a Quinta 's weblog : un Blog di Stefano Quintarelli

PI: Lawrence Lessig e gli abusi dell'uso legittimo

Interessante articolo di Gaia Bottà

Larry Lessig (dopo scambio di notice e counternotice) denunciato per violazione del diritto d'autore

PI: Lawrence Lessig e gli abusi dell'uso legittimo.

Il brano in oggetto, Lisztomania, della band francese Phoenix, rappresentava secondo Lessig un esempio calzante di quanto la pratica del mashup, supportata dalle leggi che tutelano l'uso legittimo delle opere...

non condiviso dall'etichetta australiana Liberation Music, che detiene i diritti sul brano. Liberation Music, approfittando del meccanismo delle takedown notice, ha chiesto la rimozione della presentazione di Lessig che conteneva le note di Lisztomania. Lessig, convinto che il video della propria presentazione fosse perfettamente lecito, ha risposto a YouTube con una counternotice per difendere la propria posizione nei confronti dell'etichetta.

Liberation Music, di nuovo, non è stata concorde: con una lettera inviata con la mediazione di YouTube ha intimato a Lessig la rimozione del video, ritrovandosi a spiegare al giurista esperto in diritto d'autore quali possano essere le conseguenze di una violazione del copyright, avvertendolo dell'avvio di un procedimento legale.E processo sia: Lessig... ha deciso di combattere una volta per tutte. Affiancato da un legale di EFF, il giurista ha chiesto che il video postato su YouTube venga dichiarato lecito
.../...

Danni collaterali del filtraggio di Internet (Financial Times)

Anti-piracy drive sees Premier League mistakenly block websites - FT.com.

The Premier League’s battle against copyright infringing websites went badly wrong this week when it mistakenly caused UK internet providers to block hundreds of unrelated websites, including those of Blackburn Rovers and the Radio Times.

Ahead of the new football season’s kick-off on Saturday, the Premier League last month won a court order to prevent British internet users accessing First Row Sports, a Swedish website offering video streams of football games around the world.

But in its attempt to block the pirate site, the Premier League mistakenly asked the UK’s six biggest internet service providers – including BT, Virgin Media and Sky – to block an internet protocol address that is used by hundreds of other companies.

The blunder shows how the UK’s move towards court-enforced web blocking can have unintended consequences for online businesses and web users.

articolo interessante, anche data la fonte.

Snowden: UK government now leaking documents about itself | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | theguardian.com

la cosa si fa sempre più complicata.
speriamo che tutti continuino a godere di buona salute e guidino con cautela.

Snowden: UK government now leaking documents about itself | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | theguardian.com.

The Independent this morning published an article - which it repeatedly claims comes from "documents obtained from the NSA by Edward Snowden" - disclosing that "Britain runs a secret internet-monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept and process vast quantities of emails, telephone calls and web traffic on behalf of Western intelligence agencies." This is the first time the Independent has published any revelations purportedly from the NSA documents, and it's the type of disclosure which journalists working directly with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have thus far avoided. That leads to the obvious question: who is the source for this disclosure? Snowden this morning said he wants it to be clear that he was not the source for the Independent stating:

I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent. The journalists I have worked with have, at my request, been judicious and careful in ensuring that the only things disclosed are what the public should know but that does not place any person in danger. People at all levels of society up to and including the President of the United States have recognized the contribution of these careful disclosures to a necessary public debate, and we are proud of this record.

"It appears that the UK government is now seeking to create an appearance that the Guardian and Washington Post's disclosures are harmful, and they are doing so by intentionally leaking harmful information to The Independent and attributing it to others. The UK government should explain the reasoning behind this decision to disclose information that, were it released by a private citizen, they would argue is a criminal act."

In other words: right as there is a major scandal over the UK's abusive and lawless exploitation of its Terrorism Act - with public opinion against the use of the Terrorism law to detain David Miranda - and right as the UK government is trying to tell a court that there are serious dangers to the public safety from these documents, there suddenly appears exactly the type of disclosure the UK government wants but that has never happened before
...
UPDATE

The Independent's Oliver Wright just tweeted the following:

"For the record: The Independent was not leaked or 'duped' into publishing today's front page story by the Government."

Leaving aside the fact that the Independent article quotes an anonymous "senior Whitehall source", nobody said they were "duped" into publishing anything. The question is: who provided them this document or the information in it? It clearly did not come from Snowden or any of the journalists with whom he has directly worked. The Independent provided no source information whatsoever for their rather significant disclosure of top secret information. Did they see any such documents, and if so, who, generally, provided it to them? I don't mean, obviously, that they should identify their specific source, but at least some information about their basis for these claims, given how significant they are, would be warranted. One would think that they would not have published something like this without either seeing the documents or getting confirmation from someone who has: the class of people who qualify is very small, and includes, most prominently and obviously, the UK government itself.

Le spiate di PRISM "contro il terrorismo" usate invece per tutela del copyright (cose da giustizia ordinaria)

NZ police affidavits show use of PRISM for surveillance - Security - Technology - News - iTnews.com.au.

Police affidavits related to the raid on Kim Dotcom's Mega mansion appear to show that New Zealand police and spy agencies are able to tap directly into United States surveillance systems such as PRISM to capture email and other traffic.

The discovery was made by blogger Keith Ng who wrote on his On Point blog that the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ) requested assistance from the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the country's signals intelligence unit, which is charge of surveilling the Pacific region under the Five-Eyes agreement.

A list of so-called selectors or search terms were provided to GCSB by the police [PDF, redacted] for the surveillance of emails and other data traffic generated by Dotcom and his Megaupload associates.

Niente Windows 8 per l'amministrazione tedesca per rischio backdoor USA

Secondo l'ufficio Federale per la sicurezza informatica della Germania, Windows 8 è inaccettabile per l'amministrazione federale per rischio backdoor per Microsoft ed NSA.

Trusted Computing: Bundesregierung warnt vor Windows 8 | ZEIT ONLINE.

Windows 8 ist ein inakzeptables Sicherheitsrisiko für Behörden und Firmen, warnen Experten der Regierung. Das sogenannte Trusted Computing sei eine Hintertür für die NSA.

Il valore che si nasconde in Telecom Italia

"puro vangelo"
    K. Carson

Telecom Italia SpA (ADR) (TI): Hidden Value In Telecom Italia - Seeking Alpha.

Contrary to Fitch's opinion published on September 26, 2012 titled "Impact of Possible Tel Italia Network Spin-off Unclear" stating that controlling the access network is a major strategic advantage, in fact, regulation prevents exactly such a control. Access is open to everyone and prices are set by regulators. There is no advantage in owning the network.

As such, the network's value is hidden within the incumbents' corporate structure. This value could be raised by separating it and running it separately. One being run as an independent network company, selling its network capacity pro rata to users at an equal price, the other focused on reselling network capacity.

The idea is not new. BT Group (BT), the UK telecom incumbent, set the precedent for network separation in Europe back in 2005, bundling its network activities in a separate division named Openreach. Three years later (2008), TI followed this lead and gathered its network management and development activities in a single entity named Open Access. Unfortunately, BT as well as TI have not been willing to risk the next step.

...

To sum it up: since privatization, investing in TI and in the telecom sector in general has been a losing game. It's a capital intensive business with high operating costs and CAPEX needs, coupled with very insecure return prospects. The break-up of the incumbent's current structure will result in two investable business models and in more transparency. Investors will be given the choice of either investing in the stable utility-like network company or in the more volatile service business. The odds have considerably increased for TI investors. If this plan goes through it could become a lead for the sector.

Una raccolta dati dell'NSA giudicata incostituzionale dalla corte competente

ricordo male o qualcuno che ha il compito di proteggere la costituzione aveva detto che era tutto legale ? mi sa che questa vicenda non e' finita.

NSA gathered thousands of Americans’ e-mails before court struck down program - The Washington Post.

The National Security Agency unlawfully gathered as many as tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-discontinued collection program, according to a 2011 secret court opinion.

The 86-page opinion, which was declassified by U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, explains why the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ruled the collection method unconstitutional.

Facial Scanning Is Making Gains in Surveillance - NYTimes.com

Facial Scanning Is Making Gains in Surveillance - NYTimes.com.

The federal government is making progress on developing a surveillance system that would pair computers with video cameras to scan crowds and automatically identify people by their faces, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with researchers working on the project.
...
Although the system is not ready for use, researchers say they are making significant advances. That alarms privacy advocates, who say that now is the time for the government to establish oversight rules and limits on how it will someday be used.
...

The automated matching of close-up photographs has improved greatly in recent years, and companies like Facebook have experimented with it using still pictures.

But even with advances in computer power, the technical hurdles involving crowd scans from a distance have proved to be far more challenging. Despite occasional much-hyped tests, including one as far back as the 2001 Super Bowl, technical specialists say crowd scanning is still too slow and unreliable.

ancora qualche annetto..

Comcast minaccia Torrentfreak, la cosa diventa pubblica, fa marcia indietro e chiede scusa.

Comcast steps in it by sending copyright threat to file-sharing news site (Updated) — Tech News and Analysis.

This one’s a doozy even by the standards of dumb legal campaigns: Comcast is threatening to sue TorrentFreak, a news site about copyright and file-sharing, for publishing a document related to an ongoing court case.

[Update: Comcast has since stated the cease-and-desist was sent in error and apologized.]

I seriosi dubbi della Commissione sull'operato dell'AGCOM.

ho letto la lettera dei "seri dubbi" che la Commissione (la DG CONNECT) esprime sull'operato dell'AGCOM in merito alla riduzione delle tariffe all'ingrosso di Telecom Italia.

francamente gli argomenti non mi sembrano propriamente dei "missili balistici"...

aldilà di aspetti procedurali che mi paiono difendibili trovando riscontri in passato (quando chi è a Bruxelles oggi stava a Roma), l'unico elemento di merito mi pare il WACC usato pari al 9,36% mentre avrebbe potuto usare il 9,83% o il 10,40% (anche questa decisione mi pare difendibile, BTW)

non cambio di una virgola l'opinione che avevo espresso

I nodi e il pettine che si avvicina - a Quinta 's weblog : un Blog di Stefano Quintarelli.

forse i prezzi all'ingrosso definiti da AGCOM saranno confermati, come mi pare probabile, o forse no; forse ne verrà ritardata l'entrata in vigore, forse ci saranno delle lievi modificazioni e forse sul bilancio 2013 gli effetti saranno mitigati.

ma la linea di tendenza mi pare inequivocabile: l'esito della partita è segnato dalla dinamica dei costi e prima o poi i nodi della riduzione delle tariffe all'ingrosso arriveranno pienamente al pettine dei bilanci.