The FBI, U.S. Customs and the Department of Homeland Security (talk about overkill) have raided a BitTorrent network called EliteTorrents, and seized servers and computers, and arrested a group of “copyright thieves”. Now, if somebody goes to the EliteTorrent site, they will find a warning from the FBI. The FBI Read more…
Poor movie producers. Poor George Lucas. BitTorrent threatens the very existence of filmmakers when evil internet pirates download their movie. Yeah, right. Star Wars Episode III has come out (I loved it by the way), and it has made an astounding $158.4M in 4 days! This is now the weekend Read more…
This is a lengthy and amazingly well-informed debate about software patents in Europe from Lessig’s blog. Seeing who the participants are, this should come as no surprise. It is nice to see some of the best proponents of software patents (I refuse to use the euphemism in vogue) argue their Read more…
So, the new report from the BSA is out with its dire warnings about how piracy is threatening the very fabric of civilisation, supports terrorism, creates unemployment and recession, and steals one sock from your sock drawer. This would be amusing if it wasn’t for the fact that the software Read more…
Two days ago I commented on the worrying developments regarding Google’s Web Accelerator. This could have serious consequences, see for example this spoof site about Google’s Content Blocker (thanks for Anne-Kathrin for the link). I recommend reading their privacy policy, where it states that “Google is committed to collecting every Read more…
The circle is now complete. For those of us in Generation Jedi, the next few days will see the end of a story that has provided the cultural background to some of the most important events in our lives. We are a generation of thirty-somethings whose first great experience was Read more…
and I feel fine. I am not truly sure what to make of this, but it sounds Important. It seems like Google has created an application called Google Web Accelerator. This is a small application that is supposed to allow people to load pages faster. How does it do it? Read more…
Just when you thought that the Microsoft Corporation did not have a sense of humour, you read this, and it brings a smile to your face. Check out the Thought Thieves competition, where you can win £2,000 worth of film and video equipment vouchers (Vouchers? What’s up with Bill Gates? Read more…
This is a very worrying development for Creative Commons. CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (which brings together 207 authors’ societies from 109 countries); has published an article heavily criticising Creative Commons. They are quoting Emma Pike’s article against CC, and pretty much using the same Read more…
(thanks to Lilian Edwards for the link). The BBC is now opening its RSS content for syndication. Web designers can now syndicate BBC content on their own websites with much less restrictions than before. If you wanted to add one of the many BBC feeds to your blog or website, Read more…