] When I mentioned in last week's column that I would this
] week be writing about a legal way to do a successful
] music downloading business -- a business that would
] threaten the Recording Industry Association of America
] and its hegemony -- dozens of readers wrote to me trying
] to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the
] problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the
] fact that the real issues here aren't technical but
] legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they
] tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking
] solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody
] even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total
] loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I'm probably
] more of a diabolical loon.
]
]
] The reason I am even writing this column is two-fold.
] The biggest reason is simply because I would like people
] to consider lateral solutions to problems. I am pushing
] the concept of problem solving in a new way. There is no
] particular methodology here, just the underlying concept
] that if things aren't working the way you like, think of
] something different. Too often, people restrict their
] thinking or they somehow expect the world to change just
] for them, which it won't. But taking a lateral approach
] often yields interesting results. And once you've found
] an approach, maybe it can be applied to a different
] problem. What I am abo

Cringely's crazy idea

] "MIT recently received a subpoena from the Recording
] Industry Association of America that was issued under the
] terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The
] subpoena requests the name and address of the individual
] whose computer was, according to the RIAA, sending out
] copyrighted songs on the Internet.
]
] "A different federal law, the Family Education Rights and
] Privacy Act, prohibits colleges and universities from
] disclosing information about students except in certain
] situations.

MIT responds to RIAA subpoena

Music Industry Wins 871 Subpoenas Against Internet Users.

...and they are not just going after people offering large amounts of mp3s either...

Notice the slightly conflicting statements:

" The trade group for the largest music labels, the Washington-based RIAA, previously indicated its lawyers would target Internet users who offer substantial collections of MP3 song files but declined to say how many songs might qualify for a lawsuit."

"We are identifying substantial infringers and we're going to whatever entity is providing (Internet) service for that potential infringer,"

[Brain21]So from these statements we think that, as the RIAA said a few weeks ago, they are only going after people who have huge mp3 collections online. However, other statements in the article show that this may not be true:

"In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative recordings" of music files available for downloading from these users."

"the RIAA asked Depaul on July 2 to track down a user known as "anon39023" who was allegedly offering at least eight songs."

FOXNews.com

] Blackboard said the settlement shows its systems are
] secure but the whole case is better understood as a
] successful attempt to protect the firm's reputation
] against the possibly exaggerated claims of a pair of
] student hacker/crackers

The register got caught up in the spin as well.

Since when is using the law an appropriate way to silence critics? Thats the very definition of censorship.

Can we accept that this is really the final word on the story, given that its coming from blackboard, and that Acidus and Virgil are injoined from responding?

Is Blackboard's technology secure?

We may never know. What we do know is that Blackboard has effectively silenced their critics, with extreme prejudice. My lawyer is bigger then your lawyer should not trump the first amendment. In this case it has. These student settled because they did not have the means to defend themselves.

Acidus and Virgil owe $20,000 in (clears throat) "legal fees." They are college students. They can't really afford this and they need help. If you would like to contribute, you can paypal the following email address: gte344p@prism.gatech.edu

(Above comments from Decius..)

I'll have more to say about this later, when I can sit down and type something up without the sound of truck stop poker video games ringing in my ears.

The Register - Blackboard press release

] The United States is now clearly involved in a guerrilla
] war in the Sunni regions of Iraq. As a result, U.S.
] forces are engaging in counterinsurgency operations,
] which historically have proven most difficult and trying
] -- for both American forces and American politics.
] Suppressing a guerrilla operation without alienating the
] indigenous population represents an extreme challenge to
] the United States that at this point does not appear
] avoidable -- and the seriousness of which does not appear
] to be broadly understood.

While the US media is so confident that the US won the Iraq war that the subject has become passe, it turns out that the capitulation of troops was part of a deliberate strategy. Hussein may in fact still be in control of his military. The war is not over. The US has not won.

Iraq war actually isn't over.

] Japanese bookstores are set to launch a national campaign
] to stop so-called "digital shoplifting" by customers
] using the lastest camera-equipped mobile phones.
]
] The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association says the
] practice is "information theft" and it wants it stopped.

Thats how you measure success with communication technologies these days.. If someone points at you and starts screaming "your stealing!", you probably have made a significant advance.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japan's 'digital shoplifting' plague

] HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of protesters
] took to Hong Kong's streets on Tuesday to denounce the
] government and its planned anti-subversion law in the
] city's biggest demonstration since the 1989 Tiananmen
] Square massacre.

Hong Kong breaks into protest

] "I would guess that you would then see stories about the
] family faced with economic ruin and the cost of having to
] hire defense counsel, settling for $10,000 or $20,000,
] and the money they were saving for Timmy's college
] education now has to go to Kid Rock," said Philip S.
] Corwin, a lobbyist in Washington for Sharman Networks,
] distributor of the Kazaa file-sharing software.
]
] "That's the kind of stuff that would scare a politician."

Labels May Face Risk in Piracy Suits

T-spigot now has CDs selling on Amazon. These are some friends of mine from the bay area. Frequently featured on somafm. The "Trip to Booker" track has samples I gave them from a whacky indy film that our tivo grabbed one night. If you like the stuff on somafm, you should buy this CD.

Amazon.com: Music: Experiments in the Hypnotic Production of Crime

] No. Placing your number on the National Do Not Call
] Registry will stop most, but not all, telemarketing
] calls. Some businesses are exempt from the national
] registry and still can call you even if you place your
] number on it. Exempt businesses include:
]
] * long-distance phone companies
] * airlines
] * banks and credit unions; and
] * the business of insurance, to the extent that it is
] regulated by state law.
]
] However, many telemarketing calls are placed by
] professional telemarketing companies, and even if the
] company whose goods or services are being sold is exempt,
] the telemarketing company may be covered.
]
] You may still receive calls from political organizations,
] charities, telephone surveyors or companies with which
] you have an existing business relationship.

Hrm. See, I got fairly excited about this thing... Then, after being woken up at 9 AM on Saturday Morning by the F.O.P., I decided to really look at it. Turns out, its basically useless. MOST of the telemarketing calls I receive are:

1. Surveys.
2. Charities.
3. Long Distance Services.
4. Credit Services.

All of these things are exempt. Thank you government, for yet again appearing to do something without doing anything at all.

- Decius

National Do Not Call Registry: Not all its cracked up to be