Eric's Blog

December 2010 and Full Year 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2011-01-27T21:42:00.001-06:00

December 2010 and Full Year 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

April 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2010-05-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

April 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

March 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2010-04-24T19:36:00.001-05:00

March 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

February 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2010-03-20T00:23:00.000-05:00

February 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

January 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2010-03-01T21:22:00.000-06:00

January 2010 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

December Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2010-01-22T20:59:00.002-06:00

December 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out including 2009 year-end statistics: 2009 Citywide Murder Map and 2009 Top 85 Street Blocks (with map).

November Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-12-28T21:51:00.000-06:00

November 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

October Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-12-09T19:00:00.000-06:00

October 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

September Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-10-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

September 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

July Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-08-26T23:25:00.000-05:00

July 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

May Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-06-19T18:27:00.001-05:00

May 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

April Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-05-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

April 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

March Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-04-19T20:07:00.001-05:00

March 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

February Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-03-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

February 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

January Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-02-21T23:30:00.000-06:00

January 2009 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

December and 2008 Full Year Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2009-01-22T20:13:00.001-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for December 2008 are out, including the full year 2008 Murder Map and 2008 Top 42 Blocks.

November Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-12-17T21:32:00.001-06:00

November 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

October Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-11-25T10:08:00.000-06:00

October 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

September Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-10-23T19:12:00.001-05:00

September 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

August Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-10-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

August 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

July Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-08-18T23:39:00.000-05:00

July 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

June Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-07-19T15:00:00.000-05:00

June 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

May Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-06-22T16:16:00.001-05:00

May 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

April Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-05-24T12:03:00.000-05:00

April 2008 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics are out.

March Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-04-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for March 2008 are out.

February Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-03-20T20:10:00.000-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for February 2008 are out.

December and Full Year 2007 Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2008-01-24T21:21:00.000-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for December 2007 are out, including the full year 2007 Murder Map and 2007 Top 40 Blocks.

Comcast of Houston dropping channels on January 31

2008-01-05T11:35:00.000-06:00

From the December 31, 2007 Houston Chronicle Classifieds we learn, among other things, that: "The following channel lineup changes will go into effect on January 31, 2008 for Comcast of Houston: ... Fine Living (channel 225) and DIY (channel 211) will be removed from the lineup. ..." I'm going to go out on a limb and assume there will be no corresponding reduction in cost to compensate for the reduction in service. They just keep making satellite more attractive.

November Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-12-29T20:29:00.000-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for November are out.

October Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-11-26T20:41:00.001-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for October are out.

Comcast Houston adds TBS HD (early) and NFL HD

2007-10-02T19:38:00.000-05:00

Comcast Houston's previously announced addition of TBS HD for October 23 has been moved up (the baseball playoffs have been saved); the channel was silently added, as planned, on channel 303. Additionally, NFL HD was also added on channel 300 for those who pay for the sports package.

Comcast Houston adding 8 new HD channels

2007-09-22T20:04:00.001-05:00

Buried in the Houston Chronicle's Classifieds (Legal Announcements) on September 16: "Effective 10/23/07, the following new HD channels will be available: National Geographic HD on channel 283, USA HD on channel 284, A&E HD on channel 285, History HD on channel 286, HGTV HD on channel 287, Food HD on channel 288, CNN HD on channel 299, TBS HD on channel 303."

August Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-09-21T21:36:00.001-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for August are out.

Reality Check: Comcast Houston Rate Increase

2007-09-07T19:14:00.000-05:00

As previously announced, Comcast is raising rates in Houston. The increase is advertised as averaging 6.1%. As best I can decode from Comcast's somewhat obtuse rate schedule, the net change in my pre-tax bill will be an increase of 10.9%!

How does this break down?

HDTV DVR Box, formerly $7.00, will be $3.99 (43.0% decrease).
HDTV DVR Service, formerly $6.95, will be $12.95 (86.3% increase).
Digital Preferred TV, formerly $49.99, will be $59.00 (18.0% increase).
Internet Service, formerly $42.95, will be $44.95 (4.7% increase).

But wait, there are also some subtle "gotchas" too!

HD Video on Demand, formerly $3.99 per movie, will be $5.99 per movie (50.0% increase).
NEW FEE: $1.99 "Change of Service" fee -- so, for example, if I wanted to add the Sports Entertainment Pack (which, by the way, is increasing 100% in price), I would have to pay $1.99 for the privilege of increasing my monthly bill by $7.95.
Taxes: higher rates mean higher taxes.

July Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-08-23T19:09:00.001-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for July are out.

June Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-07-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for June are out. The year-to-date 2007 Citywide Murder Map is also now available.

May Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-07-11T20:47:00.001-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for May are out.

April Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-06-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for April are out.

Finland court rules DVD DRM is pointless

2007-06-02T14:10:00.000-05:00

Finnish court rules DVD DRM 'ineffective,' chucks suits - "On Friday, Helsinki District Court judges threw out a case against two men charged with violating copyright law for distributing code that broke the copy-protection technology on DVDs. ... The EU directive prohibits the promotion or creation of tools to circumvent technologies designed to protect copyright as long as that technology 'achieves the protection objective.' ... But on Friday, the court dismissed the cases, determining that CSS is 'ineffective' and does not 'achieves the protection objective' as stated by law."

Why the DMCA makes no sense

2007-05-12T16:45:00.000-05:00

You Can Own an Integer Too — Get Yours Here - "First, we generate a fresh pseudorandom integer, just for you. Then we use your integer to encrypt a copyrighted haiku, thereby transforming your integer into a circumvention device capable of decrypting the haiku without your permission. We then give you all of our rights to decrypt the haiku using your integer. The DMCA does the rest."

March Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-04-30T21:18:00.001-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for March are out.

Houston uses free legal help to turn a 5 MPH over the speed limit violation into $100

2007-04-29T14:46:00.000-05:00

Young lawyers from big-name firms volunteer for municipal court

Wow. Where do I start with this? The city is getting free legal help from four top law firms because it does not have enough prosecutors to prosecute all of the trivial traffic violations that are clogging the municipal court system.

"At Houston municipal courts, about half the traffic ticket jury trials are prosecuted by young volunteers from four top Houston law firms."

Now, please bear in mind that these are Class C misdemeanors, which is Texas lingo for crimes punishable by a fine of not more than $500 with no possibility of jail time. Further realize that those accused of Class C misdemeanors are not afforded representation by a public defender, which smells unconstitutional but is ostensibly allowed because the crime is not punishable by jail time. However, the accused may hire their own representation if they choose.

"Houston's municipal courthouse has the third-busiest docket in the nation."

This comes as no surprise to anyone who has used the Pierce Street exit ramp off of Interstate 45 southbound in downtown. HPD in its infinite wisdom regularly places up to three officers at a time in this location tag teaming Houston drivers with speeding violations.

"He appeared comfortable asking for a $100 fine for a man ticketed for going 65 mph where the speed limit was 60."

Let's just review the sad chain of events that got us here:

Houston Police officer stops vehicle for going 5 MPH over the speed limit.
Houston Police officer writes citation to driver for going 5 MPH over the speed limit.
Accused driver goes to municipal court for trial.
Houston Police officer goes to municipal court for trial.
Volunteer prosecutor succesfully prosecutes driver for going 5 MPH over the speed limit and accepts a $100 fine.

First of all, why is it the policy of the city to give free on the job training to several of the top law firms in the city? Shouldn't the city be compensated for this effort? Think about what could be done with that revenue: provide public defenders to the accused or even put more police on the street to compensate for all the officers wasting time in court on traffic violations.

What does it say that the city does not even have enough attornies to prosecute all the trivial traffic violations that are clogging the municipal court system? A police department as understaffed as Houston's really should have much higher priorities than traffic enforcement.

What public good is served by all the expense in dollars and wasted time to prosecute this driver for a 5 MPH over the speed limit violation? This is a "crime" every driver in the city has committed. I propose that we just mail every driver in the city a bill and be done with this. Just think about: the revenue to the city, the increase in efficiency of the municipal courts, the incredible number of man hours of police officer time that would be made available for police officer patrol and response to calls for service.

Google responds to Viacom

2007-04-02T19:10:00.000-05:00

An End Run on Copyright Law - Google: "Though Viacom seems unable to determine what constitutes infringing content, its lawyers believe that we should have the responsibility and ability to do it for them. Fortunately, the law is clear, and on our side."

February Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-03-26T23:03:00.001-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for February are out.

Full Year 2006 Houston Crime Statistics and Maps

2007-02-10T20:29:00.000-06:00

Full year 2006 Houston crime statistics and maps are now available:

December Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-02-05T18:40:00.000-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for December are out.

November Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2007-01-12T18:51:00.000-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for November are out.

DRM backlash

2007-01-09T17:30:00.000-06:00

Music Fans: Dismantle DRM - "When it comes to legal action over downloaded music, the defendants are often individuals: The lone user downloads one too many copyrighted files and Big Media goes on the offensive. But now, the little guy is turning the tables. A fresh crop of lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals argue that it's the big companies that are ripping off the consumer."

October Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

2006-11-28T21:43:00.000-06:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics for October are out.

September Houston crime maps and statistics

2006-11-08T23:25:00.000-06:00

Houston crime maps and statistics for September are out.

Seattle tries to block fire/EMS Google Maps mashup

2006-10-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

World’s worst use of a jpeg. - "The Seattle Fire Department has been hosting a live html feed of the latest 911 calls to the Seattle Fire Department. Many people have found this information useful for various reasons, eg. avoid areas of major accidents/activity. I have been using this data as a feed for seattle911.com, which is a classic google maps mashup that displays the 911 call data on a map of the Seattle Area. ... Last night, I noticed www.seattle911.com was suddenly broken. After 30 seconds of investigation, I found out that they swithced their data feed from text to a jpeg."

July 2006 Houston crime maps and statistics now available

2006-09-11T00:34:00.000-05:00

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics - HPD finally released the July 2006 crime data so now there are new maps and statistics available.

Reliant Energy Residential Price-to-Beat Calculator Updated

2006-09-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

The Reliant Energy Residential Price-to-Beat Calculator is now updated for the new tariff rates that went into effect on August 1, 2006. If you switched to an alternative electricity provider, use this calculator to determine your savings each month.

Still more Houston crime statistics

2006-08-27T20:02:00.000-05:00

Top 22 Blocks by Number of Type I Incidents Reported (January-June 2006)

More Houston crime statistics

2006-08-26T01:08:00.000-05:00

Even more Houston crime statistics now available...
Top 8 Houston Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter Locations (January-June 2006)
Top 20 Houston Type I Crime Locations (January-June 2006)
Top 10 Houston Police Districts by Number of Type I Offenses Reported (January-June 2006)

Houston Murder Maps

2006-08-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

New Houston crime maps now available:
Citywide Murder Map - January-June 2006
and
Citywide Murder Map - 2005.

Gaim crashes on attempt to connect to MSN

2006-08-15T21:11:00.000-05:00

Gaim crashes when connecting to MSN - For those Gaim users who suddenly today find that their client crashes immediately on start-up, here is the file that you are looking for: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\.gaim\accounts.xml -- edit the value of the auto-login setting tag to set the boolean value to "0" for any MSN accounts that you have.

Houston murder and robbery statistics

2006-08-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

Two new Houston crime data features are now available:
Citywide Murder Trend - 2005 vs. 2006 (January-June)
and
Citywide Robbery Trend - 2005 vs. 2006 (January-June).

Houston Crime Statistics

2006-08-01T22:18:00.000-05:00

Two new Houston crime data features are now available:
Citywide Type I Crime Trend - July 2005 through June 2006
and
June 2006 Top 10 Beats by Number of Type I Offenses Reported

Houston crime maps for June now available

2006-07-28T20:55:00.000-05:00

Houston Crime Maps - Updated with June 2006 data.

Clear Channel radio thinks they can ban linking to their web pages...

2006-07-12T19:00:00.000-05:00

Houston's got cameras coming out its ears (updated: KTRH link removed) - "This post originally included a link and an excerpt from a KTRH-740 story. Today we received a note from KTRH News Director Bryan Erickson stating that we cannot link to or excerpt from their news stories without written permission from Clear Channel." bloghouston needs to read the EFF's IP FAQ which clearly debunks Clear Channel's stupid terms of use: "So far, the courts have found that deep links to web pages are neither copyright infringement nor trespass. No court has enforced a website's terms of use that bar deep linking."

Reliant Energy Residential Price-to-Beat Calculator

2006-07-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

I wanted to calculate exactly the Reliant Energy Residential Price-to-Beat tariff electricity cost in Houston for an arbitrary residential bill, so I wrote a simple application to do that. Enjoy.

Yahoo Maps API geocoding annoyance

2006-06-13T00:11:00.000-05:00

In fairness to Google, I need to point out that at least Google flags the address as invalid when it cannot be geocoded. Yahoo on the other hand geocodes to the city centerpoint when it cannot resolve a street address...

Google Maps API -- now with geocoding, sort of

2006-06-12T23:28:00.000-05:00

I've been testing out the Google Maps API geocoding feature that was just released today. So far, I'm not terribly impressed. Response time per geocode request seems slightly slower than the Yahoo Maps geocoder. Also, Google's geocoder does not recognize "LP" as an abbreviation for "Loop" (many addresses in Houston include this word) while Yahoo's geocoder handles "LP" without a problem. Also, there is some undocumented limit to the number of geocode requests one IP address can make in a particular time span. After several minutes geocoding HPD crime incidents from April, I started getting a "403 Forbidden" error, which when viewed in a browser tells me: "We're sorry but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now." Yahoo Maps allows 5000 geocode requests per IP address per day.

Houston Crime Maps

2006-06-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

The Houston Police Department makes available a list of all Type I crimes (burglary, robbery, assault, murder, manslaughter, etc.) committed in the city every month. The data includes addresses and I wanted to map this data to see criminal activity in my neighborhood. So, I did. I wrote several custom software applications to (1) cleanse and enhance the data from HPD, (2) geocode the addresses so they could be mapped via Google Maps and (3) generate HTML/JavaScript maps using the Google Maps API. You may view the maps that I've generated so far.

Newspapers clueless about copyright and the Internet

2006-01-31T13:58:00.000-06:00

Newspapers take aim at Google in copyright dispute - First, Google News is clearly fair use -- if it isn't then all search engines are illegal. Second, Google is driving traffic to the newspapers' own sites. What is the problem here?

A glimmer of hope for sanity

2006-01-28T00:41:00.000-06:00

History and Senator Stevens' iPod - "Yesterday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Broadcast Flag--and its younger, brattier, brother, the RIAA's proposed 'Audio Flag'--swung a little wildly from its pre-ordained course. It began with committee chairman Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye, his Democrat counterpart, declaring, as with all good anti-piracy measures, that Something Had To Be Done, and that Congress should pass the flag as soon as possible. Then two things happened..."

Google says 'no' to government snooping

2006-01-20T19:44:00.000-06:00

Privacy experts condemn subpoena of Google - "In court papers filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the Justice Department stated that Google had refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for one million random Web addresses from Google's databases as well as records of all searches entered on Google during any one-week period. The government said it needed the information to prepare its case to revive the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, which the Supreme Court blocked from taking effect two years ago."

France moves to legalize all file sharing

2005-12-23T20:39:00.000-06:00

France on track to legalize P2P downloading - "France's lower house of parliament has voted to legalize peer-to-peer file sharing of films and music on the Internet, unleashing a wave of protest from the country's film, audiovisual and music industry organizations. ... The amendments have recommended that Internet users pay a fixed-royalties fee of $8.50 per month -- in the form of a monthly subscription charge -- for unlimited downloading, thus legalizing all file-sharing deemed for personal use."

Motorola has no need for radio data

2005-12-13T23:51:00.000-06:00

Motorola Blocks Internal Web Access to RadioReference.com - "An anonymous source recently relayed to us that Motorola Inc is blocking all access from internal networks within Motorola to RadioReference.com because 'Many Motorola Public Safety customers have reported that the site provides information they consider proprietary and whose publishing potentially threatens their operations. Past actions by this site have proven to be counter to Motorola's ethics and business goals.'"

Sony CD backlash

2005-11-19T20:37:00.000-06:00

Sony's Copyright Overreach - "For years, computer geeks and cyberlibertarians have howled about aggressive user restrictions programmed into music CDs, movie DVDs, and all kinds of software. They've issued dire warnings about the media industry's zeal to protect content in the Digital Age. ... Now the tide might be turning, thanks to a classic case of overreaching that has fomented a backlash against the industry. On Oct. 31, blogger Mark Russinovich discovered a hidden program installed on his PC by a Sony (SNE ) BMG music disk. The code was designed to prevent purchasers of the CD from copying it or converting it. But the program was disturbing for another reason -- in an apparent effort to prevent garden-variety hackers from circumventing the copy restrictions, Sony designed the program to surreptitiously bury itself deep within the Windows operating system, completely hidden from view."

Hollywood wants to ban analog-to-digital conversion

2005-11-02T14:17:00.000-06:00

Hollywood after the Anal. Hole again - "Hollywood has fielded a shockingly ambitious piece of 'Analog Hole' legislation while everyone was out partying in costume. Under a new proposed Analog Hole bill, it will be illegal to make anything capable of digitizing video unless it either has all its outputs approved by the Hollywood studios, or is closed-source, proprietary and tamper-resistant. The idea is to make it impossible to create an MPEG from a video signal unless Hollywood approves it."

Sony antipiracy CDs get aggressive

2005-11-01T19:39:00.000-06:00

Sony Raids Hacker Playbook - "Sony BMG has configured some of its music CDs to install antipiracy software that uses techniques typically employed by hackers and virus writers to hide the program from users and to prevent them from ever uninstalling it. The CDs in question make use of a technique employed by software programs known in security circles as 'rootkits,' a set of tools attackers can use to maintain control over a computer system once they have broken in."

Fair use of thumbnail images

2005-10-16T18:38:00.000-05:00

Adult Website Lawsuit Threatens Google Image Search - "In its lawsuit, adult entertainment website Perfect 10 claims that Google violates its copyrights by making and delivering thumbnail images of its photos as Internet search results. In its friend-of-the-court brief, EFF shows that these copies are a well-established fair use of digital images and they help people find and use the works for informational and educational endeavors."

Finland adopts anticircumvention law

2005-10-14T11:01:00.000-05:00

This Law Sucks, So Please Ignore It - "The Finnish Parliament passed a law this week making it illegal to circumvent copy protection and DRM, bringing its rules in line with the EU Copyright Directive -- a directive which a lot of people think conflicts with the private copying rights in most EU countries. So Finland's answer was to pass the law, since the EU threatened to fine them if they didn't, then ask content owners not to sue people. The content owners' response was that they'll keep on suing, thanks very much, because they presume that any copy people make will eventually end up on file-sharing networks."

Australian High Court tells content industry to back off

2005-10-06T17:21:00.000-05:00

It's Time to End Region Encoding - "This morning's news that the Australian High Court--that nation's version of the U.S. Supreme Court--ruled in favor of a man who installed so-called mod chips in Sony PlayStation 2 game consoles should send a wake-up call to the game and movie industry that the concept of region coding is an abomination that does nothing to help consumers, and should be ended as soon as possible."

USPTO upholds Eolas patent on web browser plug-ins

2005-09-29T14:42:00.000-05:00

Eolas Patent Survives Re-Exam - "The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) seems inclined to let an early patent covering browser applets stand, despite opposition from Microsoft and a band of Internet gurus. On Tuesday, the USPTO issued a 'Notice of Intent to Issue a Reexam Certificate' to Eolas Technology, the tiny University of California spin-off that received U.S. Patent No. 5,838,906 in 1998."

'The Pizzaright Principle'

2005-09-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

The Pizzaright Principle - "Lately, lots of bogus arguments for copyright expansion have been floating around. A handy detector for bogus arguments is the Pizzaright Principle. Pizzaright — the exclusive right to sell pizza — is a new kind of intellectual property right. Pizzaright law, if adopted, would make it illegal to make or serve a pizza without a license from the pizzaright owner. Creating a pizzaright would be terrible policy, of course. We’re much better off letting the market decide who can make and sell pizza. The Pizzaright Principle says that if you make an argument for expanding copyright or creating new kinds of intellectual property rights, and if your argument serves equally well as an argument for pizzaright, then your argument is defective."

Authors sue to prevent sales of their own books

2005-09-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

Google's Card Catalog Should Be Left Open - "The Authors Guild filed a class-action copyright infringement suit against Google over its Google Print library project. ... 'Just as libraries don't need to pay publishers when they create a card catalog, neither should Google or other search engines be required to when they create an improved digital equivalent,' said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann ... It is almost certain that Google Print will boost, rather than hurt, the market for the copyrighted books. 'It's easy to see how Google Print can stimulate demand for books that otherwise would lay undiscovered in library stacks,' said von Lohmann. 'It's hard to see how it could hurt publishers or authors.'"

Sigh

2005-09-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

Australian court blames Kazaa for illegal downloads - "A federal judge on Monday ordered distributors of the file-swapping program Kazaa to alter the software, which millions have downloaded, so it can no longer be used for music piracy."

'Starbucks hates it that I can still sell my beer'

2005-08-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

Bar owner wins partial victory against Starbucks - "A Galveston bar owner whose house-brand Star Bock beer prompted a copyright battle with the worldwide Starbucks coffee chain can continue to sell the private brew in his bar but can't sell the beer regionally or nationally, a federal judge ruled today."

'An example of how lawyers take advantage of copyright laws'

2005-08-18T19:56:00.000-05:00

Furniture Causes FedEx Fits - "Although he has a good job as a software developer, he's locked into two rents after moving to Arizona, and has no extra cash for an Ikea shopping spree. But instead of scouting street corners for a ratty, unwanted couch, Avila got creative and built an apartment full of surprisingly sturdy furniture -- out of FedEx shipping boxes. Fanciful as his creations may seem, FedEx is not amused. The shipping giant's lawyers have sent Avila letters demanding he take down the site he created to document his project, invoking, among other things, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA."

One RIAA file sharing lawsuit challenged (finally)

2005-08-18T19:49:00.000-05:00

Someone Finally Fighting Back Against RIAA Lawsuits In Court - "Doing the right thing is almost always going to be more expensive and more painful than just giving in. However, Broadband Reports points to the case of one woman who is fighting back and says she's willing to go to court to fight the charges the RIAA has filed against her, because they're not right."

RIAA hints at future attacks on technology via the Grokster ruling

2005-07-12T12:51:00.000-05:00

RIAA Saber-Rattling against Antispoofing Technologies? - "What Sherman is suggesting is that if a P2P vendor includes anti-spoofing technology in their product, that action demonstrates an intent to facilitate infringement, making the vendor liable as an indirect infringer under Grokster. Perhaps Sherman is asserting that anti-spoofing technologies lack substantial noninfringing uses, and so do not qualify for the Sony Betamax safe harbor. This is wrong in general."

Lessig on the Supreme Court's Grokster ruling

2005-07-01T23:43:00.000-05:00

Ten Years of Chilled Innovation - "He's somewhat pleased that the court's decision to send the case back to the Ninth Circuit court in effect upheld an earlier Sony decision involving the Betamax VCR, which declined to hold manufacturers liable for illegal acts by their users. But Lessig contends the Supreme Court's decision will chill innovation by introducing a new level of uncertainty about whether a technology creator had an intent to allow copyright infringement."

Supreme Court erects barriers to technological innovation

2005-06-27T22:43:00.000-05:00

Where do I begin to discuss this ridiculous ruling by the Supreme Court in the Grokster case? While the ruling isn't all bad news, it is certainly an undesirable outcome for anyone outside of the entertainment industry. The sky may not be falling (yet) but I suggest that you watch your head. The Supreme Court -- in an unanimous 9-0 decision -- embraced the idea that a creator or provider of a generic technology can be held liable for the infringing activities of users of that technology. Furthermore, the Supreme Court created a new form of copyright infringement, inducement (something that Congress has been unsuccessful in enacting via legislation). There are numerous sources of information and analysis on this ruling; here is a sample: EFF, washingtonpost.com, Public Knowledge, news.com, Copyfight, Freedom to Tinker, techdirt.

When common sense and economics collide...

2005-06-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Come On Music Biz, Embrace P2P - "File-swapping networks alone are not to blame for the recording industry's woes and might plausibly be converted into legitimate channels for distributing music, one of Europe's most influential economic bodies has concluded. In a report issued Monday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development -- a Paris-based alliance of developed nations -- also suggested that it's difficult to establish a link between piracy and the music industry's shrinking revenues."

And the point of this is...?

2005-06-17T22:36:00.000-05:00

Sony BMG hinders music pirates with protected CD - "A UK firm called First4Internet, which created the technology, said the primary goal is not to prevent copies of the songs from ending up on illicit, peer-to-peer file-trading networks, which the industry blames for million of dollars in lost sales. Instead, it aims to dissuade people from burning unlimited CD copies in what is sometimes called 'schoolyard piracy.'" Let me get this straight: Sony realizes they cannot stop the serious pirates so they are just going to annoy their paying customers?

Judge rules that indexing is not infringement

2005-06-11T00:17:00.000-05:00

Rulings in Napster investor liability litigation - "Judge Patel has ruled on Bertelsmann's summary judgment motion and rejected the notion that indexing songs on Napster was direct copyright infringement, a significant victory for the defense, but let the case go forward based on theories of infringement by Napster users."

Does the Register of Copyrights understand her job?

2005-05-18T18:48:00.000-05:00

Register of Copyrights Misunderstands Copyright - "The office of the U.S. Register of Copyrights recently released its annual report for 2004. Along with some useful information about the office's function, the report includes a sort of editorial about the copyright system, entitled 'Copyright in the Public Eye.' The editorial displays a surprising misunderstanding of the purposes of copyright."

Judge says "making available" is not "distribution"

2005-05-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

Judge Patel Shoots Down Notion That the Right of Distribution Includes "Making Available" - "If Congress wanted to make clear that the distribution right was broad enough to encompass making a work available to the public without proof of actual distribution, it is perfectly capable of doing so. Plaintiffs fails [sic] to identify anything in the legislative history of the ART Act, much less the statute itself, that suggests Congress' intent to clarify section 106(3) in such a manner." This calls into question the basis for all of the RIAA's file sharing lawsuits.

Federal appeals court smacks down FCC in 3-0 ruling

2005-05-07T01:04:00.000-05:00

Court yanks down FCC's broadcast flag - "In a stunning victory for hardware makers and television buffs, a federal appeals court has tossed out government rules that would have outlawed many digital TV receivers and tuner cards starting July 1. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to prohibit the manufacture of computer and video hardware that doesn't have copy protection technology known as the 'broadcast flag.' The regulations, which the FCC created in November 2003, had been intended to limit unauthorized Internet redistribution of over-the-air TV broadcasts."

French court says DVD DRM is illegal

2005-04-25T15:59:00.000-05:00

Court Prohibits DVD Copy Protection - "UFC-Que Choisir (a French consumer protection organization) has been granted a prohibition on DVD copy protection devices by the Paris Court of Appeal, these devices having been judged to be incompatible with private copying rights."

DRM limits competition and does nothing for infringement

2005-04-18T12:16:00.000-05:00

Next-Gen DVD Encryption: Better, but Won't Stop Filesharing - Freedom to Tinker has an overview of the encryption scheme for the next generation DVDs. Conclusion: "Once again, DRM will limit competition without reducing infringement. Companies are welcome to try tactics like these. But why should our public policy support them?"

Code of conduct for the RIAA

2005-04-13T13:02:00.000-05:00

A Code Of Conduct For The Recording Industry - Techdirt has a great response to the RIAA's ridiculous attempt to enforce a "code of conduct" on ISPs: "1) acknowledge that file sharing is inevitable (and forget about us policing our networks for you); 2) use that to your advantage, as industries have similarly done for centuries; 3) if you need help with #2, do this: devise a smarter business model that embraces file sharing, perhaps even exploits it; 4) if you need help with #3, do this: consider sharing as free advertising and build services around that; 5) if you need help with #4, try this: your new business model all laid out for you; and 6) by all means, stop giving sibling spinoff acts a contract and/or a microphone."

Linking is illegal in Germany

2005-04-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

Court decision in music industry vs. heise online - "The Munich court ruled that, by providing a link to the company's homepage, heise online had intentionally provided assistance in the fulfillment of unlawful acts and is thus liable as an aider and abettor in accordance with Section 830 of the German Civil Code just as the vendor in itself is. While no link was provided to download the software, it could be downloaded two clicks later, which the court found to be inadmissible. For the court, it sufficed that readers could directly access the vendor's web site from the link in the report. The court also did not find it relevant that readers were also able to find the product via a search engine."

Compromise ruling seems likely in Grokster case

2005-04-04T11:19:00.000-05:00

Grokster: The Case is Submitted - A first-person account and analysis of the Grokster hearing: "...I think it is plausible that the Court will craft a narrow active inducement test resembling the IEEE proposal. This is likely for several reasons. Such a test would be neutral with respect to technology, thus creating a precedent applicable to much more than peer-to-peer file sharing. It would be responsive to the worries of technologists by clearly defining how innovators would need to act to avoid liability, yet it would also allow the courts to hold Grokster accountable because of its past encouragement of infringement."

Business models and piracy: where to draw the line?

2005-04-01T18:25:00.000-06:00

OK, so 90 percent of the media on Grokster is pirated -- what's your point, redux - On the idea that Grokster is liable for copyright infringement: "I'm not sure the business model test really works. I have a stack of DSL and cable modem solicitations that I have received via snail mail, all of which tout in huge letters 'download music lightening fast!' or something along those lines. Broadband providers are using the ability to download music as their lead selling point. Does that mean TimeWarner and SBC should also be indicted because their business model is built around piracy? You gotta slice that onion mighty thin...."

LA Times understands Grokster case

2005-03-31T13:32:00.000-06:00

California's Civil War - "What the entertainment industry wants is veto power over technology with the potential to be used illegally. That's not in society's best interest. If those creating the peer-to-peer networks could be held liable for illegal activity, where do we draw the line? Why not go after the manufacturers of operating systems, hard drives and CD burners that can also play a role in illegal activity?"

'Why MGM vs. Grokster is so important'

2005-03-30T14:13:00.000-06:00

Music rules - "MGM vs. Grokster deals with whether the creators of a technology are responsible for how it used. It's not an understatement to say that the case could influence the future of the Internet. ... At every step of the way, intellectual-property-right holders have resisted technological innovations that give ordinary people more scope to enjoy and consume music, television, movies or any other content. That's why MGM vs. Grokster is so important. The deeper we get into the digital age, the more we will be defined not by our relationships with physical objects but with the data that we have accumulated in our journeys through life. If we lose the right to own that data and do what we want with it, if the power of the computer, and the Net, is taken from us, we're at risk of losing a lot more than a few files -- we stand at risk of losing the evidence that tells us who we are." Excellent article on the Grokster case.