The widening gyre...

Technology - story - canada.com network

With the RIAA suing everyone, it is important to remember that those with WiFi could have their connections easily accessed by others - particularly if left open. I would think that this could make it reasonably difficult for a prosecution in this area to "stick", though in many cases MAC address (i.e. the Computer's Netword Card ID) logs could be revealing.

Read on: Technology - story - canada.com network

Fare war erupts on internet - National - www.theage.com.au

Fun times ahead! Mum, Dad, my sister and her boyfriend got tickets from the Gold Coast to Melbourne in June and paid about $300. I know these are just introductory fares, but hopefully we will be able to afford to make many more trips up north.

... That is if we are ever lucky enough to get on the web site! I logged on before 7am this morning and it was overloaded...

Read on: Fare war erupts on internet - National - www.theage.com.au

More on the Kazaa lawsuit

There is an interesting article in Australian IT about the Kazaa copyright lawsuit in Australia. It seems that they are going to try and run this based on the prohbition on the Copyright Act offence "communicating" copyright material. On my present read of that section the "communicating" head doesn't seem to go significantly beyond the principles in the US P2P cases.

One would think that the judge would find that while the Kazaa users may be "communicating" in section 85(1)(c) terms (see here, also definition of "communicate" - make available online or electronically transmit (whether over a path, or a combination of paths, provided by a material substance or otherwise) a work or other subject-matter. ) Kazaa is merely providing the service upon which this occurs (among various other uses).

The appropriate argument to make would seem to be (and I gather this is similar to that made in the US cases) that Kazaa is "authorising" the communication, except they can't really argue that because of section 38(b) which would seem to apply to Kazaa and provides:

A person (including a carrier or carriage service provider) who provides facilities for making, or facilitating the making of, a communication is not taken to have authorised any infringement of copyright in a work merely because another person uses the facilities so provided to do something the right to do which is included in the copyright.

Given that provision even the first Napster decision would have been unlikely to have the same result in Australia as it did in the US.

I await judgement in this case with great interest, as if the judge finds against Kazaa it would seem to be a significant change in direction for Australian copyright law.

An extract from the Australian:

THE music industry plans to pursue file-swapping network KaZaA with unique Australian copyright legislation that places responsibility on organisations that "communicate" pirated material on the internet.

The major recording companies have signalled their intention to pursue KaZaA owner Sharman Networks with a section of the Copyright Act that prohibits communicating - defined as to "make available online or electronically transmit" - copyright material.

Read on: Australian IT - Local copyright law may trap KaZaA (Simon Hayes, FEBRUARY 24, 2004)

Vital questions we never thought to ask - OpinionRossGittins - www.smh.com.au

Ross Gittins has an interesting article today in the Sydney Morning Herald, an extract below:

Unfortunately, there's no worse place for serious issues to be debated than in election campaigns. Matters are hugely oversimplified, laughably exaggerated claims are made, people and policies are ruthlessly demonised.

He discusses the differences between the coalition and Labor in relation to the sale of economic management skills and priorities. It focuses on Latham's "more than economics" stance and Howard's "dangerous complacency" statement about our current prosperity. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Read on: Vital questions we never thought to ask - OpinionRossGittins - www.smh.com.au

Vital questions we never thought to ask - OpinionRossGittins - www.smh.com.au

Ross Gittins has an interesting article today in the Sydney Morning Herald, an extract below:

Unfortunately, there's no worse place for serious issues to be debated than in election campaigns. Matters are hugely oversimplified, laughably exaggerated claims are made, people and policies are ruthlessly demonised.

He discusses the differences between the coalition and Labor in relation to the sale of economic management skills and priorities. It focuses on Latham's "more than economics" stance and Howard's "dangerous complacency" statement about our current prosperity. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Read on: Vital questions we never thought to ask - OpinionRossGittins - www.smh.com.au

Today's weigh in

I weighed in at 91.3 this morning (or down almost 2kg since last week). Very happy with that result as I had a very big night on Friday night and ate junk food on Sunday.

Wired 12.03: The Great Robot Race

More detail on the DARPA challenge that I have been following in previous posts: Wired 12.03: The Great Robot Race

Wired News: Apple Feels Eminem's Wrath

Will be interesting to see how this plays out: Wired News: Apple Feels Eminem's Wrath

Wired 12.03: The Complete Guide toGooglemania!

Get ready for the Google IPO! Read on: Wired 12.03: The Complete Guide toGooglemania!

Sputnik Agency

When I get a chance I am going to re-do my site in Flash... In the meantime check out the crazy stuff that you can do: Sputnik Agency