Git is one of those tools with a thousand uses. Now, it’ s 1001. Stefan Wehrmeyer has started to put texts of German laws into Git to make it easier to track changes.
Related articles:
BundesGit: Tracking Law Changes With Git
10. August, 2012
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Posted by digulla
Musicians Need Strong Copyright Laws to be as Successful as They Already Are
25. July, 2012When I read “Britain’s share of the global music market is higher than ever” (source) and “We can only realise this potential if we have a strong domestic copyright”, I can’t help but wonder: Isn’t the industry so successful because they have the today’s laws?
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Posted by digulla
The Copyright Failure
27. March, 2012And another of my long list of copyright posts. Can’t let it rest for some reason.
Copyright failed. As Larry Lessig said in his TED talk: Every view in the digital age is a copy. Watch a DVD and the computer/box/whatever is going to make 5 to 100 (temporary) digital copies of the movie before it is displayed on the screen: In the laser pickup, in the buffer chips that connect the laser to the system, in memory to decode the video stream, in various post processing filters, in the buffer chips that transfer the signal to the TV set, and several copies in the TV set to further improve the picture.
Let me drive this home: In this day and age, you have to break the law to watch movies and listen to music because the law says: You must not make any copies. Not even one.
The message: Standard usage of movies and music (watching, listening) is illegal under today’s copyright law. Which means we’re all serial offenders.
Or the other way around: We’re breaking the law so often, that we have concluded it’s optional. An important lesson that we inherit to our kids.
Maybe we can attack this the other way around: Why is the content industry failing? Because they sell a product in a way nobody wants.
I love to watch movies, read books and listen to music. I just don’t want to too much pay for something that I can get in better quality, faster and for free. Why do I have to wait six months to see US TV series? Why do I have to watch commercials? Why do I have to buy the album when I want a single track? Why do I have to buy the music at all when I just want to listen to it? Why do I have to watch TV at certain times?
Because no one is selling me the service I want. It’s not impossible. The “pirates” have made all this possible and for free, too. It’s just that the content industry has strangled itself too many contracts.
How is their mess our fault?
You want our money? Change.
Not convinced? Watch this: Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod
Leave a Comment » | Philosophy | Tagged: Copyright, Information Age, Intellectual property, Law, Lawrence Lessig, TED, Television, TV | Permalink
Posted by digulla
EFF Tries To Sanitize Patent Law
23. February, 2012The EFF has started a new campaign to clean the patent system.
I’ve blogged about the many problems of the parent system when it comes to software. If you care as well, at least spread the word. If you want to do more, check out the EFF site or maybe help with the Patent Busting Project.
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Posted by digulla
SCO vs Linux: Game Over
31. August, 2011Finally: 10th Circuit Affirms in All Respects – Novell, Not SCO, Owns the Copyrights, etc., by pj
Of course, this is SCO … I might be a little surprised if they didn’t try to appeal to the US Supreme Court 😉
SCO or how to waste millions of dollars for naught.
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Posted by digulla
Martin Fowler Chimes Into Chorus Against Software Patents
9. August, 2011In his post “Martin Fowler on Software Patents“, Martin Fowler joins the growing group of people who argue against software patents in their current form.
Related:
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Software Patents – More Harm Than Help
28. June, 2011James Bessen did another study which shows again that software patents harm more than they help. Abstract:
This report examines changes in the patenting behavior of the software industry since the 1990s. It finds that most software firms still do not patent, most software patents are obtained by a few large firms in the software industry or in other industries, and the risk of litigation from software patents continues to increase dramatically. Given these findings, it is hard to conclude that software patents have provided a net social benefit in the software industry.
Links:
- Research on Innovation
- Patent Failure (book on flaws in software patents). The first chapter (PDF) contains a lot of insight what might be wrong with software patents and why patents in other industries do work.
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Posted by digulla
Why Software Patents Are Illegal
28. April, 2011Patents on machines are legal, patents on speech are not. You can’t patent Obama’s latest public appearance or a mathematical proof. Those things are covered by copyright laws (and followers of this blog know that those are flawed as well).
So why are software patents illegal? They are recipes which tell the computer what to do. You can’t patent recipes. Therefore, it should be impossible to file a patent on software.
The long version is here: 1 + 1 (pat. pending) — Mathematics, Software and Free Speech (Groklaw). The article explains why lawyers often get confused by computer terms, how this is bad and how to stop them.
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Posted by digulla
Why Sony Should Lose
12. March, 2011Sony sued Hotz for being smarter than them. Georg didn’t steal, he didn’t break anything physical. No one got hurt in the process. No equipment was mishandled. He just satisfied his curiosity. Bad boy. Down.
Somehow, the world has been turned into a legal nightmare by us. So Georg is smarter than the Sony PS3 engineering team. Or the guy who did the encryption part. Or probably his manager – “I don’t care if it’s ready, we ship on Monday!”
LG sues Sony over some obscure abuse of ideas. “Patents” are they called, I hear. An essential weapon in the global economic wars of the 21st century. Laws are passed which turn curios pupils into bad-ass criminals. For the common good.
It’s traditional. No, really. In the 16th century, people got burned on stakes for examining the human body – things like blood system, bacteria, health, were all a big mystery then (at least in Europe). Instead of supporting the few smart people trying to help, they got killed. For violating the Laws of God. I’m sure that quite a few of the victims were aware that most of those Laws were written down and enacted by non-gods.
Today, companies pour billions into new, great products and are offended when a smart guy finds a flaw that topples their dreams of World Domination™. Losing billions due to someones own stupidity hurts a lot. Better share the hurt. Even better hurt someone else. Is that what we really want?
Inaction is a decision, too, and carries the same responsibility.
Related Articles
- PS3 no longer hackable? (newscientist.com)
- Sony vs LG: PS3 import ban lifted (guardian.co.uk)
- The Sony PS3 Class File An Amended Complaint (groklaw.new)
Leave a Comment » | Justice | Tagged: George Hotz, Law, LG, PlayStation 3, Sony | Permalink
Posted by digulla
Dark Views 
EU Copyright Reform Art 11&13
22. March, 2019The reform in the current form was designed to increase profits of the big players in the game: the few big music labels, movie companies and news agencies.
Since they want those additional billions, I think it’s moot to argue against the reform. If we stop them this time, they’ll be back next week.
Instead, I suggest to change the reform to force them to provide online services to license their content.
A few clicks and you’re allowed to use a piece of music or video or text for your own work. Yes, it will cost money but videos don’t grow on trees, either.
That way, the poor mega companies on this planet look good in front of their shareholders and the people creating art don’t have to waste money on fending off lawsuits.
Oh, and maybe add a clause in the law that the companies have to pass a real amount of money on to the artist. Right now, they are actively being starved by the companies (except for a few topstars who could afford the lawyers to get their share).
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