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Supreme Court Asking the Right Questions

MGM vs. Grokster hit the Supreme Court Tuesday, and the Justices’ we’re asking the right questions:

MGM and nearly a dozen other entertainment companies argued that peer-to-peer software manufacturers Grokster and StreamCast had built their businesses by distributing “infringing machines.” But counsel for the entertainment industry, Donald B. Verrilli Jr. of the law firm Jenner & Block, scarcely finished his opening statements before the Justices interrupted with pointed questions about how his arguments would impact technological innovation. Justice Antonin Scalia asked how the industry would protect nascent technologies from “out-of-the-box lawsuits,” and Justice Stephen Breyer pushed him to explain why MGM’s argument wouldn’t also apply to the iPod, Xerox machines, and even Gutenberg’s printing press.

(I’m finding myself agreeing with Justice Scalia?? First time for everything).

Lots of folk’s turned out to wait in line to get tickets in to the Supreme Court Monday night. Luis Villa’s blog (a Gnome Developer) has some great pictures up, including demonstrators and waiting in line.

Week in Review: Broadcast Flag in Court

A topic near and dear to my heart, which I’ve covered before, is the FCC & the Broadcast Flag.

The American Library Assoc. was in court this week, challenging the FCC on the legality of the Broadcast Flag. The 3 judge panel, while questioning if the ALA even has the right to bring a legal challenge, hammered the FCC on the FCC’s ability to mandate this without legislation from Congress. We’ll know the court’s ruling in a few months.

You can also read a blog with detailed coverage as the blogger attends in court.

MythTV & Filesharing

The New York Times has a decent article up about MythTV, the Broadcast Flag, and Filesharing up. While it’s fairly high level, and some parts are wrong (Bittorrent letting you download a 1 hour show in minutes for example: I’ve downloaded plenty of TV shows and it’s not that fast, trust me) it’s not a bad article.

Even mentions the EFF and how they’re going to fight the Broadcast Flag, which may or may not put a stop to some of the filesharing. I agree with parts – I own Alias, 24, Sports Night, and every season of the Simpsons available on DVD. Purchased them and everything. I don’t mind buying TV I love (though it drives my wife crazy why I buy TV shows on DVD for shows I’ve already seen). But the government regulating even more the TV that comes over the air on what I can record, and how long it stays recorded for I start to have issues. It’s one thing if we’re talking about pay TV, say the Sopranos. But when I miss a week or two of 24, what is the issue if I download it?

If I miss an episode of 24, and I can’t download it, there is a good chance I am done watching for the season. Especially with serial shows like Lost, 24, Alias, and Desperate Housewives. Is it worth it to Big Media to not allow me to download and lose me as a customer for the entire season? I don’t think they always see the forest for the trees.

I’ll be buying a pcHDTV card for my MythTV box prior to July 1st when the Broadcast Flag goes in to effect. Maybe even two since hard drives are cheap now.

Endangered Gizmos

The EFF has launched a new campaign: Endangered Gizmos. As Big Media threatens innovation, reverse engineering, and freedom of invention, the EFF has put up a list of Extinct technology (/wave Replay, DVD-X-Copy), Endangered (HDTV Tuners, Open WiFi hotspots, MP3 players), and products that have been Saved in the court system (from the Betamax which begat VHS which begat DVD to printer cartridges).

Each product carries a link to more information, whether it’s the HDTV Broadcast Flag, information on the court cases that have saved innovation, or the history of the product itself.

This is why the EFF matters. It’s not just the court cases they wage every day, it’s the education they provide, like this, that everyone can understand, not just technophiles.

Go Go EFF!

Why DRM is Evil, and what it means to your DVD Collection

Cory Doctorow discusses why you can’t legally back up your DVDs and who is to blame. Suffice to say, DRM, Digital Rights Management, is evil.

Cory Doctorow, European OutReach Coordinator for the EFF, is a science fiction author, DRM expert, and blogger.

One of my favorite authors on the evils of DRM, he once even gave a speech, at Microsoft, on the evils of DRM. From the speech, introducing himself to the crowd, he sums up what he does:

I work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyright stuff (mostly), and I live in London. I’m not a lawyer — I’m a kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though occasionally they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit and send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble.

Go Go EFF!

The EFF is suing the FCC over the Broadcast Flag.

The brief argues that the FCC has no authority to regulate digital TV sets and other digital devices unless specifically instructed to do so by Congress. While the FCC does have jurisdiction over TV transmissions, transmissions are not at issue here. The broadcast flag limits the way digital material can be used after the broadcast has already been received. “Bowing to a group of copyright holders led by the MPAA, the FCC promulgated a rule drafted by those corporate interests that will dictate design aspects of a vast array of consumer electronics – televisions, DVD recorders, TiVos, digital VCRs, iPods, and cell phones – for years to come,” the brief reads.

ALA legislative counsel Miriam M. Nisbet said, “Two years ago Congress passed a law allowing for use of copyrighted works for distance education. Yet now the FCC through the broadcast flag would prevent schools from using an entire category of those works — high definition television programs — in distance education.”

Filing the brief along with EFF, PK, and the ALA were the Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Library Association, Special Libraries Association, Consumer Federation of America, and Consumers Union.

This is a great thing to see. and I’ll continue to publish other links that cover it, such as Boing Boing. Building a HDTV HTPC is a priority for me, along with getting the basement done. With pcHDTV’s out of stock on Linux HDTV cards, it will be interesting to see if I can get this done in time. I firmly believe the Broadcast Flag is an evil, evil thing. I want to record the shows I want to, when I want, without the government interfering.

Actions like this make me proud to be a Pioneer level member of the EFF.

EFF Interviews

Greplaw at Harvard has an interview up with Brad Templeton, Chairman of the EFF.

Good overview of what the EFF is, what they do, and what Brad personally believes in as well as where he came from.

Here’s a great quote:

# If you choose the three – and only three – most important issues for the EFF – what would they be?

Two of the EFF’s core issues — freedom of speech and surveillance — remain even more important today than they ever were. But the growing issue right now is certainly intellectual property and copyright — in particular when such areas of law start affecting freedom of speech, freedom to do research and to build software, freedom to publish and reverse engineer, all of which are happening under the DMCA.

Greplaw also has a rather tongue in cheek interview with Prof. Lawrence Lessig.

Apparently, Prof. Lessig’s personal blog was hosted by Gov. Howard Dean last week. What a great read! Dean mentions his thoughts on the DMCA, copyright and other issues. Dean’s campaign also has a blog up about the campaign.

Good stuff.

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EFF Hat Update

Hat came. It’s perfect.

I need to get a firepit. Good time at Kento’s tonight. And god knows I have plenty of wood to get rid of. ;)