CopyFraud

SIMS open source course

Pamela Samuelson, Mitch Kapor and Steve Weber are teaching open source course at School for Information Management & Systems.

"The seminar will examine licensing models widely used by open source developers, which generally grant rights to use and modify licensed information on condition that users agree to carry over to derivative works the same license restrictions imposed by the open source developer."

A lot of articles and a good book as a readings. Couple things that I am waiting in the syllabus are the issue of revocability of the licenses and the community pressure. Pam mentioned that these issues are of special interest to her.

Public domain is simple... Right?

Couple days ago I blogged about Creative Common licensed performances of classical music. I mentioned that it would be nice to hear Rachmaninov who died as Ola pointed 1943. So I found this helpful flowchart of US public domain (via boinboing). Now the question seems to boil to "was the registration renewed in a year preceding the 28 th anniversary of publication?". Propably it was. If you know, let me know.

DMV playing games with me

I have had a Kafka like experience with Department of motor vehicles. I passed the written and behind the wheel test five months ago and  the drivers license was to arrive in four to six weeks. Two months passed and I received a letter saying that they needed some more paper work they had not received yet. I went to DMV office with out the letter. They had no idea what information they were missing. So I went back to get the letter and went back to the 30 minute line. Apparently they had forgot to send a copy of my passport and the license should arrive in four to six weeks.

Two months later the card had not come and I called the DMV and asked about the delay. I waited 15 minutes on the phone just to get told to go to DMV office. So I went and waited another 30 minutes. Guess what happens finally when I reach the counter.... They told me to call a DMV number.

Unfortunately my mobile didn't work inside the building (crappy network) so I had to make the call from the parking lot. The DMV person on the phone said that the database was not showing that I had passed the test. SAY WHAT! It did show that I had passed the vision test but no other test were visible. I should go the DMV office and ask them to release the info. This is the same organization that sends me the letter saying that my license is pending because of some paper work.

I went back inside the office and told the lady behind the counter what her colleague had just told me. She said that "He must be lying. If he can see that you have passed the vision test then the rest of the test should be there too". She issued me another interim license and told me to.... drum roll....I am sure you know the drill by now.... call back the number if the license doesn't arrive before mid September.

I feel like broken telephone. Why cant the lady in the office call the DMV number and sort the whole thing out? Is this some ritual where they pick every one hundreth foreigner. Ha haa, lets bounce this guy from counter to counter. Maybe there could a business opportunity for database consulting with DMV. You just gotta love all the red tape...

Dear god, what is wrong with my Google

Today I Googled for URL in hope of getting a cache record of removed discussion forum. This is what I got. No, I don't have viruses in my machine or spyware. Yes all the other searches work. Same result from my home network on my home computer. Is this censorship? A bug? Is my computer or Berkeleys network conducting attacks agains Google?

Create your own Flickr Magazine covers

Wonderful example of how simple webservices can help people to enjoy their own content and enhance it. My friend Risto did a similar cover imitating Seiska magazine. He had to use Photoshop, scanner and his imagination. I created the picture in five minutes and shared it in two. The background picture I used was taken by Ville Oksanen and is licensed with By -SA 2.0 CC license as is the cover too :)

Link via boingboing

Photos

First one is from our Yosemite trip. Question: who the heck did the spell check on this sign? The picture is corrupted because my wifes Fujitsu Siemens laptop decided that about half of its hard drive is corrupted. After "fixing" the "corrupted" files some interesting effects were born.

The second one is from Santa Cruz where we accidently drove to a cool cars gathering. Four Ferraris, Lotus, Porches and M3. The road from that starts from the castle rock state park and end to SF is just amazing. Running up on a peninsula hill that seperates the bay and pacific the views are amazing, road is in good condition, not too much traffic and the views... did I mentioned the views?

BBC NEWS | Business | EU online music deal closer

Link: BBC NEWS | Business | EU online music deal closer.

Belgium and the Netherlands will scrap their restrictions on licensing music to online users, a move that is hoped will help drive sales of downloads.

Now we just need an easy way for right owners to get their works out of collecting societies. EU court in daftpunk decision decided that colleting societies have to let their member to manage some rights individually.

Star Wreck launch 20.8.

Link: Star Wreck.

An epic film about the emperor of the world in the far reaches of the galaxy.

The first Finnish full-length scifi comedy is made from astounding special effects, action and loads of dark humour. Once the movie is finished you can download it for free from these pages!

Its finally here. Too bad I couldnt join the premier that is going to be a t Tampere. These guys have worked hard. It's amazing how Samuli and Timo managed to get so high quality stuff made at Samuli's bedroom where they painted one wall blue for the bluescreen shots. Star Wreck is a prime example how hobbyist can produce commercial grade content with everyday devices. I hope the guys will be discovered and can make the first "real" finnish Sci-fi movie.

Someone Finally Fighting Back Against RIAA Lawsuits In Court

Link: Techdirt:Someone Finally Fighting Back Against RIAA Lawsuits In Court.

Ever since the RIAA started filing lawsuits directly against people for sharing music online, we've wondered why no one fought back and took the case to court in the US

This is news. This far all the people RIAA contacted have paid the 3000 to 10.000 fees and settled. Maybe this is one of the old granmas or 10 year old mac users. Maybe this migh proceed to a point where RIAA has to show its bluff? Or maybe this is the first case where RIAA can really show their power to stop illegal file sharing. Maybe.

Update: The law firm representing the defendant has set up a blog.

Iltalehti Online | Uutiset | 17.8.2005 | Nettikeskusteluista rikossyytteitä

Link: Iltalehti Online | Uutiset | 17.8.2005 | Nettikeskusteluista rikossyytteitä.

Here we go again. Two cases have ended in court. The first one is about blasphemy. The second one is incitement to assault and battery. I know some facts about the second one where a car hustler who had stolen several cars was caught and the incident was discussed on on line forum. Apparently someone set up a web page and distributed the hustlers drivers license and other description. At the on line forum victims of the hustler and their friends were upset and used harsh language and dished the hustler. Apparently the hustler was kidnapped but managed to escape before the kidnappers could harm him. Now some of the people who were commenting the case on line are charged with incitement.