This is one of those questions that has bothered me ever since the DeCSS thing went down way back in 2001. The crux of the problem is this: the movie industry wants to sell you a DVD like it’s a physical object, and then use technology to restrict your use as though you have [...]
Archive for the ‘free (or not) software’ Category
is it legal to make backup copies of your DVDs?
Posted in contracts, copyright, economics, fair use, first sale doctrine, free (or not) software, media, property, technology on April 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Neat!
Posted in fair use, free (or not) software, internet, media, tagged flickr, seadragon on February 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Start with a color.
Groklaw vs. The RIAA
Posted in advertising, copyright, dissent, economics, education, ethics, fair use, free (or not) software, free speech, hypocrisy, internet, property, technology on December 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
If I was the record industry, I’d be very worried. The last time Groklaw started paying attention to frivolous lawsuits about imaginary copyright infringement, the people who picked the fight ended up dead.
Memo To Ohio: You’re Doing It Wrong
Posted in black box voting, constitution, criminal law, dissent, education, ethics, free (or not) software, politics, technology, tagged Diebold, Election Fraud, Ohio, Voting on November 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The voter-verified paper trail does you absolutely no good if you don’t actually use it.
The point of the ballot print-outs that Ohio law mandates is that they’re from a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT); the voter casts a vote using the touchscreen, and then he or she confirms that the ballot has been correctly recorded [...]
Got To Be Trademark Infringement
Posted in advertising, economics, free (or not) software, internet, technology, tagged Google, trademark on November 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Yeah, that won’t last.
Globalization Of The Information Economy: Why Piracy Increases Market Efficiency
Posted in advertising, copyright, economics, education, free (or not) software, internet, media, technology, tagged china, DVDs, piracy on November 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
When the studios put out press releases like this one:
Warner Home Video said Wednesday it will begin selling low-priced DVDs of movies from two major Hollywood studios in China in a bid to curb widespread sales of pirated versions.
The DVDs, priced at 22 yuan (2.90 dollars) each, will be distributed in over 50 major Chinese [...]
The Future Of Public Interest Law
Posted in advertising, copyright, dissent, economics, fair use, first sale doctrine, free (or not) software, internet, technology, tagged discovery, evidence, groklaw, riaa on October 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Expert testimony is expensive. Putting a post up on a website is cheap. When your opponents have insufficient evidence and their experts are a bunch of charlatains, it can be very helpful to have an active community of highly intelligent people who share a personal interest in seeing you win your case.
If you were representing [...]
