Author: johnmark

  • PublicKnowledge: Why the Cablevision Decision Matters

    In my post from Monday, I laid out a very brief outline of some of the conclusions reached by the Second Circuit in its Cablevision decision on remote DVRs. Today, I want to take a step back and discuss why it was so important for the development of digital media and technology.

    Two theories espoused by the TV networks in the case were extraordinarily dangerous for copyright law. The first was that fleeting, transitory copies like buffer copies could make someone liable for copyright infringement.

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  • Twitter Updates for 2008-08-06

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  • Hacking the Election Birds-of-a-Feather

    Tonight at 6pm at LinuxWorld, GeekPAC will host a Birds-of-a-feather on “Hacking the Election.”

    If you’re at LinuxWorld, it’s in room 310 at 6pm. See you there!

  • GeekPAC to Form Political Action Committee Around Technology Issues; Launches Fundraiser

    PAC to support copyright reform, DMCA reform, net neutrality, and other technology issues

    GeekPAC (http://www.geek-pac.org/), a group of concerned citizens formerly known as BytesFree.org, has relaunched under a new name to reflect its new focus. GeekPAC will form a political action committee with the goal of building grassroots political support for copyright reform, DMCA reform, net neutrality, patent reform, and other hot-button political issues. Additionally, GeekPAC has launched its first fundraiser at Fundable.org ( https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-07-22.8448851451 ) to cover the initial startup costs.

    GeekPAC will be a grassroots, member-driven organization with an emphasis on educating the public at large on how these issues affect daily life. Said John Mark Walker, GeekPAC Founder, โ€œMany of us in the technology community have done a poor job of communicating to the general public why they should care about these issues. With GeekPAC, we hope to change that by driving thought leadership in this area and building a critical mass of concerned citizens who will be able to get the attention of their local politicians.โ€

    GeekPACโ€™s first action under its new name will be a birds-of-a-feather (BOF) session at LinuxWorld Conference and Expo (http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/) under the topic โ€œHacking the Election.โ€ The session will take place at 6pm PDT on Wednesday, August 6 in room 301 at Moscone Center in San Francisco and will be open to all LinuxWorld Expo attendees.

    Another work in progress is a voter information project, designed to gather data for every member of Congress pertaining to their voting records on relevant bills. The voter information project can be found at http://deki.geek-pac.org/Voter_Information_Project

    **To contribute to GeekPAC see http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-07-22.8448851451

    (GeekPAC is not yet incorporated and donations are not tax deductible.)

    **Visit http://www.geek-pac.org/

  • Twitter Updates for 2008-08-05

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  • Twitter Updates for 2008-08-04

    • @Roebot @damienh no no no, thank you! #
    • @jowyang That’s funny – when I got married we had to wait until sept because in the chinese calendar, aug was the 7th, or “ghost”, month #
    • inbox… spiraling… out of control!!!! #
    • @brianaker will do – want to come to the “Hacking the Election” BoF on Wednesday at 6pm? #

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  • Twitter Updates for 2008-08-03

    • At halftime quakes 2:1 fallacy. Judas pulls one back for la #
    • 68th minute still 2-1 quakes. Becks blows #
    • What a finish! quakes take it in the 88th 3-2. Cochrane the hero. #

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  • Groklaw: The End of the Patry Copyright Blog

    William Patry has shuttered his blog, The Patry Copyright Blog. The archives are gone too. He tells why in a final post. It’s a tragedy, nothing less. No, no one at Google made him do it. He did it for a couple of reasons, both of which resonate with me, and I think they are important to highlight. I must warn you, it’s a bit depressing. Here are the reasons:
    1. The Inability or Refusal to Accept the Blog for What it is: A Personal Blog 2. The Current State of Copyright Law is too depressing
    But it’s in the details that the story is told. Read more at Groklaw
  • Twitter Updates for 2008-08-02

    • @whurley /me wishes I were at barcamphomebrew #
    • @guyma nooooooooooo! ๐Ÿ™‚ #

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  • Twitter Updates for 2008-08-01

    • @puppetmasterd max of 1 hour – let’s just say puppet on Linux. But can you get recent .debs of puppet? #
    • @jrep nice find. #
    • @edenhensley that sounds great! pick your time slot – 1, 2, 3 or 4pm #
    • @einfeldt follow me so I can DM you #
    • @puppermasterd yup – ubuntu community day at LinuxWorld on Thursday, August 7. Pick your time slot: 1, 2, 3 or 4 #
    • @puppetmasterd you got it! thanks #
    • currently seeking: anyone doing Ubuntu on mobile devices. contact me. #
    • @fabricapo missed you this morning! it was my first time in the funambol office #
    • @Roebot Ok, here’s the deal – I really want a deki talk, so I’m reserving a 1pm slot for you. Send someone ๐Ÿ™‚ #
    • @smaffulli follow me so I can DM you – we need to reach you very very soon ๐Ÿ™‚ #
    • @bjorg at ubuntu community day at LinuxWorld – August 7 in SF #
    • @Roebot dude, take the time off. Vacation is important! #
    • @edenhensley thanks, will send you the info. Are you speaking? or someone else? #
    • @bjorg that would be cool. let me know how it goes! #
    • bytesfree.org is now GeekPAC – http://www.geek-pac.org/ w00t! #
    • @brianaker hey, I was told that you’d be interested in GeekPAC: http://www.geek-pac.org/ want to chat soon? #
    • #geekpac If you’re an enterprising PR type and have oodles of free time next week (and don’t need immediate payment) reply to me! #
    • @natfriedman ausgezeichnet! ๐Ÿ™‚ #
    • ubuntu community day wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ubucon/SanFrancisco #
    • @ripcitylyman dude… you going to linuxworld? #

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