushido wins in court against three retirees - it would actually be quite nice if the courts could agree on something for once. Because this is just getting ridiculous. Quite apart from that: who actually wants this acoustic noise pollution?
Revision3 DOS - "First, they willingly admitted to abusing Revision3’s network, over a period of months, by injecting a broad array of torrents into our tracking server. They were able to do this because we configured the server to track hashes only – to improve performance and stability. That, in turn, opened up a back door which allowed their networking experts to exploit its capabilities for their own personal profit." - ein Handlanger der Musik und Filmindustrie legt einen legalen Betreiber eines Torrent-Trackers lahm. Da sieht man schön, mit welchen dreckigen Methoden (z.B. Diensteerschleichung) diese Leute arbeiten. Aus dem Nebensatz "das FBI interessiert sich dafür" entnehme ich mal, dass Anzeige erstattet wurde. Gut.
HD Monitor Causes DRM Issues with Netflix - Netflix checks the output hardware and if it's too good, it prohibits playing files. And the kicker: if you follow the suggested troubleshooting path, rights for other files seem to be revoked (in the case of the OP then the rights for the movies purchased at Amazon). Great. DRM is garbage - and especially the one so often praised by the film industry, Microsoft's blob.
OLPC Chief Technologist Starts Own Business - "She is starting her own company at the time when the XO will be delivered in large quantities," writes Jepsen on her website. "However, she will continue to provide OLPC with her products at cost price." Jepsen's first OLPC patent application was published on December 13, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. - yes, that's what the typical American charity scam looks like. She could have given the patents to the OLPC project so that it could generate support for the project from potential marketing (or simply use the patents as a guarantee of its own continued existence). But today, only personal profit counts. The fact that many opportunities are only possible through collaboration in a non-profit project, and that she has benefited from this, is certainly easy to ignore ...
Criminalization of parallel imports still controversial - sounds cumbersome. But it means nothing else than that the opinion of the EU Parliament should be ignored again. Parallel imports mean, for example, buying music abroad because it's cheaper there. And that is of course a thorn in the side of the rip-off merchants. Because the free movement of the market in the EU can and may not apply to something as important as music or films. Where would we end up there. After all, we also have to give up our rights to the stuff. There will probably be rain again soon - the arguments of the prolethicians and rip-off merchants are particularly flat at the moment ...
Concern for user rights due to copyright filters for Web 2.0 - I don't like either the greedy vultures of the media companies or those of the Web 2.0 companies. Neither really cares about the content or the actual customers - both are only interested in how they can make as much profit as possible with as little investment of their own from the creativity of others. Choosing between the big media companies and the big Web 2.0 platforms is like deciding between Microsoft and IBM - just because one of them has swallowed more chalk than the other, that doesn't change the fact that both are wolves. Those who think differently should read the Terms of Service of various Web 2.0 platforms - content appropriation and cover-your-ass at the expense of the user are common practice. Believing that Google and Co. are the good guys is highly stupid.
Patent lawsuit over Linux desktops - my old Xerox Lisp machines and the old Symbolics from the early 80s had that too. Another example that many patents are just nonsense.
Published email traffic incriminates anti-filesharing service provider - Bock. Gärtner.
Investigation of the subscriber in file-sharing criminal proceedings is unlawful - the reasoning of the court reads so convincing and logical, I bet it will be overturned by a higher authority.
British music industry attacks government - "... artists are having their works taken and record companies are being robbed of their investments ...". Please what? Can it get any worse? Artists are not being robbed of anything - this is simply a fact of the law, which after a certain period of time, causes copyrights to expire. This only concerns specific recordings, not e.g. song lyrics (which are protected for a longer period). The idea that it is the task of the law to guarantee an industry its sources of income is quite absurd. In other places, the same people would be outraged about state subsidies, but here it is loudly demanded. I mean, let's speak plainly: these recordings have been profitable for 50 years, secured by copyright.
Music industry wants unrestricted access to user data - because the music industry is above the law. When will this madness end? I have already drawn my conclusions - by largely ignoring the meager work results of the music industry and preferring to stock up on new songs at Magnatune or Jamendo. It's much more exciting there.
Collecting Societies Criticize Commons Project as Copyright-Hostile - of course, works under CC licenses are no longer available for exploitation by collecting societies. And that's just not allowed. It's amusing how authors and artists are then put forward - and it's ignored that it's precisely the artists who are the ones who publish works under CC licenses ...
Court prohibits sending articles by email - always everything for the benefit of rights holders. Because they are, after all, an essential part of the education system and society. Quite the opposite of universities, which are just freeloaders. Such things must be fundamentally prevented, where would we end up if a non-profit association (founded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science) had the right to supply universities with information cost-effectively and efficiently.
US civil rights activists accuse Uri Geller of copyright infringement - because, the spoon bending didn't work out.
Courtney Love does the math - how the music industry squeezes musicians. Read it - music piracy gets a whole new definition there.
Music industry: Government wants to turn copyright into a "toothless tiger" - the stupid wailing of the music industry - especially their stupid babble that they represent the interests of the artists, these lying crooks - really gets on my nerves. And has led to the fact that I now only shrug at the possible closure of iTMS (as possibly upcoming in Norway). Thanks to Jamendo.com, Magnatune.com, Garageband.com and other netlabels ...
Statistics on copyright infringements are exaggerated - never trust a statistic you haven't faked yourself.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is standing up against WIPO - because WIPO wants to grant broadcasters rights, even to content they do not have exclusive rights to (e.g. CC-licensed material).
Popkomm: Musikwirtschaft will Zugangsanbieter zur Kasse bitten - Pure nonsense. What comes out of this nonsense would at best be another GEZ-like structure. And yes, this also means a rejection of the culture flat rate on my part. People, look at what is happening in other areas with similar structures today and realize that you don't want this any more than the absurd criminalization of paying customers by the music industry. The solution lies in Creative Commons and similar approaches - and in the exclusion of the music industry as a rights extortionist. Direct marketing of works by artists over the Internet is no longer a utopia.
Unencrypted WLAN and Störerhaftung: LG Hamburg opens Pandora's box - because we haven't had a strange ruling for a long time ... this could be the death knell for free WLAN in cafes if this catches on ...
France: iTunes law violates human rights - isn't it cute how the human right to property protection is misused to give companies (what do they have to do with human rights?) a big lever against individuals (who actually have the human rights) in their hands?
Outrage following French landmark ruling on copyright - shocking, when you look at what the French have been given in their nest ...
SPD insists on de minimis clause for copies - "The SPD" probably does not include the federal justice incompetence. Maybe they should hand in their party membership?
Rights holders want information from providers without a court order
At the current development in copyright law, the demand for self-justice of the music industry was simply only logical. And with the currently sick thinking in Berlin, it would not be surprising if this were granted ...
Federal Minister of Justice without Insight
This federal windbag is really starting to get on my nerves. Is it now a prerequisite for a ministerial position to be completely brainless and not understand anything at all? The impact on private individuals is not the lawsuits of the public prosecutor's office - but the collection of personal data by the public prosecutor's office (which they still have to do even if they do not file a lawsuit themselves). That's what the mass claimants are after - so that they can then sue on a private basis. Where private individuals are left alone because copyright issues are not covered by many legal protection insurances.
A real blockbuster, how in Berlin once again the interests of citizens are traded for a dilapidated and money-greedy industry and their legal apparatus ...
The Frogs Make You Dizzy
First, they wanted to ban private copies and P2P software, then legalize private copies, then ban them again, and now they want to ban the distribution of P2P software:
According to him, up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to 300,000 euros should be imposed on anyone who "knowingly" and publicly distributes software that is "obviously designed" to allow unauthorized access to protected works or other objects. Even the distribution of information about such programs can be punished just as severely. The article, which is clearly directed against P2P software, is not intended to affect programs that enable telecooperation, research, or the exchange of works that do not require compensation, according to Christian Vanneste, the parliamentary reporter responsible for the law.
With their back and forth, one gets quite dizzy. And apparently, common sense is left by the wayside ...
Wow.
Nerdcore - A Blog about very cool Stuff. And so.
Imagine all the gray men in their suits in their lofts had no power over the sound in our ears, over the surfaces of our cities, over the things we read. Market analyses would not count, because the market, just like us, is a swarm of flies that cannot be predicted. The street would be full of unemployed lawyers. They would wander around, bleeding for their view of everything, together with their buddies, the business economists, the marketing guys, the bankers, the insurance Heinzes. Because they do not understand what it means when we come together and network, talk to each other. The human being is the smallest economic unit? Fuck you, the human being is all we have. And that is really a lot, if you just dare to think about it once.
The music industry is getting dumber and dumber
They now want to ban "Intelligent Recording Software" - without revealing what that is supposed to be. But they naturally want to restrict private copying, limit recording from the radio, restrict broadcasting rights for radio, and do everything to degrade themselves to insignificance - because if no one has free access to music anymore, people will eventually find free access elsewhere. Ultimately, the absurd demands of the music industry only promote the illegal distribution of music in the long run rather than curbing it.
The problem, however, is that the Prolethikers in Berlin have been letting the music industry pull the wool over their eyes for a long time and are implementing more and more of the demanded nonsense. And so we can probably look forward to even more absurd and mindless laws until perhaps the Constitutional Court finally has enough and puts a stop to the nonsense. But then the Prolethikers will probably ignore this decision just like other decisions from Karlsruhe ...
GVU allegedly sponsored pirates
With so much audacity from the rights extortionists, one can hardly think of any further comment:
After joint research by the computer magazine c't and the news portal onlinekosten.de, indications suggest that the GVU may have overstepped the bounds of what is permissible in its investigations against copyright infringers. The editorial teams received hints from a GVU-affiliated informant some time ago, which have since been confirmed by a second source. According to these reports, the GVU regularly paid at least one administrator of a central exchange server in the warez scene. In this way, they obtained log files and thus access IP addresses of this so-called "box." In addition, they are said to have contributed hardware to equip the platform.
HD? Not in Hollywood
HD Output must be downsampled by the player - if the studio demands this feature. The result: great HD-DVD, but the result on the monitor is far closer to standard DVD quality than to the possible HD quality.
Sorry, but why should I get HD hardware if it doesn't make much difference? Is this whole thing a kamikaze strategy for the HD hardware manufacturers?
FDP stands up to the music industry
Even though the FDP is in opposition - when it comes to copyrights they are just as supportive of the music industry as the current government:
Hans-Joachim Otto, media expert of the FDP parliamentary group, sees in a cultural flat rate a "disregard for copyright". "Whoever wants to effectively legalize the mass production of illegal copies on the Internet through a lump sum payment has not understood the principles of European copyright and disregards the necessity of effective protection of creative achievements," reads a statement from the FDP parliamentary group. The FDP supports all efforts that serve to further strengthen copyright in the digital context and to promote respect for intellectual property.
The position of the FDP as an alleged freedom party is also quite logical: rather criminalize all users, patronize and nag them, than force an industry that is managed to ruin to deal with realities. For the FDP, freedom is only the freedom of companies, not of citizens.
How to Shirk Responsibility
In all cases known to heise online so far, the criminal complaints have been about the offer of a single file. According to the new regulation, these suspects will therefore probably no longer face any criminal consequences in most cases. However, since the public prosecutors are advised to determine the personal details of the suspect in each case, the Karlsruhe law firm will also continue to receive the desired information upon inspection of the files in order to be able to proceed civilly.
Means in German: the public prosecutor does nothing more than request the provider to identify the user - probably a form letter in which only the specific data is entered. The providers still have to look up the data - even if it's just about a trivial file. The users are still identified and entered into the record - and then have trouble with the law firm because of the warning. The law firm continues to make a fortune.
Great solution.
If a procedure is to be closed directly, there is also no reason to determine personal details and play into the hands of the law firm. But here it was not about the citizens, it was only about avoiding work for the public prosecutors.
Super-DRM Architecture of the Future
And the DRM nonsense continues
EFF member Cory Doctorow warns that the widespread use of CPCM would mean the end of free software. The requirement to make the system robust against any modification is incompatible with FOSS concepts. Furthermore, national copyright policy could be easily circumvented by CPCM, as US cultural exporters dictate the political rules. The EFF wants to prevent the standard at all costs. "This is," according to Doctorow's opinion, "no specification that can be used for good purposes, period."
If you read through the description of the whole thing, someone is ultimately demanding total control over any form of computer or media device - ultimately over any device that could even come close to media content. Complete madness, the whole thing. The frightening thing about it: with the brainless prolethicians like we have running around in Berlin and in Europe in general, it is almost to be feared that such nonsense will prevail and the freedoms will simply be traded for dying industries with bloated and outdated business models to cover up their management errors.
And will anyone get upset about it? Oh well. You can still drive faster than 130 on the highway, we are free ...
Delusional Music Publishers
Concerted action against freely accessible sheet music and song lyrics
MPA President Lauren Keiser expressed extreme annoyance to the BBC about the allegedly illegal sites with guitar licks and sheet music templates and would prefer to see their operators behind bars. Basically, music is subject to copyright not only as a concrete performance, but also in any printed notation.
Soon you'll end up in jail if you accidentally fart to the beat of "All My Ducks" ...
Sony falls again
Sony caught in another DRM snafu
Stop me if you've heard this one before. A record label uses DRM to sort of keep its customers from copying the music. It turns out that the software poses a threat to the user's PC. So the label issues a patch... which opens up another security hole. If you guessed that the label in question is Sony, you'd be correct. If you guessed that I'm recapping last month's rootkit debacle, you'd be wrong.
Oh well. Rarely so stupid at Sony. Will they ever learn?
Oh, and the fact that I probably won't get an Aibo offered now is, to be honest, pretty irrelevant to me.
France wants to tighten copyright law
France is going completely crazy now:
The background is an EU copyright directive from 2001. However, the French draft law goes far beyond its approach. For example, the use of free software to play multimedia files should be prohibited, as these can also read copy-protected DVDs. Even the dissemination of information about such tools should become punishable in the future.
This is absolutely outrageous. Now France is taking the lead, and certainly others will follow - if this nonsense goes through. And this clearly shows what the whole thing is about. Against the consumer - who is only allowed to use software approved by the respective industry - and especially against open source, which is a thorn in everyone's side anyway.
File-sharing software that does not prevent infringements from the outset is also to be prohibited.
This clearly shows how little technical knowledge the responsible parties have - or who is bribing them.
Is Sony in Trouble with Apple Now?
Secret function in Sony BMG copy protection
As computer scientist Alex Halderman discovered, the free software «DRMS» is included in «XCP», which can be used to circumvent the «FairPlay» copy protection used by online music market leader Apple. However, «XCP» does not use «DRMS» to crack music: «Instead, the program's code is used to supplement Apple's copy protection.» The routine is currently inactive, however.
It would be nice if Apple were to cause a bit of trouble for them now - after all, Sony BMG was one of the labels that caused Apple trouble over prices. It could be amusing to watch. The slowly mounting lawsuits against Sony could also be interesting. And never forget: BMG stands for Bertelsmann Music Group.
Campaign against free software in France - the madness from the USA regarding activities against free P2P software is now spreading to Europe. France is certainly just the beginning, more is to be expected ...