Archive for the 'Copyrights and wrongs' Category

Death, taxes, and the RIAA

Your tax dollars are not only saving billionaire bankers from their own bad habits, they’re also helping to bail out the recording industry. Does the RIAA really truly need our help? To quote Amy Winhouse, “no no no.”

Drop that DVD copying software and put your hands in the air

Don’t expect to be making legal copies of your DVDs any time soon. A judge has extended the order banning sales of the RealDVD copying software. Hollywood is happy, but are consumers getting a raw deal?

RealDVDs, surreal law suits

Well, that didn’t take long. One day after RealNetworks releases its DVD copying software, lawsuits are filed. Who’s right, who’s wrong, and where do movie fans fit in? Cringely has some thoughts.

The RIAA vs… well, everybody

Most sane humans would greet a law suit from the RIAA the way you’d welcome a surprise audit from the IRS. Not Ray Beckerman. He says, "Bring it on, bubba."
Beckerman is a New York-based attorney who’s defended several clients in lawsuits brought by the recording industry. He also relentlessly chronicles the absurd activities of a [...]

Memo from Demo: Six startups worth watching

This been quite the frantic week for geeks. There was Demo Fall 2008 in San Diego, now in its 18th year and still going strong. At the same time there was TechCrunch50 in San Francisco; Crunchy Michael Arrington crowed that TC50 was going to bury Demo, but faulty Internet connections on day one left many [...]

Is Scientology Attacking YouTube?

From Jon Newton at P2Pnet comes this report: A group apparently acting as a proxy for the Church (ahem) of Scientology has issued 4000 takedown notices to YouTube for any videos relating to CoS — including things like city commission meetings for the city of Clearwater, Florida (where CoS has its HQ).
To wit:
The Cult of [...]

Demo: Real Networks lets you copy DVDs without being a scurvy pirate.

The biggest story from Demo so far: Real Networks RealDVD recorder, which lets you make legal copies of your DVDs on your computer, just like you can with your music CDs. It’s a simple concept wrapped in a legal minefield.
Real does this legally by paying the same licensing fees that manufacturers of DVD players [...]

Chinese democracy meets US justice

The feds have arrested a 27-year-old blogger for posting unreleased Guns N’ Roses songs to his site, and Cringely is steamed. Read on to find out what’s making him so mad.

The RIAA’s comic crusade

(This post originally appeared on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog — but without the cool graphic.)
 
The Recording Industry Association of America probably sees itself as a band of caped crusaders fighting for truth, justice and the American way. (And in this case, "American Way" translates into propping up a dying cartel seeking to squeeze [...]

Who is that handsome devil, and what’s he doing on P2Pnet?

Jon Newton at P2Pnet took a shine to my screed on Zuckerberg and asked me for the right to republish, which I happily granted. Plus, he agreed to run a nice photo of me along with it. Now I hope none of us get sued. (He said, half joking). You can find it here, reprinted [...]