I have long been fascinated with copyright law and the various legal abuses of power that come with creation of original thought. In case you haven’t heard, there has been much talk about the recent appeals court ruling that the Artistic License is a copyright agreement and not a contract or covenant. Here are some of the pages discussing the landmark case:

• Brian D. Foy
• Brian D. Foy (again)
• Lawrence Lessig
• Slashdot
• Groklaw
• The Perl Foundation
• Wired
• InfoWorld
• The Register
• TechDirt
• InternetNews
• InformationWeek
• Washington Post
• New York Times

Needless to say, this is an extremely important win for open source. Actually, it’s even more important to Perl because of its use of the Artistic License (version 2). This basically validates everyone’s effort in open source as a valid (collective) copyright holder even though no currency exchange is required by the license.

So now that the courts have validated the GPLv2 license in the SCO versus everything Linux related and the Artistic License has been validated, it’s safe to say that these are legitimate copyright notices. More importantly, copyright is still enforcable even in an open source community.

It’s ironic because if I tell non-technical people that I contribute to open source, they usually think I am an idiot for “giving something (anything) away for free.” They usually cannot wrap their anachronistic brains around the idea that perhaps it’s possible to have a passion for something that extends beyond any corporate interest.

Not all that glitters is gold.

I promised a while back that I would sift through some of Microsoft’s patents to show how little merit their campaign against Linux really had. Well, I’ve been distracted from doing that lately, so let me explain a bit.

I have lived in 7 apartments since I moved out of my parent’s house 7 years ago. Seems like a few too many, but I actually took advantage of the typical 10 month lease most apartments offered (at the time) and moved into a new apartment every school year. I’ve had 4 roommates, one of which I am married to. I’ve never been evicted, but I have been evacuated before (I’ll have to tell that story later, it’s long). Anyways, the point I’m trying to make is that I am finally getting tired of living in apartments and think that we should start looking for a home of our own.

One thing that’s always bothered me about buying a home though is the Home Owners Association that many neighborhood force upon the owners. I’m not a big fan of someone dictating to me what I am allowed to do with my property so as long as it doesn’t violate state and federal regulations. To make things even less appealing, you have to pay fees and fines to this association. Sure, you get a well manicured entrance and possibly a community pool, but at what cost? Sunshine mentioned a friend of hers was evicted from her home because she did not pay some fines. Knowing this person, I suspect what really happened was the association dues were not paid. While I am not largely concerned with being forced to join a HOA as I have the choice of the neighborhood, I am very interested in the possibility of eviction over fines. I’ve even read that it would be possible for an HOA to foreclose on a home you own entirely, be granted the power of sale, and sell your home (which you own) to recover some fines. That seems extremely unethical and illegal, so let’s explore that some.

I decided to dig around and look into the Texas state regulations regarding property ownership rights and HOA regulations. I first started by finding a local area HOA website and read their CC&R’s (Convenant, Conditions & Restrictions). The HOA regulation that I will cite in the rest of this post refers to the Raven’s Nest neighborhood of Rockwall, TX (east of Dallas).

First let’s start by going over some of the statutes in the Texas Property Code since Texas (specifically, Hayes county) is used as a case study for property rights in the US. The applicable statutes is found in Chapter 209, titled ‘Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act.’ Sifting through that chapter, you’ll find Section 209.009 the most interesting as it states the following:

Sec. 209.009. FORECLOSURE SALE PROHIBITED IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

A property owners’ association may not foreclose a property owners’ association’s assessment lien if the debt securing the lien consists solely of:

1. fines assessed by the association; or
2. attorney’s fees incurred by the association solely associated with fines assessed by the association.

Now, if I’m reading this correctly, an HOA is not allowed to foreclose on a home if the debt in question is based solely on fines from the HOA or legal fees incurred related to said fines. Digging around on the internet, you’ll find that this is in stark contrast to the Inwood North case back in 1985. This basically gave HOA’s in Texas the ability to foreclose on your home when you don’t pay your HOA dues. It’s unclear if these dues are the same as the aforementioned fines or legal fees assessed by the association. There is also the question of what is classified as debt and what is classified as a fine assessed by the association. That treads a very fine line and I bet there needs to be more of a legal precedent to define these terms.

So going back to Raven’s Nest. I took a look at their CC&R and found it to be rather restrictive and it actually contradicts state policy. Have a read, you’ll find that residents aren’t allowed to place any sign visible from the street, are forced to use white or light neutral window coverings, are not allowed basketball goals, and are not allowed to perform any sort of maintenance on their vehicles without prior authorization.

Of particular note is that Raven’s Nest prohibits signs of all nature. This directly violates the Chapter 202 Section 009, which grants all citizens the right to place political signs in the yard when an election is nearing. There are other contradictions, but it’s getting late and I am having a hard time looking for more (feel free to comment to others that I am missing).

In the end, I found that I will read every single article of any HOA rules and regulations as well as finish reading the Texas Property Code, as it applies to a homeowner. The good thing is the state legislature seems to be much more effective in making changes locally than the federal government. I now know that I will have to be in complete agreement with any HOA that I sign. I also intend on taking the system down from the inside out; I’ll probably join the HOA board and try to rectify arbitrary regulations that have little to no effect on the value of property.

A friend of mine and I started a discussion about MP3 support in Windows versus Linux. I haven’t used Windows since I was forced out of my last employment position, so I have been a bit hazy on the minute details of Windows, but the last I recall, there was no solid support for MP3 in Windows at the time.

Well, my friend claimed that Microsoft added support a while back, and he was right. Some time ago, Microsoft started shipping support for the codec after it paid $16 million to the Frauenhofer Institute in what they believed was a license to redistribute. Alcatel-Lucent (then Bell Labs) co-developed the technology with Frauenhofer, and now they are claiming that Microsoft owes them $1.5 billion in back-licensing. The case is bouncing around the patent court system and might possibly leave many companies looking for a free alternative to the MP3 format.

I also heard complaints that it was in fact Linux (CentOS) that lacked support for the said format; I thought it was the other way around. Well, I was partly right. While Microsoft battles out the patent lawsuit with Lucent, the support for MP3 varies in the different Linux distributions. You find that some distributions, such as Gentoo, Ubuntu, Slackware, and Debian, offer support out of the box either through the libmad library or the Fluendo binary GStreamer plugin. Other distributions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (only through non-public officially licensed means) and OpenSUSE offer no support at all.

Worst case scenario, if this sits in the courts long enough, some of the patents will start expiring soon. In the mean time, non-commercial usage of the codec does not require as per the Thompson website. If a Linux distribution chooses not to distribute a codec, it’s because they intend on making an annual profit of more than $100,000. It’s safe to say that most distributions do not have this problem, but Red Hat does so you’ll have to switch to a non-RHEL based distribution (Fedora included).

This is all very shady ground, so while it is still possible to support MP3 in some (if not most) Linux distributions, who knows what legal ground the format currently stands on (Microsoft certainly doesn’t know). Some would argue that MAD might lose it’s ability to distribute under the GPL license if tested in court!

In the end, switch to a non-commercial distribution or use the Fluendo GStreamer binary plugin.

It really grinds my gears every time Mr. Bush opens his ignorant mouth.

I had the unpleasant experience of listening to Mr. Bush’s rhetoric about the war in Iraq and his new plan to fix things. He has landed this country in one giant pile of a putrid mess that is the Middle East. The title of this post basically describes is half-assed approach to the problem.

He still refuses to call it what it is by using the term “sectarian violence.” Say it with me Bush: civil war. That region is about 3 seconds from sliding into an extremely bloody civil war and our presence there is not making matters any better. Let’s face it, it’s fairly clear they will be unable to sustain democracy now and in the distant future as well. The reason behind the violence is far more motivated than land or greed; they kill one another because of religion. Last I checked, it was called a Crusade in my history book, which is a much grander and nobler term than what we have been deeming their war. No matter how you look at it, their war is a war that can only end like a Highlander of religions: there can be only one!

I can’t stand to hear this political leper talk about protecting freedom in a foreign land that obviously doesn’t care. I am sick and tired of Bush using the tried-and-true terrorist scare tactic to make me think I can sleep safe at night. We are not more safe now than before; if anything, we have stirred the hornet’s nest and should expect brutal retaliation.

It’s as if he has a million voices saying the same thing in one ear, and the only thing coming out of his mouth is “stay the course + 21,500.” Wake up Bush, America no longer wants to sacrifice its brave men and women to wage a personal war, that you seem determined to win no matter the cost. If you are going to call this a “war,” fight it with every available man and woman willing to serve. Stop half-assing a solution to a military problem and do something that will actually win the war (note: I feel that increasing the CIA’s eyes and ears in the area with people capable of infiltrating the loosely knit civilian opposition.

I just got done watching the 2006 gubernatorial debate in which Bell (D), Friedman (I), Perry (R), and Strayhorn (I) battled wits on the television. I usually watch debates, but I don’t remember the last one in which half the participants were independents. I am a Libertarian and intend on voting for James Werner on 11/07.

So I noted a few things that I observed during the debate that I thought I would run through in no particular order:

Strayhorn and Friedman avoided answering questions. Most questions were direct and were met with indirect answers and references to either how Perry (or other politicians) have corrupted the government or other unrelated rants. In several of the 15 second answer sections, Strayhorn and Friedman were asked questions in which they did not have answers and instead started spewing campaign rants.

The two independents said a few things that definitely lowered their perceived intelligence. Friedman once said that the “Internet is the work of Satan.” Strayhorn kept saying “in a Strayhorn administration.” Friedman kept saying that politicians are crooked and he wanted to throw them out, he even equated them to “blood sucking parasites.” Friedman refrained from answering the question as to whether his comments that “negro is a colorful word” is borderline racist. Both Bell and Perry refrained from saying anything hair brained.

Okay, so the debate clearly became a campaign propaganda platform for the Independent participants. Perry mostly spent his time defending the last 6 or so years of his policies. Bell mostly spent his time explaining how he planned on being heard over the other parties. Friedman spent his time complaining about current politicians and how he wanted to replace them with his friends like pot-smoking Willie Nelson; he also neglected to say why the current politicians need to be replaced Strayhorn spent the whole time complaining about Perry and saying “in a Strayhorn administration,” things will be different but failed to explain how.

All in all, Rick Perry was the best debater. Watching the Independent candidates against him was like watching a a 130lb greasy nerd attempt to tackle Terrel Owens. It’s no wonder people generally don’t respond well to third party candidates; if this is what they are using to judge all third parties at a glance, these two candidates did not do a service to other third parties. It’s a shame there wasn’t an intelligent third party candidate who was capable of forming a fluid thought to answer the questions posed.

See you at the polls.

Time for this week’s discussion about what really grinds my gears. This week I want to talk about the state of politics and why I feel that the US Government has failed to serve Americans. Today, Mr. Bush has effectively killed democracy in the home of the brave. If you haven’t read up, I’ll briefly summarize. Bush has vetoed the OPR from investigating the legality of the NSA wiretaps. OPR has investigated many highly sensitive investigations before and this is the first time in history a president has block an OPR investigation. What Bush has just told America is that he has something to hide, the law does not apply to him, and he has the right to know everything that Joe-Sixpack is doing because he might be a terrorist.

That being said, America has failed. It is no longer functioning the way our founding fathers had designed it.

I realize many of you will simply write me off an an unpartiotic terrorist sympathizer, but you are dead wrong. I am a concerned American who wishes to preserve a pure form of democracy that died when Nixon took office. I earnestly care what happens to this country and I want it to be the most free and successful country in the world, but the power-elite seems to disagree. Our current form of government is closer to fascism than it is democracy. Check what the definition of fascism is:

“Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victim-hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.” (Anatomy of Fascism, p 218)

There are many things within the United States Government that prove that the current form of democracy is not the same as the form designed in 1774 and it is failing to preserve America as a world leader. Everything in the above quote descibes actions of the government. Let me go over some things that I have a huge problem with.

First, I feel that the checks and balance system has faded to non-existance. Where is the check against the executive branch’s power? Why is there a secret court to try accused terrorists? Why was Rove not crucified for his violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act? Apparently the government does not have to abide by the laws that they set forth for all Americans. Someone should sue Bush and force the OPR investigation to occur unless they can prove that it will have grave reprocutions to national security. Secret courts should not exist and we should not be violating the Geneova Convention by enacting a law that allows us to illegal imprison foreigners without being charged. Rove should have been charged and sentanced to prison for a long time. The lack of any substantial multi-party representation in Congress proves that the legislative branch is lop-sided; this makes it easy for supporters of this solitary party to have legislation passed with minimal disagreement. It’s clear the government is acting without ethical or legal restraints.

Next, I feel that lobbying Congressmen has effectively turned an open democracy to a battle of the all mighty dollar. Those who have the most money tend to have their way with the Congress. Congress has become a whore where the highest bidder wins. We might as well place new laws up for bid on eBay. The government is catering to the weathly elite and the common man is at a huge disadvantage if he were to disagree with The Corporation.

The electoral vote is another example of how you and I are not truely represented by voting. The electoral college is counter to the idea of democracy and serves to undermine equal and fair competition. The electoral colleges in most states are setup as “winner takes all” elections in which it is an unsurmountable challenge for third parties to receive any electoral votes. This favors the “power elite” two-party system (which are strikingly similar to one another).

Lastly, I get frustrated when Bush discusses religion. Don’t get me wrong, I happen to be playin for the same team, but I resent the fact that he has to throw in many many religious references every time he speaks. It is as if he is telling everyone that “you either support me because I am a Christian or you do not support Christianity and you will burn in hell.” I hate that he uses his beliefs as a wedge to get people to let him do whatever he wants to do. Religion has no place in politics as originally designed by our founding fathers.

I remember watching SNL a handful of years ago in which Rage Against The Machine was scheduled to perform and Steve Forbes is the host. They ended up getting flat-out kicked off the show for being bold. So I decided to replicate what they tried to show the American public:

Democracy is dead. Hopefully our generation will have the insight to fix the wrongs.

That is the word which can sum up the time President Bush has been in office. There has been a buffet of items which you can select from to define this presidency: The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Abu Grahib, illegal domestic spying programs, ties to Jack Abramoff, and the Valerie Plame incident.

The most recent items are the domestic spying program, if you have a phone whose service is provided by AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. all the phone numbers you have dialed are now sitting in a database inside the NSA. Only Qwest communications did not voluntarily hand over information.

Now the person who was heading the NSA at the time this plan was implemented has been selected to head the CIA. Typically this position is held by a civilian, but Bush has appointed another one of his “yes men”, Gen. Michael Hayden. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the NSA refused to grant its lawyers the necessary security clearance.

Right behind this is the situation with Iran, and its desire to develop nuclear capabilities. According to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad they simply want the technology to build power plants, however if you ask President Bush they clearly have intentions of developing nuclear weapons. It has been rumored that a non-nuclear explosion which was set to take place in Nevada was to knock out the Iranian nuclear facilities. “The planned Divine Strake experiment will not be conducted earlier than June 23,” said Cheri Abdelnour, spokeswoman for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Who is going to be crazy enough to want to take over the presidency when Bush is done?