Kevin Werbach hit the nail squarely on the head and repeats something I've been saying for months about the Hollywood - Silicon Valley love 'em and hate 'em brawl with his recent blog:
The Language Barrier "Herein lies the conflict between Hollywood and the technology industry in a nutshell. One sees content as the critical resource, and data networks as simply another mechanism to deliver it. The other sees connectivity as the essential factor, with movies being one of many resources that can travel along those connections. Hollywood sees a moral dimension in protecting its property and the creative works of its artists, as well as a nobility in bringing entertainment to the masses. The tech industry things bits are bits, and the only moral value that really matters is freedom." (more)
This is a MUST READ.
3:23:27 AM
Chief Librarian of Congress Wants To Block Webcasters Right to Appeal
Kudos to KURT HANSON of Radio and Internet Radio Reports who is reporting " In a new twist to the ongoing battle regarding Internet radio royalty rates, the Librarian of Congress [James Billington (left)] hasfiled a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday, arguing that webcasters who did not participate in the CARP are not "an aggrieved party who would be bound by the determination" and thus should not be allowed to file an appeal in court against his decision!" (more)
Lovely. Now the Chief of the LOC wants to block the Rights of all affected webcasters their ability to protest an unfair and unjust ruling, because a group didn't have the ability to anty up the huge legal fees to sit at the table for the first round of the CARP Hearings and now wants to prohibit them from Appealing the Ruling as well. Hmm? Sounds like "unfair taxation without representation" to me.
I hate to mention this to Mr. Billington but, didn't the LOC prohibit and block many of the various webcasters, especially the community and college webcasters, from inclusion in the hearings or roundtable meetings because they didn't have the time to hear everyone's concerns? I do have that on tape from one of the Roundtable Meetings. You certainly wouldn't what that fact to come out in open court, now would you?
Later this evening I'm reading:
O shut up This is just fucking nuts! The Librarian of Congress is saying "We steamrolled a whole new marketplace by regulating the living shit out of it before it even had a chance to establish itself, and we're not gonna let the pioneers we priced out of the proceedings come in and petition their government for a fair shake to exist." (Doc Searls, of course.)
2:52:28 AM
KPIG-FM To Return to Streaming
KPIG-FM, the eclectic rock stationfromFreedom, CA's a true internet radio and streaming pioneer among broadcasters will return to streaming later this week as a feature of the new RealNetworks's premium radio service ($$).
On July 18, 2002, KPIG's owners decided that they had no choice but to suspend KPIG's live webcast in the face of the CARP fees that would be due under the most recent Copyright Office ruling.
2:35:09 AM
The Latest CARP KILL List
The following is the most recent list of Internet Radio Stations who have signed off the air thanks to the Library of Congress's CARP Ruling which set the final webcasting royality rates this summer.
The following are Educational & Community Stations no longer streaming: KTAI-TX; KNHC-WA; KAPU-CA; WMUA-MA; WEBR-VA; WDCE-VA; KWJC-MO; WERS-MA; KTSW-TX; WSUM-WI; WSTB-OH; WONB-OH; WXOU-MI; WZIP-OH; WUTK-TN; KETR-TX; WRMC-VT; KSDS-CA; WNYU-NY; WSUW-WI; WEVL-TN; KRCL-UT; WSRN-PA; KXCI-AZ; WUVT-VA; WPTS-PA; KBCS-WA; WMHW-MI; KBVR-OR; KXRJ-AR; WDWN-NY [Thanks to SOS: Save our Streams for these stations.]
2:19:32 AM
The Devils in The Details
The RIAA Chronicles and The IP Adventures: Part X
It's been a while since I've taken my quill to screen to bring the latest adventures and newsbytes of the RIAA Chronicles. Here's the latest news.
MP3s not source of music industry woes: August 13 Study By JACK KAPICA Globe and Mail Update. The record industry has it wrong: Swapping music MP3s is not the cause of the industry's woes, but it may be the cure. That conclusion comes from Forrester Research, an emerging-technology research firm, and flatly contradicts what the record executives are saying. In fact, Forrester's latest study, released Tuesday, says that consumers need a "Music Bill of Rights" to protect their right to get tunes over the Internet. (more)
Second music industry hearing set Aug. 15, 2002: California state legislators have called for a second hearing on record label accounting practices, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 24 inLos Angeles. State Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Norwalk, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the second hearing is necessary because "a lot of serious questions were raised but were not answered." There was an uproar between the Recording Industry Association of America and state legislators after the first committee hearing, which was held last month. The RIAA claimed that it did not have enough time to respond to such serious allegations as fraudulent accounting of artist royalties and secret record club contracts. [AP Newswire]
License to Hack CRYPTO-GRAM, August 15, 2002: by Bruce Schneier A bill introduced into Congress gives copyright holders -- that's the RIAA, the MPAA, and similar guys -- the right to break into people's computers if they have a reasonable basis to believe that copyright infringement is going on. Basically, the bill protects organizations from federal and state laws if they disable, block, or otherwise impair a publicly accessible peer-to-peer network. (more)
Judge hits rewind on ReplayTV case By Stefanie Olsen CNET News.com, August 16, 2002, In a nod to consumers, a federal court ruled Friday that five ReplayTV owners will be heard in a legal debate over technology that lets TV viewers skip commercials. (more)
RIAA takes piracy fight to ISPs Aug. 19, 2002: Major record companies set a new precedent in the war against piracy when the Recording Industry Association of America members filed suit against four Internet Service Providers for permitting copyright infringement. The 13 labels are asking for a preliminary federal court order requiring the ISPs to block access to Listen4Ever.com, a Web site that offers thousands of popular songs for free download in violation of copyright laws. This represents a major shift away from previous RIAA suits, which struck at such Web site-based companies as Napster and MP3.com. Other actions have resulted in specific users having their ISP account canceled. Friday's suit was the first time that the carriers themselves have been the target of legal action.(Chris Marlowe)
IWT Bans RIAA From Accessing Its Network,August 19, 2002. Information Wave Technologies has announced it will actively deny the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from accessing the contents of its network. Earlier this year, the RIAA announced its new plan to access computers without owner's consent for the sake of protecting its assets. Information Wave believes this policy puts its customers at risk of unintentional damage, corporate espionage, and invasion of privacy to say the least. (more)
RIAA backs off on download suit against ISPs Aug. 22, 2002: NEW YORK -- The U.S. recording industry has dropped efforts to compel four Internet service providers to block a Chinese Web site accused of distributing pirated music. Thirteen record companies had filed a lawsuit Friday after failing to persuade the site, Listen4ever.com, to shut down on its own. But in a surprise move, the companies dropped the lawsuit Wednesday, saying the site is now offline. The Recording Industry Association of America said it may revive the lawsuit if the site reappears with a new name or location. Critics had complained that the RIAA was setting a potentially dangerous precedent by trying to force the Internet carriers to function as the copyright police, a right it had under an untested provision of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It's unclear what happened to the Listen4ever site, which has been inaccessible since at least Monday. An e-mail from a representative for the site, identified as Mike Smith, said only, "For some reason, the site is closed and will never come back."(AP)
Movie theater chain to run warning against illegal downloads, By CATHERINE TSAI, AP in Nando Times, ASPEN, Colo. August 21, 2002 - A leading theater chain has agreed to run before movies public service announcements that warn against copyright infringement, the president of News Corp. said Tuesday as he described an effort to take the entertainment industry's war against the online swapping of movies to theaters. (more)
Law professor fights Web link ban SAN FRANCISCO in Nando Times August 21, 2002 - A U.S. law professor is defying a growing number of companies that want to ban the practice of "linking" - where a Web site points to another page on the Internet.(David Sorkin, a professor of law at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago) (more)
US Justice Department ready to prosecute file-swappers, August 21, 2002, Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com - American federal authorities are turning their attention from terrorists to users of peer-to-peer networks, who could be jailed for up to five years.The US Department of Justice is prepared to begin prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates, a top government official said on Tuesday. John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, said Americans should realise that swapping illicit copies of music and movies is a criminal offense that can result in lengthy prison terms. "A lot of people think these activities are legal, and they think they ought to be legal," Malcolm told an audience at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual technology and politics summit.Malcolm said the Internet has become "the world's largest copy machine" and that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of America's content industries. (more)
Chief Librarian of Congress Wants To Block Webcasters Right to Appeal
The Latest CARP KILL List
The Devils in The Details