12 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC| JUN 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
QUICKSTART^
THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALLKeyboard Quiver
Comcast Ends One Evil Practice,
Tests Another
Company will stop interfering with file-sharing ‘eventually’
Y
es, the Keyboard Quiver serves
as a protective tote for your
keyboard, keeping it safe from
dust, grit, and moisture. There’s
even room for discs, your MP3 player,
and a phone—though, no place for a
laptop. But the bag costs more than
most keyboards! And we question
whether a plank even needs this
extreme level of protection. —WS
$70, http://www.dust-offzone.comF
acing a steady stream of public
criticism—and increasing scrutiny
from the FCC—Comcast announced
an initiative with BitTorrent, Inc. to develop
a “protocol agnostic” capacity-manage-
ment system for its high-speed Internet
service by the end of 2008. In other words,
it plans to stop interfering with customers
who engage in legal fi le sharing.But lest you think the leopard has
changed its spots, consider what blogger
Chris Albrecht has uncovered: Comcast
may be testing DVRs with built-in two-
way cameras. A set-top box capable of
distinguishing between members of your
household would enable the company
to serve up advertisements tailored to
whoever is watching. —MBNvidia Crashes
Vista Party
Windows
Mobile
Upgrades
Microsoft has announced the upcom-
ing release of a new version of Internet
Explorer Mobile that will supply users
with the “desktop grade” browsing
experience iPhone owners currently
enjoy. And unlike the iPhone’s browser,
the new mobile IE will support fl ash.
Handsets capable of running the new
browser are expected to hit the street
by the end of the year. —TETESTED &GEEK
keyboard, keeping it safe fromeven room for discs, your MP3 player,
and a phone—though, no place for a
laptop. But the bag costs more thanQuinn Norton writes about copyright for Wired
News and other publications. Her work has
ranged from legal journalism to the inner life
of pirate organizations.H
i, I’m Quinn Norton, and I’ll be your
new Maximum PC guide to intellectual
property—that’s copyright, patents,
and so on for the unwashed non-lawyer
masses. It’s a wacky field. In the past few
years, this once extremely dry bit of law has
spawned everything from Swedish street pro-
tests over The Pirate Bay website to more than
20,000 RIAA lawsuits—including four college
kids sued for around $100 billion. That’s right
around the GDP of Peru. See? Wacky.
I’ve been acting out my unhealthy interest
in issues like copyright and copy protection for
10 years, or a lot longer if you include teenage
adventures in game dongle subversion (not
to advocate piracy, or 90 percent of the other
things I did as a youth). I’ve spent years trying
to make intellectual law easy to understand for
people with more healthy and normal interests.
Also, I tend to drink a lot with IP lawyers.
This will be a space for me to explain
the news, share some stories, and point out
details most people have almost certainly
missed. I might even try to tell you what’s
likely to happen next.
Here’s where I stand: I’m with the Norwe-
gian government in that accusing you of hack-
ing your own computer is incoherent. I tend to
agree with Thomas Jefferson that copyright
is there to encourage the useful arts and sci-
ences. Though if we really wanted copyright
to encourage the useful arts and sciences, it
would last just as long as you need to get the
next thing done, and the end of term would be
accompanied by a team of ninjas “encouraging”
you to get back to work.
I think I agree with most people that the last
eight years have shown that the Digital Millen-
nium Copyright Act is simply the stupidest bit of
law passed since we thought banning beer was
a good idea. I heart Creative Commons giving
people options to share and I giggle at over-
reaching patents. I fi nd the way trade secrets
get used alarming. And I think fair use is a good
thing, like love, puppies, and Christmas.BYTE RIGHTSFair Use Manifesto
QUINN NORTONDocuments unsealed by a judge over-
seeing a class-action lawsuit against
Microsoft reveal that Nvidia’s G80 Vista
drivers were responsible for almost
29 percent of all logged Vista crashes
during a portion of last year. The docu-
ments don’t provide much in the way of
detail, not even the specifi c time period
in which the data was gathered, but the
results make it clear that Nvidia has had
signifi cant problems supporting Vista.
This state of aff airs could have
contributed to the perception that
Microsoft ’s new OS was buggy and
unreliable; on the other hand, Micro-
soft ’s own drivers were the next single
biggest problem, causing nearly 18
percent of logged Vista crashes. The re-
port blamed AMD videocard drivers for
nine percent of reported crashes, while
Creative Labs accounted for just one
percent; a full 17 percent were labeled
simply as “unknown.” —MB