Slashback: Discipline, License, Name-calling 352
Every day, in every way, I am becoming a better and better Lt. Junior Grade. alanjstr writes "The Baltimore Sun reports 'The Naval Academy has disciplined 85 students who used a military Internet connection to illegally swap copyrighted music and movies, but it stopped short of carrying out its threat to impose the maximum penalties of expulsion or court-martial, an academy document shows.' It goes on to say that the raid was spurred less by the RIAA and more by the threat of losing the internet connection due to the enormous amount of bandwidth consumed. The academy had given students several warnings before raiding the dorm rooms. Some of the hard drives seized last November were found to contain one or two copyrighted files, while others ran into the hundreds or thousands."
I bet they could make a better agreement with Xiph.org Magnetic Confinement writes "In an effort to make life more difficult for civic-minded Mac users, NPR has decided to drop Quicktime from its available streams. Nothing specific on their webpage addresses it, just some suspicious vacancies remain. Their helpdesk response is officially:
'NPR.org had been offering some of its audio in the Apple QuickTime format under an arrangement with Apple QuickTime. We regret that we were unable to reach mutually acceptable terms for a new arrangement with Apple QuickTime. As a result, NPR is unable to continue offering its content in this format.You can also contact Apple QuickTime directly at: quicktime@apple.com
Weston
NPR Online'"
A note that got lost in the bin for too long ... JulesVD writes "Microsoft has agreed to tweak its Windows XP operating system in response to recent feedback from the Justice Department over its antitrust settlement with the federal government. (See news on Yahoo!) Microsoft will give more prominent display to a button in Windows that allows computer users to remove the company's Internet Explorer browser, company spokesman Jim Desler said. The Justice Department is overseeing Microsoft's compliance with the settlement. Placement of the button in a hard-to-reach spot in Windows was one of several complaints Microsoft's rivals made to the department last year."
Proportionality isn't just for the personals. You may still be boggling (I am) at the recently announced RIAA suits alleging that colleges and college students are liable for billions of dollars in damages to the music industry for facilitating online file trading. Reader Derek Lomas writes in with another editorial indicating "growing support at Yale for legal alternatives".
Even biggerness. The Gathering is billed by some as the the world's largest computer party. MC68040, though, writes "I'd like to remind everyone to have a look at dreamhack, that 'also' is the largest LAN in Sweden twice a year ... Which had over 5000 participants in 2001 and even more in 2002.. *arhem* Biggest you say?"
If you want to fight about "LAN party" vs. "Computer party," leave me out of it!
How about calling it "900t"? An anonymous reader writes "As previously reported, mozilla.org's Phoenix browser has been renamed to Firebird. This hasn't pleased supporters of the Firebird relational database project. In an Australian LinuxWorld article, one of their administrators calls the name change "one of the dirtiest deeds I've seen in open source so far." In a MozillaZine article, the same person accused mozilla.org of "theft" and "corporate bullying". They don't explain how it was different when they picked a name that was already used by a BBS, financial software manufacturer, Fenix IDE and games company. Meanwhile, IBPhoenix, an organisation that supports the development of the Firebird database, has put up a protest page, encouraging people to spam the MozillaZine forums (even though MozillaZine had nothing to do with the decision) and send masses of email to many Mozilla developers (most of whom were not involved in selecting the new name). I find it rather hypocritical that the Firebird database people are accusing Mozilla of "the filthiest of dirty tricks" while at the same time advocating the harassment of many Mozilla developers."
Point of clarification. batkid writes "In response to the article 'Microsoft pirating their own software,' Seems like MS is taking it pretty seriously. I got the following response from Microsoft (I am a faculty member, but the response should be the same to students).
April 9, 2003RE: Visual Studio .NET Professional Edition and Windows XP Professional software distributed during the Microsoft Faculty Seminars
Dear Faculty Member, Thank you for attending the recent Microsoft Faculty Seminar. The purpose of this letter is to clarify questions concerning the legal use of the Visual Studio .NET Professional and Windows XP Professional software distributed to faculty who attended the Seminar. The software received is governed by the electronic license embedded in the product set up that appears prior to installation and no additional documentation is required.
Notwithstanding language on the CD label for the copies of Visual Studio .NET Professional Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition that you received during your attendance at the Seminar, which appeared to indicate that a separate license document was required in order for you to legally use the software, this letter will confirm that use by you of the software received is governed by the electronic license embedded in the product setup that appears prior to installation.
You are required to agree to accept the terms and conditions of this license prior to proceeding with the products' installation. Acceptance by you of these "Click to Accept" licenses is the only license required for your use of the copies of Visual Studio.NET Professional Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition received. We recommend that you keep a copy of this letter in your personal files for future reference."
Thanks for passing that along.
What if Masterlock security was assured this way? Monday, you read that security researchers Billy Hoffman and Virgil Griffith (known as Vergil and Acidus) were were prevented from speaking at a security conference by means of a Cease and Desist order from Blackboard, Inc.. The two planned to talk about security flaws found in Blackboard's Transaction System.
In a mail posted at Declan McCullagh's Politech mailing list, David Yaskin of Blackboard responds to the criticism that the company's legal action has drawn. John R. Hall has posted a FAQ explaining some particulars of the Blackboard Transaction System which Virgil and Acidus aren't at liberty to discuss, as well as contradicting some claims that Yaskin makes in the posted email.
Blackboard (Score:3, Interesting)
RIAA is grasping for headlines (Score:2, Interesting)
I mean, unless the student is very rich family, along the lines of Bill Gates rich, the RIAA would never see the money. And, on a appeal, the settlement would be thrown out on the fact that the amount, millions and millions of dollars is too much for anyone to pay.
I am still curious if the RIAA is just doing this for headlines, or to scare people from sharing music.
Re:Dishonest statistics (Score:4, Interesting)
Anyone got numbers for the amount they collect via CDR tax?
Sinapse (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why blame NPR? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Dishonest statistics (Score:3, Interesting)
Trustworthy Computing? (Score:2, Interesting)
This sounds to me like an argument that might be made by people trying modchip X-Boxes - "It's too hard to circumvent Microsoft's way of doing things!"
Is it just me, or does legal wrangling over the placement of a button just seem kind of silly?
Mike Pettit, a spokesman for Procomp, an anti-Microsoft computer industry trade group, said the latest modification was minor. He called it "a complete waste of time and effort and has nothing to do with restoring competition."
Apparently not.
Re:1000s of copyrighted files (Score:4, Interesting)
You see, I'm the author of many of the files, and as such, I hold instant copyright. Quoting from US government copyright office: [copyright.gov]
I'll bet we're all guilty of possession of copyrighted Slashdot images in our browser caches. I hope they don't mind.BECAUSE IT'S FREE (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe because Quicktime streaming server is freely downloadable [apple.com].
Well, okay, you've got to have OS X Server to get that one, but if you don't want to even run OS X Server, guess what? Darwin streaming server [apple.com] is both open source and runs on Linux, Solaris, OS X(server or regular, 10.1.x or better), AND WINDOWS(both win2k and NT).
If -that- isn't good enough for you, there's no shortage of MP3 streaming servers. If THAT isn't good enough, there's ogg-vorbis.
Something smells, folks. MS -bought- their way into this one, probably via strong-arming or simply bribing with free hardware+licenses. By the way, PBS dropped Quicktime recently too.
Re:RIAA is grasping for headlines (Score:2, Interesting)
But, I think we are also forgetting that the RIAA said a few years ago that they would not sue any person directly like this. But that is so typical of a business. Say one thing one day, and go against the next.
Re:BECAUSE IT'S FREE (Score:2, Interesting)
I think I read the hourly rate was reduced, but still significant. Can't find a recent article on how this finally ended up.
As a user, I really had the QT nags. What a pain.
Firebird?? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Firebird (Score:5, Interesting)
"How about calling it "900t"? [snip] In an Australian LinuxWorld article, one of their administrators calls the name change "one of the dirtiest deeds I've seen in open source so far." [that article quoted me, btw]
[snip]
"In a MozillaZine article, the same person accused mozilla.org of "theft" and "corporate bullying". They don't explain how it was different when they picked a name that was already used by a BBS, financial software manufacturer, Fenix IDE and games company."
I did post a comment about these other "Firebird" projects, which all except one are either more recent than ours, or are long defunct. The BBS project (a year older than our project) is a Chinese bulletin board, scarcely to be considered as being in the same space the way an open source browser and an open source database are...
"Meanwhile, IBPhoenix, an organisation that supports the development of the Firebird database, has put up a protest page, encouraging people to spam the MozillaZine forums"
This is a patent LIE - hence, no doubt, the poster's desire to stay anonymous. The readers were invited to write, not "encouraged to spam". As background to why the need to do so, our private emails to the Mozilla people at the start of all this have gone unanswered. What else could we do?
"(even though MozillaZine had nothing to do with the decision)"
Another misrepresentation. The announcement was made on the Mozillazine talkback forum and feedback was expressly invited.
" and send masses of email to many Mozilla developers"
Another outright lie. The suggestion was "You might like to write to..."
"(most of whom were not involved in selecting the new name)" The announcement said "we". Absent better information, how could anything be assumed except that the whole Mozilla team made the decision, since that was how it was announced.
"I find it rather hypocritical that the Firebird database people are accusing Mozilla of "the filthiest of dirty tricks" while at the same time advocating the harassment of many Mozilla developers."
I find it highly hypocritical that an anonymous poster would construct a spin like this -- and rather depressing that Craig Ringer and others are buying the spin.
Helen Borrie
Firebird Project [sourceforge.net] Admin
NPR is part of PBS (Score:3, Interesting)
<BR>
<BR>
This email is to discuss a recent decision by NPR, which I note on it's website says "In partnership with PBS".
NPR.org has announced* it will stop using QuickTime for online
As a past supporter to PBS in my hometown, Sacramento, I find it less than 'public' for an otherwise public resource such as NPR to adopt what I feel is a restrictive posture towards their online community.
I also notice that the PBS website still supports QuickTime as a available format for viewing video online. I would like to believe that if PBS can continue to support more than one choice of online video, NPR would be able to follow suit.
If PBS/NPR is going to request financial support from the community at large, it should perhaps consider those funds come from people with various choices that not only apply to politics, etc, but to information access methods as well. If I felt that PBS/NPR was only going to support a Microsoft environment in the future, I would be less apt to provide financial support....and I'm sure others will be thinking along similar lines.
Regards,
.....
Why NPR really did this... (Score:4, Interesting)
Safari will, instead of opening these files with RealPlayer, Quicktime or downloading them to a desiganted directory, will open them up directly with Disk Copy-- an operation that wil surely fail.
And because NPR uses javascript to decide what kind of stream to serve up, it's rather difficult to cut and paste a link directly into one of the audio streaming clients. I suppose you could uncheck the "open safe files automatically,", and control click the downloaded file, select "Open With RealOne Player" and enjoy the results, but that solution is rather complicated.
NPR blames Apple [npr.org] for this. I'm sure that in the confusion, angry Safari users have jammed already strained technical support queues. So NPR does the only sensible thing-- it seeks petty revenge by dropping Quicktime.
Thanks MS for the license-free software! (Score:3, Interesting)
2. Ignore sticker that says separate license required, as MS says to.
3. Wait for cat to walk on keyboard during installation and agree to on-screen license agreement.
4. ???
5. Profit!
Re:Dodgy reporting (Score:2, Interesting)
(c) why firebird - what's so special about the name?
The logo.
If you look its clearly a phoenix, a firebird is basicly just another way of calling it. It essentially means that they can keep the "same" name even if they've had to change the title for legal reasons.
IMO the Firebird DB project needs to stop being a bunch of whining asses. So its got the same name... Does the DB have the name registered as a trademark? Do you really think that people will get confused and download a browser if they're clearly looking for a DB? Do you really think that people will think "shit! the DB has the same name as a browser, thus it must be crap!". I don't...
Actually I'd say that they have reason to be happy - think of the thousands of slashdoters who have now heard of your Firebird...
Re:Dishonest statistics (Score:2, Interesting)