November 30, 2006
Retired
sLop (the blog you are reading) is retiring..
The archives should stay up indefinitely though so feel free to continue linking in if you like..
In the coming weeks, I should have something new up. Please stay tuned.
Posted by vanevery at 11:49 AM | TrackBack
August 26, 2006
Don't, definitely do not download this song!
Weird Al- Dont Download This Song
Posted by vanevery at 03:30 PM | TrackBack
June 14, 2006
Nathan pulls the dirt on YouTube's EULA
People With Ideas >> Blog Archive >> YouTube: ALL YOUR VIDEOS ARE BELONG TO US
"YouTube: ALL YOUR VIDEOS ARE BELONG TO US"
Got picked up by The Register as well:
YouTube owns YourStuff | The Register
Posted by vanevery at 02:39 PM | TrackBack
May 16, 2006
Quick Beyond Broadcast write-up in Wired
Wired News: Brave New World for Public Media
Posted by vanevery at 12:28 PM | TrackBack
April 07, 2006
Beyond Broadcast: Reinventing Public Media in a Participatory Culture
Beyond Broadcast, May 12-13 2006 — Beyond Broadcast 2006: Reinventing Public Media in a Participatory Culture Archive
Beyond Broadcast, a conference being put on at the Berkman Center is coming up in a bit more than a month. The conference second day will be a second convening of the Open Media Developers Summit and is shaping up nicely.
Please feel free to visit the blog and wiki, attend and participate.
From the blog:
You are invited to an open convening at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. We will explore the thesis that traditional public media — public broadcasting, cable access television, etc — face a unique opportunity to embrace new participatory web-based media models — podcasting, video blogs, social software, etc — and create a stronger and more vital public service.
Posted by vanevery at 10:13 AM | TrackBack
March 26, 2006
Mark Cuban calls bullshit, bullshit
Emmy Advanced Media - Television Business News: Cuban Likes Obesity
Shelly Palmer tells us about Mark Cuban calling out Disney's Preston Padden in obvious over exaggeration..
From the post:
There aren’t many of us who could call bulls__t on Preston Padden–at least not in front of a room full of press and politicos. However, Mark Cuban, CEO of HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, did it twice in 10 minutes at the Consumer Electronics Association’s 2006 Entertainment Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Preston Padden, executive vice president-government relations, The Walt Disney Company, was trying to tell the audience that there had been over six million illegal downloads of Disney’s animated hit movie, “The Incredibles.” Mark wasn’t buying it. “I call bulls__t!” he said, with no small degree of effervescence in his voice. “Maybe if you said ‘Star Wars,’ but ‘The Incredibles’? No way!!!”
Posted by vanevery at 07:53 PM | TrackBack
"HBO busted me for using bittorrent"
Gen Kanai weblog: "HBO busted me for using bittorrent"
HBO is going after users for downloading content using BitTorrent. Here are some stories, letters and so on..
HBO could simply start doing things like simultaneous release (or at least shorten the time), offer it through iTunes and the like and maybe, perhaps just embrace the BitTorrent phenomena and offer access to a good high quality seed for 1 or 2 dollars. Would be cheaper than the lawyers..
Posted by vanevery at 06:33 PM | TrackBack
February 21, 2006
YouTube success brings lawyers
A Video Clip Goes Viral, and a TV Network Wants to Control It - New York Times
From the article:
When a video clip goes "viral," spreading across the Web at lightning speed, it can help rocket its creators to stardom. Alas, the clip can also generate work for corporate lawyers.
Posted by vanevery at 01:25 AM | TrackBack
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
WikiHome - codebook - JotSpot
I haven't read the book (yet) but this collaborative effort to keep it up to date is fantastic and looks to be very well organized.
From the site:
Lawrence Lessig first published Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace in 1999. After five years in print and five years of changes in law, technology, and the context in which they reside, Code needs an update. But rather than do this alone, Professor Lessig is using this wiki to open the editing process to all, to draw upon the creativity and knowledge of the community. This is an online, collaborative book update
Posted by vanevery at 12:38 AM | TrackBack
January 23, 2006
Piracy is Good? How Battlestar Galactica Killed Broadcast TV
Mindjack - Piracy is Good? How Battlestar Galactica Killed Broadcast TV
Very interesting and thorough article about recent trends in downloading television programming.
From the article:
Now we have a paradox: the invention of an incredibly powerful mechanism for the global distribution of television programming brings with it a fundamental challenge to the business model which pays for the creation of the programs themselves. This is not at all BitTorrent's fault: the technology could have come along a decade ago, and if it had, we'd have stumbled across this paradox in the 1990s. This is a failure of the value chain to adapt to a changing technological landscape — a technological desynchronization between producer and audience. Once again, there's no need to find fault: things have changed so much, and so quickly, I doubt that anyone could have kept up. But the future is now here, and everyone in the creative value chain from producer to audience must adapt to it.
Posted by vanevery at 12:54 AM | TrackBack
New Senate Broadcast Flag Bill Would Freeze Fair Use
EFF: DeepLinks
From the article:
Draft legislation making the rounds in the U.S. Senate gives us a preview of the MPAA and RIAA's next target: your television and radio. (Please write your Senator about this!)
You say you want the power to time-shift and space-shift TV and radio? You say you want tomorrow's innovators to invent new TV and radio gizmos you haven't thought of yet, the same way the pioneers behind the VCR, TiVo, and the iPod did?
Well, that's not what the entertainment industry has in mind. According to them, here's all tomorrow's innovators should be allowed to offer you:
"customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law."
Had that been the law in 1970, there would never have been a VCR. Had it been the law in 1990, no TiVo. In 2000, no iPod.
Posted by vanevery at 12:24 AM | TrackBack
January 17, 2006
Reinventing TV
Release 1.0 / Publication / Reinventing TV: Network TV Signs Off. Networked TV Logs On.
Scott Kirsner write in an older Release 1.0 about Networked TV. It is a good article, too bad it costs so much.
From the abstract:
Television, because of its high production and distribution costs and FCC regulation, has always been the most massive of all the mass media. It seeks the middle ground, and usually finds it. The ads that accompany today's shows are made with a similar shotgun mentality: There's no such thing as one-to-one marketing on the tube. Any niche-oriented programming that does exist tends to be available only to small audiences, on obscure satellite channels or community cable access stations.
That will change over the next decade, as a growing number of television sets, PCs and mobile devices are connected to what Jeremy Allaire, the founder of Brightcove, has dubbed "the Internet of video." Plugging TV into IP rather than into a terrestrial cable system or a fleet of geosynchronous satellites, could redeem - or at least reinvigorate - the medium. The hermetically sealed world of television is about to be cracked open and rewired, transformed into an open publishing platform as a variety of new devices and services emerge to make independent video content easier - and perhaps even profitable - to produce and distribute to smaller subsets of the population.
Posted by vanevery at 02:50 AM | TrackBack
The Future of Independent Media
GBN: The Future of Independent Media
I thought I linked to this a while ago but I couldn't find it recently when recommending it to a student.
Andrew Blau writes a great essay contemplating Independent Media in the face of the quickly changing technological landscape. A very good read:
From the text:
The technologies that enable us to make and consume motion media are becoming better, cheaper, and more widely available—and with blistering speed. As a consequence, patterns of media production and consumption are changing just as rapidly. The Internet continues to create new opportunities to connect with audiences. Video games are becoming a platform for critique and education. A new generation of media makers and viewers is emerging, which only increases the likelihood of profound change. Images, ideas, news, and points of view are traveling along countless new routes to an ever-growing number of places where they can be seen and absorbed. It is no understatement to say that the way we make and experience motion media will be transformed as thoroughly in the next decade as the world of print was reshaped in the last.
Posted by vanevery at 02:44 AM | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
Massive Media, distilled
Future Of Television Is Self-Service, P2P Distributed Media Consumption - Robin Good's Latest News
Robin Good edits and re-presents Dan Melinger's Massive Media thesis.
Posted by vanevery at 11:48 AM | TrackBack
January 15, 2006
NYC Grassroots Media Coalition Conference - February 11
Posted by vanevery at 06:13 PM | TrackBack
stay free, article roundup
Stay Free! Daily: This Month in New York City Critical Mass OR How Much Does It Cost the City to Run One of Those Police Copters All Night? - Story of what Critical Mass has become. Bikers vs. Police. Messed up!
Stay Free! Daily: Sucking on the tit of McDonald's - McD's, marketing to kids? I wouldn't say that this image is evidence but there is no doubt.
Stay Free! Daily: Hiking through Manhattan - The highline!
Stay Free! Daily: Radio Free Clear Channel - Clear Channel doing pirate radio. Quick someone get the FCC on them.
Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel? - I have always had issue with this. You can video tape a public space with visual private property in that space, but you can not have the sounds of that space if it includes music. Documentaries are greatly suffering because of this.
Posted by vanevery at 01:58 PM | TrackBack
stay free asks for permission to sing Happy Birthday.. No response. No surprise.
Stay Free! Daily: Taking the permission society seriously
I wonder if she were to video tape it and put it up on the site (evidence of the deed), would they come knocking?
Posted by vanevery at 01:35 PM | TrackBack
December 18, 2005
Music publishers going after lyrics sites
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Song sites face legal crackdown
Grumble grumble.. increased sales, free information.. grumble. dumb move.. obviously people want this, where do you find it legitimately. grumble.
Posted by vanevery at 11:32 AM | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
Content for P2P about P2P (almost)
THE.SCENE
From the FAQ:
Q: What is "The Scene" in real life?
A: The Scene is the piracy underground where 99% of pirated movies, songs, video games, etc start out. There, thousands of pirates upload, download, and trade files (often illegally) using FTP sites. From there, the files make their way onto the peer-to-peer networks, that so many know and love.
Posted by vanevery at 12:16 AM | TrackBack
December 10, 2005
Good Question
Emmy Advanced Media - Television Business News: Who Are The Real Pirates?
Shelly asks a good question that the media companies should be asking themselves. Particularly the music companies. In essence, they need to realize that fair use is fair and good and people WANT media on their own terms.
From the post:
How many times will you buy the same master file? That question is being answered every day on P2P networks, via email and podcasts. Obviously, some consumers are willing to pay for the convenience of not having to bother converting their own files to be used in all of their devices. But there are far more consumers who would rather not pay for the same thing over and over again.
Posted by vanevery at 10:24 AM | TrackBack
December 09, 2005
Future of Television Conference
Beyond TV: TVSpy.com Next Generation TV
So, I went to the Future of Television conference a couple of weeks ago and was somewhat suprised. Last year, I poked my head in to see what was being discussed and it was a big snooze. After checking out the website, I figured it was worth my time this year so I went.
Wow.. I was surprised. You wouldn't know it but there are people in TV who really "get it"... Larry Kramer from CBS most notably get's it.
Here is what I had to say on the day of:
I am writing from Future of Television Conference at NYU's Stern School of Business today. I am here for several reasons, first of all I would like to know what the networks and traditional media concerns think of the scrappy interactive folks. Second, I am here doing recon. Specifically, I would like to know how long video bloggers and other decentralized media creators have before traditional media begins to offer enough of what they are doing to satiate "consumers". (Perhaps that is not exactly my fear but close enough for now.)
First of all, I have to say that Larry Kramer gets it. He really does. He is open to experimentation. At CBS he has launched many interactive initiatives from a broadband news channel to podcasts of daytime soaps to fantasy sports sites to deep entertainment content add-ons to viewer/user photo posting to writer and producer blogs to actual audience participation through SMS. Phew..
CBS isn't the only media company doing this type of experimentation. The other networks, cable and broadcast are doing the same or similar. Notable is ABC News Now, ESPN, Playboy and the like.
The question is, whether or not this is enough. Will this engage and empower viewers enough to keep them despite the ever growing number of alternative content channels. The networks certainly know how to deliver programming to a passive audience. They are just beginning to support a more engaged and digitally connected viewer.
A later speaker in the day, IBM's Saul Berman described the audience by categorizing them in 3 camps. "Massive passives", the folks that CBS has always served, lean back, over 35, want to be entertained but don't feel compelled to buy the latest gadget or create their own media.
The next camp, arguably the focus of most of these efforts he described as "Gadgetiers". He describes this group as heavily involved in content, they are fans, will seek out other individuals who are interested in the same content they are. They will purchase the latest devices, use time shifting (TiVo) and will space shift (TiVo To Go). They are also the heavy buyers, the early adopters, in short, the people that the advertizers (and therefore the networks) covet.
It remains to be seen whether what the networks are starting to do will appeal to this group in the long run. In the short term, it is clear, if you put it out there they will come. How long they stay is another matter.
The last camp, the "Kool kids", the ones really getting all of the attention, are the hardest to understand. He suggests that this is the group that rejects DRM and "walled gardens", in short, the group that wants media on their own terms. This is the group that uses P2P software and is heavily social. They have dream devices that aren't out in the market as of yet.
I know that the kks (short for "Kool kids") are what have network executives up at night. They are the hackers and inventors who are really driving the internet. TV and media in general will fit into their game or be disregarded.
Ok.. So the big question at the end of the day? Will the cable and TV networks run scared and do everything possible to protect their business models or will they embrace the new like they must. My feeling after this conference is that they have learned something from the music industry and will try to embrace but there will still be a major shakeup and Yahoo! and Google just might become the "new" networks. Good or bad.
Posted by vanevery at 09:31 PM | TrackBack
MyBBCPlayer
Technorati Tag: MyBBCPlayer
So, the BBC is launching a P2P media delivery platform. The link above will tell you to what the blogger's have to say.
I can't wait to try it! Will I be able to in the US?
Posted by vanevery at 08:33 PM | TrackBack
Video Stream Ripping (Recording)
Streamingmedia.com: Grabbing, Ripping, and Saving Streams
Fair Use? Yes!
Posted by vanevery at 06:12 PM | TrackBack
David Pogue writes "What's Holding Back the Digital Living Room?"
What's Holding Back the Digital Living Room? - New York Times
In the article he posits a couple of theories ending up with:
Could it be that the digital living room concept is equally flawed--and all Silicon Valley's horses and all Asia's men are barking up the wrong tree?
Perhaps I am jaded today but I think the concept that Silicon Valley is pushing forth is flawed for many reasons. First and foremost is that entertainment companies don't understand interactivity (games aside) and tech companies don't understand entertainment, specifically that their content doesn't *work* on TV.
After saying all of that, I do believe that there is a way to "infect" the entertainment industry with interactive technology. Some day I will let you all know how. ;-)
Posted by vanevery at 04:42 PM | TrackBack
November 06, 2005
The Participatory Generation
The Lives of Teenagers Now: Open Blogs, Not Locked Diaries - New York Times
NY Times is running an article about a recent Pew survey that is demonstrating that teenagers have embraced publishing media online. From myspace and the like to creating their own websites featuring music remixes, videos and so forth.
They have become the participatory generation.
From the article:
According to the Pew survey, 57 percent of all teenagers between 12 and 17 who are active online - about 12 million - create digital content, from building Web pages to sharing original artwork, photos and stories to remixing content found elsewhere on the Web. Some 20 percent publish their own Web logs.
That reality is now inextricable from the broader social, cultural and sometimes, as in Melissa's case, deeply personal experience of being a teenager. And it is one that will undoubtedly have profound implications for the traditional managers of content, from big media companies and libraries to record labels, publishers and Hollywood.
[Later in the article]
The Pew survey shows "the mounting evidence that teens are not passive consumers of media content," said Paulette M. Rothbauer, an assistant professor of information sciences at the University of Toronto. "They take content from media providers and transform it, reinterpret it, republish it, take ownership of it in ways that at least hold the potential for subverting it."
Posted by vanevery at 10:37 AM | TrackBack
November 04, 2005
OMDS Article
TECTONIC: How will you consume your open media?
Michael Sharon has written a nice article summarizing the Open Media Developers Summit.
From the article:
Two weeks ago, on a rainy Friday and Saturday in October, 65 programmers and developers debated these and many other questions at the first Open Media Developer's Summit held at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in down-town Manhattan.
Posted by vanevery at 12:41 PM | TrackBack
October 02, 2005
Open Source Textbooks
Main Page - Wikibooks
a collection of open-content textbooks that anyone can edit.
Posted by vanevery at 01:51 PM | TrackBack
September 27, 2005
The Broadcast Flag rises again..
EFF: DeepLinks
Read how the MPAA and RIAA are attempting to sneak the Broadcast Flag through Congress.
Posted by vanevery at 12:22 PM | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
Scan those books!!!
AOL News - Ambitious Google Project to Put Copyright Laws to Test
Scanning to start scanning again in Nov.
Not surprisingly, I see this as great all around. Those publishers who don't allow it will be sorry in the end.
Posted by vanevery at 01:40 PM | TrackBack
August 09, 2005
Darknet: J.D.'s New Book is out
Darknet
From the site:
Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation is a new book that offers first-person accounts of how the personal media revolution will impact movies, music, computing, television and games
Posted by vanevery at 04:33 PM | TrackBack
April 21, 2005
Hmmmn.. Bill with 1 up and 1 down for copyfighters passes House
Wired News: House OKs Family Copyright Bill
Not sure either of these are really that important overall but they could set an interesting precedent. Stiff penalties for video taping in a movie theater and fair use of media in the home.
Posted by vanevery at 03:42 PM | TrackBack
March 20, 2005
Will Betamax stand in the P2P world...?
P2P Companies Set Stage for Supreme Court Appearance
From the article:
The U.S. Supreme Court to review its 20-year-old landmark Sony Betamax decision. On Tuesday, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and their supporters filed briefs for the March 29 high court date. The entertainment industry filed its final briefs in January in a case that pits content owners against technological innovation.
File those briefs.. March 29 is coming quick..
Posted by vanevery at 11:33 AM | TrackBack
March 19, 2005
MovieLink Doesn't want customers who will actually use their service
Site Entry
From the site:
Sorry, but in order to enjoy the Movielink service you must have Windows 98/SE, ME, 2000 or XP, which support certain technologies we utilize for downloading movies. We do not support Mac or Linux.
Pushing me to BitTorrent with all of these stupid DRM and Windows only requirements.
Posted by vanevery at 02:12 PM | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
decrypt iTunes and iPod music / unprotect AAC files
hymn -- decrypt iTunes and iPod music / unprotect AAC files
(m4p --> m4a)
Posted by vanevery at 10:48 PM | TrackBack
February 16, 2005
Stay Free! now has a blog
Stay Free! Daily
The tag line:
Periodic ramblings from Stay Free!, a Brooklyn magazine focused on American media and culture
Posted by vanevery at 11:51 PM | TrackBack
February 14, 2005
New ASCAP Internet Related Licenses
ASCAP Internet License Agreements
Posted by vanevery at 01:39 PM | TrackBack
January 21, 2005
"Open Source" Technology Books
Free Programming and Computer Science Books
Posted by vanevery at 02:17 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 21, 2004
BitTorrent based distribution services under fire
MPAA to serve lawsuits on BitTorrent servers | The Register
The title is a bit misleading. These aren't BitTorrent servers but websites hosting Torrents to illegal (copyrighted) material. It is good news that the MPAA is differentiating the technology used from the content. In some strange twisted way I think that this will be a boost for independent media bittorrent distribution as the popular content just won't be available. Perhaps people might even open their eyes.
Posted by vanevery at 04:59 PM | TrackBack
December 19, 2004
Archive.org - Movies
Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive
Everything from the Prelinger Archives to Open Source Movies (created and uploaded by the community).
From the site:
About the Movie Archive
This collection is free and open for everyone to use.
Our goal in digitizing these movies and putting them online is to provide easy access to a rich and fascinating core collection of archival films.
By providing near-unrestricted access to these films, we hope to encourage widespread use of moving images in new contexts by people who might not have used them before.
Posted by vanevery at 11:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
The Betamax case of the digital age
Wired News: File Sharing Goes to High Court
I have my fingers crossed on this one. If these file-sharing services can be held responsible for the actions of their users, what does that mean for any company developing software that allows people to connect via public networks? What about ISP's and common-carrier laws? What about FTP, IM, Email and so on?
The devil in this one may be that the media companies will renew vigor in lobbying congress for legislation like the INDUCE act.
Posted by vanevery at 01:40 AM | TrackBack
December 08, 2004
BroadSnatching - Get that Content
HOW-TO: BroadSnatching to a Portable Media Center - Engadget - www.engadget.com
From the article:
Getting video on a Portable Media Center is a fairly complicated task, but not because its all that hard, its just because no one has ever shown folks how. Its a lot easier if you have a Media Center PC (MCE), but even if you dont have an MCE, we showed you how to put DVDs on your Portable Media Center when we reviewed the Creative Zen.
Posted by vanevery at 03:45 AM | TrackBack
December 07, 2004
BeyondTV - Keeping my eye on this one!
BeyondTV: BeyondTV - An offline internet TV project
This is an undercurrents project to create a real alternative to the centralization of media by narrow corporate power. Its not an Indymedia project as quality control is too much of an issues- TV with out quality control is not open to normal people to watch. Most activist media is made for a tiny minority of popule and is un-intelligible/un-whatebal outside this minority.
The project will work in a number of stages the first being a functional full screen activist TV channel, based on MPG1 and MPG4 content from the current archive of ruffcuts and euro/US Indymedia newsreal CDs (we have over 20 hour of programming encoded and access to at least another 20 hours). Secondly stage we add automatic functionality? and some user input into viewing choices. Third stage a re-write to create a decentralized user rated P2P universal TV network when we have good experiences of the idea working in a practical way. I feel it is paramount that we start at the beginning using simple, thus reliable, tools and techniques.
Posted by vanevery at 01:41 AM | TrackBack
December 06, 2004
Open Access Directory Of RSS News Feeds
Open Access Directory Of RSS News Feeds: Who Is For It? - Robin Good's Latest News
Of course, THIS site is for it and already has a CC license that supports such.
Posted by vanevery at 02:22 PM | TrackBack
Hillary support's The INDUCE Act
I was dismayed to learn that Senator Hillary Clinton has come out and in fact co-sponsored Senator Hatch's Induce Act. What follows is a draft of a letter that I am writing to Sen. Clinton to express my concern. I hope that others will do the same.
Here is some background material:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2560:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64315,00.html
http://techlawadvisor.com/induce/
http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/004563.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20040618-3906.html
http://www.futureofmusic.org/articles/INDUCEanalysis.cfm
http://action.eff.org/site/pp.asp?c=esJNJ5OWF&b=164928
Like your iPod, read this:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Apple_Complaint.php
Please comment on the letter as you see fit.
Dear Senator Clinton,
I was dismayed to learn that you have come out in support of Senator Hatch's Induce Act. I hope that on further consideration of the issues that this bill covers that you change your stance to better reflect the opinions of your constituents and for the betterment of our society.
The Induce act as it currently is written does much to stifle free-speech, artistic and fair uses of media. Imposing legal responsibility on the makers of devices and software for illegal use such device or software will create a burden so great on manufacturers and creators of such programs that they will not develop or offer products that have potential for misuse.
I fear that by trying to curb the theft of copyrighted material you will instead be curbing the ability for individuals and groups with legitimate uses for the technology that enables such to use it. Being thoroughly immersed in an academic and artistic atmosphere, I am witness every day to fair uses of technology that would not exist today were such a law in existence. In fact I feel that the software that I am using to write this letter would not have been developed simply because it includes the ability to cut and paste text from any source into the document.
I believe that should this Bill become law that it will undo much of the progress of free-speech and alternative media creation that has been enabled by the internet, personal electronic devices, computers, tape recorders and so on. Furthermore it will be a giant step backwards and lead to increased power by the media and further relegate citizens to the role of consumer without a voice.
I hope that you will reconsider your position on this matter.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Shawn Van Every
Posted by vanevery at 11:35 AM | TrackBack
August 12, 2004
Helix DRM implements "Broadcast Flag"
Real's Helix Move
Ok, so, Helix DRM is open source... Broadcast Flag is the broadcast industry's attempt at making it impossible to make perfect copies of digitally delivered media (DTV).
So my question is, since Helix implements it, meaning that it pays attention and can include the flag in subsequent uses of the media and Helix is open source, why can't some enterprising coders just modify the Helix DRM to act like it cares but strip the flag out in the final product? I don't get it... I just don't get it.
Posted by vanevery at 07:21 PM | TrackBack
May 30, 2004
Wow! Japan copyright laws worse than ours..
Japanese website closed after screenshot-related arrest - Ferrago
From the story:
Reports this morning inform us of the rather troubling news from Japan that the owner and Editor of popular online gaming site Gamesonline, one of Japan's most popular news sites, has been arrested for alleged breach of copyright concerning screenshots used on his website.
Posted by vanevery at 11:57 AM | TrackBack
Documentating a defense of open source
Welcome to the Grokline Project: Grokline's UNIX Ownership History Project
From the site:
This is an open, community-based, collaborative research project, a living history, designed to carefully trace the ownership history of UNIX and UNIX-like code with the goal of reducing, or eliminating, the amount of software subject to superficially plausible but ultimately invalid copyright, patent and trade secret claims against Linux or other free and open source software. If there is any code out there that represents a conceivable risk of that kind, we'd like to identify it and mitigate the litigation risk now. If there isn't any valid claim that can be made, we'd like to be able to prove it.
Posted by vanevery at 11:54 AM | TrackBack
RIAA: We must not allow any use, let alone fair use
Mindjack - Will Digital Radio Be Napsterized? by J.D. Lasica
From the article:
The Recording Industry Association of America has discovered that digital radio broadcasts can be copied and redistributed over the Internet.
The horror.
And so the RIAA, the music business's trade and lobbying group, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to step in and impose an "audio broadcast flag" on certain forms of digital radio.
Posted by vanevery at 11:52 AM | TrackBack
Clear Channel using patent to keep bands from selling concert CDs
RollingStone.com
Another example of patent abuse.
From the story:
Artists net about ten dollars for every twenty- to twenty-five-dollar concert CD that's sold, no matter which company they use. But with Clear Channel pushing to eliminate competition, many fear there will be less money and fewer opportunities to sell live discs. "It's one more step toward massive control and consolidation of Clear Channel's corporate agenda," says String Cheese Incident manager Mike Luba, who feuded with Clear Channel last year after promoters blocked the band from using CD-burning equipment.
Posted by vanevery at 11:46 AM | TrackBack
April 11, 2004
Pro bono lawyers for artists
VLA Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Posted by vanevery at 06:55 PM | TrackBack
April 09, 2004
re-work, re-tell and release..
Video
I feel like this is something like bringing the oral storytelling tradition to modern media. It allows for change, critique and so forth.
From the site:
Wizard People, Dear Reader is an unauthorized re-envisioning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Ston, by Brad Neely. To experience it, viewers need to get a copy of the first Harry Potter movie and watch it with the sound off, replacing Neely's narration with the original soundtrack.
Posted by vanevery at 01:35 PM | TrackBack
April 03, 2004
The labels are the real pirates
salon :: :: tech :: feature :: Courtney Love does the math, By Courtney Love :: Page 1
This is a bit old but as Dave Winer says, it is as relevant now as it was the day she said it.
From the article:
The controversial singer takes on record label profits, Napster and "sucka VCs."
Posted by vanevery at 12:08 PM | TrackBack
March 26, 2004
Lessig's new book, Free Culture
== Free Culture ==
From the site:
All creative works - books, movies, records, software, and so on - are a compromise between what can be imagined and what is possible - technologically and legally. For more than two hundred years, laws in America have sought a balance between rewarding creativity and allowing the borrowing from which new creativity springs. The original term of copyright set by the Constitution in 1787 was seventeen years. Now it is closer to two hundred. Thomas Jefferson considered protecting the public against overly long monopolies on creative works an essential government role. What did he know that we've forgotten?
I have uploaded a PDF copy of Lessig's book, Free Culture, download it.
Posted by vanevery at 02:08 AM | TrackBack
March 24, 2004
Indie record stores tell us the the RIAA is full of it..
Wired News: Record Stores: We're Fine, Thanks
Interesting, from the article:
High prices, rather than file sharing, are what usually stop a kid from buying a CD, Wiley said.
Typically, the music industry wants stores to sell CDs for $18 when they should be going for $15, he said. That $3 can make the difference in terms of whether or not a CD is going to sell.
Posted by vanevery at 09:37 PM | TrackBack
March 21, 2004
The Center for Democracy and Technology
CDT Mission
From the site:
The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.
Posted by vanevery at 01:47 AM | TrackBack
March 15, 2004
DRM for MPEG4
Streaming Media Encryption Spec Published
From the article:
The non-profit ISMA said its Encryption and Authentication Specification v.1.0 builds on the core ISMA Specification 1.0 released in 2001 and sets a framework for the secure content delivery over IP networks. It effectively adds a legitimate digital rights management (define) spec for the MPEG-4 (define) digital media distribution standard.
Posted by vanevery at 12:47 PM | TrackBack
March 13, 2004
P2P video archive and sharing system
NGV
From the site:
New Global Vision is a digital video archive project. The goal is to build up a network of dedicated ftp servers and a peer-to-peer file sharing system able to overcome the bandwidth problems related to the size of video files.
Posted by vanevery at 04:39 PM | TrackBack
March 07, 2004
NY standing up to copyright tyranny
www.nyfairuse.org - New Yorkers for Protecting Fair Use of Copyrighted Material
From the site:
New Yorkers for Fair Use is a group that supports copyright law as Congress originally framed and implemented it. Congress first conceived of copyright law as a limited term protection for authors and inventors. This limited term protection was meant to be an incentive to creators of original work to distribute their inventions as quickly and as widely as possible. Congress hoped that this distribution would facilitate scientific and artistic progress. Today, the extension of copyright to 70 or more years past the death of the author and the passage of laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, support the interests of corporations in maintaining monopolies over their creations at the expense of scientific and artistic progress. The DMCA is a particularly egregious example of this trend in copyright law. The DMCA grants the authors of digital works the ability to specify how their work my be used in perpetuity. Moreover, the DMCA even allows authors to prohibit the copying and quoting of their digital work for the purpose of education -- a use of copyrighted works which has traditionally been allowed under the doctrine of fair use. Because the DMCA allows authors to prevent other members of the public from using their work as a basis for further creative endeavor, we believe the DMCA fatally harms the original intent of copyright law, which was to promote progress in the useful arts and sciences. As such, we support the revocation of the DMCA in the interests of scientific and artistic progress. We also support the extension of the fair use doctrine into the digital domain so that some balance is restored between the interests of the public and the interests of authors and inventors.
Posted by vanevery at 06:41 PM | TrackBack
March 04, 2004
Go Larry! Hope the book makes people THINK.
Wired 12.03: Some Like It Hot
From the excerpt:
If piracy means using the creative property of others without their permission, then the history of the content industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of big media today - film, music, radio, and cable TV - was born of a kind of piracy. The consistent story is how each generation welcomes the pirates from the last. Each generation - until now.
Posted by vanevery at 11:56 AM | TrackBack
March 03, 2004
Creativity always builds on the past
Moving Image Contest Winners | Creative Commons
Nice promotional video for Creative Commons.