coffee.geek.nz

Some food for thought from the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
iPods, First Sale, President Obama, and the Queen of England | Electronic Frontier Foundation

President Obama reportedly gave an iPod, loaded with 40 show tunes, to England's Queen Elizabeth II as a gift. Did he violate the law when he did so?

You know copyright laws are broken when there is no easy answer to this question.

I like EFF - they have released many a report on the privacy issues in google's products and advertising technology [1] [2] [3]

Incidentally, seeing challenging questions of copyright laws from EFF reminds me of APRA's statement to their members saying that:

The language on the CFF site is similar to the EFF – the “Electronic Frontier Foundation” who are challenging songwriters’ rights in Britain. The EFF has a mutual relationship with Google, the same ISP whose tactics against songwriters has angered the Featured Artists Coalition.

heh. so many things wrong with that statement by APRA.

and finally.. an ipod on a puppy:

Hey, Warner, Leave those Kids Alone | Electronic Frontier FoundationSource: www.eff.orgWhy are people scared? Because our broken copyright system leaves them facing the prospect of paying outrageous statutory damages and even possibly Warner's attorneys' fees if they stand up, fight back and, despite overwhelming odds in their favor, lose. It’s a gamble with their life savings that mo...

New Zealand Goes All Black Against Three Strikes | Electronic Frontier FoundationSource: www.eff.orgWhether you're following a New Zealander on Twitter, or have friended a Kiwi on Facebook, you will not have missed Net users from that country protesting Section 92A in NZ's new Copyright Act. Thousands are turning their sites and their icons black to mourn the coming enforcement of the provision, w...

Apple Confuses Speech with a DMCA Violation | Electronic Frontier FoundationSource: www.eff.org

Daily Kos: State of the NationSource: www.dailykos.comThe ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation have received several batches of Justice Department documents in response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (and subsequent lawsuit) for records relating to the government's use of cell phones as tracking devices. ...    However, when obtaining those court orders — for "pen register and trap and trace" surveillance — the government doesn't show probable cause that a crime has been or is being committed, or even demonstrate to the court that the person being spied on is relevant to an ongoing investigation. The government simply tells the court that it thinks the target is relevant and then the court issues the order, a process offering little protection against the abuse of this powerful surveillance technology.    

Some shameless self promotion by me:
http://www.up.org.nz/gadgets-games-geeks-08

Free software advocate Richard Stallman is in New Zealand for a limited time to speak about copyright and share his experiences establishing the world’s first free user operating system.

A pioneer in ICT circles, US-based Stallman controversially started a movement based around sharing source code back in the 1970s when programming was still in its infancy and launched the development of the GNU operating system (www.gnu.org) in 1984.