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Collateral damage in the copyright wars
I’m just back from Radio Scotland, where I took part in a discussion about the BPI’s legal action against file sharers. As it’s daytime radio, the angle was whether parents should be worried; the discussion featured two teenage music downloaders – neither of whom realised that sharing could land them in hot water – and…
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Allofmp3.com is legal – in Russia, anyway
The Register notes that the Russian prosecutor won’t be taking action against Allofmp3.com, thanks to a loophole in Russian copyright law. I’m still unsure whether using the site is legal or illegal for you or I, though – any legally-minded types willing to hazard a guess? Legality aside, Allofmp3.com is a great way of providing…
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File sharing settlements aren’t a legal victory
The BPI’s settlements with 23 file sharers aren’t a legal victory, because the cases haven’t been heard in court. Instead, people have settled to make the lawsuits go away, and as a result the record industry’s claims haven’t been put under the legal microscope. Of course, it’s possible that had the file sharers ended up…
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UK filesharers settle out of court
The BPI reports that of the 26 ongoing cases against UK file sharers, 23 have been settled out of court: The 23 settlements announced today arise out of the 26 cases announced by the BPI in October 2004. Three cases are still in negotiation and legal action may follow. The settlements include internet users from…
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I think I need a holiday
I’m spending too much time following digital music and related hardware: last night I had a ridiculously detailed dream about a new Sony iPod killer that combined video, music and a torch in one simple device. It was a bit like a pair of earphones, but the left hand “phone” was a large blue rectangle…
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Squander Two’s temporary change of address
Due to hosting problems, Squander Two’s blog has been temporarily relocated. You’ll find it here.
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Why don’t we take games seriously?
Reporting on the BAFTA awards for video games, Media Guardian notes that the UK games industry is a £2 billion-a-year business [free registration required to read the article]. It’s an industry that’s ignored at best and mocked at worst, and yet it’s bigger than the UK film industry (worth £1.42 billion in 1999; I can’t…
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Baby’s got back (problems)
Apologies in advance – this is going to be a long post that doesn’t mention Macs, digital downloads or murdering cartoon characters. Apart from that sentence, heh. Just over ten years ago, I had a disagreement with a bit of gym equipment and ended up with a slipped disc. Ever since then, I’ve knocked my…
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Good reasons for being offline
I’ve been worried about Fafblog, which hasn’t been updated for a while. However, it turns out there’s been a good reason for the lack of updates: problems with pandas. we’re gonna break loose an get back to the internet any minute now just as soon as I find a way to sneak past this pack…
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