FW: Copyfight--the Expanded Edition

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From: Copyfight: The Politics of IP
Posted At: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:25 AM
Posted To: Copyfight: The Politics of IP
Conversation: Copyfight--the Expanded Edition
Subject: Copyfight--the Expanded Edition

Big news, all.

After mulling it over for a few months, I've decided to make Copyfight a group-authored weblog--and it debuts today. Copyfight has now MOVED TO A NEW URL and we'll be taking advantage of MT-powered features: trackback, comments, etc. Please adjust your blogrolls accordingly!

Joining me at the new Copyfight are (drum roll, please):

• Elizabeth Rader
• Ernest Miller
• Jason Schultz
• Aaron Swartz, and
• Wendy Seltzer

For many of you, these folks need no introduction. They're the people doing the real-world work in the battle to restore traditional balance to intellectual property law--at the front lines of what I've been calling "the copyfight."

Elizabeth and Jason work on cutting-edge legal issues in pursuing litigation @ EFF and Stanford's CIS. Both have been part of the legal challenges to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the term of copyright by 20 years.

Jason is now working on a number of cases at EFF, including engaging the ongoing fight against DirecTV--the satellite TV giant seeking to establish an unfortunate "guilt-by-purchase" theory in its campaign against people who buy smart-card technology.

Elizabeth has most recently been working on Golan v. Ashcroft and representing Open Source Yoga Unity, a group of yoga instructors challenging the claims of Yogi Bikram Choudhury that he can copyright a yoga routine and sue other yoga instructors for teaching it.

Increasingly well-known in the blogosphere and author of his own Corante weblog, "Importance Of...," Ernest is a fellow at Yale's ISP and former Editor-in-Chief of its must-read blawg, LawMeme. Last year, he testified before the U.S. Copyright Office for an exemption to the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Aaron, a co-author of the RSS 1.0 specification, is Metadata Advisor to Creative Commons--that is, he helps make its innovative licenses work. As a Semantic Web developer, he's a member of the W3C's RDF Core Working Group.

Wendy, an IP attorney @ EFF, was key in getting Openlaw--an experimental project that helped the Internet community contribute substantively to the Eldred challenge--off the ground. A longtime Berkman Fellow, Wendy is founder of the innovative Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, which exposes the ways that intellectual property law is abused to silence legitimate speech.

Needless to say, I'm extremely pleased--honored--to have this group aboard at Copyfight. It will be exciting to see what discussions this mix will yield. I invite you to tune in here, and, if you're so inspired, to use our new comments feature to join the conversation. Welcome, all!

Related...

http://www.copyfight.org/20040301.shtml#73792

INDUCE Act info

When the American Library Association speaks out on the INDUCE Act, I think it lends some weight. These are not a bunch of crazies (although probably more liberal than conservative). The exerpt below summarizes objections more clearly than I have in previous posts.

ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 68 September 28, 2004

In This Issue: Stop INDUCE--Mark-up Sept. 30th

The following has been re-printed from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), Courtesy of Mary Alice Baish.

Stop INDUCE--Mark-up Sept. 30thCalls/Emails Urgently Needed NOW to Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee

BACKGROUND:Library groups have opposed S. 2560, the "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act" (INDUCE Act) since it was introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy in June. The bill is strongly supported by Hollywood and the recording industry because of their concerns about peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks which they say are used mainly by consumers to illegally share copyrighted materials.
If enacted, S. 2560 would make companies and other Internet service providers (ISPs) liable if their software or technology "induces" users to violate copyright laws. ALA is a member of a large, diverse coalition that opposes this bill because we believe strongly that the solution is not to ban technology simply because it can be used to "induce"consumers to make illegal copies. S. 2560 outlaws technology, not bad conduct, and P2P technology is in fact used for many important legal purposes. The bill is so broadly drafted that it has many unintended consequences far beyond targeting those who infringe copyright.

ACTION NEEDED:S. 2560 has undergone many revisions, and a substitute bill will be marked-up this Thursday, Sept. 30th. Please contact your Senator immediately, by phone or email, if he's listed below as a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Express your grave concerns about:
1. THE PROCESS. There have been no hearings on what is now the fourth version of the INDUCE Act. Rushing a bill that implies a fundamental realignment of our intellectual property system through mark-up and to the Senate floor with no hearings is wrong.
2. THE SUBSTANCE. If enacted, this bill could constitute the greatest threat to date to the innovation processes that the copyright and patent laws were intended to promote. The proposed legislation defines "induces" as simply manufacturing a product or offering a service; therefore it wrongly targets commerce rather than conduct.
The narrow exceptions it provides to this extremely broad definition of inducement are full of loopholes; therefore it will not provide meaningful protection to legitimate businesses and services.

MEMBERS OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman (R-UT)
Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Larry Craig (R-ID)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Patrick J. Leahy, Ranking Democratic Member (D-VT)
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
John Edwards (D-NC)

If your Senator is listed as a member of the Judiciary Committee, you'll find a link to his email address at:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
If you prefer to call your Senator's office, the U.S. Capitol Switchboard is: 202-224-3121
*
*****ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits.

To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon.
ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site:http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff.Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor:Bernadette Murphy.

Liturgical Calendar

This is a free Liturgical Calendar in iCal or vCal format that you can import to your calendar program. It includes details about daily Mass readings, vestment color (colour).

Fr. Simon Rundell SCP, Parish of St.Thomas the Apostle in the UK asks that you say a prayer for his parish. Nice to know there are people like him around in 2004.

My test import was off by exactly one day with Outlook 2003, I have to look into this further.

INDUCE Act alert

Just got this e-mail notice from downhillbattle.org regarding the INDUCE Act.

Thomas reference: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.02560:


Hi everyone,
This is an emergency alert for everyone who took part in the Save Betamax call-in day: Today, Orrin Hatch will be trying to line up enough votes to get the INDUCE Act (S. 2560) through to the Senate floor. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee need to hear from you right now.
At the bottom of this message is a list of Senators to call. Please take the time to call two of them, before 5 PM EST today. The bill is scheduled for mark-up on Thursday, so it's very important that you make these calls today.
We need to stop this bill, and we can. Because the INDUCE Act is such a radical departure from two decades of tech policy (set in place by the Betamax decision), a truly unprecedented coalition has formed to stop it. Heavyweights of the technology and electronics sectors are joining public interest groups in fighting hard against the extremely well-connected entertainment industry lobbies (the RIAA and MPAA). Right now there's something of a stalemate-- insiders all say that INDUCE has a 50/50 shot at becoming law.
That's why it's extremely important that Senators hear what you have to say. This email is going out to the over 5,000 people who participated in the Save Betamax call-in day. Tomorrow (Wednesday) the EFF will be running a call-in day for their members, using the software we made for Save Betamax. In just two days Senators could be hearing from tens of thousands of constituents. But we need you to make these phone calls, and spread the word (i.e. on your blog, or in an email to friends) that right now is the time to act.
SENATORS TO CALL
Please call two of these Senators, and if you have time feel free to make more calls. Make sure to look down the list to see if any Senators represent your state. Every phone call counts, but calls from constituents will carry more weight, so make sure to let them know if you're a constituent. Also, the RIAA likes to pretend that all musicians support their breed of copyright extremism. We know that's not true, so if you're a musician make sure to mention that as well.

Orrin Hatch
UTAH
202-224-5251

Patrick Leahy
VERMONT
202-224-4242

Charles E. Grassley
IOWA
202.224.3744

Edward M. Kennedy
MASSACHUSETTS
202-224-4543

Arlen Specter
PENNSYLVANIA
202-224-4254

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
DELAWARE
202-224-5042

Jon Kyl
202) 224-4521
ARIZONA

Herbert Kohl
WISCONSIN
(202) 224-5653

Mike DeWine
OHIO
(202) 224-2315

Dianne Feinstein
CALIFORNIA
202-224-3841

Jeff Sessions
ALABAMA
202) 224-4124

Russell D. Feingold
WISCONSIN
202/224-5323

Lindsey Graham
SOUTH CAROLINA
(202) 224-5972

Charles E. Schumer
NEW YORK
202-224-6542

Larry Craig
IDAHO
202/224-2752

Richard J. Durbin
ILLINOIS
202) 224-2152

Saxby Chambliss
GEORGIA
(202) 224-3521

John Edwards
NORTH CAROLINA
(202) 224-3154

John Cornyn
TEXAS
202-224-2934

NOTES FOR YOUR CALL
On the new INDUCE Act drafts:
The INDUCE Act has already been through several revisions, as Hatch et al. attempt to appease some of their most powerful opponents. But none of these revisions cut it; all of them make industries liable for infringement they don't commit or even profit from, and all of them would give the entertainment industry veto power over new technology (say, the wireless iPod). For more information on the latest draft, see the following article in Wired:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65084,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

On Republicans and Democrats:
Like many tech law issues, this one cuts across party lines (most powerful members of both parties are on the wrong side). If you're calling Republican Senators, emphasize that this legislation would create a huge new legal liability (which means bogus litigation) against American high tech companies. Tell them that the Heritage Foundation and the American Conservative Union both oppose the bill. And check out an ACU flyer here:
http://www.boingboing.net/images/acu-inducead-final.pdf

If you're calling Democrats, emphasize that the Betamax decision was sound policy and that the entertainment companies' extreme stance on copyright is directly opposed to the public good.
For more information about the INDUCE Act, go to:
http://savebetamax.org

Thanks for your time and your energy.
Sincerely,
Holmes Wilson
Tiffiniy Cheng
Nicholas Reville
Rebecca Laurie
Downhill Battle Team

EXBPA has been released!

This is a 'must have' utility for anyone using Exchange 2003. I tested on my home server, but its much more effective as you have multiple servers and multiple sites.

Wouldn't you like to know:
When you need to have Bios updated on your Servers?
When the settings on your Antivirus software is incorrect?
When your configuration is not optimal for performance?
When you have software updates for Exchange?
EXBPA can do this and much more.

Go get it. Spread the word.

Related...

[Gerod Serafin's WebLog]

American Lung Association site

Home - American Lung Association site

The American Lung Association has a Flu Shot Locator. Enter your Zip code and you can find where to get a flu shot in your area.

Last year I had my butt kicked in December. I had an upper respiratory infection that was followed by the flu. It took me 2-3 weeks and a lost week of work to get back to (semi) normal. Don't want to go through that again, but I think Barb and the girls liked the peace and quiet when I was sleeping 20 hours a day.

Hinsdale How-to TiVo Upgrade/Upgrades

Hinsdale How-to TiVo Upgrade/Upgrades

I don't think I posted this before. Hinsdale is a Tivo guru who maintains a how-to site for individuals to upgrade their Tivo's. He also offers a service selling pre-configured upgrade drives, bless him.

I'm planning to upgrade out broken, 120 days into our 90 day warranty Phillips 704 DirecTivo model.

Even though I'm whining about being out of warranty, I ran out and bought a second unit when it broke during the Olympics. I suppose this proves the entire household is addicted.

The New York Times: Movies:

The New York Times: Movies:

Good reviews of current movies, a list of all movies in current release and a you can search for movies in your zip code using a tool on the site.

This is the site I use several times a month.

SSL Diagnostics Tool

This looks like an interesting tool.  its a bitch to debug SSL and certificate issues, so any help from MS is appreciated.

Here's a useful tool to add to your toolbox if you get involved with configuring SSL within your Exchange environment: SSLDiag. The installation also includes an SSL FAQ guide which is really useful if you wish to learn more about SSL.

Overview:
A common problem for administrators of IIS servers is configuring and troubleshooting SSL enabled websites. To assist in administrators efforts, Microsoft has designed a tool - SSL Diagnostics - to aid in quickly identifying configuration problems in the IIS metabase, certificates, or certificate stores.

This tool allows users to review configuration information in a easy to read view mode or to run the tool silently with only the creation of a log file. During use, administrators can simulate the SSL handshake to find errors. They can also quickly "hot swap" certificates for testing purposes.

These packages come in two forms: Express and Full. The express will only give the pertinent tools for administrators to use SSL Diagnostics while full install installs the same files with the appropriate documentation. Included in the full install is a SSL Frequently Asked Questions that can assist in the learning of SSL for administrators.

Related...

[MS Exchange Blog]

map of springfield

map of springfield

As in The Simpsons.

Someone has too much spare time. At the same time, this is pretty awesome.

Shakespeare in quarto

Shakespeare in quarto

"On this site you will find the British Library’s 93 copies of the 21 plays by Shakespeare printed in quarto before the theatres were closed in 1642."

The site includes Background, References, Timelines and texts of 93 copies of the 21 plays.

I'm awestruck, and I'm not even a Shakespeare junkie.

The Curse of Dick Cheney

RollingStone.com

This article substantiates my feelings about Cheney.

If Bush is elected, Cheney will be indicted. No doubt.

Rosenbergs, Milosevic, Lewinsky dress now on official U.S. postage

Stamps Of Approval - August 31, 2004

This is just wrong.

Welcome to Hell

I cut over from my old T1 to IDSL (144Kbps) last night. Something was hosed on the Netopia 3100R and I was not sure what it was.

I cut over around 5PM and decided I needed to go on a bike ride. Yeah, it was dark when I got home (33 miles, 19.4 avg). I farted around with it until 11, then had to go to bed.

It was still not working this morning, so I routed mail through my comcast link. What a mess. Half a dozen sites reject connections from comcast dhcp networks (hey, just like I do!).

Had an appointment in MD, but fixed everything around 9PM. Duped the config from the T1, munged a public/private mapping, but now its working. Also found a bad cable, so it was not an entire loss.

Send me mail if you note any connectivity problems. Speed will be much different (slower) on the new circuit, but Sarah's in college now!

99 Things To Do Before You Graduate

Technique - 2004-08-20 - The Technique proudly presents...99 Things To Do Before You Graduate

This is so cool. I think I did over 90 of these things, will tabulate later.

Bob Graham, my old roommate from Georgia Tech, sent me the link from the alumni newsletter.