Author: Admin

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Oral arguments in the landmark case of MGM v. Grokster legal battle were heard before the Supreme Court of the United States March 29. In the case, 28 entertainment companies have joined together to sue StreamCast, maker of Morpheus software, and Grokster.

A final ruling is expected on the case within a few months. The issue heard before the court was an appeal of prior decisions made since 2001 at the U.S. district court level and from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Both of those decisions were in favor of Grokster’s right to market its P2P software.

P2P stands for peer-to-peer software, which uses the Internet as a medium for millions of users to distribute digital content, such as music, movies, books, and software, among themselves. By far the majority of the content distributed through this method is without the permission of the copyright holder.

Morpheus is one of the most-popular peer-to-peer software products worldwide. StreamCast also operates MusicCity.com. Lawyers from the EFF Foundation (www.eff.org) are serving as defense counsel in the case.

The result of this case could determine the ultimate fate of P2P software in the U.S., whether it is legal for software companies to produce and sell software that, in the opinion of some, facilitates profit illegally from the trade in copyrighted materials. However, even if illegal in America, such software might still be widely available from international hosts due to technological limitations of enforcing such a ruling. The companies behind this effort are aiming to hold technological innovators legally responsible for infringing uses of their technology.

“About 36 million Americans — or 27 percent of internet users—say they download either music or video files and about half of them have found ways outside of traditional peer-to-peer networks or paid online services to swap their files”. As a measure of public opinion on the issue, they stated, “49% of all Americans and 53% of internet users believe that the firms that own and operate file-sharing networks should be deemed responsible for the pirating of music and movie files,” according to Pew Internet & American Life Project in their most recent survey,

The landmark Betamax decision of 1984 (Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios) is the most relevant U.S. case law in this matter (note: the precedent Betamax case supports the legality of P2P netowrks). A decision in the MGM v. Grokster case could either affirm Betamax, or overturn it. This is the case that essentially created the VCR market in America for distributing movies at home, and so in this modern technologically updated version, there are billions of dollars in future revenues now at stake.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Chinese officials have said that their country’s exports surged last December to edge out Germany as the world’s biggest exporter.

The official Xinhua news agency reported today that figures from the General Administration for Customs showed that exports jumped 17.7% in December from a year earlier. Over the whole of 2009 total Chinese exports reached US$1.2 trillion, above Germany’s forecast $1.17 trillion.

Huang Guohua, a statistics official with the customs administration, said the December exports rebound was an important turning point for China’s export sector. He commented that the jump was an indication that exporters have emerged from their downslide.

“We can say that China’s export enterprises have completely emerged from their all-time low in exports,” he said.

However, although China overtook Germany in exports, China’s total foreign trade — both exports and imports — fell 13.9% last year.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Canadian police officers who thought they were saving Van Halen singer David Lee Roth’s life in May have now learned that they were assisting an impostor.

On May 23, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers near Brantford, Ontario stopped a vehicle that was travelling abnormally. They discovered a driver who identified himself as “David Lee Roth” who was having medical trouble. The driver was taken to Brantford General Hospital for treatment of anaphylaxis, reportedly caused by a peanut allergy.

Following his treatment and release from hospital, the man accompanied two nurses to a local bar, Liquid Lounge, where he sung the Van Halen song “Ice Cream Man” with a local band.

But it was since determined that Roth was performing with Van Halen in New York City on the evening that the incident occurred. A statement was issued through Roth’s publicist denying that he was in Ontario and that the singer is not allergic to peanuts. The OPP officers at the time of the incident did not seek identification of the impostor due to concern over the man’s medical condition, but are now aware of his real identity.

See the discussion page for instructions on adding schools to this list and for an alphabetically arranged listing of schools.

Due to the damage by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding, a number of colleges and universities in the New Orleans metropolitan area will not be able to hold classes for the fall 2005 semester. It is estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 students have been displaced. [1]. In response, institutions across the United States and Canada are offering late registration for displaced students so that their academic progress is not unduly delayed. Some are offering free or reduced admission to displaced students. At some universities, especially state universities, this offer is limited to residents of the area.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

In the United Kingdom, The Carphone Warehouse, Celebrity Big Brother’s sponsor, has pulled out after some of the reality TV show’s contestants were accused of racism, with which the company did not want to be associated. The Perfume Shop has announced they will withdraw the perfume Shh… of Jade Goody, one of the contestants accused of bullying with a racist undertone. Motorcycle insurance company Bennetts unilaterally terminated its deal with former Miss England Danielle Lloyd to front an advertisement campaign.

The accusations centre around recent comments made by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O’Meara (a former member of pop act S Club 7) about Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. The racism row was sparked by Jade’s mother, who referred to Shilpa as “the Indian”, instead of calling her by her name. She also asked Shilpa: “Do you live in a house or a shack?” There have been remarks over her accent, her alleged lack of hygiene when cooking, and reactions because she touched the food of housemates with her hands. Danielle Lloyd said: “You don’t know where those hands have been.” Lloyd also commented to Goody about the Indian actress: “She wants to be white”.

When asked about the incident in the Diary Room, Shetty said “…I don’t feel there was any racial discrimination happening from Jade’s end. I think there are a lot of insecurities from her end but it’s definitely not racial.”

Hertfordshire Police, the constabulary within which the Big Brother House falls, have received numerous formal complaints they will be investigating. Politicians, other celebrities, and fans spoke of their disgust as the UK media regulator Ofcom received a record number of complaints that rose tonight to 33,000. The Commission for Racial Equality is investigating if the footage was manipulated to deliberately imply racism.

Labour Party MP Keith Vaz even proposed a motion in the House of Commons condemning the abuse. He said “If this racist behaviour goes on, they [Jo O’Meara, Danielle Lloyd and Jade Goody] should be asked to leave”. Chancellor Gordon Brown, currently on tour in India, told reporters in Bangalore: “I want to reassure people that what British people are proud of is our reputation for tolerance and fairness.” Others believe this reflects a racist tendency in British our Western society in general. The newspaper Times of India ran the headline “Big(ot) Brother bullies Shilpa”. “What is happening in Big Brother is just holding the mirror to the western society. This is the real, discriminating face of the West.”, was the reaction of Bollywood film director Mahesh Bhatt. Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, accused Channel 4 of damaging the country’s reputation.

The show was recently losing viewers, but as a result of the controversy, viewing rates are up for the program.