June 27, 2005

Oh my freaking God!  The Supreme Court ruled agains Grokster today in a 
big copyright case.  Grokster develops and distributes a P2P file 
sharing program.  The SCOTUS ruled that anyone distributing a program 
promoted as able to infringe copyright is liable for the product's 
users' copyright infringement.  The ruling is pretty vague, but it could 
probably be used to shutdown anyone writing P2P software, including 
Freenet and other open source products.  To protect myself, i have 
already taken down all Exhale and thrget versions from my website.  I 
don't want to get sued!  I guess I'll have to add a whole bunch of crap 
about not using the programs to infringe copyright, though I'm not 
exactly pleased with that.

What the hell is with the SCOTUS?  They have been handing down some 
wacky-ass rulings lately.  I see that they sided unanimously against 
Grokster (and with Hollywood).  Then there was another story that the 
court was split as to whether Kentucky could hang copies of the 10 
commandments in county courthouses.  How could they possibly be split on 
that decision!  The answer is no, you can't hang the 10 commandments.  I 
don't see the uncertainty.  Don't even get me started with the eminent 
domain again.  That just make me angry!

Adios,
Jeff
.