Grokster: Scoble's Thoughts

Robert Scoble nails the practicalities of the Grokster decision for software developers. I misread two of his sentences as one in a telling manner, here's how: "I imagine that Bram Cohen will get taken to court to prove that lawyers are expensive." (As originally written, Robert has a period and new sentence starting after "that." I kind of like my version.) Also, Ernie Miller has more good questions, this time about BitTorrent:

How far will a lawsuit under the active inducement standard as articulated in Grokster go with this statement? Will this open the door to discovery? Will this make the addition of search engine (with advertisements) look like a bad act? Will it make trackerless BitTorrent look like a bad design decision?

Grokster: A CTO's Thoughts

Hector Santos, CTO of Santronics Software, Inc., emails his thoughts on yesterday's Grokster decision:

Being one of the original Online File Sharing Hosting systems with our Wildcat! BBS system since the early 80s, this decision was the right and common sense decision. Status quo remains.

We are responsible for uploaded copyrighted material. Its been that way since day one and we should be liable for intentional distribution of unauthorized copyrighted material. Operators need to pay attention to what is uploaded.

Yet, the technology should not be deemed illegal. Its been in place since the first days when you were able to dial up a BBS and unload and download files.

The judgment was the right common sense decision.

Now, probably, if anything, how I can see it effect us, is that we might be more keen on the business model. For example, our software allows operations to setup a membership subscription service. The operator can setup his accounting to provide credit for uploading, and a debit for downloading. But this accounting is based on the "Membership" to the service in general. Not necessarily based on just files sharing.

So what I see possibly happening is a new FILE DESCRIPTION (DES) standard that includes cost and vendor contact concepts. This was actually invented back in the late 80s but it never caught on and by that I mean, the file may include this DES file, but it may not be supported or read by the online or file sharing service.

Sincerely,

Hector Santos, CTO
Santronics Software, Inc.

I'm not familiar with the technical details regarding Santronics, but it sounds to me like it might fall within the realm of ISP liability limitations — though presumably even an ISP would not be immune from liability under the Grokster inducement/intent analysis if the indicators were present.

In Like Flynn

So here it is, apple.com/podcasting: "Welcome to the Golden Age of Podcasting." The podcasting aisle of the iTunes Music Store looks and works like this. If your own podcast or your favorite others are not already in the iTunes directory, you can add them by submitting the RSS feeds — it's not automatic and immediate though, looks like there is a review process. (IT Conversations and The Bag and Baggage Podcast are in there, so Dude! All you need to do is subscribe.) You can also subscribe to shows not in the directory manually from the "Advanced" tab. And there are instructions for using GarageBand to create podcasts, with pointers to Blogger and FeedBurner for blog publishing and RSS services. So far, very, very nice. What would make my day is the ability to import my existing subscription list/OPML file. Anyone figured out if this works?

IT Conversations On Grokster

Now available at IT Conversations, the latest installment of The Importance Of...The Law and IT: MGM v. Grokster, The Supreme Court's Ruling. Thanks Ernie and Charles, I enjoyed our talk.

The Grokking Continues

Very shortly after the decision came out this morning, ZDNet posted this article by John Borland: The Supreme Court's ruling against P2P. Aside from the unfortunately overbroad and thus inaccurate title (the ruling hinged on the record before the court on summary judgment in this case, which, as the article itself points out, the defendants can still win), the article amounts to a concise, plain English FAQ about the case. It doesn't go into the myriad legal ins and outs (the author can't have had much time to even consider them), but it does provide comprehensible answers on most of the Big Picture issues.

The commentary and analysis all day has been an incredibly informative torrent in its own right. JD Lasica, guest-blogging at Ernie Miller's, wants to know what you think, as do I.

C.E. Petit and I are about to record an installment of The Importance Of...Law and IT with Ernie Miller, which should be up later tonight.