Archive for April 2005
Bush Signs Family Entertainment Act into Law
"File-swappers who distribute a single copy of a prerelease movie on the Internet can be imprisoned for up to three years, according to a bill that President Bush signed into law on Wednesday.
"The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, approved by the House of Representatives last Tuesday, represents the entertainment industry’s latest attempt to thwart rampant piracy on file-swapping networks. "
Declan McCullagh. Bush Signs Law Targeting P2P Pirates. News.com. April 27, 2005.
Commentary by K. Matthew Dames, Executive Editor, SNTReport.com:
I had an interesting conversation yesterday about this legislation with Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor, author, cultural historian and copyright chronicler whose most recent book is The Anarchist in the Library. Siva was in Washington, D.C. yesterday to speak to members of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. The speech, "How Fair and Useful Is Fair Use?," took place in the East Conference Room at the U.S. Supreme Court, mere steps from the courtroom where oral arguments (.pdf) in the MGM v. Grokster peer-to-peer case occurred last month.
Web Helps Spawn New Music Careers
"Singer-songwriter Geoff Byrd’s Internet fame has been growing slowly over the past year. As an unsigned artist on the GarageBand.com Web site, his music was consistently rated high, and ultimately drew strong support from Live365 and Microsoft’s MSN. For a short time last December he was the most-played rock act on Net radio, beating out U2 and Green Day, according to Webcast raters RadioWave Airplay Monitor.
"All of that was enough to garner him attention from major labels, but no record contract. So this week, his managers–who include the founding member of the band Kansas–are signing Byrd to their own new label that will give him national distribution through a Universal Music Group affiliate and access to mainstream radio stations around the country."
John Borland. Singer Breaking from Net to Mainstream. News.com. April 22, 2005.
Open Media Network Shares Video, Audio
"Mike Homer sees the future of public broadcasting, and it’s on the Internet.
"Or rather, it is the Internet.
"Homer and erstwhile Netscape wunderkind Marc Andreessen are using file-sharing technology to distribute audio and video files for free online. Unlike Kazaa and other popular ‘peer-to-peer’ programs, however, Open Media Network allows only authorized sharing and weeds out bootlegged goods."
Jon Healey. Network Shares Audio and Video, Screens Out Bootlegs. LATimes.com. April 26, 2005.
See also:
Benny Evangelista. Startup to Offer Digital TV, Radio Shows Online for Free. San Francisco Chronicle. April 26, 2005.
John Borland. Netscape Pioneers Launch Free Content Network. News.com. April 25, 2005.
DRM Restrictions Frustrate Music Lovers
"UK music lovers are getting frustrated with restrictions placed on digital music tracks once they buy them from online stores, says PC Pro magazine.
"The magazine reported that people are also being turned off net music stores because of pricing and disappointing sound quality compared to CDs."
BBC News. Online Music Lovers ‘Frustrated’. April 25, 2005.
See also:
Alun Williams. PC Pro Online Music Exposé: UK Public Pays Too Much for Too Little. PC Pro. April 22, 2005.
RealNetworks to Unveil Portable Music Service
"Digital media company RealNetworks Inc. plans to unveil on Tuesday a new portable music service for digital music players as part of its subscription service portfolio, a source familiar with the plans said on Monday.
"The Seattle-based company, which operates the Rhapsody subscription music service, will now let listeners rent music on a monthly basis that can be stored on a range of supported digital music players."
Kenneth Li. RealNetworks to Launch Music on the Go – Source. Reuters. April 25, 2005.
See also:
John Borland. RealNetworks Readies New Music Service. ZDNet. April 25, 2005.
Margaret Thatcher Sues BBC for Copyright Breach
"Lady Thatcher is suing the BBC over unauthorised use of one of her most famous phrases.
Papers lodged with the High Court show she has teamed up with the television presenter Hugh Scully, to demand thousands of pounds in damages."
Richard Alleyne. Thatcher Sues BBC Over Use of Famous Phrase in Ad. Telegraph News. April 25, 2005.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Why Has IP Gone So Wrong?
"Thomas Macaulay told us copyright law is a tax on readers for the benefit of writers, a tax that shouldn’t last a day longer than necessary. What do we do? We extend the copyright term repeatedly on both sides of the Atlantic. The US goes from fourteen years to the author’s life plus seventy years. We extend protection retrospectively to dead authors, perhaps in the hope they will write from their tombs.
"Since only about 4 per cent of copyrighted works more than 20 years old are commercially available, this locks up 96 per cent of 20th century culture to benefit 4 per cent. The harm to the public is huge, the benefit to authors, tiny. In any other field, the officials responsible would be fired. Not here."
James Boyle. James Boyle: Deconstructing Stupidity. FT.com. April 21, 2005
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
COPYCENSE 