8Bit Joystick.com: EFF + CBLDF = A-OK

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EFF + CBLDF = A-OK

You know there are two semi political organizations that I think do good work and I have no problems supporting they are the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Both have been doing good work recently.

Oh my dad also loves Ducks Unlimited a group of duck hunters for environmental conservation. Then there are more main-stream groups like the NRA and the ACLU that I have a hard time getting behind. I agree with on theory but the recent execution of their beliefs I disagree with. I don't think their ends justify their means.

But I digress. Back to the EFF and the CBLDF.

First is the CBLDF. I love the online web comic Penny-Arcade. Last week they did a comic parodying the twisted interpretation of The Wizard of Oz in McFarlane's: Twisted Land of Oz (not not safe for work.
So they did a comic strip about in the same treatment were done to Strawberry Shortcake.
) Well it was a funny parody and in my mind legal but eventually American Greetings found out about this and threatened them with a lawsuit if they did not get rid of the strip. An archive of the strip in question is here (sorta not safe for work). And I have a copy too. Now the CBLDF was going to help them if they faced a legal battle on this. But I think that Penny-Arcade was right for not having to go into thousands of dollars in legal fees and since the comic in question is already published to the internet an in un-official circulation. So they took it down and decided to get on with life.

The other is the internet victory that ruled that making P2P file swapping tools are not illegal that the EFF was involved with. Here is their EFF newsletter article.
Also Wil Wheaton likes the EFF.

Court Rejects Entertainment Industry Copyright Claims
Los Angeles, CA - A federal judge ruled last week that companies
providing peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software cannot be held
liable for copyright infringement by users of the software.

The ruling is a striking victory for the makers of the Morpheus and
Grokster software products. In the court's words:
"Grokster and Streamcast [the company that provides Morpheus software]
are not significantly different from companies that sell home video
recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to
infringe copyrights."

"We believe the Morpheus case is about technology, not piracy, and the
court agreed, making it clear that technology companies are not
responsible for every misuse of the tools they make," noted Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred
von Lohmann. "This ruling reaffirms the Supreme Court's landmark
decision in the Sony Betamax case."

EFF represents Streamcast in the case.
"Hollywood sought to control what innovators can make available to
consumers," added EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "This ruling makes
clear that technology companies can provide general purpose tools
without fear of copyright liability."

"Over 61 million Americans use peer-to-peer systems -- more than voted
for our President," added EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "It's
time we found a way to ensure that artists get paid without killing
off this tremendous new technology."

For this release

For the decision