WaFiTz! » Entries tagged with "Big Media"
The Psychology of Ownership
Recently I got a new work laptop with Windows 7 and Microsoft Office Professional 2010 installed. Along with the laptop I got a Product Key Card for MS Office Professional 2010 to activate the license. I am old enough to remember the days MS Office was sold in larger boxes on CDs and DVDs. What happened? I slid out the plastic inner case and opened it to find a card with the product key printed on it. I entered this into the setup screen on my new laptop and MS Office (already pre-installed) was activated right away. Then I noticed that inside the cover of the slightly slimmer box, Microsoft has taken liberty to print some waffle about the environment – perhaps to infer this is the reason for no longer supplying … Read entire article »
Filed under: Distractions
Bookshelf: The Pirate’s Dilemma
I recently finished reading The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Hackers, Punk Capitalists, Graffiti Millionaires and Other Youth Movements are Remixing Our Culture and Changing Our World by Matt Mason. I posted a link to Amazon to buy the book but it’s free to download (you choose the price) from the Official website. I’ll start by saying that this is a great well-researched book for anyone who is (a) a pirate (b) a creator (c) a media exec or (d) wanting to look at the history and origins of piracy in context. Mason starts off from the odd perspective of introducing us to the punk revolution. The entire first chapter is devoted to punk capitalism. Whilst I think this has it’s place in the history of piracy, I didn’t think it was necessary to devote … Read entire article »
Watford Labour Candidate, Claire Ward’s Response – Disconnection and Web-blocking
Last but not least, New Labour’s Claire Ward‘s reply to my email regarding the Digital Economy Act (below). The letter feels sincere enough, but echoes the party line despite Claire not even bothering to turn up to vote on the Bill when it was presented to parliament. I’m disappointed of course. Claire Wards main platform for re-election seems to be based solely on Watford General Hospital which is apparently under threat of cuts from the Tories – but there is a hint of FUD in this strategy I think. Regardless, thankyou both Claire and Richard for making my decision easier tomorrow. I will be voting for the party that seems to have a little more common sense and is slightly more resistant to lobbying – at this stage (whether that’s a market share issue … Read entire article »
Filed under: Distractions
Watford Lib Dem Candidate, Sal Brinton’s (@SalBrinton) Response – Disconnection and Web-blocking
Here’s the response I received from Sal Brinton (below), Liberal Democrats candidate for Watford. This is a much better response and I’m pleased that Sal has signed an open letter to rethink the Digital Economy Act. Sal’s response is one of the reasons I’m 99% positive I’m going to vote Lib Dem on Thursday. Let’s be clear. I don’t expect any politicians to fully understand the culture or technology that drives the intertubes… but I do expect them to consider all sides of the debate – investigate the claims of big media lobbyists and perhaps, is it too much to ask that they seek the opinions of the little guys? That they speak to real pirates and find out why the DE Act is completely unworkable and within a few years – if not … Read entire article »
Filed under: Distractions
Watford Conservative Candidate, Richard Harrington’s (@Richard4Watford) Response – Disconnection and Web-blocking
If you’re into numerology, you should enjoy this. I emailed the following standard email provided by the Open Rights Group to my electoral candidates for Watford. Dear ___, The Digital Economy Act was rammed through Parliament as the election was called. Over 20,000 people contacted their MP to complain, adverts were paid for by donations, and thousands of people watched the debate live from Westminster. I was appalled by this process. It seemed to me undemocratic and dangerous. Now, new powers have been granted without really understanding the consequences. I do not think that disconnection – for whatever length of time – should be used as a punishment for allegations of civil copyright infringements. There is no justification for interfering in someone’s ability to communicate because of a civil dispute. Such disputes require financial recompense, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Distractions, Statistics
Netbabble Podcast Episode #6: The Digital Economy Bill #debill (12/04/10)
Our latest Netbabble podcast is available over at netbabble.com. In this one we discuss the controversial Digital Economy Bill recently passed into UK law. There’s a lot I didn’t get to say about this one, but I hope I made my feelings clear. It’s a bad law, and it’s already ineffective since not only is it possible to cover your tracks almost completely whilst file-sharing, pirates are already working on new technology – just as BitTorrent rose out of the ashes of Napster. The sooner big media dies or gets a new business model the better. I look forward to the future where non-commercial sharing is legal and treated the same as the sneakernet. … Read entire article »
The Biggest Pirates of All: Stealing from the Public Domain
I was reading a topic on Slashdot the other day about the public disclosure of Google’s internal emails in its court battle with Viacom, that seem to take the shine off Google’s “Do No Evil” image. I’m not particularly invested in this news itself, but what cause me to stop and think was this comment from user drDugan (emphasis mine): What’s more evil? You know what’s evil? Copyright term of “70 years + life of the author”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_term [wikipedia.org] Almost every single thing creative that someone creates today will *never* enter the public domain within our lifetime. Nothing. The owner of the copyright must explicitly grant it to the public domain, or license it for other’s use, distribution, sharing, mashing, basically anything more than fair use… Copyright is no longer about promotion of creativity, its … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Distractions
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