Archives for 2002

Via a long trail of sources

August 16, 2002 by Michael Boyle

Via a long trail of sources

I came to a blog by Brian St. Pierre, who, in a piece called Hacking the Law, suggests that as many or most of us on the Internet are also copyright owners, the Berman Coble bill could be taken advantage of by all of us. Dave Winer picks up the thread in Scripting News today: “I wonder if anyone at the RIAA has a copy of Scripting News on their hard drive? Hmmm. If the law passes, I could write a virus to find out. Of course it would have to look at all their computers to be sure we didn’t miss any.”

Like it or not

August 16, 2002 by Michael Boyle

Like it or not

, Elvis is everywhere! At least today, 25 years since his death, he’s everywhere. I did NOT grow out my sideburns in tribute (as a friend of mine actually did a few years ago), but I did pick up the hated bio by Albert Goldman a couple of weeks ago and have been glimpsing at that now and then.

Republished

August 15, 2002 by Michael Boyle

Republished

in commondreams.org from yesterday’s LA Times: Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft’s Hellish Vision by Jonathan Turley. “The proposed camp plan should trigger immediate congressional hearings and reconsideration of Ashcroft’s fitness for this important office. Whereas Al Qaeda is a threat to the lives of our citizens, Ashcroft has become a clear and present threat to our liberties.” It’s alternatively sad, confusing, and outrageous that Ashcroft isn’t a totally marginal character well outside the mainstream of American political life.

If you ever have to settle

August 14, 2002 by Michael Boyle

If you ever have to settle

an argument about a band or something, you could do a LOT worse than starting at the newly-relaunched TrouserPress.com. There’s so much here you can’t even keep it straight will looking around.

Cory Doctorow

August 13, 2002 by Michael Boyle

Cory Doctorow

has written an excellent overview of the issues surrounding the introduction of digital TV which has been published in TidBITS this week. Quote: “Hollywood suckered the tech companies in with this promise and then sprang the trap. No, you won’t get a set of objective criteria out of us. From now on, every technology company with a new product will have to come to us on its knees and beg for our approval. We can’t tell you what technology we’re looking for, but we’ll know it when we see it. That’s the ‘standard’ we’re writing here: we’ll know it when we see it.”