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 Friday, August 23, 2002
Wired News: Judge Tosses BT Hyperlink Case. McMahon had expressed doubts over the case's validity as the suit progressed, but on Thursday she decisively dismissed BT's claims in a summary judgment that is both technically astute and leaves no question about the judge's opinion on the worth of BT's case. [Tomalak's Realm]
I hold out the hope that the judicary will be the best at finding a way through the shoals of change and get us to a place that works. It may be a small hope but this is one step. 11:49:29 PM 
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New from BioMed Central: Journal of Negative Resu .... New from BioMed Central: Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine. An excerpt: "This open access, online journal publishes papers on all aspects of unexpected, controversial, provocative and/or negative results/conclusions in the context of current tenets, providing scientists and physicians with responsible and balanced information to support informed experimental and clinical decisions". [FOS News]
BioMed Central is leading the way with rapid publication of free articles and the rapid creation of novel journals. Almost any member can decide to become an editor of their own journal. Copyright is retained by the author, not the journal!! This could be a very interesting one that I will have to check out. 10:33:09 PM
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NPR Commentary. Note: I screwed up. Someone told me that NPR's "All Things Considered" ran a commentary of mine last night and I assumed it was on copyright. But I just found out that it was in fact one on the sociality of the Web. But, enough people have linked to the NPR commentary that didn't run yet that I'm posting it here as an unofficial draft. The transcript below is of the one that did run last night. You can listen to it here. [JOHO the Blog]
Always a gret read and absolutely true. Everything tha is a killer ap on the Internet is so because it increases the social interactions of humans. It allows strangers with similar interests to find one another.We all now this and soon the rest of mankind will. 10:30:37 PM
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Wil Wheaton on Copyright. Recommended; go read the whole thing.
The music labels, publishing houses and studios who release our creative works would have you believe that unless we strengthen copyright laws, their clever euphemism for eroding your rights to parody and free expression, all artists will suffer.
Don't you believe them. As a negotiator for the Screen Actors Guild, I have firsthand experience with these men who claim to care so greatly for artists, and I call shenanigans. The greatest danger to musicians is not Gnutella. It is the label. The greatest danger to actors and film makers is not DeCSS. It is the studio. These corporate masters care little for the artists who are filling their 4 car garages with new Porsches and filling their private jets with fuel and "hostesses."
[Wil Wheaton dot net] [Steven's Weblog]
Wil's site has been a fovorite of mine. He is not afraid to discuss what is going on in the life of a second tier actor. And, because of this, he is much more human and I root for him much more than if he was only an ex-ST:NG crew member. It would be intersting if his impact came more from his use of a weblog than from his Star Trek work. Check out his site. You might not agree with all of it but he is much more interesting than so many of those in the limelight. 10:28:00 PM
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Well Janis, Here's Your Proof.  Well Janis, Here's Your Proof
I've always respected Janis Ian for her talent, brains and her family devotion, long before she took the music industry on with her article called "THE INTERNET DEBACLE - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW," which she wrote of the niche trade Performing Songwriter Magazine, in May 2002.
The article proved to the rest of the world, Janis Ian is an intellegent voice for the independent music industry as well as the older or seasoned talent who rarely gets airplay. She isn't the only professional musician and songwriter I know whom I have personally heard this from before. Janis' articles and the way she has conducted herself in this debate has also proved to me that Janis, like a number of seasoned music business folks, has more than her share of common sense. That makes you a jewel in this world Janis!
Yesterday Dave mentioned in Scripting News: The "SJ Merc interviews Janis Ian. "She credits Napster and its progeny with sparking renewed interest in her music, at a time when she can't be heard on contemporary-hit-obsessed radio stations. And she says her decision to offer free music downloads had done the opposite of what the industry predicts it would do: It caused a 300 percent spike in merchandise sales."
Well I'm not surprised. However it was difficult to prove. Or the recording industry called it a freak accident. Well is appears it isn't.
Today I hand you the proof Janis is right-- Bill Rose and the crew over at Arbitron and the Edison Media Research group has released the news that they have just completed a study which shows as broadband connections grow, the number of people who listen to Internet Radio is increasing. Those listeners are buying more CD's per year-- nearly double.
I don't know about you, but this type of proof makes the recording industry look more and more customer unfriendly.
More on this later. [Mary Wehmeier's Blog Du Jour]
Thoughtful, creative artists will love the coming markets on the Internet. It will allow people to find and hear the music they enjoy, rather than the music the studios pay to have played. I have a 10 Gbyte iPod with most of my favorite music (Not all. I guess I need a 20 Gbyte one). I have Yes, Blue Highway, Offspring, Neil Young, the Who, Renaissance, Steeleye Span, Green Day, Moody Blues, ALison Krause, Enya, Hendrix, Benny Goodman, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Procul Harum, Herb Alpert, the Eagles,Smash Mouth, and a ton more. There is NO radio station in the whole world that plays these. Yet, if I put it on shuffle, that is what I have. This is what the studios should be shooting for: making it so easy for customers to download high quality music from trusted sources and creating our own "stations". MAybe even streaming it. Because just as Radio allows people to connect the written word to others, Internet Radio connects music lovers in ways that normal radio does not. It allows people to find music that they would not find otherwise. Internet Radio IS to music what weblogs are to writing. Maybe with more eveidence such as Arbitron, they will realize that be relaxing control they will actually INCREASE revenues. 10:10:03 PM
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Wired News: Bracing for the Digital Crackdown. [Hack the Planet]
My mantra: The Bastards ALways Go To Far. This applies in almost every human endeavor. The great thing about democracy (or at least our representative repulican form) and capitalism is that they have always been self-correcting. Many complained about CEOs for year with no response. Then, the tipping point was reached and now no one wants to be a CEO. In the original hacker attacks, the police were stopped when they finally went too far. The same will happen here because the proponents of this crackdown do not really understand what is happening. When history looks back 25-50 years hence, people will just not be able to understand what we were thinking. When you are on one side of the paradigm shift, it is absolutely impossible see the viewpoint of someone on the other side. 8:03:22 AM
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Mark Jenkins: "In erecting bulwarks around their domains, the major music businesses have left no entrance for the serendipity that kept the pop industry lively (and profitable) for decades. Yet the barbarians at those padlocked gates are the [Jake's Radio 'Blog]
Cultures, companies and governments that can not change will wither. Our society is based on change. Hierarchical companies find it very difficult to change but they must. The telephone changed the telegraph companies. Today, the telegraph companies would be complaining about how phone allow ANYONE to talk for such a cheap price instead of paying by the word. Things change. Get used to it and find a way to adapt. That is how the natural world works. 7:53:35 AM
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I just do not seem to have the time to blog that I want. Or rather, there are too many things to blog and not enough time. Being interested in a lot of things means I spend a lot of time using Radio. If I am not reading something in the news aggregator, I am trying to post a comment. I could do this all day. If I miss a day, it takes me forever to 'catch up.' I just have to ignore those old stories and start over. Very frustrating. 7:51:09 AM
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