Despite what you might hear from TV news, which gets its information from press releases, today’s ruling in the Grokster case is a pretty big win for peer-to-peer file sharing, and a blow to the entertainment industry.

Yes, the Court ruled against Grokster and StreamCast, which the RIAA and MPAA are touting all over the airwaves. It sounds bad for file sharing… until you actually read the ruling.

I’m going to go into much more detail in my USA Today column this Friday, but the gist is this: The ruling was very, very narrow, and said that Grokster and StreamCast specifically could be held responsible for illegal use of their networks.

But file-sharing as a whole did not suffer a blow.

In fact, the reason Grokster and StreamCast are in trouble is because they encouraged piracy — they were not innocent bystanders. (For example, they made money by selling advertising.)

Companies and groups making file-sharing software that does not encourage piracy are, according to this ruling, in the clear.

Yes, they can be sued; they don’t enjoy complete immunity the way VCR makers do. But the entertainment companies will have to prove not that piracy is done, but that the software makers encouraged it.

So expect to see lots of disclaimers (e.g., “Do not use this software to share music illegally!”), but that’s about it.

More to come.

Say this amendment passes, and states pass laws banning flag desecration.

What if someone burns something looks a lot like the American flag, but has, say, 11 stripes? Or 51 stars? Or better yet, has some subtle difference that makes it not an “official” flag — maybe the stars are the wrong size.

What then? Would desecration of “an object that looks an awful lot like a flag but actually isn’t” be illegal? What, specifically, would the amendment protect?

“You’re under arrest for burning the American flag.”

“Um, actually, this isn’t an American flag. The Defense Technical Information Center specifies that the width or ‘fly’ of the flag be 1.9 times its height. What I burned had a width that was 1.8 times the height, thus it was not, per se, a U.S. flag. Also, the DTIC specifies that the flag’s red be ‘Cable No. 70180 Old Glory Red’ using the Standard Color Card of America as maintained by the Color Association of the United States — otherwise known as Pantone Red PMS 193. My flag used PMS 192. I’ll be on my way now.”

Follow-up: As Eric noted in the comments, John Scalzi covers this ground in even more detail, with pictures and everything!

Bravo to the House for passing the anti-flag-burning amendment to the Constitution. At least one or two people a year in this country burn the flag, and it’s important that we update the single most important document our government has to outlaw it.

In fact, if you look at the Constitution, there’s precious little — if anything — that restricts the rights of the people. (Prohibition doesn’t count, for obvious reasons.)

It’s all about restricting the rights of the government, and granting people rights. Sheesh.

It’s about time we changed that. We need to start using the Constitution the way it was meant to be used: To limit the rights of people who do things we don’t like.

As Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) said, “Ask the men and women who stood on top of the [World] Trade Center. Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment.”

I don’t claim to channel the dead the way “Duke” does, but as the GOP claims to have God on its side, I have to assume powers of clairvoyance come with the territory.

So if “Duke” says that’s what those people wanted, well, that’s a good enough reason for me to alter the foundation of our government.

The movie industry has a history of exaggerating the threat from technology — the VCR, DVD, TiVo, etc. were all going to destroy entertainment as we knew it.

But now the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has been caught in a bold-faced lie.

Unfortunately, also caught was the Associated Press, which obviously didn’t do a very good job of reporting.

The MPAA sent out a press release claiming that it “and the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) in coordination with the Southern California High Tech Task Force have closed New Century Media in the City of Industry, California.”

It also claimed to have seized “$30 million in illegal stampers and DVDs” and that “[t]he plant was closed for illegal business on June 15.”

For reasons unknown, the AP didn’t actually check out this claim and ran the story.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be wildly innaccurate — something the AP reporter could have discovered had he or she spoken to New Century Media rather than simply quoting its Web site.

See, New Century Media released a statement of its own. It read:

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 21, 2005–The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) yesterday issued a news release that contained false and misleading information regarding a search that was conducted by the Southern California High Tech Task Force at the offices of New Century Media in the City of Industry, CA., according to Jennifer Yu, owner of New Century Media.

“We fully cooperated with this investigation because we are a legitimate business that is not involved in any illegal actions,” said Yu. “The MPAA release falsely claimed that the ‘High Tech Task Force stamped out an illegal DVD/CD replicating plant.’ This is categorically not true. Our business is to duplicate material for customers who own the copyright and material that is in the public domain. By these false allegations, the MPAA has slandered our name and reputation and damaged the business that my husband and I spent 14 years to build,” Yu stated.

Specific inaccuracies in the MPAA release cited by Yu included:

– New Century Media Corporation (www.newcenturymediausa.com) is NOT an illegal DVD/CD replicating plant as cited in the release headline. It has been in business since 1989 and reproduces thousands of titles per year. It operates 24/7 with a daily capacity of 80,000 DVDs. DVDs taken by the Task Force represent LESS than 1/10th of 1% (0.058%) of annual production.

– New Century Media Corporation was NOT closed down as stated in the MPAA release and again in a quote from Senior Vice President John Malcolm. The High Tech Task Force permitted production to start again immediately.

– For reasons completely unknown, the High Tech Task Force took approximately 2,440 sets of Genius Products, Inc.’s 6 DVD Romance collection. Genius is a public company that distributes entertainment products to national retailers. Check http://www.babygenius.com/shopping.aspx for more information.

– The total value of items removed was $10,540 in DVDs, plus 24 stampers valued at $3,600 each or $15,000 - MPAA’s claim of $30 million was inflated by 2,000%.

Why the MPAA lied, I don’t know. But I do know that once a person or organization resorts to this kind of blatant, outright lies, it usually means its underlying argument is so faulty that it can’t stand on its own.

If you have to lie, the truth obviously isn’t in your favor.

“If you’re thinking about getting a scorpion as a pet, you may want to stay away from the Southern Mankiller.”

Darn.

You decide.

So my parents are looking to drive down from New York to visit us in Roanoke. My father, not believing me that there’s really only one way to get here, calls AAA to request a TripTik (a customized travel planner).

I suggested MapQuest, but he wasn’t interested. AAA was fine.

Understand this: The only reasonable way to get from NY to Roanoke is to take I-78 across Pennsylvania, then I-81 south to Roanoke.

There are unreasonable ways, of course, the most notable being to drive south through New Jersey, Philly, Baltimore, and Washington before heading west. That’s great if you like to drive through the downtowns of three major cities. (I.e., it’s a really dumb route.)

And yet, when Dad finally got his TripTik, that’s the route AAA gave him. Incredible. It was as if whomever drew the line on the map didn’t even bother to look at where he was sending Dad.

MapQuest, by the way, does give the correct route.

However, neither Google Maps nor Yahoo Maps do — they route you the long way. (Then again, Yahoo Maps once directed me to drive across a river so my expectations are lower.)

I convinced Dad that AAA was wrong, so he’ll come through Pennsylvania.

Next, he asks about a hotel around here. The AAA Tourbook says the average price is $40-$49.

Huh? Maybe if you average in the cheap, hourly-rate dives, or if you choose a weekday rate. (But AAA guides are not geared toward business travelers, so you would think they would show a weekend rate.)

A quick check at any travel site will show you that hotels around here can be had for about $100 a night on weekends, with the one-star Days Inn and Super 8 at about half that. There’s nothing anywhere close to “$40-$49″ even with discounts.

I’m a AAA member — have been for years, and it’s saved my neck any number of times. Roadside assistance and great (free!) maps are incredibly helpful. I recommend it to anyone.

But boy has its travel planning gone downhill.

Hint: If you want directions, go to MapQuest. If you want hotel rates, try Travelocity.

We needed an air conditioner, and Best Buy was the only local store with the model we wanted. I don’t like to shop there because I keep hearing either horror stories (a Best Buy had a guy arrested because he tried to pay with $2 bills and the sales people didn’t think they were real), or simply bad-customer-service tales.

So it was with reluctance that I went to place the order. I got through everything, including confirming that it was available at my local store.

But then it was time to checkout, and it wouldn’t let me. The site kept telling me I needed to have cookies turned on. I did. In fact, I tried over and over and even confirmed that bestbuy.com was setting cookies on my machine. Still no go.

Frustrated with Best Buy’s second-rate programmers, I called the 800 number and placed my order that way.

And the sales woman told me it wasn’t in stock locally.

“Then why is it showing that it’s in stock when I go to the Web page?” I asked.

“It’s possible someone just bought the last one,” she explained.

But I reloaded the page several times, and still was told it was available there. Anyway, I cancelled the order.

Good thing the site didn’t work, or I would have driven there only to be told, “Sorry.”

We bought a different A/C from Sears, which will deliver it this week.

And that’s the last time I bother with Best Buy. Take my advice: Don’t bother.

OK, I don’t know what to make of this. I see (not surprisingly) that DreamWorks’s Madagascar is already available on P2P networks. But you can also find, accompanying those DVD rips, images of the DVD cover.

The movie is still in theaters. I’m not surprised that the DVD cover has been designed already. What I am surprised about is that whomever fed the pirated moved to the P2P networks not only had access to the flick, but also to the cover art for the DVD case.
How much more of an inside job could it be?

(Click for a big version.)

That’s how long pictures made with the Epson Picturemate Personal Photo Lab will last, according to the folks at Wilhelm Research which just released a detailed study of how long prints from those 4×6 printers actually last. (Note: Link is to a PDF.)

Coming in behind Epson’s machine (which sells for about $200) are the HP PhotoSmart 325 and 375 printers.

A group of conservative “scholars and public policy leaders” has created a list of the “Ten Most Harmful Books” of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Topping the list, not surprisingly, is Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto, followed by Mein Kampf.

The list actually has 30 titles — 20 are honorable mentions.

• The Kinsey Report
• John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty
• Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” (sic; correct title is The Origin of Species)
• Darwin’s “Descent of Man” (sic; correct title is The Descent of Man)
• Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed, and
• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

No word on whether the group is asking for these books to be banned or burned.