Watt Evans = 1 / Nay-Sayers = 0
As some of you may or may not know, I’ve been following with interest the progress of Lawrence Watt Evans’ Spriggan Experiment. For those of you who aren’t familiar with LWE, he is a fantasy/sci-fi author whose cannon includes a number of titles that I think are exemplary; his writing style is informal and fun, and he’s the master of the super-interesting premise –...
Read MoreMPAA High on the Peyote?
Something is seriously wrong with the MPAA… You’ve probably already heard about the recent MPAA decision to sue people for linking to stuff. If you haven’t heard about this foolishness, it’s worth looking it up… About a month ago, he MPAA decided to sue a basketful of Usenet and Torrent related web sites for facilitating illegal downloads. What’s really...
Read MoreIdiots with Initiative
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: there’s nothing more dangerous than an idiot with initiative. Sony is now recalling all CD’s protected by their controversial DRM technology. This is probably a good thing, since folks digging around the uninstaller noticed the fact that the rootkit removal tool is itself a rootkit. No, seriously – it’s an ActiveX,...
Read MoreSony’s Rootkit: Miller Time Already?
Last week gave us an interesting behind the scenes look into how content companies approach the ongoing copyright debate: we saw the Sony rootkit get exposed by the technology community, judged in the court of public opinion, and subsequently get left on the side of the road. So now Sony has promised to keep their CD’s free of noxious content (at least as far as software goes –...
Read MoreCA one, DRM zero
All of us are following the Sony DRM “rootkit” issue, right? Since this story broke, I’ve been asking the question if Sony’s DRM software is going to be considered “malware” by the AV/spyware players. CA has answered that question for us, and the answer is “yes, it most certainly is”. They’ve added it to the CA Spyware Encyclopedia, and has...
Read MoreRIP Grokster [2001-2005]
In case anybody’s paying attention, Grokster has shut their doors. Their website is down and their service is inaccessible. I guess everybody already knew this was coming, so there should be no surprises. On a related note, Ed Felten has an interesting take on some of of the recent RIAA legal activity...
Read MoreRIAA cracks down on the disabled and single-moms
Hey, feel like getting angry? Worth reading is Wired’s take on the litigation activities of the RIAA. They’re apparently “cracking down” on the criminal masterminds of digital piracy; namely: single moms, the disabled, and the elderly. Looks like Granny Crabtree’s been downloading Jim Nabors hymns again – maybe 10 years on a chain gang will turn her off her...
Read MoreMore on Spriggans
OK, in case you missed my comments about this before, Lawrence Watt-Evans, seriously cool fantasy author, is in the middle of an experiment he calls The Spriggan Experiment. Spriggans are harmless semi-intelligent frog-like creatures that crawl out of an enchanted mirror located in the mountains of the small kingdoms – you see, when Tobas found the castle outside the world… well, I...
Read MoreCame across this one by accident
Along with the rest of the world, I’ve been gearing up these past few days for the upcoming release of the next installment of everybody’s favorite young wizard. In the process of delving into the fantastical, I happened across an online serial fantasy tale from Lawrence Watt Evans, being released under the auspices of Schneier’s Street Performer Protocol. This is interesting,...
Read MoreTuesday September 7, 2010
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