I was busy all day today trying to ensue we are all set to close on our new house next Tuesday (and still get actual work done) so I didn’t get a change to make any posts, but there were a few things that I wanted to note. I’m going to cheat and list them all here.

• Starting tomorrow, the NYPD is going to be conducting random searches of people bags on the subway. They are circumventing the whole illegal search thing by letting you leave the station if you refuse to submit to the search. This really pisses me off, and is most certainly a step WAY to far. More bomb sniffing dogs and equipment would do more to prevent incidents like London and still not trample all over the constitution and our liberty. [via The NYT]

• Engadget has a good article detailing a possible scenario with the DVIMAGIC which highlights the flaws in HDCP. Hey Industry! DRM as a concept is fundamentally flawed! You can’t force behavior with legislation and technical limitations. Perhaps one day the right people will realize that and work to change their business to provide quality content in a format and at a price point people want. Until then we’re going to have to fight them every inch of the way.

• In the same vein, it seems the IFPI is tooting thier own horn and claiming that an observed trippling of legal music downloads is because of a “fear of getting caught breaking the law, or the realization that many networks could damage your home PC”. As Caesar points out, that’s bullshit. Maybe sales have trippled because the number of available outlets have tripled? Nah… [via Ars]

• Finally a lighter note, CNet published a list to the Top 10 online fads. While I don’t necessarily agree with all the rankings the list and the others in the Ars thread were good for some great “OMG, I remember that! That was awesome!” chuckles.

I saw on [Planet ArsLounge](http://rianjs.net/arslounge/) that hanser came up as Wesley Crusher when taking one of those what _blank_ are you? quizes. I took the quiz so that I could come out as someone cooler and then point and laugh, well…

Ok, so that didn’t work out to well. Sigh.

The SCOTUS has overruled the lower courts and [decided](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050627-5042.html?98471) 9-0 in favor of MGM in MGM vs. Grokster. I’m not 100% convinced this is a death blow to P2P as my initial reading leads me to believe this is a fairly limited decision. For example the decision says

> One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression of other affimative steps taken to foster infringemnt, going beyond mere distribution with knowledge of third-party action is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device’s lawful uses.

which is a pretty clear limitation. After all we all know how shutting down Napster killed P2P.