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Monday, February 17, 2003 |
Man, oh, man, am I enjoying the Voice Pazz and Jop essays. From Tom Hull's piece:
As for piracy, the industry still hopes for stronger laws, stricter enforcement, and the mandatory use of restrictive technology —pretty much the same knee-jerk reaction that people in power always reach for when their prerogatives get ruffled, rooted in the notion that all you have to do to stay in power is kick ass. Given how poorly such repression has fared against guns and drugs—which should be easier to suppress, given that they are physical things and circulate in smaller markets— the chances of clamping down on unauthorized copying and broadcasting are slim and none. More fundamentally, how long can an industry last once it dedicates itself to undermining its customers? Loss Leaders: Microsoft, United, and the Limits
6:13:07 PM 
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Opera says
'bork' to MSN standards: Opera Software has released a new version
of its Opera 7 Web browser with just one tweak--it turns Microsoft's MSN
Web site into gibberish that was inspired by the Swedish Chef from "The
Muppet Show." By Matthew Broersma, CNET News.com.
This is a joke. However, we are trying to make an important
point, Mary Lambert, desktop product line manager at Opera, said in a
statement. The success of the Web depends on software and Web site
developers behaving well and rising above corporate rivalry.
6:13:01 PM
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Who will ''win'' the Joe Millionaire contest tonight? Sarah Kozer (not
''kozar'' I'm pretty sure) of the bondage and foot fetish movies and
photos? Or Zorah whatever her surname is, the ''Rules Girl''? Or is being
picked by ''Joe'' really winning, at all? Picture the ''butler'' having all
the dough. Or maybe the happy couple gets a million bucks if they're a
happy couple after a year. Many possibilities.
4:12:41 PM
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I've peeked in on this
new Salon blog. Some hoops ranting and Matrix-loving that will get me
back for more.
1:12:12 PM
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Finland
rewrote the Internet censorship law (EFFI).
Freedom of speech instead of restrictions is now expressly the
starting point. The scope of retention is more narrow. Archivation time is
significantly reduced to three weeks. Any communication not edited by
service provider or website owner is not governed by the law - this means
chat rooms and newsgroups are saved. Finally, the logging of Internet
traffic data is no longer required. So privacy is saved, too.
EFFI's chairman Mikko Välimäki is pleased. This is a second huge victory
for us in a short time. Just two weeks ago we persuaded the parliament to
return the local EU copyright directive implementation for redrafting. Now
they rewrote the law on free speech on the Internet quite in line with our
arguments, he concludes.
(thanks, BNA News!)
1:12:09 PM
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Great piece on
The Spread
of the Sapphire/Slammer Worm, by (in alphabetical order)
David Moore,
Vern Paxson,
Stefan Savage,
Colleen Shannon,
Stuart Staniford, and
Nicholas Weaver.
Very fine analysis -- and well illustrated, to boot!
(thanks, Jeffrey!)
11:10:28 AM
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Terror alert upgrade based in part on mistaken info: Terror
Alert May Soon Be Lowered, by Helen Dewar, Washington Post.
[D]epending on intelligence reports, [Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge] added, At some point in time we'll make a decision
that it is now appropriate to reduce it back to the lower yellow
level, the mid-point of the government's five-step, color-coded alert
scale.
. . .
Ridge acknowledged that some of the information that led to imposition of
the new terrorism alert level Feb. 7 may have faded in terms of
accuracy or relevancy but emphasized repeatedly that the information
came from multiple and credible sources.
But trust us.
10:09:34 AM
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Television's New Reality: As reality shows crowd the airwaves,
their success has begun to look like a
mixed blessing to the TV business., by Paul Farhi, Washington Post.
9:49:43 AM
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Doc: Cut off the customer and the industry dies. Embrace file-sharing, or die, John Snyder, president of Artist House Records, board member of NARAS, and 32-time Grammy nominee, says something I said several years ago, with infinitely more credibility, and hopefully far more effect. Me: Napster and its successors are the listeners' workaround of the failed radio industry, which replaced trusted music connoisseurs with payola-driven robots that serve only as freebie machines for the record industry's pop music factories. Snyder: Why is it that record companies pay dearly for radio play and fight Internet play? What is the real difference between radio and the Internet? Perfect copies? If we look at the Internet as analogous to radio, the problem becomes one of performance rights, not the unlawful exploitation of intellectual property. People are creating their own Radio on their hard drives, and they are constantly changing it. Would this have anything to do with the "McDonaldization" of radio by Clear Channel and others? Would the fact that almost every song on commercial radio is bought and paid for have anything to do with the narrow focus and homogeneous nature of radio? What drives radio is advertising and money, not music. A lot of music gets left behind thanks to the current state of radio; that consumers are rejecting it shouldn't be surprising. They're creating their own MP3 playlists, and if the labels were smart, they'd be doing everything in their power to be on those playlists, just like they do everything in their power to be on the playlists of radio stations. Instead, they scream copyright infringement and call their lawyers. [The Doc Searls Weblog]
9:42:13 AM
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Are You Scared Stupid? Do Tell. Privacy International says security measures are getting more and more ridiculous. The organization invites the public to e-mail stories in a competition for the world's most pointless security measure. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]
9:38:59 AM
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