Friday, March 1, 2002
CD Technology Stops Copies, but It Starts a Controversy
Amy Harmon
"If technology can be used to pirate copyrighted content, shouldn't technology likewise be used to protect copyrighted content?" wrote Hilary B. Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, in a response yesterday to a query from a member of Congress.
Before you buy a CD, check out Fat Chuck's - Corrupt CDs
The Church of Scientology's Supremacy over the search term Scientology on Google
This page was created to examine the reasons for Scientology's high placement in so many search engines despite its egregious unpopularity and highly popular sites opposed to this cult, such as Operation Clambake (also known as xenu.net) and Ron Newman's The Church of Scientology vs. the Net page. I created the page to discuss the interesting results one gets on Google on a search using scientology as a search term.
Already, I've noticed that one site opposed to Scientology (Operation Clambake - The Inner Secrets of Scientology) is moving up in the ranks.
Organized Chaos
Peter Merholz
This is where the principles of emergent systems come in. As centralized schemes grow unwieldy over time, it makes sense to create an alternative information environment where elements are organized according to a few simple rules about how users interact with that information. This leads to a fundamentally meaningful organization, because it's predicated on what people are actually doing.
A review of Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, written by Steven Johnson.
A Library as Big as the World
Brewster Kahle has the technology to assemble the ultimate archive of human knowledge. What's stopping him? Restrictive copyright laws
Dave Winer
Mike Gray found an even lighter Google.
Sweet! I pasted the address into this bookmarklet for an even lighter experience. Note: I didn't write this bookmarklet, but I can't remember where I got it from. My apologies to the author for not properly crediting them.
Intel backs consumers over Hollywood
Dan Gillmor
Intel's position is closer to the public interest at this point, but Vadasz acknowledges Intel's vested interest. He also expresses discomfort that a company with a direct financial stake has become the default advocate of the public good in this war.
More on this subject:
Michael Sims
The only thing Intel wants is for these efforts to be implemented on its own terms, not on terms that Hollywood gets Congress to write into law.
Mike Godwin
The central thing I took away from the hearing was that too many of the players and decisionmakers in this area lack the basic technical understanding necessary to make intelligent copyright-policy and IT-policy decisions. It was disheartening.
Dave Winer
The story that stands out from yesterday is Mike Godwin's account of what awaits us in the US Congress. A major technology overhaul to protect the assets of Disney, AOL, and a handful of smelly bean counters with lots of money. It's true they all smell bad. Anyway, I forgive them for that. I don't forgive them for holding all of us accountable, financially and artistically, for a system that was never very good at moving creativity around.
SSSCA Hearing
The disagreement between the tech industry and Hollywood is not over whether or not copy protection will be implemented into every electronic device, but only whether or not this should be written into law.
Content Spat Split on Party Lines
During a packed hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, Democrats appeared far more eager for the government to intervene in what has become a highly visible tussle between Silicon Valley, which advocates a laissez-faire approach, and the Hollywood firms lobbying Congress to step in to prevent piracy.
Senators talk tough on digital piracy
Sen. Fritz Hollings told electronics companies and copyright holders Thursday that if they can't agree on a solution to digital piracy, the government will.
Intel letter to Sen. Hollings
It is important for the Committee to understand that content, once captured in "unprotected" form, can never be put back in the "bottle" and protected against copying on the Internet. This is because this unprotected media looks no different to digital devices than a home movie that you would send to a relative or friend.
