FC: Belgian police raid online music traders; MS on open-source

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Related news:

Senate to Hold Hearings on Napster Ruling
www.latimes.com/print/business/20010215/t000013691.html

Video Game Firms Sue Over Online Piracy
www.latimes.com/print/business/20010215/t000013677.html

Belgium cracks down on file swapping
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4838654.html?tag=owv

Police go after Belgian Napster users
www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/02/15/belgium.napster.ap/index.html

**********

Subject: Arresting Napster users - Politech
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 22:24:38 -0600
From: Andy Ringsmuth <andyring () inebraska com>
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
X-UIDL: 365fe6adce2a274991f617ee98dca129

Declan, since this has been posted on Slashdot, I'm guessing you've seen
it already, but according to salon.com, Belgium police are arresting
Napster users.

-Andy Ringsmuth
andyring () inetnebr com


http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2001/02/15/napster/index.html

Associated Press

Feb. 15, 2001 | BRUSSELS, Belgium --

Acting on complaints from the music industry, police have raided the
homes of users of music-sharing websites looking for evidence they
infringed copyright rules, the prosecutors' office said Thursday.

Police searched the home of a first suspect in late December and two more
in January, Olivier Bogaert, a prosecution spokesman, told Belgian news
media.

He said the searches were part of an investigation of the Internet site
mp3blast.com, but added four cases against Napster users were currently
under review.

Marcel Heymans, general director of the Belgium branch of the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, said he warned
police of alleged copyright infractions.

[...]

********

Subject: Also.... (Politech)
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 22:29:41 -0600
From: Andy Ringsmuth <andyring () inebraska com>
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>
Mime-Version: 1.0

Also, in other news, Microsoft wants Open Source illegal, Cnet says.

-Andy Ringsmuth
andyring () inetnebr com


http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-4825719-RHAT.html?t
ag=ltnc

Microsoft Executive Says Linux Threatens Innovation (Update1)
        2/14/01 4:57 PM
Source:Bloomberg News

Redmond, Washington, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
operating-system chief, Jim Allchin, says that freely distributed
software code such as rival Linux could stifle innovation and that
legislators need to understand the threat.

The result will be the demise of both intellectual property rights and
the incentive to spend on research and development, he said yesterday,
after the company previewed its latest version of Windows. Microsoft has
told U.S. lawmakers of its concern while discussing protection of
intellectual property rights.

Linux is developed in a so-called open-source environment in which the
software code generally isn't owned by any one company. That, as well as
programs such as music-sharing software from Napster Inc., means the
world's largest software maker has to do a better job of talking to
policymakers, he said.

''Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer,'' Allchin said. ''I
can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software
business and the intellectual-property business.''

[...]




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