] We are a group of Tennesseans who are dedicated to
] preserving your online freedoms. We are specifically
] trying to counteract the new "Super-DMCA" legislation
] proposed by the MPAA. In TN, this legislation has
] been proposed through two bills, namely SB213, and HB457.
]
] Our organization has taken shape very (very) quickly,
] and there is still a lot to be done. We need your help
] if we are going to be able to fight this successfully!

TN Digital Freedom - Down With The TN Super-DMCA Bill

] "I looked at it and found the emperor has no
] clothes, and now everyone's mad at me."

The Washington Post gives Billy Hoffman the Quote of the Day.

Link to my posting of the original story:
http://www.memestreams.net/users/rattle/blogid2864198

The full quote:
] "All I wanted to do is tell everyone, 'Hey, this
] is a problem, and it needs to be protected,'"
] Hoffman said. "Everyone was blissfully unaware of
] how it works. I looked at it and found the emperor
] has no clothes, and now everyone's mad at me."

DID YOU HEAR? . . . (washingtonpost.com)

http://www.memestreams.net/users/rattle/blogid2787767
] Ahh.. This will remind the world of the whole "all your
] base" thing, and within a week we will have an "all your
] base" take on the Iraq war.. I know it..

Two and a half weeks..

Iraq, All Your Base Are Belong to Us

] Two major record labels filed suit Monday against
] venture capital firm Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
] for its investment in Napster, alleging that it
] contributed to rampant music theft through the former
] file-swapping network.

Universal and EMI on the attack..

] Legal efforts by the recording industry and music
] publishers essentially crushed Napster two years ago. But
] now the music industry is seeking punitive damages from
] Napster backers, in a move that could portend further
] suits targeting assets of companies that back independent
] file-swapping services.
]
] "Businesses (as well as those individuals or entities who
] control them) premised on massive copyright infringement
] of works created by artists, should face the legal
] consequences for their actions," said a joint statement
] from the two record labels.

"And the countries that harbor them.." ?? Maybe more like, "Anything we can do to make it harder to find funding for innovation that may turn out to be distruptive to our bottom line.." I sense a really big heaping dose of "you are either with us or against us" retoric slithering its way into the ongoing War on Technology.

Record labels sue Napster investor | CNET News.com

] A lot of hubbub has been raised over the "Visual FoxPro
] running on Linux" issue over the last few weeks. Much of
] the hubbub has been based on incomplete or inaccurate
] information.
]
] Here's the detailed chronology, including links to
] specific items, so that you've got all of the facts.

Whil Hentzen's webpage chronicling the Microsoft/WINE FoxPro EULA situation..

Here are a few quick quotes from other media sources on the issue:

From http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/30325.html
] Whil Hentzen, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was to have
] presented a seminar showing how to run Microsoft's
] Visual FoxPro on Linux at the Bay Area Association
] of Database Developers last Wednesday.
]
] But prior to the demonstration Hentzen received a
] call from a Microsoft marketing manager telling him
] that he would be in violation of the EULA (End User
] Licensing Agreement) for VFP if he demonstrated (or
] ran) the development tool on Linux.
]
] After the brief conversation with Ken Levy,
] Microsoft's Visual FoxPro marketing manager, Hentzen
] decided to abandon the practical demonstration from
] his talk. Levy had contacted Hentzen after reading a
] paper on the subject, which Hentzen had edited.

From http://www.linuxworld.com/2003/0421.barr.html
] For the unintimidated who are curious about running
] Visual FoxPro on Linux, you can still visit the
] OpenFox.org Web site and view a HowTo on installing
] VFP with WINE.
(http://www.openfox.org/wc.dll/sections/divulge/36)

] I had the opportunity to speak briefly to Hentzen
] as he walked through an airport, cell-phone in hand.
] He explained the root cause of Microsoft's unhappiness.
] "Microsoft hates FoxPro," Hentzen said. He went on to
] explain that Visual FoxPro has a free runtime. If you
] install a VFP application on a network with 97 users
] and they all use the application, Microsoft doesn't
] reap licensing fees for those 97 clients. Microsoft
] would much rather see customers use Visual Basic and
] Microsoft SQL because their use would require those
] same 97 users to purchase client licenses.

] When Microsoft bought FoxPro in 1992, its goal was
] simply to hurt market-leader Borland. The history of
] FoxPro since then is a perfect case study of how
] monopoly machinations in the software industry have
] absolutely nothing to do with developing good software
] and everything to do with control of the market.

Visual FoxPro, Linux and the Jack of Hearts

] Cisco Systems has created a more efficient and targeted
] way for police and intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on
] people whose Internet service provider uses their
] company's routers.
]
] The company recently published a proposal that describes
] how it plans to embed "lawful interception" capability
] into its products. Among the highlights: Eavesdropping
] "must be undetectable," and multiple police agencies
] conducting simultaneous wiretaps must not learn of one
] another. If an Internet provider uses encryption to
] preserve its customers' privacy and has access to the
] encryption keys, it must turn over the intercepted
] communications to police in a descrambled form.

Inside Cisco's eavesdropping apparatus | CNET News.com

Well, this was such a welcome shock(*) to me right now that you could literally knock me over with a feather, so I figure I'll pass it along as something resembling good news.

* - with more and more completely moral things I do every day actually being made illegal by legislation I am beginning to develop what can only be considered a healthy digust of the world at large and a tendency to think that given a chance, companies will immediately attempt to draft legislation, sue, file patents, and otherwise steal everything in existance, and a few things that don't, strictly speaking, exist at all. I'm beginning to mentally associate the phrase "for profit" with "bottomless greed".

Now I suppose the next step will be to find some places online that sell perfectly normal HTML versions of books at prices that reflect the lack of a quarter pound of paper and ink... or just perfectly normal HTML versions of books. I'm not having any of this proprietary reader format nonsense.

(Above comments from Dagmar)

This is good.. While I may not expect much from Britney Spears, I do expect our more intellectual creators of content, weither it be music or literature, to come to conclusions such as these fellows more and more as time goes on.. As their experimentation continues, I am sure that they will find positive returns from this type of open distribution.

Harlan Ellison take note..

Baen Free Library

The statement put up by blackboard about Interz0ne

There is one key point they are missing.. Using the law to silence someone is a very dangerous game. You don't casually sue someone in a mannor that attacks their free speech rights and go on to frame yourself as a good American company looking after your customers.. It doesn't work that way. Once you pull out the legal guns, and use them to attack free speech in any form, our core American values kick in immediately and become focused 100% on taking your ass out. Its the point where you have proven yourself a danger.. Not just to some hacker con, not just to the security community, but to our country and its values as a whole. Really! It is that _big_ if an issue. There is no excuse or way to rationalize attacking free speech that you are going to be able to convince me, or most of this community, is just.

The hacking community (security, open source, etc) is under attack on all fronts right now by the abuse of IP law. As the situation continues to get worse, its safe to assume we will start to respond to attacks such as this much like wounded animals protecting their young.. Unrestrained and vicious. People are starting to lose faith in the legal system's ability to protect our rights from the big pockets who would rather have more control.. This is a bad situation getting worse.

Criminals can work outside the system.. Thats an option for them.. So the people they are truly afraid of will barely be effected. However, the rest of us do not have that option. Destroying the openness of the hacking community will destroy the ability for the hacking community to exist at all.. The basis of the hacking community is the open share of ideas and knowledge.. Thats whats being attacked.. The heart of our community. It will not be allowed to happen.

BlackBoard Inc.

Attention all LiveJournal users!!

Thanks to the help of jwz of http://www.jwz.org, our MemeStreams RSS feed on LiveJournal is fixed and under the name "MemeStreams".

Having a RSS feed on LiveJournal is a great way for people to see the links that make the front page of MemeStreams.

If you get a chance, check it out!

memestreams - Syndicated Account

Social software is a dynamic and constantly evolving environment, rich with possibilities to create better connections between people. With a growing number of active developers, we need a central nexus to help drive the process of coordination and interoperability between different developers' products.

Founding members include Ross Mayfield, Clay Shirky, and David Weinberger. Howard Rheingold also participated in the most recent Happening.

I am lurking on the mailing list..

Social Software Alliance