P2P Calls in Air Strikes
Published March 28, 2003
The Verizon case is hardly the only instance in which entertainment industry tactics are raising serious digital privacy concerns. It is well known that the MPAA and RIAA have sent letters to thousands of U.S. corporations and universities warning them to patrol their internal computer networks for copyright infringement - or else. This entertainment industry push to assert the principle that all business and academic entities have an affirmative duty to proactively adopt employee prohibitions and utilize all available technical measures to avoid potential copyright infringement liability is very much akin to their position, embodied in the Hollings bill, that computer and consumer electronics manufacturers should have an affirmative legal obligation to build available copy control protection into every device. Sometimes it seems that Hollywood's business model for the future is to force other industries to protect its business model of the past.
In addition to suggesting that these companies and universities erect a firewall to prevent access to particular networks or limit the use of certain software, the letter recommends that three particular companies developing technical censorship and monitoring tools be contacted and that their software be utilized. While about one-third of employees in U.S. businesses currently have their Web surfing and e-mail monitored to some extent by employers, the new types of software being advocated by the entertainment industry go much further in their intrusive capabilities. These software applications are designed to be loaded on every employee's and student's computer to periodically index the entire content of their hard drive and report back to a central server. Such technological Big Brotherism is the digital equivalent of having one's phone calls monitored, with a comprehensive report regarding the content and destination of those calls being submitted to an employer or university administrator on a regular basis. Its not quite "Enemy of the State" yet, but it's sure a disquieting move in that direction. It is regrettable that an industry so dependent on First Amendment speech protections cares so little for the privacy rights of its customers.
Finally, although not directly related to P2P, two other cases are of particular note because of the eventual legislative fallout they may engender. The cases of Lexmark International v. Static Control Components Inc., as well as that of Chamberlain Group v. Skylink Technologies, are similar. The former involves a manufacturer of printer ink cartridges suing an aftermarket company that refills those cartridges, while the latter involves a garage door manufacturer suing a rival producer of universal remote control devices. Both plaintiffs contend that the anti-circumvention provision of the DMCA prohibits their competitors from circumventing software controls that allow only the original manufacturer's equipment to be utilized as replacement parts. Should the courts uphold these novel claims - and Lexmark has already obtained an injunction in its lawsuit — it is quite possible that this attempted use of software to limit aftermarket competition will spread rapidly. If that occurs, a sharp outcry from small business and a Congressional response is virtually assured, and that could open the door to a far broader revisitation and revision of the DMCA.
- P2P Calls in Air Strikes
- Published: March 28, 2003
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- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet, Music: News, Video: News
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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this was great i am happy to see that others are benifiting to open mindness
of new technologies/ and sad to see that the world is all about price gouging/ worries of hollywood suicide and most inportant greed. I believe point in case
as a consumer of movies and music and will come straight out and say it as no one else will -fear of are goverment I guess.
1. movies-are so many experience good and bad /sad and happy -and so many experinces have been held on the cinimatic screen exploited/ and life situations to catastrophies of floods/earthquakes to aliens and how we view them. theaters are great experinces
but some times the translation is lost
and can only be gained by home expirence . thanks to technolgy we have that choice. are own tiny theater -surround
speakers /flat screen tv's -can you accually blame people for not wanting to sit in a theatre were some lady smells and has a crying baby. also might i add
that downloading of a movie is a differn't experiance all together-you have this wierd tech-feeling you get that we accually have moved into the future 2004. That u can not belive that u are accually watching this on a computer and quite an overwellming feeling just ask the executives of the movie industry /when they wanted to know exactly what was going on with the p2p
and one them said ooh let me show u and downloaded the matrix revolutions. so point in case no matter if u are watching it on a hollywood screen or
a computer screen-if u like what u watched -its most likly going to influince you to purchase it on dvd.
(mundanity i love it.)
1. big fish-saw in theatre -bought it on dvd
2. finding nemo-down·load·ed-bought it on dvd
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Music it enriches are lives its one thing everyone agrees on -just not the form/ rap/hip-hop/ and boy bands and fake corporation meglaconglomerates
are now choosing the way we are to listen to music/ and how we are to view
who's hot and who's not. show's like american idol that cuts people's dreams and hopes down to size that does not fit the profile in fashion/and music style are outcasted. music should not be this way/ 2004 music terms are lets take the-sex out /no drugs/ hay what about just the rock and we can sell it as is.
nope it just doen't happen that way . some of the best groups like the sex-pistols were wacked out of their minds and made the best music. can u
imagine what john lennon would have been
like without drugs. the groups that no
one will hear such as revolver exept in small circles. here's my biggest point I own 3000 cd's used to have 2000 tapes
but traded them in for cd's. but still downloaded music to hear the new upcoming bands that no one wanted u to hear too controversial i guess. And help
people to experince music that they would not open up to. and vice versa
I have helped a 50 year old man to gain music back that his ex-threw out and thought he would never hear ever again.
Some of this music i downloaded I thought was good but not good enough to buy-as the letter to senator murry states just samplings never albums.
in a couple of cases was given full albums/ but one was the new mattalica and it just sucked sooooo bad that i gave it away. the other a new anthrax album-which i kept but plan to buy or get it at a pawn shop for the cover art .
and info in the jacket. so bottom line
music is music whatever the jonra. i have been buying cd's so long and also enjoy finding groups on the net like maroon 5 /overkill and d.r.i / groups not many listen too. last point -distrubution of these kind of music
can be bought but are hard to find it's either bidding on ebay for em-or special order. just try and find scars of the crucifix -from deicide not a liked group but hay someone listens to it.
thanks for the time/ viva la p2p controversy and the history that is made.