Summary: Surveillance methods being used are in the same league as those used by the NSA, CIA, MI5, MI6 and China’s MSS. A real and genuine underground of revolt brewing. This isn’t two street gangs fighting it out in your local hood.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause…”
- Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
I’ve written two controversial pieces concerning intellectual property. One with the view that if it should come to pass that the MPAA / RIAA / xyz advocating new enforcement law to monitor users of the Internet and are found to have illegal copyright material, then who should regulate it, in which I proposed that the FCC is one possible solution.
I wrote immediately thereafter that intellectual property associations are going way overboard and border on the absurd? Just because file sharing is going over the internet, should these associations have the right to find you guilty, have multiple different mediums content distribution, many of which are free to the public while being able to sue you for infringement? They need to change their business models.
This week, 50,000 new lawsuits have been filed against downloaders. It’s only going to get worse.
The history of copyright and intellectual property rights goes back to the 1700’s. The free distribution of copyright works has never been impeded like it is today. Some intellectual rights owners are beginning to feel the heat of just how far some organizations (that they belong too) are going to find you. Is McCarthyism ringing in their heads? Are they experiencing uncomfortable emotions? Billion dollar conglomerates suing Grandma’s children for 50 grand through their associations is not good PR.
Surveillance methods being used are in the same league as those used by the NSA, CIA, MI5, MI6 and China. A real and genuine underground of revolt is brewing. This isn’t two street gangs fighting it out in your local hood. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act enacted in 1986 is out of date. No kidding.
Google, Microsoft, AT&T, eBay, Intel have joined with the ACLU, EFF and others to form a coalition, Digital Due Process. I know what you’re thinking, yet another PR stunt by the moguls who already have their billions and trying to talk out of both sides of their mouth. But if you read through their website, recognize the experienced legal entities associated with this organization, there is a sense that it maybe more than a sham. It’s well funded, has put forward its ideas and concepts. Now it is up to you to figure out if its worthy of entering dialogue with. The stakes are significant. The quotation of the 4th amendment is on their front door and not a trivial matter - for anyone. Either they are serious about privacy and surveillance reform, or they aren’t. Digital Due Process.org believes that the ECPA should be updated, which is probably the only thing everyone agrees with. How reforms take shape is another matter.
Are the companies associated with Digital Due Process hedging their bets or is this laying the foundation balancing their fortunes with giving back as Andrew Carnegie did? I’m sure you will voice your opinion.
Update: Google posted on their privacy blogspot views on Digital Due Proccess and created a basic video.
Doug is the principal of Rapid Response Consulting, an advisory group that integrates ICT solutions. He has worked at some of the largest telecommunications firms in Canada, including Bell Canada, Telus and AT&T and is a guest lecturer for several universities and associations. He serves on several advisory boards in Canada and the United States.
Starting with a new national ISP in 1993 in sales, positioning internet access, web sites and network services began the path of telecommunications technologies from the early Bulletin Board Services (BBS) to the first web pages for commercial clients.
Became the National Data Network Service Manager for Frame Relay and Internet access for AccTel Enterprises which was acquired (after 3 mergers already) by AT&T Canada. Interested in how marketing could expand service availability, he moved to Telus to become the Frame Relay / ATM Product Manager and expanded the network across Canada. In 2002 he went to Bell Canada becoming a Solution Architect to get back to his passion for technology working with enterprise clients. In 2006, became the Director of R&D and Senior Solution Architect for Bell Canada Security Solutions Inc, developing I.P. based physical and logical security platforms and ICT services.
This position created new commercial concepts such as Crisis and Disaster technology solutions required for emergency use after an event occurred. He designed interoperable technologies and application combinations allowing any to any I.P. service through landline, broadband, satellite and wireless technologies to be deployed anywhere
Time to loosen the grip of the global giants until they get the message. So you fined 0.1% of your customer base? How about we take 50% of your revenue ... and open you up to further competition? Or should we sit down and cut a new deal in everybody's interest? No? How about you lose your license in Phase 2? You don't want to ask about Phase 3 ... take it from me. You have to know? Your former revenue stream just funded a new penal institution. They don't have HDTV or 3D inside. They do have INTEL inside
You seem to be saying the 'giants' should accept this theft or face the rath of the theives. Am I reading you right? Are you advocating on the side of lawlessness and advocating FOR the thieves?
...If I don't like the price Target is charging for a DVD, then I have the right to steal it? Or if I think Porsches are too expensive, then I'm entitled to boost the next one I see?
Grow up.
I detest intrusive/overboard DRM measures as much as anyone, but it's disingenuous and immature to pass off wholesale theft as "stickin' it to The Man."
The physical reproduction of CDs and DVDs is just as big a problem for these companies, but the government doesn't enter your home and check to make sure you haven't stolen any just because Blockbuster complains you haven't rented anything from them in a while. Yet somehow Sony doesn't face federal indictment when their CDs install rootkit on their customers PCs? We don't need new laws, we just need a legal system that properly interprets the ones we already have.
These things will and do affect companies like MS, ebay, Google, ect. directly
For one the ability to have clear laws and standards in place so as to be able to create software to take advantage of them without having to second guess what come next, and secondly, maybe more importantly, that they aren't forced by the government to become the watchdogs for these entities.
Imagine eBay having to verify that the DVD's being auctioned on their site are legit?
Imagine MS or Google having to build their software that would detect and send data to the RIAA or government everytime someone rips a DVD or CD?
Windows Media center is great addition to Win7, so imagime if it where legal to copy material you bought, to a computer you bought, so you can take full advantage of it?
Does MS want to get caught up in some legal battle because their software gives you the ability to watch the movie on any computer in your house, as opposed to just the one it was downloaded on? Does Google want to spend the money to police Yuotube all day long?
The worse the laws get, the more an more it affects those comapnies that interact with the media in question, be it email, documents, music, movies, physical media, or media devices.
1. The MPAA/RIAA are know and convicted criminal corporations who have no credibility of any kind and should not be takken seriously by any court of laws. 2. Logs (test files) are way to easy to spoof and manipulate to be accepted as evidence in any court of law
but the sad fact is: the USA justice system is a supermarket where any one with money can buy any law/verdict they want.
next time you buy "content" from members of the MPAA/RIAA, remember that those 2 criminals group have destroyed more american lives then any terrorists ever did. you are better off d/l "content" from P2P network and send the artists a check, this way you are sure they will get money for they word.
I readily admit to not being a lawyer... but you appear to miss the point.
Government will be prosecuting you through the courts using federal laws (i.e. ACTA, Privacy, ECPA Act) on behalf corporations both for prosecution and defense?
Did you go to the website Digital Due Process I displayed as a link in the article?
Just a few concepts come to mind:
Search and Seizure process you want to leave that to the government to determine how a law is legisilated or civil court?
How about evidence process...
The list is endless. Flawed is an accurate statement - the current state of how corporations use law, not the article. That's my opinion.
Why do you think High Tech companies joined the Digital Due Process org in the first place?
The constitution and its constituent amendments represent inalienable human rights that cannot be denied by any mechanism be they private or public. We just specifically enumerate the crimes when someone breaks into our homes. Those laws don't exist separately. They are justified by the constitution.
Ten years ago I jumped on the Napster bandwagon. I downloaded what I could then. Since then I have not done anything illegitimate. I do not approve of the tactics of the RIAA or the MPAA. Nor am I fond of their pricing.
I have always believed that the artists should get paid for their work.
I now support methods of marketing and distribution that fit my beliefs and budget but that also allow me the same rights as if I owned the cd or cassette. That means that I do not buy digitally where drm is built into the files. I own multiple media players and computers. It is not fair that I can buy digital music and play it on two or three devices, but I can play that cd or cassette on as many machines as I can stuff it into.
To me, this is just one part of the problem. In my opinion, if these were priced competitively, people would be less likely to pirate them.
While I understand and agree with the right of the film industry to protect the movies they produce, I would appreciate the ability to load movies onto my digital media players and watch them on the go. After years of pissing off consumers, they are finally including digital copies in the combo packs of new releases. But what about my favorite flicks or my kids favorite flicks from years ago before these combo packs? It is pointless to pay for software to do that because it is crippled right out of the box and will not convert the dvd's due to copy protection.
