Tech Talk

Law & Legislation

The National Assembly of France amended a bill to legalise file sharing with only about 10 per cent of its members present in a late-night vote on December 22. The new bill was intended to be coupled with a levy system collected by internet service providers.

The bill was originally designed to strengthen copyright law and was similar to the U.S.’s controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Under the original bill, a private file sharer could face up to _300,000 ($422,000) in fines and up to three years in jail. It would have also been a crime to make personal copies or circumvent copy protection on CDs or DVDs.

The culture ministry said the bill would be amended again on the orders of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. This 3rd and final version of the bill will differentiate between the average user and those who file share for profit. The average user will face a phased penalty system: first a warning e-mail, then a formal letter and eventually fines ranging from _300 to _1,500 ($420 to $2,100). This version of the bill also legalizes personal copying. It is unclear how it will deal with copy protection. People caught copying a friend’s CD or DVD will face a _150 ($210) fine. Commercial sharers and pirates or those distributing information on how to bypass copy protection will face fines of up to _300,000 ($422,000) and up to 3 years in jail.

Villepin’s interference is relatively inconsequential because the Senate will have likely rejected the bill in its pro file sharing form.

A few months ago I wrote about some questionable software that Sony was using to protect its CDs from piracy. In Canada, three lawsuits have been filed over Sony BMG’s rootkit technology, digital rights management (DRM) and spyware. The charges include violation of the Canadian Privacy Act and the Competition Act. Also indicted are related companies including the manufacturer of the DRM. Sony BMG faces an additional 15 class action lawsuits in the U.S. and a personal lawsuit filed by a Mississippi law student who claims the anti-piracy software seriously damaged his computer.

The Nelsons are an American family being sued by the music industry. Their case, Motown v. Nelson, got a lot more interesting last December when a witness alleged that the industry’s lawyer coerced her into committing perjury. As if the music industry didn’t already have enough public relations problems.

A few months ago I also wrote about Bill C-60, a piece of proposed legislation designed to strengthen Canadian copy-right laws by denying Canadians their rights. It’s worth noting that when the Conservatives tabled a motion of non-confidence last year and parliament passed it, the bill was effectively killed. Another bill, C-74 was drafted to loosen the restrictions on technological surveillance and make it more effective. This bill met the same fate.

Apple’s Spyware

The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) has published its final draft of guidelines defining what spyware is.

“By demystifying the process of identifying and flagging spyware, the risk-modeling description gives consumers a clearer understanding of how anti-spyware software protects them,” said Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It should also begin to aid software developers in making safer, more consumer-friendly software.”

The ASC is a group of companies, academics and consumer groups with the objective of establishing standards surrounding spyware.

Apple has been taking flack lately for its new version of iTunes, which monitors and reports users’ listening habits. The information passed to Apple by iTunes includes the artist, the title, the genre as well as unique identifiers for each computer and iTunes account. There is no mention of this function in the iTunes licence agreement.

Apple says that none of the information is kept and it is only used to power iTunes new MiniStore feature, which recommends music for purchase that is similar to what a user is playing. Apple has since posted information on its website about how to deactivate the MiniStore feature.

A program that monitors your personal activity without your consent in an effort to sell you something sounds an awful lot like spyware to me.

Link O’ the Week: Chuck Norris Facts
chucknorrisfacts.com
Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.

Webcomic O’ the Week: Matriculated by Phil Chan & Joe Dunn
digitalpimponline.com
Collegial hijinks. Matriculate sounds like a dirty word.

Free Application O’ the Week: DVD Decrypter
doom9.net
Transcode your DVDs into the stingy formats supported by your video iPod. It’s complicated, but free. The ars technica website (www.arstechnica.com) has a solid guide on the subject.

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