Monday, April 19, 2004

>From the current issue of The Filter: Mixed Signals in Online Music Recent headlines about online music have offered conflicting views on how file sharing has affected music sales. A study from professors at Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill found that downloading activity has no discernable impact on how well a song sells. The study has generated a great deal of debate, as other industry experts have disagreed with its methodology. And recent economic data offers mixed conclusions about market trends. For the first time in three years, U.S. music sales improved, rising 9.1% in the first quarter. International music sales followed the opposite trajectory, dropping 7.6% in 2003. Sales up Sales down Sales same Developments on the legal front were similarly mixed. Supporters of file sharing celebrated over the recent ruling from a Canadian court that music downloading does not violate the country's copyright laws. While the Canadian Recording Industry Assocition appeals the decision, new lawsuits have emerged in Europe and abroad. The IFPI, which represents the international music industry, has initiated legal action against 247 individuals in Europe and several other nations who are accused of illegal downloading. The Berkman Center's report on developments in European courts News about the Canadian decision News about the CRIA appeal The Berkman Center recently released a new study shedding light on one aspect of the digital media debate: Apple's Online Music Store, iTunes. The iTunes Case Study analyzes the legal foundations of the service and considers the future of the contract-copyright interplay as iTunes and other online music stores consider expansion into international markets. The iTunes Case Study 2:31:23 PM    comment []

I'm leaving later today for CFP 2004: The Fourteenth Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy. You can follow along not only here at A blog doesn't need a clever name, but also over at the special-for-the-occasion weblog, Computers, Freedom, and Privacy. In addition, there's a CFP Blogger Wiki set up, which should also be interesting. And -- wait, there's more! -- the official conference server will also have blogs for some sessions, though I've been led to believe that these will emphasize material furnished by the speakers. A new age . . . 10:30:43 AM    comment []

Hollywood's new lesson for campus file swappers. Entertainment companies are pushing new antipiracy technology that could make it easier to remove suspected pirates from campus networks. [CNET News.com] 6:24:49 AM    comment []

movie promotional blogging templates + digression on illegal art. I remember the controversy when film studios and other intellectual property owners forced numerous fan sites off the web. I'm thinking particularly about Star Trek and Harry Potter - which was a particularly mean-spirited example, seeing that most of the fansites were created by children and were about the books, not the film version. So it's now very interesting to see that Sony is providing free templates to bloggers that promote Spiderman 2. These promotional templates are available for Blogger and LiveJournal. There are also RSS feeds on the movie's website. In addition, LiveJournal users can download animated icons with characters from the movie. I wonder if this is a new trend and an advance in the mainstreaming of blogging, or if it's just a quirky marketing idea which is just a dead end. A number of LiveJournal users already have icons which promote particular movie & TV characters, singers and other personalities. Of course, all of those icons are unauthorized. So is this one Hollywood studio thinking, "if you can't beat them, join them" and attempting to get some good-will from bloggers as well as free advertising? It's also a sign that the business side of big media is starting to notice the blog medium. One implication of this is that they will try to work with us and use us - and maybe there is some chance of a win-win situation here. But does this mean that bloggers will need to be more careful about recycling intellectual property? For example, I can imagine that some bloggers might download these Spiderman templates and alter them in a way which subverts their marketing purpose. What would Sony do then? Would it follow Starbuck's example in suppressing the Corporate Whore parody? Incidentally it is a lot more difficult to find the Corporate Whore logo than it used to be. Go to the Illegal Art website, take a glance at the hilarious click-through agreement, and go into the Visual section. Salon also wrote an article about illegal art, which is well worth a read. [explodedlibrary.info] 6:17:40 AM    comment []

Web-based iTunes Music Store client and library The Downhill Battle people are hosting a web-based script that searches the iTunes Music Store and allows you to interact with it as though you were using a copy of iTunes itself. The script is open-source, and they hope the script will be used for innovative functionality in other apps, like providing 30-second previews and metadate for tracks on P2P nets. Link (via /.) (thanks, Cory!) 6:16:39 AM    comment []

First Revelation. Just flipped through Crypto and was immediately hit by something - I know who Rudolf von Hacklheber, Turing's lover, fellow mathematician, and later member of Crypto's first grand conspiracy, is descended from. Hot damn. I have a weird feeling that a re-read is going to lead to a LOT of these kinds of discoveries - but not an explanation of Enoch Root, at least not yet.  [Andrew Bayer is Dreaming of China] I think I've got the shape of an idea about Root. For him, the world is perhaps a sort of Metaverse. The links with Cryptonomicon have been striking me, too. Stephenson obvioucly put insane amounts of effort into these books on a number of fronts. The ideas underpinning all these ripping yarns are just vast, as well. Although I've only dented the new volume, plugging away I am. More comments as . . . I find myself inclined to comment additionally! 6:13:39 AM    comment []

Mac Voyeurs in a Windows World. Microsoft is a hotbed of secret Apple fans. Just ask Lenn Pryor, a Microsoft director who transformed his Sony Vaio into a pseudo-PowerBook. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] 6:05:25 AM    comment []

Start-up launches Linux legal protection. Open Source Risk Management will sell insurance against Linux-related copyright infringement suits starting Monday, though an analyst says the firm probably won't be overrun with clients. [CNET News.com] 6:05:00 AM    comment []

Graduate Students and Technology. . . . . How much technical knowledge/ability should we require our graduate students to have[?]  . . . . . . . Many philosophy departments dropped their language requirements over the last decade or so - maybe it's time to reinstate something similar. [Thoughts Arguments and Rants] 6:02:49 AM    comment []

Many Started Web Logs for Fun, but Bloggers Need Money, Too. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 18 - By Julie Flaherty. [New York Times: Technology] 6:01:08 AM    comment []

Science Women Get Cinematic Boost. Hedy Lamarr may light up the big screen once again, this time for her contribution to science. Another film on the co-discoverer of DNA, Rosalind Franklin, is in development. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] 5:57:25 AM    comment []

Apple unveils new video editing tools. The Mac maker unveils five new software packages for broadcasters and digital video editors, including new visual effects and editing tools for high definition video. [CNET News.com] 5:57:20 AM    comment []