A new DVD backup software went into court shortly after releasing its product into the market. The product in question is Real Networks' "RealDVD" product. RealDVD allows you to make backups of your DVDs to put onto your hard drive.
The film companies argument is simply that all RealDVD really is, is a product that makes pirating movies online that much easier. Although I take RealDVD's side of this case that people have a right to make backups of their DVDs, the film companies are totally correct that the majority of people that buy this product will be buying it for the wrong reasons. They will release the movies out onto the internet for the most part.
While I do see both sides of this coin, I don't think Real Networks can be convicted of copyright infringement in this case. I really think sooner or later, something will be done to not make it so easy to pirate movies online, but it's not going to start with this case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403168.html
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Is Turnitin copyright infringement?
With the growing problem of plagiarism in today's internet savvy society, professors and teachers around the country are looking for a way to put a stop to it. The invention of TurnItIn takes students papers and puts it in a huge database where it compares the papers to each other to look for anything that is too closely resembling another. Along with this, it searches online articles to make sure nothing is taken word for word from it.
Students have recently filed a copyright violation suit against TurnItIn saying that it is copyright infringement. The students say that since their paper has to be sent to a third party, this violates copyright. The way it works, if another student's paper is very similar to a previous paper turned in to TurnItIn, then TurnItIn sends that professor the other student's paper so they can make their own judgement.
I definitely understand the need for a way to protect against plagiarism which is undoubtedly a huge problem in schools today, however I don't think this is a fair way to go about it. These particular students lost this suit, however, I would not be surprised to see it come back up again because I think the students had a strong case of copyright infringement.
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3722
Students have recently filed a copyright violation suit against TurnItIn saying that it is copyright infringement. The students say that since their paper has to be sent to a third party, this violates copyright. The way it works, if another student's paper is very similar to a previous paper turned in to TurnItIn, then TurnItIn sends that professor the other student's paper so they can make their own judgement.
I definitely understand the need for a way to protect against plagiarism which is undoubtedly a huge problem in schools today, however I don't think this is a fair way to go about it. These particular students lost this suit, however, I would not be surprised to see it come back up again because I think the students had a strong case of copyright infringement.
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3722
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
ISPs to record emails and calls
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/06/internet-data-storage
Some ISPs are going to start recording all e-mails and calls over the next 12 months because of a law that went into place on April 6th. This is water that I have already treaded in my blogs but it is worth continuing to talk about as privacy is a very important issue to me when talking about the internet especially. For example, I had no idea that this law even existed until I read this article. AND the only reason I read this article was because I have to maintain this blog for my Law class. This really disturbs me because this is the kind of thing I am interested in and I relatively keep up on news and I have not heard about this.
The point that I'm getting at is I understand that sometimes things like this need to be done, and I am someone who can see both sides of the Patriot Act which was highly controversial, but I would like to be made aware when things like this are going into effect.
Some ISPs are going to start recording all e-mails and calls over the next 12 months because of a law that went into place on April 6th. This is water that I have already treaded in my blogs but it is worth continuing to talk about as privacy is a very important issue to me when talking about the internet especially. For example, I had no idea that this law even existed until I read this article. AND the only reason I read this article was because I have to maintain this blog for my Law class. This really disturbs me because this is the kind of thing I am interested in and I relatively keep up on news and I have not heard about this.
The point that I'm getting at is I understand that sometimes things like this need to be done, and I am someone who can see both sides of the Patriot Act which was highly controversial, but I would like to be made aware when things like this are going into effect.
Copyright Violation Issue
Currently, the AP and the newspaper industry are planning on working together to fight against copyright violation. Copyright issues have obviously taken on a whole new persona in the internet age. It's hard to distinguish, and in fact, in many cases, it hasn't been distinguished what is copyright infringement and what isn't.
This article says that this is in part because of the tough economic times as the newspaper industry is obviously struggling very much. The AP and the newspaper industry are now working together to bring in some hefty fines to bloggers around the world. So I would say, bloggers beware in the near future. The AP is not someone I would want to tackle in court.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_12083563?nclick_check=1
This article says that this is in part because of the tough economic times as the newspaper industry is obviously struggling very much. The AP and the newspaper industry are now working together to bring in some hefty fines to bloggers around the world. So I would say, bloggers beware in the near future. The AP is not someone I would want to tackle in court.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_12083563?nclick_check=1
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