As I read the linked correspondence, the Court is saying, "well, since all the documents are available on your website, I guess we don't need to keep them on our servers too".

Which is debatable, but not as crazy as the post seems to imply. And the point that a blob of text is not a replacement for a search and gloss service is convincing.

That doesn't mean the public records aren't valuable though. They form the necessary foundation for someone to create a free and open search service for what absolutely should be free public information.

I can't erase the image in my minds eye: waves of 3rd generation versions of these things in MARPAT camo paint armed with self-sighting submachine guns scaling hills and killing me and my brown-skinned fellows while distant groups of human officers with laptops hydrate and wait for the show to end.

Ditto bitemenow @7. Looks like I'm in the market for a new registrar. Does anybody have any strong candidates for a cheap/reliable alternative?

And I don't even need freedom-loving. Just technically competent and freedom-tolerating will do.

I ran into this as a prospective grad-student researcher at the University of Michigan, last september 11th, as it turned out. I initially declined to sign (I'm Canadian. Why do I have pledge to the US Constitution to do research in a university?). With considerable help from the university ombudsperson we eventually established that the requirement for the signing does indeed date back to McCarthy, and is now buried so deeply in the core operating guidelines of the university that there is no getting out of it under any circumstances. I blogged the whole deal here:

hughstimson.org/2006/09/13/succumbing-to-the-constitution-on-sept-11/

Funnily enough, back when I was working at UC Davis, I asked them if I could not sign because I wasn't American and they said "okay".

I positively assert that for functional art to be art it has to be functional. Go ahead, try to convince me otherwise.

To: savoie.d@parl.gc.ca
CC: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca
Subject: pending copyright legislation

Hi Denise,

I’m informed by the internets that Minister Prentice is preparing to re-introduce his copyright legislation bill. Although details are scarce, previews suggest that Minister Prentice has succumbed to the temptation of lobby money to write a law which would entrench the obsolete business models of the music industry and other content middlemen at the expense of the production and exchange of art, culture and education.

Resistance by Canadian people has been overwhelming, despite a lack of formal public input. All of the support for the bill appears to come from international corporations and their representatives, who have purchased access to the political process. As my representative, I know I can count on you to push back against the criminalization of art, culture and innovation.

thanks much,

Hugh

I'm going on the air in 30 minutes, and this is totally getting worked into the setbreaks.

Oh lord, here comes the emotion-engineers. Hey look, I'm happy! How did that happen! Oh well, might as well ride the high right through my interaction with this ATM. Later I'll probably really enjoy failing to find the supervisory contact information on the bank's website so I can explain my overdraft. And on the way to the internet cafe, I know the "service engine immediately" light has a certain exquisite size and shape that just gives me a whimsical lift...

I'm a big fan of the obsidian scalpel.

www.finescience.com/commerce/ccc1065-obsidian-scalpels.htm

To paraphrase William Gibson, the past is still here, it just isn't equally distributed.

It's so frustrating that we have to carve out time to fight these corporate power grabs from our too-busy days, when the control-collectors on the other side have the luxury of working full time at it. I barely have the spare energy to learn about this stuff, let alone take action on it. When did Canada start filling up with lobbyists anyway?

I guess we do it the way we've always done it: a whole bunch of us chipping in a little spare time versus a tiny few of them doing it professionally. Maybe the internet makes our distributed effort a little more effective. I guess we'll find out.

I'll stop grumbling and start emailing.

One advantage of a minority government is if I can motivate my NDP MP she actually has the option of making a difference.

It's a lo-tek hi-fun idea that repurposes one of the most ubiquitous byproducts of the industrial era, the used tire. You can see these in every second farm house yard back home in rural ontario. I guess it's spread right across north america, or I wonder if it was invented a few different times in different places?

DaveX: "Sounds like she's been taking notes from Le Guin..."

Literally. Try reading LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy and then switch real quick to the Harry Potter books. See if there isn't a certain familiarity of theme.

I would say the Harry Potter books are a particularly good example of why it is normal and necessary and good for authors to "take an author's hard work, re-organize their characters and plots, and sell them for their own commercial gain". I think it's commonly called "writing".

Why the panic? Their behavioral indicators are scientifically tested. Science is right, by definition.

My instinct is to demand that a government entity stop charging Canadians for using what belongs to them by right of citizenship and taxes. "You can't charge royalties for flying the maple leaf flag", etc. But then of course the Mint isn't quite a government entity, it's a "crown corporation", which has the monopoly rights and claim to legitimacy of the government, without the public accountability and oversight that usually go along with public service. Somehow our money belongs to somebody other than our actual elected government. Huh?

I suppose it could be worse: we could sell off the mint completely to a private company, a la BC Ferries.

Presumably finding a crack for this protection will become a prime target for coders looking for a challenge. I'm guessing most of them own ipods, and many of them run linux, or at least don't use iTunes. Imagine the status of being the guy/girl who unshackled the world's millions of ipods! I expect a working method within a few months, tops. Maybe a little longer depending on uptake of the 6G pods.

The sticky part will be implementation. With the DMCA being what it is, and most of the good music players based out of the US, few of them will want to risk criminal charges by building such ipod-accessibility into their software. Perhaps unsupported ipod-cracking add-ons will start circulating? Many good music players support winamp-style extensions, and in many cases that was how ipod support was first integrated into them.