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John Lemke

Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse | Techdirt - 0 views

  • Because of section 1201 of the DMCA, the "anti-circumvention" provision, companies have been abusing copyright law to block all sorts of actions that are totally unrelated to copyright. That's because 1201 makes it illegal to circumvent basically any "technological protection measures." The intent of the copyright maximalists was to use this section to stop people from breaking DRM. However, other companies soon distorted the language to argue that it could be used to block certain actions totally unrelated to copyright law -- such as unlocking garage doors, ink jet cartridges, gaming accessories... and phones
  • Separately, every three years, the Librarian of Congress gets to announce "exemptions" to section 1201 where it feels that things are being locked up that shouldn't be. Back in 2006, one of these exemptions involved mobile phone unlocking.
  • Every three years this exemption was modified a bit, but in 2012, for unexplained reasons, the Librarian of Congress dropped that exemption entirely, meaning that starting in late January of 2013, it was possible to interpret the DMCA to mean that phone unlocking was illegal. In response to this there was a major White House petition -- which got over 100,000 signatures, leading the White House to announce (just weeks later) that it thought unlocking should be legal -- though, oddly, it seemed to place the issue with the FCC to fix, rather than recognizing the problem was with current copyright law.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • While this gives Goodlatte and other maximalists some sort of plausible deniability that this bill is making no statement one way or the other on bulk unlocking, it certainly very strongly implies that Congress believes bulk unlocking is, in fact, still illegal. And that's massively problematic on any number of levels, in part suggesting that the unlocker's motives in unlocking has an impact on the determination under Section 1201 as to whether or not it's legal. And that's an entirely subjective distinction when a bill seems to assume motives, which makes an already problematic Section 1201 much more problematic. Without that clause, this seemed like a bill that was making it clear that you can't use the DMCA to interfere with an issue that is clearly unrelated to copyright, such as phone unlocking. But with this clause, it suggests that perhaps the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause can be used for entirely non-copyright issues if someone doesn't like the "motive" behind the unlocker.
  • Unfortunately, the bill was deemed so uncontroversial that it's been listed on the suspension calendar of the House, which is where non-controversial bills are put to ensure quick passage. That means that, not only did Goodlatte slip in a significant change to this bill that impacts the entire meaning and intent of the bill long after it went through the committee process (and without informing anyone about it), but he also got it put on the list of non-controversial bills to try to have it slip through without anyone even noticing.
John Lemke

Iron Maiden makes millions of dollars by playing live for pirates | The Verge - 0 views

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    The only thing the article got wrong is that they are not "pirates"... they are fans.
John Lemke

Guy Sues Over 'Da Da Da Da Da Da.... CHARGE!' Jingle He Might Not Have Written | Techdirt - 0 views

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    A few different folks sent over variations on this story about how a guy named Bobby Kent claims to have come up with the now ubiquitous "da da da da da da... CHARGE!" music in 1978. If you've been to a major sporting event in the US in the past few decades, you've almost certainly heard it
John Lemke

Spacecraft Earth to perform asteroid 'flyby' this fall - 0 views

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    An asteroid will come very close to earth, like within the lunar orbit close... about 200,000 miles from us.
John Lemke

BGU Students Develop Thought-Controlled, Hands-Free Computer For The Disabled - 0 views

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    BGU software engineering students have developed innovative technology that could enable people to operate a computer without using a keyboard or mouse - only their brainwaves. While there have been previous attempts to develop devices to read brainwaves and operate specific programs, they were cumbersome and not feasible outside of a laboratory setting. The BGU technology features a helmet equipped with 14 EEG connect points that sense brain activity. According to Dr. Rami Puzis, "The technology is designed to assist those who are physically disabled who might otherwise be unable to manipulate a computer mouse or keyboard." The student team, Ori Ossmy, Ofir Tam and Ariel Rozen, developed the prototype application for their bachelor's degree project under supervision at BGU by Prof. Mark Last, Dr. Rami Puzis, Prof. Yuval Elovich and Dr. Lior Rokah. As part of a recent demonstration, a student composed and sent a hands-free e-mail using only thought combined with the adaptive hardware. The students and BGU team plan to continue research working with the disabled.
John Lemke

Ыtudents develop thought-controlled, hands-free computer for the disabled - 0 views

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    The student team, Ori Ossmy, Ofir Tam and Ariel Rozen, developed the prototype application for their bachelor's degree project under the supervision BGU Prof. Mark Last, Dr. Rami Puzis, Prof. Yuval Lovitz and Dr. Lior Rokah. As part of a recent demonstration, a student composed and sent a hands-free e-mail using only thought combined with the adaptive hardware. The students and BGU team plan to continue research working with the disabled.
John Lemke

Another Loss For Righthaven: Court Explains That Its Demand For Domain Names Is Silly | Techdirt - 0 views

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    Righthaven hasn't been having too much luck lately. We've already covered how its having a bad day for a few different reasons, and here's another one. As you may know, in nearly every lawsuit Righthaven files, it also demands that the defendant hand over his or her website, in addition to the $75,000 to $150,000 it usually asks for. This has left a bunch of folks scratching their heads, as there's simply no precedent for saying that if you infringe on someone's copyright, they get your domain. And, now, we have a court making that point clear. Eric Goldman points us to a ruling in Las Vegas by judge Roger Hunt (the same judge who unsealed the filing that may kill off most of Righthaven's lawsuits...), in which he points out that asking for the domain name has no basis in law:
John Lemke

White House releases trusted Internet ID plan - security, government, Google, Gary Locke, Center for Democracy and Technology, Access control and authentication - Computerworld - 0 views

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    The U.S. government will coordinate private-sector efforts to create trusted identification systems for the Internet, with the goal of giving consumers and businesses multiple options for authenticating identity online, according to a plan released by President Barack Obama's administration. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will work with private companies to drive development and adoption of trusted ID technologies, White House officials said. The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), released by the Department of Commerce on Friday, aims to protect the privacy and security of Internet users by encouraging a broad online authentication market in the U.S. "The fact is that the old password and username combination we often use to verify people is no longer good enough," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said at an NSTIC release event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It leaves too many consumers, government agencies and businesses vulnerable to ID and data theft."
John Lemke

3 Questions: Jeffrey Hoffman on the Space Shuttle at 30 - 0 views

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    Three Questions to a 5 time shuttle veteran who now teaches at MIT
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