On Monday night I was involved in a discussion over whether or not Google Cache was in violation of copyright law. I was of the opinion that it wasn't, whereas a friend was of the opinion it was and should more correctly be called Google Republisher. The friend who was against Google was, un-incidentally, a friend of Blake Field — the Blake Field who tried to sue Google (as far as I can tell just because he thought he might be able to make a bit of money) over copyright infringement. Last week a district court in Nevada ruled against Blake Field and ruled that Google Cache was "fair use". The ruling makes pretty interesting reading, and makes you wonder what issues it will bring up down the road.
So Blake Field: a) Opportunistic leech out to make a quick buck of Google; b) Defender of an author's right to distribute his creations; c) bit of both. I've never met him, so I'm going for a) if I had maybe I'd be tempted by c). Maybe.
Now that it looks like I'll be going back to London (although probably not for another year), every now and again I have a little play around and look at how much it's going to cost me to live there when I go back. Today I found something that I could actually afford, it is advertised as, "£50 pw unfurnished, Parking Space". I have a couple of points: i) unfurnished parking space? ii) it would be a 40% increase over what I'm currently paying for rent. Nice location though.
Oh and finally, I had the misfortune to see some of the State of the Union address last night. After about three minutes I wanted to cut the hands of the people applauding every fifteen seconds. I know Bush isn't much of an orator, but do they have to applaud him every time he finishes a sentence?
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