8 Ways to Sunday

I just checked my e-mail after getting out of a meeting, and found some ugly news about a fresh new abuse of power on the part of the United States government. The bearer of this bad news was Bob Parsons, president and founder of domain registrar GoDaddy.com, who sends occasional e-mail updates out to GoDaddy registrants.

So what’s the big deal? With no hearings, no consultation with domain registrars, and no due process of any kind, the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NITA) has reversed the policy of making .us domains available to the public. Worse, they’ve decreed that holders of these domains will no longer be able to keep their personal information private.

Parson’s e-mail message gives some of the details:   (more…)

Today the United States Supreme Court is hearing a landmark case that will represent the final word on whether or not, under current laws, P2P software makers can be held liable for illegal file sharing on their networks.

CNet News reports that justices were critical of the entertainment industry’s position in their questioning:

“What you are suggesting is unlawful expropriation of property as a kind of start-up capital,” said Justice Anthony Kennedy. “From an economic standpoint and legal standpoint, that sounds wrong.”

ABC News offers further insight into the proceedings:

During a lively argument, justices wondered aloud whether such lawsuits might have discouraged past inventions like copy machines, videocassette recorders and iPod portable music players all of which can be used to make illegal duplications of copyrighted documents, movies and songs.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the same software that can be used to steal copyrighted materials offered at least conceptually “some really excellent uses” that are legal.

Justice Antonin Scalia maintained that a ruling for entertainment companies could mean that if “I’m a new inventor, I’m going to get sued right away.”

Two previous lower court rulings have already sided with software companies StreamCast Networks (makers of KazzaaMorpheus) and Grokster. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications on the interface between intellectual property law, the entertainment industry, and the technology industry.

It may not, however, be the final word. CNet comments that many observers expect the entertainment lobby to take its case to Congress if they lose in the court system. Any ruling on today’s case wouldn’t necessarily preempt laws passed in the future. It will, however, set a precedent one way or the other. Any future law would have to step carefully around a ruling against the entertainment companies or risk getting overturned in the courts based on precedent.

According to Beta News, a final decision on the case is not expected until June. Those wishing to keep tabs on the case may want to bookmark this Google News search.

Details on Adobe’s next version of Photoshop leaked onto the company’s web site prematurely over the weekend. The press release, dated April 4, was captured in Google’s cache and discovered by people searching for information on the upcoming release. Before long, copies of the press release had reached technology rumor sites like Neowin and Beta News.

The press release is now gone from both the Adobe web site and the Google cache, but is reproduced here for your enjoyment:   (more…)

A collection of strange links about science and technology that I’ve happened across over the weekend.

Painful death has never been so cuddly as it is at GIANTmicrobes.com

• Dog Condoms — The humane alternative to neutering and spaying! Available “at major pet stores and convenience markets by the beginning of 2006.” Comes in regular and meat-scented varieties.
• Vampire bats only known bat species to run on ground — “Riskin started out studying how bats of various species move across a surface, which they generally do badly. The least effective of them ‘just smack their wings against the ground and freak out,’ never successfully taking a step, he says.” Not the vamps, though. They started jogging along in a bounding gait at speeds up to 1.2 meters per second. And you thought they were creepy in the air. See article for freaky pictures.
• Vintage Vespa pin-up girls — For you guys that get really excited about little European scooters.
• History of Robots in the Victorian Era — Packed with period photos and illustrations. The most interesting section concerns “Boilerplate.” Built in 1893, this mechanical man was powered by what seems to have been a primitive fuel cell technology using lead and reduced sulfur. Not very environmentally friendly, but way ahead of its time for sure.
• GIANTmicrobes.com — Must be seen to be believed. These things freak me right the fuck out.

(Props: Life in the Present, Exclamation Mark, and Entertainment Weekly magazine)

J. Diego may be the best haiku artist you’ve never heard of. Check out these gems:

Element

cold buzzing red glow
martini shaped noble tubes
neon miracle

the boiling water
outside the chemistry class
dropped the lithium

rare earth actinide
tribute to the golden state
californium

Fester

mouth lightbulb like sun
christopher lloyd’s marquee role
this sexy bald man

chill night in graveyard
while gomez blows up his trains
brother digs for bones

autumn slanting light
on new yorkers of my youth
monk-robed cartoon ghoul

Go read more now. You can thank me later.