RIAA Wants to Watch

Verizon is fighting RIAA's attempt to enlist the courts in RIAA's desire to watch what we read and write and share. In their brief to the court, Verizon lawyers write,

The extraordinary scope of RIAA's desired construction can only be appreciated when it is understood that (i) everyone can be a copyright owner; and (ii) every transmission on the Internet implicates activities within the scope of the exclusive rights of copyright owners. [...]

If RIAA were correct in its construction [...], the potential for uncontrollable abuse would be enormous. It would not be difficult for any copyright owner (i.e., virtually anyone) to contrive asserted copyright infringements in order to obtain identifying information about private citizens using the Internet.

12:39:07 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []  

August's End

The sky was dark overhead. In the west, a slight sliver of blue-gray sky hung over the horizon. Venus was bright in the sky. As we drove down the highway with the windows down, the hot summer air rushed about us.

In the seat next to me, the wind blew thru Trudy's hair. It whipped about, and every once in a while her hair stood on end. With her arm hanging out the window and the dark sky overhead, with the light of bright Venus peering thru the windshield, the highway took us over Barton Creek.

And there, with the oak and elm and juniper of the greenbelt standing in their nighttime gloom, the temperatures dropped, and the car was suddenly full of coolness, and the wind whipping thru our hair felt good, and it made us smile, and we breathed deeply and hoped that it might stay for a while.

8:25:45 AM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []