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Tuesday, June 28, 2005 |
Tomalak's Realm:
Useit.Com: Usability: Empiricism or Ideology? Usability's job is to research user behavior and find out what works. Usability should also defend users' rights and fight for simplicity. Both aspects have their place, and it's important to recognize the difference.
7:04:47 PM 
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Venkat: NO MORE KARAOKE?
Prof. Lessig notes that the Register (of copyrights) is seeking to abolish the compulsory right granted under Section 115 of the Copyright Act—the right to "cover" songs. See more from Ernest Miller here; Copyfighter here.
As long as the right to Karaoke is not infringed we'll be OK. I don't think it affects it, but I'm not sure. Going after innocent file sharers is one thing, but once the industry starts targeting Karaoke there will be blowback.
[Begging To Differ]
9:33:06 AM
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Fred von Lohmann on How to Read Grokster (Again) (Donna Wentworth).
This was Fred von Lohmann's thinking before the Grokster ruling. Here's Fred's thinking now:
Let's measure today's opinion against the chief issues mentioned in the "Grokster Reader's Guide" last week.
- It's not About P2P: It's still not about P2P. Whether or not today's ruling unleashes new litigation against innovators, it will have no effect on the tens of millions of Americans who continue to use P2P file-sharing software, nor will it deter off-shore programmers living beyond the reach of US copyright laws. Hilary Rosen is right: giving music fans a compelling legitimate alternative, whether through collective licensing or simply competing with free, is the only solution.
- No Matter What, We've Won: There is reason to celebrate in today's ruling. It could have been much worse. As many have noted, the Court rejected many of the more extreme positions that the entertainment industry argued for in the courts below. As discussed below, the Court left intact several important legal bulwarks for innovators. While the Court didn't shore them up, it also didn't tear them down.
- Main Event #1: Sony Betamax. The Supreme Court left the Betamax defense intact by essentially refusing to say anything about it, although the sniping between the two concurrences suggests that a future battle may be coming. Neither side can declare total victory on this score and future cases are probably inevitable (especially where well-advised companies use today's decision as a roadmap for avoiding any hint of inducement).
- Main Event #2: Vicarious Liability. The Court chose to punt on this issue, choosing to base its decision on inducement instead of addressing the entertainment industry's "you could have designed it differently" theory of vicarious liability. The Court's exposition of inducement, however, suggests that it would be hostile to any theory that imposed a free-floating obligation to redesign (without any evidence of inducement) on technologists. That's good news.
- Main Event #3: Inducement. The Court conjured a new form of indirect copyright liability, importing inducement from patent law. Lawyers will be reading the tea leaves here for years to come, trying to divine the precise boundaries of this new form of copyright liability (and, contrary to what the patent lawyers will tell you, patent precedents don't resolve all the questions). The opinion suggests that copyright plaintiffs must show some overt act of inducement; the design and distribution (along with the usual incidents of distribution) of a product, by itself, are not enough. But the Court's opinion may lead lower courts to conclude that once you find an overt act, however small, virtually everything else becomes relevant to divine your "intent." That would be a bonanza for entertainment lawyers eager to foist huge legal costs on defendants. Reminiscent, in some ways, of the securities class actions that have bedeviled high tech companies for years.
More about the details of the Court's inducement theory soon.
[Copyfight]
9:27:37 AM
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And what about Iran?.
Now that religious conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has captured the presidency of Iran, questions turn immediately to Iran's nuclear ambitions and how the election result will affect U.S.-Iran relations. At first glance, the future doesn't look bright. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told "Fox News Sunday" that Ahmadinejad was the beneficiary of a "mock election" played out by Iran's ruling clerics. Rumsfeld said of the winner: "He is no friend of democracy. He is no friend of freedom."
[Salon.com]
9:13:56 AM
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Kaboom !.
That was the sound heard throughout wall street as entertainment stocks blast off into the stratosphere upon the mid day news that MGM got the best of the Grokster decision. Wall Street traders and investors recognizing that the decision would lead to certain demise for illegal P2P filesharing sites and result in an explosion of music sales over the coming months and years, pushed stocks such as Warner Media Group to all time highs on record volume.
Except that didnt happen.
In the business world, one way to evaluate the financial importance of news is by watching to see how Wall Street responds to it. If there is the slightest glimmer of hope in a news announcement, at least one person is going to think it will have some level of impact and make a bet on the stock and/or industry impacted.
There wasnt a Kaboom, there wasnt a whisper in the market. Not one buyer or seller of stocks gave a damn. Warner Music Group. probably the only public company that is a pure play proxy for the music business traded almost exactly the same number of shares as it does every day. The stock was down a nickel.
In other words, no one cared. No one on Wall Street thought that this decision would impact the music business at all.
Of course thats because it wont.
. . . [Blog Maverick]
9:11:15 AM
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Don't Be a Blogger Manqué, Norman Mailer. "Arianna's team will get you a day pass to the White House press room. Go to some briefings, use your eyes and ears, scribble in your notebook, and--linking to the transcripts--tell readers of her blog what happens to you, Mailer, writer with puzzle." [PressThink]
9:06:07 AM
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The Not-So-Long Gray Line. The Army must address the discontent in the ranks of lieutenants and captains before there is a mass exodus of officers. By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV. [NYT > Opinion]
9:05:57 AM
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- Yesterday and Today. Iconic singer-songwriter Richard Thompson, who according to Rolling Stone, is one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time visits for a live performance.
- Led Zeppelin Turned Classical. If youd like to hear a Led Zeppelin tune turned into a classical work for guitar quartet, stay tuned. Ian Krouses Labyrinth is based on Led Zeppelins Friends. It rocks!
[WNYC New York Public Radio]
9:01:56 AM
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- A bitter defeat for the press. The Supreme Court's refusal to hear the Cooper-Miller case will do more than hurt two reporters -- it will erode the press's ability to cover sensitive stories.
- Supreme Court's unsound decision. Monday's ruling against Grokster will do nothing to stop peer-to-peer file sharing -- but it may well stifle technology innovation.
[Salon.com]
9:01:49 AM
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