Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (45513)	2/22/2006 5:56:53 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Our boy wins one: Google loses fight over nude photo links By Elise Ackerman Mercury News A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that Google's image search violates an adult Web site's copyrights by displaying ``thumbnail'' versions of its photos. In a ruling released Tuesday, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz found Google directly infringed on copyrights held by Perfect 10, a Beverly Hills publisher. He said the free availability of the photos on Google could harm Perfect 10's efforts to sell thumbnail, or small, versions of its photos as downloads to cell phones. ``The court reaches this conclusion despite the enormous public benefit that search engines such as Google provide,'' Matz wrote in a 47-page order filed Friday. If upheld, the judge's ruling could affect Yahoo and other Internet companies whose image searches display thumbnails of copyrighted pictures. The judge ordered Google and Perfect 10 to submit by March 8 wording for a preliminary injunction barring the use of the thumbnail images. Perfect 10 publishes the adult magazine ``Perfect 10'' and operates a subscription Web site that claims to feature ``the world's most beautiful natural women.'' Google's image search displays thumbnail images when people submit a query on a particular subject. The tiny pictures are stored on Google's servers but when a person clicks on the image, he is taken to the original source of the full-sized image. Google's creation and display of the Perfect 10 thumbnail images ``likely do not fall within the fair use exemption,'' Matz wrote, citing a legal standard that allows for limited use of copyrighted works, such as for criticism, comment, news reporting or teaching. The Mountain View search company has long faced complaints for linking to copyrighted material, though some of the criticism has been blunted as publishers have found ways to profit from the traffic Google sends to their sites. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in an earlier case that a search engine could display thumbnail reproductions of scenes of the American West because its purpose was improving access to information on the Internet. But Matz noted that Perfect 10's case was different in that the publisher had signed a licensing agreement with Fonestarz Media to sell its copyrighted images for download to cell phones. Meanwhile, those images were available for free on Google, Matz noted. Google's legal counsel, Michael Kwun, said in a statement that the company was disappointed with ``portions of the preliminary injunction'' but that it will not affect the vast majority of image searches. The company said it will probably appeal the injunction. The judge rejected Perfect 10's request to bar Google from linking to third-party Web sites that contain Perfect 10 images. ``We feel when all the evidence comes out, we are confident that we are ultimately going to prevail on that as well,'' said Daniel Cooper, general counsel for Perfect 10. The publisher has asked the judge to order Google to disclose the revenue it receives from third-party porn sites that participate in Google's AdSense advertising program. Laurence Pulgram, a partner at Fenwick & West who has defended Napster, SONICblue and ReplayTV, said Friday's injunction was good news for Internet users in general and ``limited bad news'' for Google. He noted that a ruling against links to illegally posted content could have opened up untold numbers of Web site owners to liability. Perfect 10 filed suit against Google and Amazon.com in November 2004 for allegedly displaying its copyrighted images. It also alleges that Google links to Web sites that display the images and published user name and password combinations that allow access to perfect10.com. Matz noted that Amazon licenses from Google much of the technology that is the subject of the suits. The judge said he would issue a separate ruling addressing the request for an order against Amazon. mercurynews.com

To: Bill who wrote (45513)	2/23/2006 4:47:11 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

The more I understand the issue, the more convinced I am that most objections are due to bigotry.

To: Bill who wrote (45513)	2/24/2006 9:46:30 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

Rakoff is a Clinton appointee... the info was obtained under a FOIA request from the AP... and the UN wants to close the prison down. Do we need ANY more proof that liberalism has no place whatsoever in a war? ____________________________________________________________ Pentagon Told to Release Gitmo Transcripts Associated Press ^ \| 02/24/06 \| Ben Fox SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Feb. 24) - A federal judge ordered the Pentagon on Thursday to release the identities of hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to The Associated Press, a move which would force the government to break its secrecy and reveal the most comprehensive list yet of Some of the hundreds of detainees in the war on terror being held at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been held as long as four years. Only a handful have been officially identified. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in New York ordered the Defense Department to release uncensored transcripts of detainee hearings, which contain the names of detainees in custody and those who have been held and later released. Previously released documents have had identities and other details blacked out. The judge ordered the government to hand over the documents by March 3 after the Defense Department said Wednesday it would not appeal his earlier ruling in the lawsuit filed by the AP. On Jan. 23, Rakoff ordered the military to turn over uncensored copies of transcripts and other documents from 317 military hearings for detainees at the prison camp. There were another 241 detainees who refused to participate in the Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the Defense Department said no transcripts exist of those hearings. U.S. authorities now hold about 490 prisoners at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. Most have been held without charges since the detention center opened four years ago, prompting complaints from human rights groups and others. "AP has been fighting for this information since the fall of 2004," said Dave Tomlin, assistant general counsel for the news organization. "We're grateful to have a decision at last that keeping prisoner identities secret is against the public policy and the law of this country." The military has never officially released the names of any detainees except the 10 who have been charged. Most of those that are known emerged from the approximately 400 civil suits filed on behalf of prisoners by lawyers who got their names from family or other detainees, said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which represents about 200 detainees. "They have been very resistant to releasing the names," Ratner said. "There are still people there who don't have a lawyer and we don't know who they are. They have disappeared." The Defense Department earlier released transcripts after the AP filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act, but the names and other details of detainees were blacked out. The Defense Department said it would obey the judge's order. "DOD will be complying with the judge's decision in this matter," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman. Law experts said the case has wide-ranging implications. "The government has tried to maintain Guantanamo as a black hole since they opened it," said Jonathan Hafetz of the New York University School of Law. "This is bringing it within the mainstream of the justice system and says we're not going to have secret detentions at Guantanamo." In his ruling last month, Rakoff rejected government arguments that releasing the detainees' names from transcripts should be kept secret to protect their privacy and their families, friends and associates from embarrassment and retaliation. The judge had given the government a month to decide whether to appeal and the U.S. Solicitor General decided not to pursue the case further, said Megan Gaffney, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. The AP is awaiting a decision from the judge on whether the government must release the unredacted transcripts from a second round of hearings, the annual Administrative Review Board - panels that decide whether detainees are still considered a threat to the United States.