Sabam vs Scarlet
The First Instance Court of Brussels stated that ISP Scarlet (ex Tiscali) has an obligation to implement technical measures in order to disallow its users to illegally download copyrighted files.
The case can be summarized as follows. Belgian society of authors, composers and publishers, SABAM, sued Scarlet, an access provider. “A lot of Internet users are massively downloading copyrighted works, by way of P2P software, without the authors, composers and publishers having authorised it or having been remunerated,” said a statement from SABAM. “If all Belgian Internet access providers would adopt the technical measures proposed by the expert so that P2P software could no longer be used for exchanging copyright works, this would put an end to the illegal traffic as Belgium is concerned.”
The court has decided that Scarlet need now to implement one or more technical measures in order to stop the copyright infringement, by making it impossible for its subscribers to send or receive music files from the repertoire of Sabam via p2p software. Scarlet also needs to inform Sabam on the technical measures that will be implemented. The decision needs to be implemented in 6 months, or the ISP must pay 2.500 euros/day as damages for non-compliance.
Internet provider Scarlet now strikes back with an appeal.
They figured out that installing the blocking tools and filters would be ten times more expensive than just paying the daily non-compliance fee.
Also Scarlet claims that implementing this technology also restricts the use of ‘legal’ P2P software. For instance, during the summer of 2007, the television network VRT streamed the Tour de France online using P2P.
A lot of issues are at stake here, and it will be really interesting to see what the outcome of the appeal will be.
PC Gameplay Settlers entry poem
Below is my entry for the PC Gameplay Settlers competition.
I read the rules wrong, and thought it was limited to 200 words, but instead it’s 200 characters. But I like the little poem I wrote and submitted it anyway.
So here’s the text (poem) for the screenshot (it’s in Dutch for the people interested):
Er was eens een koning, een koning te paard.
Hij leek oh zo oud, zo oud en bejaard.
Eens om de vier dagen, vier dagen zo lang.
Riep hij komaan! Komaan ‘k heb drang!Dan moesten de mensen, de mensen van’t stad.
Stofstijf stilstaan, stilstaan op’t pad.
Dagen en nachten, nachten zo koud.
Ik zie het nog voor me, zo zonder brandhout.Tot op de dag, de dag der verlossing.
Hadden we eindelijk, eindelijk ‘n oplossing.
En daarom dat wij, wij mensen van’t stad.
De koning zijn paard, stiekem hadden gejat.Een barbecue hier, een barbecue daar.
En bewijsmateriaal, was niet meer toonbaar.
Nu zit ik hier warm, warm en voldaan.
En ben ik sindsdien, niet meer buiten moeten gaan.
David letterman destroys Paris Hilton
What would we do without YouTube?
This story is on the first page of Digg at the moment.
It’s David Letterman interviewing Paris Hilton and in a way she didn’t expect. Pretty funny.
And while we’re at it, another YouTube video of Conan O’Brian interviewing M. Manson
Gimme gimme free stuff
The competition at David Airey’s blog is finished and the winners have been published.
And lo and behold, I’m on of them!
I won a 2 GB USB Storage Key.
Okay, I was hoping for an Apple notebook, but let’s not get picky ok?
I’m curious how he’s going to send it over to me.
But do take a look at all the prices he’s giving away. That’s some serious stuff.
An excellent way to drive traffic and buzz to your blog, but also a possibly expensive choise you have to make. One way of avoiding this is seeking out sponsors (like David Airey did) that donate stuff for you to give away.
Take for instance Sitefever.com.
This is a site that became fairly successfull is a small amount of time. The owner did all sort of unorthodox things that gave him buzz and traffic. Unfortunately, he sold the site a while ago because of his lack of time. So now the site is being published by some other guy that tries to follow in his footsteps. And I do mean tries …
Come back John W Robinson! Sitefever needs you!