Monday, 30 September, 2002

mixed feelings about Kazaa Stealware: Kazaa et al Stealing Link Commissions. goombah99 writes "We all heard about spyware, well now Kazaa, Morpheus and LimeWire are sneaking a new type of nastiness onto your computer, software that - without you even knowing it - redirects commissions for online purchases you make from other vendors you make back to them. For example, if you buy a CD from an affiliate of Amazon.com, say some charity, the software fools Amazon into crediting the commission to Morpheus, not the charity! The story quotes a LimeWire Developer who admits 'While I agree that this is really a bit of a scam, it is a way for us to pay salaries while not adversely affecting our users.' The insidious part is the stealware program remains even if you delete the original P2P software. And you supposedly gave your permission when you clicked through the EULA."  [Privacy Digest] [disLEXia] Maybe I'm a hypocrite - I love the way that Kazaa is giving the finger to the RIAA and the content establishment - but I hate its software's presence in our library. Particularly when our student workers (who are unsupervised for several hours at night) install it onto the circulation desk computer. It is so intrusive, annoying and difficult to remove - I had to call IT to get rid of it. It's gone for now - and now my Director wants me to have the computer locked down so it will never return. 5:32:34 PM    comment []

please save internet radio! Internet Radio Can Get A 6-Month Reprieve. As soon as next Tuesday, according to Save Internet Radio, the House of Representatives may vote on HR 5469, a bill introduced yesterday by Rep. Sensenbrenner (R.WI), who said: "I have introduced H.R.5469, a bill to help webcasters (Internet radio broadcasters) remain in business while they are resolving a commercial dispute with record companies. If my bill is not enacted prior to October 20, these small-business will be forced to shut down - even though their case is still on appeal," The Internet News has a good article about the bill, and the upcoming vote. It links to coverage, both of the decision in June by the Copyright Office to increase the basic rate paid to the RIAA for licensing and royalties to $10,000/month, as well as the current appeal mentioned by Rep. Sensenbrenner. So far, there's no comment from the RIAA, on their website. The mid-June Copyright Office decision was also covered here on K5. [kuro5hin.org] For whatever reason, I'm not a huge fan of downloading music, but I just love listening to web radio on iTunes. 5:11:59 PM    comment []

Google alternatives - "LookSmart has quietly relaunched its Wisenut se .... - "LookSmart has quietly relaunched its Wisenut search engine, bolstering its technology and refreshing its index with a brand new crawl of the Web." "Last year, Wisenut was often mentioned in the media as a potential "Google killer," an underdog with novel technology that could potentially unseat the champ of Web search." "When San Francisco-based LookSmart purchased the search engine in April of this year, industry watchers scratched their heads, wondering how a search engine using crawler based technology fit with LookSmart's business model of using human editors to compile directories of the Web." (from Search Day) LS Thoughts - I was a big user of Wisenut when it first debuted but found it outdated and lacking any use after it was bought by Looksmart. Hopefully, this new refresh and a pledge to continue refreshing this engine will coerce me back into using again. My favorite aspect of Wisenut is the sneak-a-peek feature which allows the user to look at the resulting links within the interface itself. Vivisimo also has this wonderful feature. [Library Stuff - Updated daily by Steven M. Cohen] Speaking of Vivisimo, I had a very good experience with that search engine on Friday. It helped me find the docket number for a court decision which one of my students was looking for - but had hardly any information about. I tried Google first, but the results weren't at all helpful. 5:05:21 PM    comment []

one person's suggestion: mass civil disobedience against the DMCA kayiwa posted this interesting link in the LJ libraries community. Here's a quote: So the key to changing the DMCA is to get that next rewrite to happen sooner. And the only way to ensure that happens is through massive civil disobedience. Here is the plan. Everyone who hates the DMCA has to illegally copy a movie or a song, and then tell both the Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office exactly what they did. We need 10 million or so confessed and unrepentant intellectual property pirates. That's too much illegal behavior to ignore (What could 10 million pirated copies of "Debbie Does Dallas" be worth?), but too many individual criminals to be prosecuted. Then, having pirated our movie or song, we also need to turn ourselves in to the authorities, clogging every hoosegow in America, facing our potential $10,000 fine, each of us demanding the jury trial we are guaranteed under the Constitution. If we all do this, REALLY do it, the DMCA will be gone in a year. This follows the simple principal that if you or I drive 100 miles-per-hour on the highway, we get a ticket, but if EVERYONE drives 100 miles-per-hour, they change the speed limit. "They," whoever that is, can't afford to annoy so much of the population. We are, after all, the folks who elect all these officials who keep telling us what we can and can't do. But it isn't enough to just threaten to vote against your Congressman. To make the system really change we have to work it to death by all becoming criminals. Very interesting idea...although I don't see why everyone would need to copy the same thing, particularly that one. 4:48:59 PM    comment []