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Semi-OT: Congress about to limit artists' copyright rights
by Leo Mauler 08 Jul '08

08 Jul '08

Normally I find something like this and discover that the complainer either is making most of the problem up in his or her head, or actually wants to get rid of something else in the bill before Congress. However, this appears to be an issue of genuine concern for artists, especially poor artists who can't afford the "registry fees". http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html It would appear that Congress is already considering two bills, one in the House (H.R. 5889, "The Orphan Works Act of 2008") and one in the Senate (S 2913, "The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008") which would require all artists to register their artwork in private registries, none of which would be free to the artist. The claim made by the bill is that this will help people wanting to use artwork to avoid a future lawsuit by making it easier for them to "find" the artist. The difficulty for artists everywhere is that if your artwork is not listed in any of the registries (possibly because you couldn't afford the fees), the person wanting to use your artwork can consider the artwork to be an "orphan work" and thus part of the public domain. No matter how well-known your work is throughout your region, the country, or the world, if your artwork is not in any of the registries then it would still *legally* be an "orphan work". If you do take the infringer to court over using your artwork, the law strips you of your right to copyright infringement damages, instead allowing the infringer to pay whatever s/he/it feels is fair for use of the artwork. This law was attempted in 2006 and failed due to pressure from creators such as artists, illustrators, textile companies, and the like. Apparently these new laws are on a fast track to get passed into law before the election campaigns of Congress members start in the late summer. Just to underline that the government no longer cares about the rights of content creators, here's an excerpt from a letter (full text in the URL above) sent around by Brad Holland of the Illustrator's Partnership, a group which successfully opposed the 2006 bill: ========================================= Q: Where did we get the idea that the Copyright Office wants to impose for-profit registries? A: That proposal has been there from the beginning. Two examples (with emphasis added), the first from page 106 of the Copyright Office’s 2006 Orphan Works Report: “[W]e believe that registries are critically important, if not indispensable, to addressing the orphan works problem...It is our view that such registries are better developed in the private sector..." http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/orphan-report.pdf ========================================= And on January 29 2007, twenty visual arts groups met in Washington D.C. with attorneys from the Copyright Office. The attorneys stated that the Copyright Office would not create these “indispensable” registries because it would be “too expensive.” So I asked the Associate Register for Policy & International Affairs: ========================================= Holland: If a user can’t find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn’t the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work? Carson: Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries. Holland: But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register? Carson: If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest! - From my notes of the meeting ========================================= This exchange suggests that if Copyright Office proposals become law: - Unregistered work will be considered a potential orphan from the moment you create it. - In the U.S., copyright will no longer be the exclusive right of the copyright holder. ========================================= Under existing law, “[a] copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license his work…Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and **whether or not the work is registered** (emphasis added).” http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Copyright#copyright:_an_overview =========================================

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In need of a terminal
by Arthur Pemberton 07 Jul '08

07 Jul '08

Do any of you all have a laptop or working monitor that you are willing to part with for free on the cheap? I only have about $150 available and I would like a third terminal for my apartment as my two younger bros are staying with me for awhile and the younger one is learning Python while the older is learning Pascal. Thank you, Arthur Pemberton -- Fedora 7 : sipping some of that moonshine ( www.pembo13.com )

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New Technology
by Jonathan Hutchins 06 Jul '08

06 Jul '08

There's some question what the various cable TV carriers and satellite companies are going to do when analog broadcasting shuts down. Since anybody watching satellite already has a digital receiver, with analog output if they have an analog TV, not much is likely to change for DishNet or DirecTV. I would imagine that Time Warner won't change - that would mean spending money on new equipment, which they don't like to do. Ditto Comcast. Everest, on the other hand, is making a big, mysterious fuss about "next year", when they're going to "overhaul the system" or "change everything". I think they'd be pretty dumb to ditch every customer who doesn't need to replace their analog TV yet, but they don't always do what I consider smart. Of course, getting a straight answer out of any of these companies about their technology strategy over the next ten years wouldn't even be likely for a Congressional Commission, let alone local staff. Us customers are just going to take what they give us.

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Usenet going bye bye
by Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO 05 Jul '08

05 Jul '08

Guy at work sent me this. Brian Kelsay ________________________________ From: Payne, Trevor Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 10:05 AM If thine eye offends thee, cut off thy head: "Time Warner Cable said it will cease to offer customers access to any Usenet newsgroups, a decision that will affect customers nationwide. Sprint said it would no longer offer any of the tens of thousands of alt.* Usenet newsgroups. Verizon's plan is to eliminate some 'fairly broad newsgroup areas.'" Trevor Payne

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Remote device reboots using Linux
by Oren Beck 03 Jul '08

03 Jul '08

Several related events brought up discussing the hardware and software to reboot devices at an unmanned site. THIS: http://dataprobe.com/iboot_remote_reboot/ibootauto.html while pricey is an example of a shrinkwrapped fix. A bit cheaper but Linux core driven is : http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7139308230.html Any folks on the list have better ideas? As the Kensington I used to use is so obsolete it's not practical . Oren Beck 816.729.3645

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Usenet
by Jonathan Hutchins 30 Jun '08

30 Jun '08

Something nobody's mentioned here, given that most of our distinguished contributors are admittedly ignorant of what _is_ on Usenet news groups, is the fact that many of them carry binary copies of music and video. One can pull whole TV series off the news groups. Time Warner's main business is NOT providing internet service. It is "intelectual property" - a market they desperately want to control. I can get British TV series off of Usenet that I can't get through BBC America or other "legitimate" sources, and I can get them without them having been edited, dumbed-down and censored (supposedly to better appeal to American tastes). We tend to think censorship goes one way, that it's material from the U.S. that gets censored for other countries. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Re: ISPs, Newsgroups, etc. ...OH MY!!!
by Julie 28 Jun '08

28 Jun '08

I know what you mean, Luke. The state took my husband out of our home simply because he was under weight . I was told that if I fought them in any way that I would go to jail for "elder abuse". He (my late husband) WAS under SEVERAL doctor's care, at the time, but had quit eating. I couldn't get him to eat much no matter what I tried, but HIS OWN doctors ganged up on him and got him to eat just enough to start gaining a tiny bit of weight little by little. The nursing home the state put him had a "doctor" who _*murdered*_ him through gross negligence! This nursing home then had the "castinettes" to call me about a $400 bill that "I" owed that "doctor". I told them, "that it would me _*MUCH*_ cheaper for them to forget about the bill than for me to hire an attorney and take them to court!!!" I never heard another word from them. BTW: While my late husband was there he was kept under what amounted to "lock-down". He was not allowed to even go outside for a bit of fresh air. I was not allowed to take him anywhere at all....NOT _*EVEN*_ to his _*OWN*_ doctors!!! He was take away and put in that death trap in June of '04 and wound up in the ER in Sept. He died in the hospital in October...two weeks later! Need I say much more? When I spoke of "liberties being taken away" I meant that in a general sense as well as the way it pertains to the subject matter discussed in my semi-OT rant. --- On Sat, 6/28/08, Luke -Jr <luke(a)dashjr.org> wrote: From: Luke -Jr <luke(a)dashjr.org> Subject: Re: ISPs, Newsgroups, etc. ...OH MY!!! To: "Julie" <betelgeuse67stang(a)yahoo.com> Date: Saturday, June 28, 2008, 5:22 PM Liberties being taken away? This is nothing compared to my situation with the state having illegally taken custody of my children on false accusations...

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Photo booth equivalent in linux
by Deepan 24 Jun '08

24 Jun '08

Hi All, I am running F8 in macbook. Is there a tool similar to Photo booth on linux that I can use to shot photos using macbook camera ? Regards Deepan Sudoku Solver: http://www.sudoku-solver.net/

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Mark Gardner wants to keep up with you on Twitter
by Mark Gardner 24 Jun '08

24 Jun '08

To find out more about Twitter, visit the link below: http://twitter.com/i/d488aca1bd50e890a77fe3f767322f626660063c Thanks, -The Twitter Team About Twitter Twitter is a unique approach to communication and networking based on the simple concept of status. What are you doing? What are your friends doing—right now? With Twitter, you may answer this question over SMS, IM, or the Web and the responses are shared between contacts. This message was sent by a Twitter user who entered your email address. If you'd prefer not to receive emails when other people invite you to Twitter, click here: http://twitter.com/i/optout/ed5df30ee25a3be539893e07425c7e11b4326c12

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Request for Comments: Keeping the OS and Data on phsyically seperated drives
by Oren Beck 23 Jun '08

23 Jun '08

This is a request for comment on a basic hardware and software assignment method. The simplest minimal applied version would be master drive OS and slave drive bearing data. The next higher levels would include replicated data drives. Not needfully in the same machine or even at the same site. So how would you set up an install so the "OS" is on say-HDA and the "Data" on HDB" ? With an implied or even explicit addition of HDC thru HDX as either permanent mirrors or detachable external storage backup. Imaging a data drive is less of a challenge than a live OS. Where this differs from past similar schemes or applications is in the division of OS from Data. The most immediate impact could be for users of multiple OS varieties. The result is a "one user data library - OS Agnostic to the computer accessing it model.The OS needs updating or the drive it is on crashes- your data is safely NOT on the same drive. There are uses for the now open space on the OS drive too. Like process journal buffers as Reiser speculated on. Or pointers to replicant drives holding spatially dispersed copies. EX: /user on a box off site.\ "The Zen of Everything being a file" so far has not covered the WHERE we put the files! Do note that while Linux has had the "ability" to make all this seem trivial- for whatever reasons we seem to not do so. Comments of a value adding nature are welcomed. Open comment form me to the list: Some projects seem to never get past a " "we could- but why?" stage. I'd like to think KCLUG could do better.. " If your OS drive dies- you might be rather glad your data is on at least two other drives" -- Oren Beck 816.729.3645

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