Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Grokster vrs MGM: the death of technology in the U.S.
If MGM wins this case, it will through the U.S. back to the nineteenth century. The amount of technology that becomes illegal is spectacular. Grokster has to win, no one with half a brain will fail to recognize the consequences, especially when the defense will tell the court the reprecussions of their decision.
Jax
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION - Ever since the Betamax ruling in 1984, inventors have been free to create new copying technologies as long as they are capable of substantial non-infringing (legal) uses. But by the end of this year, all that could change. In MGM v. Grokster, Hollywood and the recording industry are asking for the power to sue out of existence any technology that appears to be a threat, even if it passes the Betamax test. That puts at risk any copying technology that Betamax currently protects as well as any new technologies Hollywood doesn't like.
To raise awareness about what's at stake in the Grokster case, EFF is profiling one Betamax-protected gadget every weekday until the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on March 29. . .
THE XEROX MACHINE: This machine makes perfect replicas of printed pages. It can expand or contract the images on those pages, change their colors, and collate batches of pages into various configurations. It is ideal for copying pages from books, creating posters, and duplicating pictures.
THE WEBLOG, OR BLOG: Blogging tools make it trivial for anyone to publish their thoughts and opinions as text, images, photos, video, and audio on the Web, and come with a suite of functions to simplify linking to other blogs, copying blog posts from one blog to another, and syndicating the content of blogs to other websites.
THE VCR: This machine makes copies of over-the-air television broadcasts and can also play back copies made or sold by others. It allows users to record television programs and movies for viewing at their leisure, thus upsetting the careful pricing structure for television shows and advertising based upon the time of viewing. It also allows users to keep copies of shows and movies and watch them multiple times, without paying for each viewing, a process known as "librarying." Two machines can also be hooked up together to allow copying of copies, a process that can be used for commercial infringement as well as noncommercial infringement.
EMAIL - Email allows any Internet user (the sender) to send text messages, or any other kind of file, to one or more other Internet users (the recipients). If they choose, the recipients may then respond to the sender by drafting a subsequent email message. (Link)
Jax
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION - Ever since the Betamax ruling in 1984, inventors have been free to create new copying technologies as long as they are capable of substantial non-infringing (legal) uses. But by the end of this year, all that could change. In MGM v. Grokster, Hollywood and the recording industry are asking for the power to sue out of existence any technology that appears to be a threat, even if it passes the Betamax test. That puts at risk any copying technology that Betamax currently protects as well as any new technologies Hollywood doesn't like.
To raise awareness about what's at stake in the Grokster case, EFF is profiling one Betamax-protected gadget every weekday until the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on March 29. . .
THE XEROX MACHINE: This machine makes perfect replicas of printed pages. It can expand or contract the images on those pages, change their colors, and collate batches of pages into various configurations. It is ideal for copying pages from books, creating posters, and duplicating pictures.
THE WEBLOG, OR BLOG: Blogging tools make it trivial for anyone to publish their thoughts and opinions as text, images, photos, video, and audio on the Web, and come with a suite of functions to simplify linking to other blogs, copying blog posts from one blog to another, and syndicating the content of blogs to other websites.
THE VCR: This machine makes copies of over-the-air television broadcasts and can also play back copies made or sold by others. It allows users to record television programs and movies for viewing at their leisure, thus upsetting the careful pricing structure for television shows and advertising based upon the time of viewing. It also allows users to keep copies of shows and movies and watch them multiple times, without paying for each viewing, a process known as "librarying." Two machines can also be hooked up together to allow copying of copies, a process that can be used for commercial infringement as well as noncommercial infringement.
EMAIL - Email allows any Internet user (the sender) to send text messages, or any other kind of file, to one or more other Internet users (the recipients). If they choose, the recipients may then respond to the sender by drafting a subsequent email message. (Link)
