The RIAA isn’t satisfied with just taking back existing consumers’ rights with respect to music recordings sold by record labels. They now want to greatly restrict the rights consumers have to record radio broadcasts via the proposed “Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act of 2006,” H.R. 4861. The RIAA wants to eliminate automatic recording of radio… Read More »
If you’re not heavily involved in the development or use of free and open source software, I imagine it can be very hard to understand the subtleties and the importance of free (as in liberty and speech) software versus open software that you can use for free (as in gratis and beer). For most software… Read More »
When I first read about podcasting music, or even podcasting talk with a little bit of music in the background, I didn’t think about the copyright and licensing implications. I also didn’t consider what happens when a podcast becomes popular, but the RIAA has shown with webcasting that they won’t stop until they have extracted… Read More »
As seen recently on Slashdot, MGM recently settled a class action suit involving the image quality of DVDs they sold under the classification of “widescreen”. The claim is that the image width of the alleged widescreen versions was no different than for the standard versions. As per normal class action settlement verbiage, MGM denies any… Read More »
I didn’t realize backing up my DVDs using Linux could be so easy. Time consuming as hell, but fairly easy. Dvd::rip is a front end to a big pile of libraries that do the good deeds. One of the key libraries is transcode, but there’s a lot of other great software underneath the covers that… Read More »
Do you think you have mastered all forms of logical thinking? Well, prepare to enter the Jack Valenti Logic Zone – The Engadget Interview: Jack Valenti. A place where hyperbolic bluster, falsehoods, and ignorance rule the day. Jack Valenti is the departing head of the MPAA. Valenti, you might remember, is most notorious for his… Read More »
W3C risks patent tussle in standard push | CNET News.com A software patent problem continues to hang over VoiceXML 2.0, which reached proposed recommendation status this month. The problem is that the Patent Advisory Group that was supposed to make sure that any relevant patents would be offered on royalty free terms never got Rutgers… Read More »
A recent article in Forbes.com states that the 2006 World Cup in Germany will be broadcast only in wide-screen format. On conventional TVs, the image will be letterboxed. Philips Electronics struck this broadcast deal with FIFA. Philips, of course, is a major manufacturer of TVs and would love to start selling more of their higher… Read More »
I’m starting to think that when Philip Morris paid to enter the corporate villian protection program and was renamed Altria, another part of the deal was that the RIAA and SCO agreed to act like World Wrestling Foundation bad guys to draw away the heat. I mean, it’s not like the RIAA and SCO are… Read More »
Review and photos from Digital Mix, a benefit for the EFF.