Friday, September 05, 2003

Greenspun: "People will pay for music but they won't pay $18 for one song that they really want to hear that otherwise could be nicely stored in less than 1 cent of hard drive space." [Scripting News] 3:50:43 PM    comment []

CDs Now Just $13 More Than The Kazaa File. Plastic::Music::Money: A stroke of business genius, or just more proof that "sometimes cheaper isn't cheap enough"? [Plastic: Most Recent] I wasn't going to blink any of the news of the Universal price cuts, but I'm motivated by funny. 3:43:14 PM    comment []

Record Labels to Offer Amnesty to File Sharers, With Conditions. By Jon Healey, L.A. Times. Analyst Michael McGuire of GartnerG2, a technology research firm, said an amnesty program might appeal to parents of downloaders. But he questioned how many people would turn themselves in before they'd actually been targeted, as required by the program. That would just send a signal to me as a user that you're trolling for IDs, McGuire said. That's like saying, 'Come tell us if you have any intention of becoming a revolutionary.' On the other hand, the widespread publicity about the RIAA's plan to sue file sharers has prompted a number of people to try to make peace with the labels before the legal papers start flying. That was a driving force behind the decision to offer amnesty, sources said. Under the program, which was first reported by Billboard Bulletin, applying for amnesty carries a risk: Those who renege on their pledges to honor copyrights would face much more severe penalties if they were targeted in a later round of lawsuits. Given that, the RIAA might demand a copy of a photo ID from amnesty seekers to protect people against being placed in the database fraudulently without their knowledge, a music industry source said. But McGuire said, I'd want to know how that information is going to be protected. 2:28:59 PM    comment []

eBay mutes iTunes song auction. By Evan Hansen, CNET News.com. ( Earlier coverage here.) 12:28:45 PM    comment []

Italian spammers face jail: Senders of unsolicited junk e-mails in Italy will now face jail sentences of up to three years, according to Italian media reports. (BBC News) 12:28:39 PM    comment []

A historical cure for viruses. CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos says the Battle of Waterloo holds a lesson in communications for a world weary of computer viruses. [CNET News.com] 6:18:54 AM    comment []

Romanian Virus Arrest Denied. Less than 24 hours after reports that police had arrested the suspected author of a Romanian variant of the Blaster worm, the cops deny it. They've got a suspect, all right, but no arrests have been made. [Wired News] 6:15:44 AM    comment []

In light of the recent decision blocking the FCC from imposing new media ownership rules that would allow large media companies to dramatically increase the size of their holdings, as well as FCC Chief Powell's interview with Staci Kramer in Online Journalism review ( FCC Chairman Michael Powell Sees Bright Future for Online Media -- So 75 percent of them are postcards and what do they say, what are they really telling us? I'm opposed to big media. Period. Well, so am I.), perhaps it is worth revisiting the Benton report, FCC Track Record on e-Comment Consideration Suspect: Has Public’s Media Ownership Input Fallen on Deaf Ears? By Norris Dickard and Charles E. Meisch, Jr. (May 2003). It concludes, The FCC has highlighted the use of the electronic filing system as an excellent mechanism to build a strong public record on the topic of media ownership but, if history is any guide, the commitment to considering citizens' comments amounts to little more than lip service. 2:27:05 AM    comment []