Canadian High Court Says ISPs Don't Owe Royalties

Slashdot notes another Canadian court ruling against the recording industry. This lawsuit pitted the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) against the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). SOCAN was seeking to collect royalties from ISPs as their services are used to pirate copyrighted materials. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that ISPs are merely intermediaries and that they are not bound by copyright law. Here's a CBC backgrounder on downloading music in Canada. It is not great, but it is a good place to start.

Schneier: Unchecked police and military power is a security threat

Ponytailed lefty lunatic or darn clever academic and businessman?

Satan and your appliances

Following on to my post about Roman Catholic concerns about the lack of traditional values in modern social policy, I draw your attention to the work of Old Scratch in household technology.