Bizjournals.com reports that Alcatel-Lucent told a jury it is owed almost $2 billion for Microsoft Corp.’s use of the standard technology for playing music and audio files on a computer…If Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent wins, the way could be cleared for legal actions against the many other companies that rely on MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 technology, commonly [...]
Apple has been ordered to pay almost $700,000 (Ars Technica, MacNN) for the legal fees of the reporters it sued to find out who their confidential sources were. There are lots of Apple users on the Progressive Left, people who claim to value freedom of speech for its own sake. I ask you: Is this [...]
Today, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) hosted a forum with Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) book authors and veterans of the Iraq war. They had a significant and thorough discussion of what has happened up to now in Iraq. The discussion included explanations of financial and ideological reasons why the administration is pro-war. Which news outlets will give [...]
BadVista.org, an FSF campaign to “advocate for the freedom of computer users, opposing adoption of Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free (as in freedom) software alternatives.” is hosting two actions to coincide with the release of Microsoft Windows Vista in New York City tomorrow at 11am and 2pm. If you can make it, please do [...]
I’m told that Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” is one of the most popular places younger viewers get their news. More popular than late night chat shows and corporate news outlets, not that either of those shows make better choices. I watched the 2007 January 25 show with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) to see what [...]
Blogger “Spocko” recorded and cited instances where Disney-owned KSFO-AM radio hosts Brian Sussman, Melanie Morgan, and Tom Brenner called for tortures and killings, used racist language, and aired speech against KSFO advertisers. Visa pulled their ads due to Spocko’s involvement and now apparently Disney fears that more advertisers will pull their ads too. Disney has [...]
If you’re British, please sign this UK government petition to tell the Prime Minister to make software patents clearly unenforcible before 20 February. If this petition helps you stay clear of the madness Americans have (most likely unknowingly) brought upon themselves, it’s a good thing. Software patents are government-issued monopolies on ideas used in software [...]
The 23rd Chaos Communication Congress (23C3) has ended and videos are available under the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Germany” (BY-NC-ND) license (local copy). They’ve published their videos in Ogg Vorbis+Theora and other formats as well. One of the highlights is a talk from Prof. Lawrence Lessig of Stanford University on “Code vs. Culture” (audio+video, audio). [...]
GNU Software Freedom Law Center FSF blogs Electronic Frontier Foundation Nina Paley Richard Stallman