Posts Tagged ‘internets’

Working from home - where’s the downside?

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Seriously folks, I worked from home today, and I:

  • Got more done (way more) that I would in the office
  • Was more relaxed
  • Had time to go for a run
  • Managed to run the same presentations and meetings
  • Ate way healthier food than I normally do

I also worked longer and took fewer breaks. I know it’s not exactly rocket science, and everyone is telecommuting these days, but seriously, this is the first time i really hit me that I actually not only concentrate better at home, but actually get more done.

And I have time to read more internet-ey things: Gawker, Youtube (great Obama clip), and BlogTO (a little bit of sxsw-style action in Toronto?), just to name a few.

Talk about speedy enforcement

Monday, July 28th, 2008

So we just got this lovely abuse e-mail from Rogers, based on an e-mail from the Entertainment Software Association. The funny thing is that he was only maybe 10-20% of the way through the three potentially offensive game downloads (I checked his computer right after the e-mail came in). Funny in part because the accusation is that he’s distributing or selling the software, when… sure, he probably is dishing out little bits here and there, but he doesn’t actually have the whole thing to give away. Also they seem to associate the tracker URL with us, which is just completely wrong.

Notice E-mail:

Dear Luke Walker

Rogers Cable (Rogers) has received a notice stating that activities associated with your IP address are infringing copyright in material(s) owned or exclusively licensed by others.

The full notice is appended to this e-mail below.

Under section 4(d) of the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet End User Agreement (EUA) and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), you are prohibited from using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service to engage in illegal activities, including activities that infringe copyright.  Copies of our EUA and AUP are available at:

http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static?.form=terms&.intl=ca

Where there has been a violation of our EUA and/or AUP, including the unauthorized distribution of copyright-protected material, Rogers has the right to take appropriate action against you.

If you have any questions about the attached copyright notice, please contact the sender of the notice using the contact information provided in the notice.  Please do not reply to this e-mail.

We trust you will comply with our policies and all applicable laws in using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service.

Rogers EUA Management Team
Sincerely,

EUA Management Team
Rogers Yahoo Hi-Speed Internet

http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static?.form=terms
00798035

—–BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE—–
Hash: SHA1

Entertainment Software Association
575 7th Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20004 USA

Attention:  Intellectual Property Enforcement
Telephone:  202-223-2400
E-mail:  mailto:esa@copyright-compliance.com?subject=RE%3A%20Notice%20ID%3A%20182%2D48817084%20ESA%20Canada%20Notice

28 Jul 2008 04:01:48 GMT

ISP: Rogers Cable Communications Inc.
ESA Reference Number: 182-48817084

Dear Rogers Cable Communications Inc.:

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is a trade association that represents the intellectual property interests of numerous companies that publish interactive games for video game consoles, personal computers, handheld devices and the Internet in the United States of America, in Canada, and in other countries (collectively referred to as ESA members).  ESA is authorized to act on behalf of ESA members whose copyright and other intellectual property rights it believes to be infringed as described herein.

ESA is providing this letter of notification to make Rogers Cable Communications Inc. aware of material on its network or system that infringes the exclusive copyright rights of and is unlawful towards one or more ESA members.

ESA members are entitled to the full protection of Canadian intellectual property laws, including the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42, as amended, in such entertainment software products.

Based on the information at its disposal on 28 Jul 2008 03:13:23 GMT, ESA has a good faith belief that 99.233.14.223 infringes the rights of one or more ESA members by offering for sale or download unauthorized copies of game products protected by copyright, or offering for sale or download material that is the subject of infringing activities.  The copyrighted works that have been infringed include but are not limited to:

Title: SimCity Societies
Infringement Source: BitTorrent
Infringement Timestamp: 28 Jul 2008 03:13:23 GMT
Infringement Last Documented: 28 Jul 2008 03:13:23 GMT
Infringer Username:
Infringing Filename: Simcity.Societies.Deluxe-RELOADED
Infringing Filesize: 2823979146
Infringer IP Address: xx.xxx.xx.xxx
Infringer DNS Name: cpe000fb5785e0f-cm001692f4f318.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com
Infringing URL: http://tracker.mightynova.com/announce

The unauthorized copies of such game product(s) or the material that is the subject of infringing activities appears on or is made available through xx.xxx.xx.xxx.  Those items are listed and/or identified thereon by their titles or variations thereof, game-related listings/references/descriptions, or depictions of game-related artwork.  Such copies, titles, game-related listings/references/descriptions, depictions, and material that is the subject of infringing activities, are hereinafter referred to as “Infringing Material.”

Accordingly, ESA hereby requests Rogers Cable Communications Inc. to immediately do the following:

1.    Notify the account holder of the Infringing Material.
2.     Remove, or disable access to, the Infringing Material detailed above.
3.     Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms
of Service Agreement, including termination of a repeat offender.

Please inform us whether you will remove or disable access to the Infringing Material as requested.  Rogers Cable Communications Inc. or the account holder may contact ESA at the above-listed contact details, with email preferred.  Please include the above-noted Reference Number in the subject line of all email correspondence.

Thank you for your cooperation and prompt response in this matter.

Sincerely,

Intellectual Property Enforcement
Entertainment Software Association

Become a Copyfighter

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

I just this great comic on Boing Boing. It does an amazing job of explaining the controversy surrounding the Conservatives’ on-again-off-again copyright amendment legislation, and provides a ton of links to great opinion pieces (including this great blog post from Howard Knopf, mentioning that if anyone is beholden to the US, it’s Israel, and they’ve managed to move away from DCMA-style legislation, why can’t we?), new sources, and ways that you can take action. Lots and lots and lots of really good information/background.

Two great sources for actions you can take:

I’ve sent emails to most of the people on Michael Geist’s lists, but need to follow up with some real paper letters. Been a LONG time since I bothered sending one of those.

Doing good in the world as a meme

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

Sadly, I missed the LOL-related panel (lolcats, lolsecrets, lolcode, lolbible), but I did get to the panel about pwning for the betterment of mankind. It was… a bit too serious. And in fairness, they were trying to deal with some serious stuff… net neutrality, the CIA, etc etc etc. But I didn’t think some of the panelists (iJustine…) really contributed much. ACLU guy made some really passionate points, particularly about how memes/microcelebrities need to work together to push causes, and how involvement from an org like the ACLU can only serve to make any efforts seem cornier/less authentic (echoing David Weinberger’s excellent point from yesterday that perfection is the enemy of credibility in the era of user-generated content).

I was really interested in the Bubble Project, which I hadn’t heard of before yesterday. Basically the ad exec spent a few grand of his on money and put big empty speech bubbles on ads around New York so that people could fill in their own captions… Kate took a bunch, I can only assume she’ll be putting them up around Toronto.

Leslie Hall was pretty quiet throughout (though check my flickr/youtube for some excellent bored/shocked poses), until someone started asking about the impact she thinks she having on the lives of girls with self-esteem/confidence issues.


As much as I love her just because she’s hilarious, she’s also probably really empowering for a whole lot of people. Oh, and watch for some pics/video of Leslie in concert, too!!

Cool backchannel thing: http://roflcon.backchan.nl — Ask a question, people vote it up or down, and it ends up on the big screen… then they actually answer them!

Oh, and check out Kate’s first guest blog on Spark!

“Revenge Against 100 Years of Broadcast”

Friday, April 25th, 2008

The first day of ROFLcon is done. My highlight: meeting Leslie Hall, 100%, for sure. Doesn’t get much hotter than that! But seriously, she’s great, and Kate got to have an amazing chat with her (I missed out because I was visiting my friend Diana, but tomorrow, we’re hoping to interview Leslie’s mom!!)

The interesting thing about ROFLcon is that no one can really put there finger on what it is just yet. It’s a joke that’s gone too far, but at the same time, there’s some really, really deep stuff coming out, and ultimately, memes/internet celebrities are becoming a really important force in our culture, so figuring ‘it’ out is actually really important. David Weinberger (video to come, I promise–the Internet in this hotel is crap), made some really interesting points in his keynote about the future of fame… Wow, my brain is starting to die a bit (time to go to the lol concert!)… The title quote, “revenge against 100 years of broadcast” was his reflection on the insanity that’s happening today, and in an interview later in the day (this is where the video-to-come comes in… watch for an update), he made some great points about the very different nature of an accessible, grassroots fame vs. the old-school constructed form of Hollywood fame.

The moral of the story is that we can all be microcelebrities. Or really, that we will all be microcelebrities, and that everyone with a blog or a flickr account or who shares video on youtube is famous to someone, whether or not we know it, and that long tail of fame is pretty much what we’re celebrating here at roflcon.

Update: In case there was any doubt, Web 2.0 is over. Thanks for making it official, Valley Wag.