[ NNSquad ] Re: Google Hijacked -- Major ISP to Intercept and Modify Web Pages

[jbartas <jbartas@speakeasy.net>]

Hi Dan,

   It may be a Copyright issue, but not a simple one. When DVR maker 
SonicBlue was sued to oblivion by Medua Cartels, one of the claims was 
that SonicBlue's automatic TV commercial remover violated the Copyright 
of the Broadcasting TV station. In other words, If I'm watching "Dr 
Strangelove" on TV, their claim is the Viagra commercials are covered by 
the same Copyright as the movie. I wonder how Stanly Kubrick would feel 
about that. Ironically these same TV stations think nothing of slapping 
their logo across the lower right corner of Kubrick's picture.

   Sonic Blue collapsed under Legal fees before the argument was ruled 
on in court. IIRC few legal scholars thought it would hold up.  It's 
just not a cut & dried  issue.

-JB-

Dan Doyle wrote:
> Isn't this a simple copyright issue? To me, it really boils down to
> the fact that a web page is authored content and unless you have the
> right to modify the original work, you are violating copyright.
> Injecting your own content into a web page requires modifying the HTML
> document, not adding, not supplementing, but modifying the original
> work. Copyright covers all the markup, CSS, and JS. I believe
> copyright lasts years before material moves to public domain. Disney
> is expert at this issue. So, to return to the parcel examples, it is
> not merely inserting additional advertising into your envelope, it is
> to change your items in such a way that when you use them, they sqwack
> advertising. That is pretty invasive.
>
>   
--
John Bartas - Director of Network Engineering
Packet Island, Inc. www.packetisland.com
jbartas@packetisland.com
cell: 408-857-0605