Internet Piracy

[thaumaturgy]

Speaking of outdated technology, one of my 13 year old students asked me what the floppy disk icon most programs still use to represent "save." He thought it was a file cabinet. It floored me to then realize he had never and probably would never use a floppy disk.

Up to about 5 years ago I used to haul around in my various moves some old data from an ancient FTIR unit that was stored on 8" floppy disks. They were old when I was using them back in the 80's!

Someday all our computer icons will be nothing more than hieroglyphics.

 

[variant]

Up to about 5 years ago I used to haul around in my various moves some old data from an ancient FTIR unit that was stored on 8" floppy disks. They were old when I was using them back in the 80's!

Someday all our computer icons will be nothing more than hieroglyphics.

Click on the eye first and then the dancing bird.

 

[Assuredcw]

Amazing news!

Obama Administration Comes Out Against SOPA, PIPA | TPM Idea Lab

The Administration statement basically agrees with the critics wholeheartedly on this one:

“We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security. Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk.

​

....Further, SOPA’s passage through the House seems to have been indefinitely stalled, as SOPA critic Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said on Saturday that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) promised not to bring the bill up to the full House for a vote until a consensus is reached, The Hill reported.

The item in bold is interesting. Sounds like there is significant pushback from powerful Republican constituents on this piracy thingie...

 

[Assuredcw]

Here's a link with more about House sponsors' response to this pushback:

SOPA And PIPA Sponsors Caving In To Opposition | TPM Idea Lab

 

[zoink]

Legally speaking copyright infringement is not stealing or theft. I'm not trying to say it's not illegal, just trying to be clear.

Intellectual Property and Libertarianism

Against Intellectual Property by Stephan Kinsella

From the conclusion:

We see, then, that a system of property rights in “ideal objects” necessarily requires violation of other individual property rights, e.g., to use one’s own tangible property as one sees fit. Such a system requires a new homesteading rule which subverts the first occupier rule. IP, at least in the form of patent and copyright, cannot be justified.

It is not surprising that IP attorneys, artists, and inventors often seem to take for granted the legitimacy of IP. However, those more concerned with liberty, truth, and rights should not take for granted the institutionalized use of force used to enforce IP rights. Instead, we should reassert the primacy of individual rights over our bodies and homesteaded scarce resources.