] 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

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 DMCA impedes the progress of science, is economically unjustifiable, and lacks the balance the Constitution requires of intellectual property legislation.

Pamela Samuelson of UC Berkeley writes about DRM in the April 2003 issue of Communications of the ACM. She has made the article freely available from her web site; no subscription is required. Note: the linked document has no DRM :)

DRM {and, or, vs.} the Law

] "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."

Billy quotes well..

] "We took the legal course because what he's
] presenting and promoting was encouraging illegal
] behavior," said Blackboard spokesman Michael Stanton.
] "He was able to tap into the wires, like anyone could
] do if they took a sledgehammer to an ATM machine."

No, and is that all you got? Stop using ATM line for every article. Its pratically a troll..

] Charles Lester, an attorney for Blackboard, said he
] is concerned Hoffman's hacking could damage the
] company's business that has taken years to build.

You know, if you suck, it is your fault. Sucking costs you market share. It reflects on your reputation.. Imagine that! Now, if you don't want researchers to find critical flaws in your technology, don't make lame technology. Or at the very least, make your technology better, don't sue the messenger..

Hell.. Just show you are doing something about it.. There are companies out there that just do a decent job of showing they are doing something, while not actually doing anything at all! You don't even have that much creativity. Went to court on the first researcher who revealed your stuff crap.. Low threshold for criticism. You want people to trust your products with money?

You don't sue, you fix! Got it! Sue no, fix yes. Make new product that dosen't suck, sell it, encourage customers to secure wires better,, buy newer units to replace older ones in risky situations, etc.. Like, actually do good for your customers.

Jacksonville.com: Ga. Tech student barred from discussing flaws in debit card technology 4/17/03

] The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) strongly opposes
] these state "super-DMCA" bills as unnecessary and
] overbroad. The proposed bills represent the worst kind of
] special interest legislation, sacrificing the public
] interest in favor of the self-serving interests of one
] industry.

EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney, Fred von Lohmann, on the "Super-DMCA" bills.

Sections:

* Resources
* Background
* These Bills are Unnecessary
* All Things Not Expressly Permitted are Forbidden
* Bolting on the "Intent to Defraud"
* Attacking Anonymity
* A Chill on Computer Security Research
* A Threat to Innovation and Competition
* Transferring law enforcement from public to private hands
* Dangerous Remedies
* * Remote Downgrades
* * One-Sided Attorneys' Fees
* * Automatic Injunctions
* * Abusive damages
* What You Can Do

EFF: State 'Super-DMCA' Legislation: MPAA's Stealth Attack on Your Living Room

] Author: Fred von Lohmann is a senior staff attorney
] at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

] Suing college students. Forcing ISPs to rat out
] customers. Petitioning Congress for unprecedented
] vigilante powers. Deploying armies of lawyers to sue
] technology companies. Threatening universities and
] corporations. Demanding that ISPs disconnect tens of
] thousands of Internet users. Hiring electronic enforcers
] to monitor computer users.
]
] None of these efforts by the recording industry has
] put a single nickel into the pockets of a musician. And
] none of these efforts has slowed the spread of
] peer-to-peer ("P2P") file sharing. More Americans have
] used file-sharing software than voted for the President.
]
] But we are paying a price. Responding to pressure
] from the entertainment industry, the University of
] Wyoming is now monitoring and recording all university
] Internet traffic. One hundred Naval Academy cadets have
] been disciplined for file-sharing. Investment in
] innovative P2P companies has dried up. Some members of
] Congress, addled by a steady diet of propaganda and
] campaign contributions from the entertainment industries,
] have suggested that the answer might be to expel, or even
] jail, college students. Music fans are frustrated and
] alienated from the musicians they love.

Goes on to propose a PRO style payout system driven by ISPs collecting money from Internet access costs.

The Daily Princetonian - New music rules are needed

] It has been stated by your office that this is "a bump in
] the road" between the RIAA and Michigan Tech, and that we
] will move on from here. It is unfortunate that you choose
] to trivialize the problem in this manner. It is not a
] bump in the road for Joe Nievelt or Michigan
] Technological University.
]
] Taking all of this into consideration, we realize the
] seriousness of the allegations against Mr. Nievelt and
] will cooperate fully in resolving this matter.

(Decius's Comments)

This is from a day ago, but I think its really important.

1. The RIAA must be laughing its ass off about this letter. He says "this is not a bump in the road" and then he agrees to cooperate fully. Obviously MTU is either unable or unwilling to create any real pain for the RIAA. I would have provided my legal department for the defense and stopped all the measures that I had taken on their behest.

2. The RIAA has no moral character. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. (People seem have forgotten much of this in the past few years, but trust is the basis of business, and strong moral character is a pre-requisite for trust.) These are not good people, do not trust them.

3. What the RIAA is sueing here are campus SEARCH ENGINES. They are not just for MP3s. They weren't built with MP3s in mind. These are for anyfile. There are lots and lots of non-infringing uses. With the proper legal defense, the RIAA will loose these cases. Much like Felton, they may have stepped on another grenade. (Without proper legal defense it will be ILLEGAL to run a search engine on a campus, which is an intolerable result, frankly.)

Michigan Tech Media Relations Story#95 - President Responds to RIAA Suit

] "Basically, (the bills) outlaw any device they don't
] like," McClure said. "Any technology they don't like is
] banned. Not only is it banned, but it opens you to
] criminal penalties for its use. If you use a computer,
] you could be a criminal. (They don't) require that a
] computer be used for copyright infringement, just that it
] could potentially be used for copyright infringement."

DMCA critics decry state-level proposals | CNET News.com

] During a recent hearing of the Subcommittee on Courts,
] the Internet and Intellectual Property, the Republican
] congressman [John Carter] said jailing college students
] who download copyrighted music would help stop piracy.
]
] "What these kids don't realize is that every time they
] pull up music and movies and make a copy, they are
] committing a felony under the United States code," Carter
] said in an interview. "If you were to prosecute someone
] and give them three years, I think this would act
] as a deterrent."

Wired News: Marking File Traders as Felons