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"Ars Technica is reporting that the College Opportunity and Affordability Act passed through the House today with a vote of 354-58 and the anti-P2P provision is intact. That provision would require universities to filter P2P and to offer legal alternatives. They are claiming now, though, that universities would not lose federal funding if they fail to do this. Of course, an amendment that would have clarified that was withdrawn immediately after it was offered."
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/02/08/2029259.shtml -
agreed. crack.
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RIAA trying to get songwriter royalties lowered
Lest there be anyone left who believes the RIAA's propaganda that its litigation campaign is intended to benefit the 'creators' of the music, Hollywood Reporter reports that the RIAA is asking the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter royalties on song file downloads, from the present rate of 9 cents per song -- which translates to about 13% of the wholesale price -- down to 8% of the wholesale price, or around 5 1/2 cents per song.
Meanwhile, the big digital music companies, such as Apple, want the royalty rate lowered even more, to something like 4% of wholesale, or less than 3 cents per song.
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2008/02/riaa-trying-to-get-songwriter-royalties.html -
Get your legal training video here.
(if you sell CD, you also sell cocaine... really! Nxt up. wMd.)
http://gizmodo.com/358648/leaked-riaa-training-video-for-prosecutors-find-pirates--find-crack+dealing-terrorist-murderers-too?autoplay=true
This is a leaked official RIAA training video produced with the National District Attorneys Association telling U.S. prosecutors why they should bust music pirates: Because it'll lead them to "everything from handguns to large quantities of cocaine [and] marijuana," not to mention terrorists and murderers!The whole video is over 60 minutes long—these are just two of the more outrageous minutes with Jim Dedman, from the NDAA, interviewing Deborah Robinson and Frank Walters from the RIAA about the benefits of going SWAT on music pirates. At one point, Walters says the piracy/drug connection can be so bad that you get asked "When you buy a CD, would you like it with or without—the with is enclosing a piece of crack or whatever the case may be."
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It's brilliant. It's like making brushing your teeth illegal and then claiming that the crime of dental hygiene tends to go hand in hand with the crime of drugs and terrorism because more often than not terrorists also brush their teeth. Fucking hilarious.
This was the great genius of 1984 of course - make so many things illegal and surveillance so pervasive that basically the entire population is guilty of something and it is just a question of whether or not you show up of their radar and they decide to bust you. Splendid. -
Posted by: squashed "When you buy a CD, would you like it with or without—the with is enclosing a piece of crack or whatever the case may be."
ha haha hah! is this for real? cause it would be hilarious if it was. of course i want my complimentary piece of crack enclosed with my cd purchase! idiots.
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The problem with taking on Universities instead of poor people.
-------------University of San Francisco Law Clinic Joins Fight Against RIAA
The RIAA's litigation campaign has met resistance from the academic community before, but now it's been taken to a whole new level: the defense of RIAA victims who are not part of the college community. First the University of Oregon lashed out on behalf of its students, then it was the University of Maine's Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic on behalf of its undergrads. Now, the University of San Francisco School of Law has taken the fight a giant step further. Its Intellectual Property Law Clinic's attorneys-in-training, working under the supervision of law professors, are going to bat against the RIAA by helping outside lawyers to defend their clients, pro bono. They reached out 3000 miles to get involved in Elektra v. Torres and Maverick v. Chowdhury, two cases going on in Brooklyn, NY, against non-college defendants. Two of the law students in the USF's legal program assisted in the research and preparation of briefs in these cases, opposing the RIAA's motion to dismiss the defendants' counterclaims. Thousands of honor students throughout United States law schools, most of them digital natives who actually understand the legal fallacies and technological missteps the RIAA is taking, and who can't wait to expose them, make a pretty good resource for the poor and middle class people trying to defend these cases."
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/02/29/0120224.shtml -
i actually have a friend who goes to school at one of the university of california campuses who got sued for i think something like $3 thousand late last year. kazaa or limewire, or something.
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Wow, this is crude. The net better never figure out who is behind this legal move. Things are going to get very ugly if it does.
http://torrentfreak.com/scammers-move-to-seize-shareaza-trademark-080302/After Hijacking Site, Scammers Move to Seize Shareaza Trademark
In a December 2007 hostile takeover, a company took control of Shareaza.com, the domain name used previously for the real, open-source Shareaza P2P client. The real Shareaza client is 6th in the Sourceforge all-time Top 10 downloads and is completely free (GNU General Public License), but this company is passing off its own closed-source software as the real thing. Essentially, they are stealing the Shareaza brand name and goodwill from right under the operators noses in an effort to crush the project.
Last week, the corporate battle against this almost defenseless collective of people working on the Shareaza project took a somewhat miserable twist when the operators of the fake Shareaza site (Discordia Ltd) threatened legal action against the real Shareaza, all because of a comment made by a user on their forums.
If you’re starting to get a little annoyed that this company is pushing its luck, you may be interested to know that their lawyers - Meister Seelig & Fein in New York - have links to the new owners of iMesh and Bearshare, both initially free, both now converted to pay services after legal action.
So if it doesn’t unsettle you that some music-industry backed company has come in and stamped all over a GNU GPL project, took their domain name, passed their own software off as the real thing and threatened legal action, then maybe this will:
On January 10th 2008, lawyers representing ‘Discordia Ltd’ filed for registration of the ‘Shareaza’ trademark at the United States Patent Office. As yet, the trademark has not been granted to them but according to staff at the real Shareaza project, it must be urgently contested. Discordia claim that the first commercial use of the Shareaza trademark was December 17 2007 but other documentation suggests Discordia claim copyright since 1999. The real Shareaza project has been running since 2004.
...
According to a source at the real Shareaza: “Discordia Ltd. under which the trademark was sought is a Cyprus shell company designed to shield MusicLab, iMesh, parent companies and business partners from the exceedingly high risk of liability in this case. Private information will not be disclosed, however there is significant circumstantial evidence regarding the source of their unethical and illegal behaviors that ought to be brought to light for the greater internet community.”
The real Shareaza guys are calling out for support, you can read exactly what they need here, but they are also calling on all of the budding internet investigators out there to research Discordia, iMesh, MusicLab and lawfirm Meister Seelig & Fein to dig up any information that could be of use to them in fighting these imposters.
This is going to end with a very ugly internet battle. warm up the wiki folks.
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RIAA Keeps Settlement Money, Artists May Sue
Despite collecting an estimated several hundred million dollars in P2P related settlements from the likes of Napster, KaZaA and Bolt, prominent artists’ managers are complaining that so far, they haven’t received any compensation from the labels. According to a lawyer, some are considering legal action.
MediaDefender Parent Company Facing Liquidation
After suffering humiliation at the hands of a hacker in 2007, the future of anti-piracy company MediaDefender is in serious doubt. Its parent company, ARTISTdirect, has called in a team of specialists to “assist in the exploration of strategic alternatives.” That’ll be alternatives to liquidation, then.
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proposing ISP fee to save ailing music industry? Isn't any ailing industry suppose to die instead of being subsidized?
On top of that, is not like all this money will go to artists/songwriters.
http://slashdot.org/articles/08/03/13/2323222.shtml
"Both Wired and Ars Technica have reports on Jim Griffin's proposal that ISPs charge each broadband customer $5 per month to subsidize the ailing music industry. The resulting fund would ostensibly 'compensate songwriters, performers, publishers and music labels.' Although no specific version of the proposal has been referenced, a number of controversies are inherent to the plan: How is the money really divided? What happens when the MPAA, the Business Software Alliance, and various other industry groups want their own surcharge added? What about the supposed majority of broadband customers who never download illegal music? Griffin will be discussing the plan further at SXSW tomorrow. We've previously discussed a similar proposal from the Songwriters Association of Canada. -
oh man, i remember imesh. it sucked.
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And of course tiny labels and self-releases won't get a cent. So the traffic and tax on their files will be propping up the likes of fucking Coldplay. Wizard plan, chaps.
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It's fun watching them flailing around...
anyway. time to muse about the future of mp3 blogging again. It's the end of Q1. There got to be some hot air to be blown about... hmmm... -
"Exonerated RIAA defendant Tanya Andersen is expected to refile her malicious prosecution lawsuit against the RIAA today. The refiling will mark a significant watershed in the RIAA's fight against P2P users because for the first time, the group's tactics, secret agreements, and fee splitting with MediaSentry are likely to come to light, thanks to discovery. Andersen's attorney says he'll be 'digging into agreements between the RIAA, RIAA member companies, MediaSentry, and the Settlement Support Sentry. Part of that will involve looking at compensation, like how much MediaSentry gets from each settlement. "I'd love to know what kind of bounty MediaSentry got paid to supply erroneous identities to the RIAA," Lybeck says.' The judge has barred further motions to dismiss the complaint, which means the RIAA will have to face the music. 'Unlike the thousands of lawsuits filed so far, the RIAA does not have the luxury of walking away from this case if there's a real chance of embarrassing information being released. "Once discovery happens in the cases the RIAA brings, they run," Lybeck says. "This is our case now, and they can't run."'"
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/03/14/158246.shtml -
Count down until Japanese hacker start building their own global darknet.
This is predictable.Japanese ISPs Agree to Ban Pirates from the Internet
Following a huge increase in complaints from the music, movie and software industries, the four major Japanese ISP organizations have agreed that they will work with copyright holders to track down copyright infringing file-sharers and disconnect them from the internet.
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http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/03/25/1725258.shtml
the Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether exonerated RIAA defendants should automatically be awarded attorneys' fees. Texas resident Cliff Thompson was sued by the RIAA, which subsequently dropped its copyright infringement lawsuit after it determined that his adult daughter was the culprit. Thompson was denied attorneys' fees by the district and appeals courts and is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter. "In the petition for certiorari filed with the Supreme Court, Thompson's attorney Ted Lee lays out the RIAA's legal strategy and notes what he describes as the 'inherent unfairness' of the lawsuits... The fight between the RIAA and alleged copyright infringers is inherently unbalanced due to the vast financial resources available to the record labels. The risk-reward ratio for defendants is seriously out of kilter, and mandating that a successful defense — even if it comes from the RIAA's decision to voluntarily dismiss a case — results in the record labels picking up the tab would even things out." -
oh look, same trick, same organization, different country.
It's not even a good cartel.
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/04/06/1621238.shtmlLawyer Banned for Threatening File-Sharers
S. Hare brings us a report from TorrentFreak about a lawyer working for a Swiss anti-piracy group who was recently given a 6-month ban for her attempts to intimidate file-sharers though letters threatening fines and court fees. Elizabeth Martin demanded 400 Euros each from "hundreds of thousands of file-sharers," and suggested that they would have to face large settlements if they did not comply. The Paris Bar Council took exception to this and instituted the ban. Martin worked for Logistep, a company who has had trouble following laws in the past. "The disciplinary board decided that 'By choosing to reproduce aggressive foreign methods, intended to force payments, the interested party also violated [the code] which specifies that the lawyer cannot unfairly represent a situation or seriousness of threat.' In addition, the lawyer also violated the code by cashing payments into a private account, not the usual dedicated litigation account, known as a 'Carpa'. Martin also refused to reveal how many payments had been received from file-sharers." -
Rumors of a 'Whisper Campaign' Forming Against Fair Use
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/04/08/041237.shtml
"Ars Technica reports that a group of companies and organizations it calls 'big content' is currently engaged in a worldwide 'whisper campaign' against Fair Use. 'The counter-reformation in question takes the form of a "whispering campaign" in which ministries in different countries are told that plans to expand fair use rights might well run afoul of the Berne Convention's "three-step test." The Convention, which goes back to the late 1800s, was one of the earliest international copyright treaties and is now administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).'" -
UMG Calls Infringement Damages "Excessive"
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Why would UMG, one of the four major RIAA members, consider an infringement award 'grossly excessive'? Naturally, because they were the ones ordered to pay it. While they had no trouble with Jammie Thomas being ordered to pay $222k, some 13,214 times the actual costs, they thought that being ordered to pay ten times the actual damages in Bridgeport v. Justin Combs was just too much. Then again, maybe that's why they didn't complain back when the increased statutory damages section was cut from the PRO-IP Act? Now if they could just cut the rest of the act."
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/05/15/1258235.shtml
(hah, sooner or later they gonna implode under their own stupidity) -
Total Phone and Email Database Proposed In UK
"The Times of London is reporting a proposal for a massive government database holding details of all phone calls, emails, and time spent on the Internet. This is to be justified as being 'part of the fight against crime and terrorism.' Quoting: 'Internet service providers and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials.' If you want to write to representatives to let them know your views, contact details are available at Write to Them." UK telecoms are already required to keep records of phone calls and text messages for 12 months, accessible by subpoena; the requirement is already slated to expand to records of Internet usage, emails, and VoIP. This new proposal aims to centralize all that information in a single database in the Home Office. -
holy fuck, these fuckers start infecting political website too...
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/24/174517/825
The Huffington Post just appointed former RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen as its new political director. Rosen presided over the RIAA's total and utter failure to come to grips with the Internet, the period in which the record industry rejected every single overture of money in exchange for licenses to its catalog from venture-backed P2P companies, choosing litigation over cash, and leading to a world in which the majority of music consumption online is illegal and doesn't give a dime to the record industry.Nevertheless, Rosen is also an old-time political hack, epitomising the wing of the Democratic party that has progressive politics on every issue except the Internet: they're all for freedom, except for when it comes to that magic wire that delivers freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in one package. As far as that wire goes, one Police Academy or Brittney Spears download is grounds for termination of access to the net (and confiscation of every cent you can lay claim to).
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/24/former-riaa-ceo-is-t.html
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/the-huffington.html
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yay,....!
I don't think they know how screwed they are when they get what they wished for. No search engine will index them since nobody can say for sure which IP laws apply (They don't even know who owns what.) So everybody will soon start suing each other.
and within a year or so, nobody will link to the industry cartel material.
It'll be internet wide boycott practically. ... lol.
big label music will die within two years. movie probably takes longer.
The demise of industry cartel finally here. They are shooting their own foot.$4 Million In Fines For Linking To Infringing Files
"The MPAA won judgments totaling $4M against two sites which merely link to infringing content. They're not arguing that it's an infringement of their distribution right, like the RIAA has with their 'making available' argument. Instead, they got the sites for 'contributory copyright infringement', just like RIAA v. LimeWire. To translate all that legalese into English, search engines which primarily index copyright-infringing material and the people who run them may not be safe in the US. That applies even if the sites in question do not host any infringing materials, participate in, or encourage the infringement done by their users. And, even honoring DMCA notices in order to take advantage of the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions hasn't prevented the **AA from suing." -
ahahahaha....
this is going to be haiiiiiiilarious....
(me. RCB = legal extortion mafia)
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9493/Company+-+US+Copyright+Royalty+Board+Unconstitutional
Company - US Copyright Royalty Board Unconstitutional
Now, Billboard Magazine is reporting that Royalty Logic is challenging the constitutionality of the CRB. Royalty Logic was a part of the net radio rate trials wanting authority to compete with SoundExchange. The Copyright Royalty Board denied Royalty Logic.
The report continues:The deadline for filing legal briefs with the Appeals Court has passed. Therefore, Royalty Logic is asking the court to permit the filing of additional arguments for consideration.
If permitted to file the brief, Royalty Logic will argue that the law creating the CRB violates the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution. In other words, Congress improperly permitted the Librarian of Congress, which controls the Copyright Office, to appoint the three Copyright Royalty Judges.
If a court held that the law is unconstitutional, it is conceivable that decisions made by the CRB would be null and void. -
MediaDefender attacks and cripples Revision3 for locking out its spy-bots
MediaDefender, the thugs paid by the entertainment industry to spy on file-sharers and attempt to cripple file-sharing networks, attacked a legitimate Internet TV company called Revision3 over the weekend, launch as massive denial-of-service attack in retaliation for having their spy-bots locked out of R3's BitTorrent trackers: Revision3 runs a tracker expressly designed to coordinate the sharing and downloading of our shows. It’s a completely legitimate business practice, similar to how ESPN puts out a guide that tells viewers how to tune into its network on DirecTV, Dish, Comcast and Time Warner, or a mall might publish a map of its stores...A bit of address translation, and we’d discovered our nemesis. But instead of some shadowy underground criminal syndicate, the packets were coming from right in our home state of California. In fact, we traced the vast majority of those packets to a public company called Artistdirect (ARTD.OB). Once we were able to get their internet provider on the line, they verified that yes, indeed, that internet address belonged to a subsidiary of Artist Direct, called MediaDefender.
Who pays MediaDefender to disrupt peer to peer networks? I don’t know who’s ponying up today, but in the past their clients have included Sony, Universal Music, and the central industry groups for both music and movies – the RIAA and MPAA. According to an article by Ars Technica, the company uses “its array of 2,000 servers and a 9GBps dedicated connection to propagate fake files and launch denial of service attacks against distributors.” Another Ars Technica story claims that MediaDefender used a similar denial of service attack to bring down a group critical of its actions...
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How To Frame a Printer For Copyright Infringement
An anonymous reader writes "Have you ever wondered what it takes to get 'caught' for copyright infringement on the Internet? Surprisingly, actual infringement is not required. The New York Times reports that researchers from the computer science department at the University of Washington have just released a study that examines how enforcement agencies monitor P2P networks and what it takes to receive a complaint today. Without downloading or sharing a single file, their study attracted more than 400 copyright infringement complaints. Even more disturbing is their discovery that illegal P2P participation can be easily spoofed; the researchers managed to frame innocent desktop machines and even several university printers, all of which received bogus complaints."
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/06/05/1723225.shtml -
In their report, the researchers also demonstrate a way to manipulate I.P. addresses so that another user appears responsible for the file-sharing.
An inanimate object could also get the blame. The researchers rigged the software agents to implicate three laserjet printers, which were then accused in takedown letters by the M.P.A.A. of downloading copies of “Iron Man” and the latest Indiana Jones film.
“Because current enforcement techniques are weak, it is possible that anyone, regardless of sharing content or using BitTorrent, could get a D.M.C.A. takedown notice claiming they were committing copyright infringement,” said Mr. Piatek.
In their paper, the researchers argue for greater transparency and public review of Big Media’s intellectual property enforcement actions.
“Because current enforcement techniques are weak, it is possible that anyone, regardless of sharing content or using BitTorrent, could get a D.M.C.A. takedown notice claiming they were committing copyright infringement,” said Mr. Piatek.
In their paper, the researchers argue for greater transparency and public review of Big Media’s intellectual property enforcement actions.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/the-inexact-science-behind-dmca-takedown-notices/
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Mike writes "Virgin Media, the UK's largest cable-modem provider, has decided that it will spy on its users to protect record industry profits. Starting next week Virgin Media will send letters to thousands of households where they suspect music is either being downloaded or illegally shared. The campaign is a joint venture between Virgin Media and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents the major record labels. The BPI ultimately wants internet companies to implement a "three strikes and out" rule to warn and ultimately disconnect the estimated 6.5 million customers whose accounts are (supposedly) used for regular criminal activity. In other words, you download a few songs and they'll come along and cut off the one wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly."
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/06/09/1447231.shtml -
The RIAA May Be Forcing Laptop Manufactuers to Disable Stereo Mix Recording
After posting this information on ripten, a Dell representative chimed in to say that the lack of a sound card Stereo Mix option was most likely due to an issue with laptops running XP, and that a driver existed to correct the problem. However, it is still not clear whether the driver works for all Dell computers or why the option was disabled in the first place. Nor does it address the possibility that the problem may not be confined to Dell products alone. Naturally, random forum threads do not confirm RIAA involvement with Stereo Mix as a fact—but it does have that slimy, fishy vibe we have come to expect from them. With that having been said, have you experienced similar problems?
http://gizmodo.com/5022726/the-riaa-may-be-forcing-laptop-manufactuers-to-disable-stereo-mix-recording -
Viacom won't soon shed image as corporate bully
Despite winning an important legal victory against Google last week, Viacom's public image is taking a beating.
Ever since Viacom, parent company of MTV and Paramount Pictures, filed a $1 billion copyright suit against Google's YouTube last year, Google has won kudos for championing the rights of Internet users. On the other side, Viacom was blasted by critics who accused it of trying to lock down information and block people from enjoying South Park and the The Daily Show.
Neither of these two perceptions is entirely accurate. But what is true is that there is little Viacom--or any other big media firm trying to enforce its copyright online--can do to avoid being saddled with the image of a corporate bully. Companies considering whether to follow Viacom's lead should carefully weigh the risks of potentially alienating consumers.
Last week, Viacom was widely criticized on the Web after a judge ordered Google to turn over information that included YouTube usernames, Internet Protocol addresses and the viewing histories of YouTube's users. Viacom representatives denied that the company had ever requested any personally identifiable information.
By then, the damage was done. Viacom was branded an enemy of the Internet and of privacy. This kind of public relations drubbing shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9985098-7.html
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Posted by: squashed
Viacom won't soon shed image as corporate bully
Despite winning an important legal victory against Google last week, Viacom's public image is taking a beating.
Ever since Viacom, parent company of MTV and Paramount Pictures, filed a $1 billion copyright suit against Google's YouTube last year, Google has won kudos for championing the rights of Internet users. On the other side, Viacom was blasted by critics who accused it of trying to lock down information and block people from enjoying South Park and the The Daily Show.
Neither of these two perceptions is entirely accurate. But what is true is that there is little Viacom--or any other big media firm trying to enforce its copyright online--can do to avoid being saddled with the image of a corporate bully. Companies considering whether to follow Viacom's lead should carefully weigh the risks of potentially alienating consumers.
Last week, Viacom was widely criticized on the Web after a judge ordered Google to turn over information that included YouTube usernames, Internet Protocol addresses and the viewing histories of YouTube's users. Viacom representatives denied that the company had ever requested any personally identifiable information.
By then, the damage was done. Viacom was branded an enemy of the Internet and of privacy. This kind of public relations drubbing shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9985098-7.html
Have you ever visited Viacom's site? The thing is fugly as hell. Though I must admit it does reflect Viacom's philosophy. -
Update: Merlin vs. Last.fm
Yesterday Last.fm announced a direct payment system making it among the first on-demand services to compensate d.i.y. acts. Hypebot questioned how fair the payment structure was and indie trade group Merlin issued a strong warning to its 12k members questioning it.
Based on a statement by Merlin's CEO to PaidContent Hyepbot also reported that they were contemplating legal action. Asked if they had sought legal advice, Merlin's Charles Caldas said, "...we’d do whatever we feel is necessary to ensure that our members’ rights are properly protected." But a Merlin spokesmen this morning sought to tone down the threat saying, "Merlin continues to take a positive approach to negotiations and want to deliver a comprehensive deal for our members."
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2008/07/update-merlin-v.html
(Who needs label who can't do digital properly when you can do it on your own? ....onooo..panic at merlin.) -
finally the two evil clashes. this ought to be interesting.
http://excesscopyright.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-torture-by-music-performance-in.htmlIs Torture by Music a "Performance in Public"?
Certain collectives are quick to collect money from those in nursing homes, hospitals, prisons etc. on the basis that these are "public" places. Never mind that the audience is captive and it's their home, like it or not.
Well, it turns out that music is used at Guantanamo for torture purposes, according to the BBC.Singer David Gray has warned that US interrogators playing loud music as a form of torture - including his own song Babylon - is no laughing matter.
"Only the novelty aspect of this story gets it noticed... Guantanamo greatest hits," he said.
"What we're talking about here is people in a darkened room, physically inhibited by handcuffs, bags over their heads and music blaring at them. -
Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be squashed:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/24/digitalmedia.piracy
And tonight, Mrs. Toad will provide the squashed commentary, from this Toad thread:The internet is like water, it will find a way around these fuckers sure as eggs is eggs.
For a start, technology is already undermining the existing ISPs which are nearly all “bundled” firms. Things like this http://www.compareandsave.com/news/dundee-to-get-super-fast-sewer-broadband/ have them shitting themselves.
There is one, count em, one cable company that can give you a landline in the UK and one credible (actually shite, BT are shite - don’t get me started) telephone company that controls the access to your landline. The other ISPs are just resellers operating on these networks using alleged “spare” capacity (which is just jam now versus jam later for the network controllers). So for 5 big ISPS, read two, satellite broadband through Sky being pish.
Once mobile broadband/WiFI Max/alternative fibre networks ruin the party, in theory the fastest, cheapest ISP wins (or the most popular, ie the one thats less of an asshole). As these get cheaper and more viable, who the fuck needs VM or BT? BT also try to reseall TV service now.
UNLESS, as they seem to believe, they manage to suck off enough antsy content providers to make sure that, by playing nicely and being nasty to subscribers, they get preferential deals from them for their shitty TV and “online offering” as they desperately try to pretend that they have a compeitive advantage or even a product.
Well a Pig in a dress is still a Pig. No-one wants your shitty cable anymore wrapped up with your fucking ISP service Virgin Media. Give me a fast connection from anyone whoevers offering over whatever medium and I’ll buy all the shit movies I want to watch on itunes or stream programs from BBC and Channel 4, if I want porn, the world is my oyster and if I want music, I will get it anywhere I wish.
Fuck you, you no-mark wholesaleing non fucking entity. You mean no more and add no more to anyone than a fucking pipe or a piece of wire bringing electricity or water into the house. My water company doesn’t tell me what the fuck to do and neither does the bastard offshoot product of some Beardie cocksucker who last had a good business idea in 1975 and has been humping the corporate whore ever since.
Wait until HBO realises it can make more money selling Entourage online than it can by negotiating with VM. wait till the music companies finally sort out their business models and can be profitable online.
There’s a reason it takes a long time to download shit on these piss poor networks and that they don’t want you to be able to circumvent their other businesses, why sign your own death warrant?
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Do American's know Stars in Their Eyes? Probably not. It's an unbearably naff British TV program where people do completely sincere impersonations of celebrities and is presented by a muppet called Matthew Kelly. Hence the phrase, "Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be..."
Just so's you know. -
People like to think the internet is free.
well, somebody better wake up. To most people there is only one or two entry point (ISP) And if you read the contract, they have the right to pull the plug pretty much anytime they feel like it.
At least they haven't pass the French law in the UK (three strike you are out of the net)
Isn't it great having a PM who is owned by the industry?
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http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/07/24/1257257.shtmlBig Six UK ISPs Capitulate To Music Industry
"Britain's six leading internet providers have signed a Government-led agreement to stamp out illegal music file sharing. The six providers — BT, Virgin Media, Orange, Tiscali, Sky and Carphone Warehouse — will implement a series of measures against those found to be file sharing. Offenders may find their internet connection is throttled, or may even have their traffic "filtered" to prevent media files from being downloaded. The ISPs are reportedly reluctant to impose the BPI's preferred "three strikes and you're out" approach of cutting off users' broadband connections."
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so anyway, this is pretty much predictable right? I already said this is going to happen a year ago. -
Posted by: squashed
Update: Merlin vs. Last.fm
Yesterday Last.fm announced a direct payment system making it among the first on-demand services to compensate d.i.y. acts. Hypebot questioned how fair the payment structure was and indie trade group Merlin issued a strong warning to its 12k members questioning it.
Based on a statement by Merlin's CEO to PaidContent Hyepbot also reported that they were contemplating legal action. Asked if they had sought legal advice, Merlin's Charles Caldas said, "...we’d do whatever we feel is necessary to ensure that our members’ rights are properly protected." But a Merlin spokesmen this morning sought to tone down the threat saying, "Merlin continues to take a positive approach to negotiations and want to deliver a comprehensive deal for our members."
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2008/07/update-merlin-v.html
(Who needs label who can't do digital properly when you can do it on your own? ....onooo..panic at merlin.)
well squashed, if you are a label and you want the same deal as the major then you have to go the collective bargaining route via Merlin. the terms for just signing up via Last.fm website are very much not in the small label's favor.
and Last.fm is being pretty unfair in their approach with things such as not filtering their royalty tracking via territory which means that if you've licensed an album for Japan, you're not getting paid. that is great for a major with global rights, but that almost never happens with smaller artists / labels.
they are fairly wanton in their dealings with indies IMHO, bordering on negligent.
what is your beef with Merlin? they are fighting the good fight for the small guys..... -
so your advice to small labels would be "go ahead and sign a shitty deal just to get your stuff up on Last.fm because your music is less valuable than that of a major record label."?
seems like sound advice squashed. -
Yahoo Music shutting down its DRM server, customers lose all their paid-for music the next time they crash or upgrade
Yahoo Music just announced that it's pulling the plug on its DRM server -- that means that as of September 30, everyone who bought Yahoo Music will lose the ability to recover it from backup or transfer it to a new PC. Like I said when MSN Music proposed to do the same thing: "All those years the music industry spent insisting that the only way they'd sell music is with crippling DRM attached managed to totally discredit the idea of buying music at all."Once the Yahoo store goes down and the key servers go offline, existing tracks cannot be authorized to play on new computers. Instead, Yahoo recommends the old, lame, and lossy workaround of burning the files to CD, then reripping them onto the computer. Sure, you'll lose a bunch of blank CDs, sound quality, and all the metadata, but that's a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to listen to that music you lawfully acquired. Good thing you didn't download it illegally or just buy it on CD!No, you were one of the digital pioneers, and in this brave new frontier world, a few people are just going to get malaria. Fact of life. And someone will step in a bear trap, and then it's time for the bite rag, the alcohol, and the saw. Just the price of progress. And yes, some poor group will get trapped in snowfall when crossing the pass, and cannibalism may or may not be involved by the time they stumble barefoot from the mountains next spring. No one can prevent such tragedies.
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yeah, subsribing music is the future. (The future to screw people. too bad nobody is biting)http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/24/yahoo-music-shutting.html
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Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) have just sponsored a new bill, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, which would combine the worst parts of the PRO-IP Act and the PIRATE Act. The basic idea is pretty simple: expand the Federal government to create something like the Department of Homeland Security for IP. The Copyright Czar then polices the internet and clogs the courts with thousands of civil lawsuits against individual infringers so the RIAA doesn't have to. Feel free to contact your representatives with your feelings about this bill. Right now, they believe the bill (PDF) will 'protect jobs.'"
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/07/26/0340215.shtml -
Tenise Barker Takes On RIAA Damages Theory
"Tenise Barker, the young social worker from the Bronx who took on the RIAA's 'making available' theory and won, has now launched a challenge to the constitutionality of the RIAA's damages theory. In her answer to the RIAA's amended complaint [PDF], she argues that recovering from 2,142 to 428,571 times the actual damages would be a violation of Due Process. She says that the Court could avoid having to find the statute unconstitutional by construing the RIAA's complaint as alleging a single copyright infringement — the use of an 'online media distribution system' — and limiting the total recovery to $750. In the alternative, she argues, if the Court feels it cannot avoid the question, it should simply limit the plaintiffs' damages to $3.50 per song file, since awarding more — against a single noncommercial user, for a single upload or download of an MP3 file for personal use — would be unconstitutional." -
watch out guys. this one is nasty if going through... everybody here will have their address instantly inside the homeland security database.
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/09/12/1239243.shtml
"The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the EIPA (the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008), which would create copyright cops. And these cops would take over the RIAA's War on Sharing by filing civil lawsuits and using civil forfeiture laws to take any and all computers engaged in infringement. Worse, they would even seize computers (such as servers or database farms) that house the data of innocent people, and these people would not have any right to get their data back. At best the 'virtual bystanders' who happened to have data on a computer used for infringement could get a protective order saying that no one should go rummaging through their stuff. Perhaps the only good thing in the bill is that they've excluded DMCA circumvention from the list of grounds for seizure. So while the Senators believe this is needed to combat foreign copyright infringement cartels, it's entirely likely that innocent people will be harmed by this law." -
holy pancake batman...! They are suing blogger for being obsessed on a subject now?
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/09/18/1422255.shtml
"Ray Beckerman, known for questioning the RIAAs legal tactics (also for frequent Slashdot contributions), was sued by the RIAA over his blog Recording Industry vs. People. In question is the "vexatious" claims that the RIAAs legal tactics is a "sham". Beckerman is quoted as saying that the litigation against him is "frivolous and irresponsible."" -
Entertainment industry made up $250 billion/750,000 jobs losses due to piracy
Ars Technica's Julian Sanchez takes a long, investigative look at the entertainment industry's claim that piracy costs the American economy 750,000 jobs and $250 billion and discovers the truth: they made it up and repeated it until they forgot they had made it up. With Customs a dead end, we dove into press archives, hoping to find the earliest public mention of the elusive 750,000 jobs number. And we found it in—this is not a typo—1986. Yes, back in the days when "Papa Don't Preach" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" topped the charts, The Christian Science Monitor quoted then-Commerce Secretary Malcom Baldridge, trumpeting Ronald Reagan's own precursor to the recently passed PRO-IP bill. Baldridge estimated the number of jobs lost to the counterfeiting of U.S. goods at "anywhere from 130,000 to 750,000."Where did that preposterously broad range come from? As with the number of licks needed to denude a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. Ars submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Commerce this summer, hoping to uncover the basis of Baldridge's claim—or any other Commerce Department estimates of job losses to piracy—but came up empty. So whatever marvelous proof the late secretary discovered was not to be found in the margins of any document in the government's vaults. But no matter: By 1987, that Brobdignagian statistical span had been reduced, as far as the press were concerned, to "as many as 750,000" jobs. Subsequent reportage dropped the qualifier. The 750,000 figure was still being bandied about this summer in support of the aforementioned PRO-IP bill...
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If I haven't personally cost the music industry at least three quarters of a million jobs by the end of the year I shall be very disappointed.
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Oh, and, erm, anyone else notice the similarity between the names Baldridge and Baldrick? I have a cunning plan, my lord...
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Thought you might be interested in this Squashed (if you hadn't see the press release already)
SLOTMUSIC CARDS NOW SHIPPING: MORE THAN 40 TOP ARTISTS AVAILABLE FROM NEARLY EVERY GENRE OF MUSIC
Artist’ Albums, Including Coldplay, Katy Perry, Leona Lewis, Rihanna and Robin Thicke will be Available on High Quality, DRM-Free MP3 slotMusic™ Cards at Best Buy® and Wal-Mart
(Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Milpitas, CA – October 15, 2008) ––The world’s four largest music companies and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a leading seller of MP3 players and flash memory cards in the United States, today unveiled the full list of artists joining the inaugural slotMusic line-up. Starting this week, music fans can purchase slotMusic cards—microSD™ cards with pre-loaded, high quality, DRM-free MP3 music—featuring new release albums from favorite artists like Coldplay, Katy Perry, Leona Lewis, Rihanna and Robin Thicke and catalog titles from Elvis, Abba and more.
Within days of shipping, slotMusic cards will arrive on the shelves of Best Buy and Wal-Mart in the United States, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $14.99. slotMusic makes today’s hottest music available on interoperable microSD cards that let fans instantly plug and play albums into their microSD slot-enabled mobile phones, portable media players, computers, and an increasing number of car stereos.
More than just your typical music albums or single downloads, slotMusic cards boast 1GB1 (gigabyte) of capacity to offer artists a compelling new way to express themselves to their fans. In addition to songs, slotMusic cards may hold liner notes, album art, videos and other creative content that an artist may choose.
Grammy™-winning recording artist Robin Thicke, is utilizing the additional space on his card to add exclusive videos, behind the scenes footage and photos, personally chosen by Thicke to share with his fans.
Dozens of popular artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group are making their debut on slotMusic cards in time for the holidays, including:
ABBA
Chris Brown
Coldplay
Connie Talbot
Daughtry
Don’t Quit Fitness Bundle
Elvis Presley
Five Finger Death Punch
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Buffet
Katy Perry
Keane
Kelly Clarkson
Kiss
Leona Lewis
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Metro Station
MIA
Nelly
New Kids On the Block
Ne-Yo
Nickelback
Pussycat Dolls
Rihanna
Rise Against
Robin Thicke
Saving Abel
Shwayze
Solange
Sugarland
Tim McGraw
Toby Keith
Usher
Weezer
Young Jeezy
Consumers can expect additional releases from other artists before the end of the year. slotMusic has an unparalleled, pre-existing installed base at launch: hundreds of millions of multimedia-phones.
slotMusic cards are packaged with a tiny USB adapter (a $9.99 value) ensuring seamless interoperability with all computers – Windows, Linux and Mac—and enabling music fans to move their music to any music management software program or MP3 music device. The MP3-based music tracks will be played back at up to 320 kilobits per second (kbps), offering a high quality audio experience.
slotMusic cards are expected to be available in Europe in 2009.
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