Monthly Archives: June 2004

Feingold, Kohl support the criminalization of movie theatre recording

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I don’t support recording movies in theatres, however, it seems absurd with the challenges our country faces today, including health care, education, terrorism and job growth, that our elected senators (Kohl | Feingold) would support – unanimously, this bill (S.1932). Once again, our elected senators are bowing to the cash machine from Hollywood and the RIAA. Nice work. Contact Senators Kohl and Feingold and let them know that there are much greater priorities than this….
What a waste of time and money.

The Decline of “Old Media”

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James Cramer writes about Old Media Giant Viacom’s difficulties:

Viacom SOS. No, to find out why Viacom?s stock sank to the 52-week-low list, all you need to do is look to the 52-week-high list, where the winners are: video games, satellite radio, video-on-demand, and Internet search engines. Those are the companies with the better models, the better technology that has, in an incredibly short period of time, stolen massive amounts of the fuel that powered Battleship Viacom: the viewers themselves.

Congress goes after your fair use rights

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Dan Gillmor writes about the latest version of the “best law money can buy“:

I hadn’t been taking some proposed new copyright legislation very seriously, mainly because it’s logically absurd on its face. But the “Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004” (PDF) seems to be moving so quickly that we have to pay attention now.
This bill, the stated purpose of which is to criminalize actions that might “induce” copyright infringement, doesn’t just overrule the Sony Betamax case, which gave us the right to tape TV shows to watch later. It would turn people offering totally legitimate technology into criminals, if what they offered could also be used for infringing purposes.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch is cloaking the bill as “child protection.” It is nothing of the sort. It is a Hollywood-sponsored attack on fundamental freedom, and on innovation. (Ernie Miller deconstructs Hatch’s floor speech introducing the bill. See also Lessig’s comments.)

Monday’s Private Manned Spaceship Launch

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Mojave Airport, with its stands of refreshments (orange soda and doughnuts) is the site of Monday Morning’s Spaceship One Launch. This will be the first privately funded initiative into orbit – paving the way for space tourism. Mike Hodgkinson updates us from Mojave. Mike Melvill is the pilot of this Burt Rutan designed craft. Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen has backed the project with $20M.

Certain Equations are Illegal

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Cory Doctorow gave a talk this week at Microsoft. He is asking the company to go back to its roots on the issue of Digital “Rights” Management (aka Digital Restrictions Management), or DRM. He posted the talk on his website. Doctorow tried to persuade Microsoft that:

  • DRM systems don’t work
  • DRM systems are bad for society
  • DRM systems are bad for business
  • DRM systems are bad for artists
  • DRM is a bad business move for msft

via Dan Gillmor

The Guardian Profile: Wisconsin born Steve Jobs

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Duncan Campbell profiles Steve Jobs. Some classics:

Jobs on money: “I was worth over $1m when I was 23, and over $10m when I was 24, and over $100m when I was 25, and, erm, it wasn’t that important, erm, because I never did it for the money” From Triumph of the Nerds, 1996 TV documentary

Jobs on Bill Gates: “I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He’d be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger”