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On the multiple uses of a subponea

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Once upon a time, there was a Really Bad Attitude mailing list. It was supposed to be a private place to say bad things without consequences. Thanks to MS Lawyers, it is no more (don’t worry, the subponea game works both ways).

In hindsight, complying with the company’s Document Retention Policy (which at Netscape was basically, « shred anything within 90 days unless you can’t get your job done without it ») might have been a good idea. But in any event, I sure am glad that I keep my work mail and personal mail in separate folders. I’m going to increase that separation soon, and keep them on separate machines entirely. And I encourage you to do the same.

Amen. I really should do the same.

The problem is that I love to have a digital memory. Contrary to human memory, I find it actually takes more effort not to keep a trace of something I did on a computer. Double edged sword apparently.

[via Fizzz]

This copyright class is brought to you by the RIAA

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Should you pirate music? Of course not. But what is piracy? It’s a term with a very strong and broad meaning that can apply to crimes in the high seas or to anyone with a mini-disc recorder at a rock show.

To help you untangle that complicated, delicate, subtle and beautiful area of copyright law, there is Music United « music united for strong internet copyrights ». I especially recommend their legal section. Blunt and categoric. Read and have a good scare.

Brought to you by AEC One Stop Group, Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, Association for Independent Music, American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Christian Music Trade Association, Church Music Publishers Association, Country Music Association, Gospel Music Association, Hip Hop Summit Action Network, Jazz Alliance International, Music Managers Forum-USA, National Association of Recording Merchandisers, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, National Music Publishers’ Association, Nashville Songwriters Association International, Recording Industry Association of America, Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds, SESAC, SoundExchange, Tennessee Songwriters Association International, The Songwriters Guild of America

Jon Johansen acquitted

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The Norvegian episode of the great DeCSS witch hunt ended, for now, on an acquital on all counts. Of course, everyone already kowns.

I hope this is sound law (considering I know nothing about Norwegian law and the state of implementation of the European DMCA there) and I wonder what repercussions this will have. After all, this was not a particularly good test case: there was no smoking gun, stacks of pirated DVDs or other pirate paraphenalia on evidence. Just a coder who wanted to read DVDs without using an licensed decoder.

This said, I can’t help but wonder if the deflation of the dotcom bubble had the effect of cooling off the heads of the judiciary in those related matters.

Now that the hype is somewhat less blinding, that the image of any tech endeavor as a speeding unstoppable express freight train in front of which everything must yield is gone for good, maybe well see more sensible decisions.

[via everyone and their pet shrimp]