More DRM and Intellectual Property stuff
This is only going to become a bigger issue as time goes on. I am firmly convinced that the things going on now will set the groundwork for much of our future--and much of our future freedom.
Podcasting saved from the UN -- for now
The US had pushed hard to get this new right applied to the web, even though virtually every country in the world had rejected this idea. The US was put up to this by Yahoo and Microsoft, who have giant databases of webcasts that other people have entrusted to them, which they wanted to get an ownership interest over. Over and over again, the world's nations have told the US that this wasn't an option, and over and over again, the Chairman of the committee snuck away between meetings and stuck it back into the treaty.
Just where does that line between the idea freedom and the reality of being a gluttonous capitalistic society lie? Things like this and the oil-based economic problems will show us quite clearly where.
Prepare to Do Battle Over DRM
For the last few years, this struggle has taken on the form of a classic defensive struggle: The forces of the movie and music industries continue to probe the defenses of technology defenders with attack after attack in the form of bad proposed bills from compliant members of Congress.
All the movie and music industry forces need is to find the one time when the defenders of technology are not vigilant or are distracted elsewhere. This will allow the industry side to break the techies' defenses and gain a victory through legislation that will make the DMCA seem like a minor irritant.
Sadly, this is a battle that few people out there understand or care about above the level of "How much will it cost me?" I know I've still got a lot to learn about all of it. But I do very deeply feel how important it is--as both a content creator and a consumer.
Needed: Sane Intellectual Property Laws
Intellectual property regulation in the United States is out of control. The thicket of legislation, policy and precedent through which we grant private monopolies on ideas has become, in many places, disconnected from its Constitutional mandate of promoting the progress of science and useful arts.
We've taken the U.S. patent system to task in this space previously, but equally suspect in our view is the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). We take particular note of the provisions of the act that outlaw efforts to circumvent the digital locks that content distributors place on their copyrighted works-even though no copyrights are infringed in the process.
Do we need IP/Copyright protection? Yes we do. But it has to be for us. We the people. Not skewed toward the elite few that insist on lining their pockets with the hard work of the content creators and the hard earned (and sparse) funds of the people.
A lot of this starts to get tied up in the whole "Net Neutrality" debate, too. For more on that, I give you:
Network neutrality - why it matters, and how do we fix it?
and
Mitch Kapor on Network Neutrality.
Podcasting saved from the UN -- for now
The US had pushed hard to get this new right applied to the web, even though virtually every country in the world had rejected this idea. The US was put up to this by Yahoo and Microsoft, who have giant databases of webcasts that other people have entrusted to them, which they wanted to get an ownership interest over. Over and over again, the world's nations have told the US that this wasn't an option, and over and over again, the Chairman of the committee snuck away between meetings and stuck it back into the treaty.
Just where does that line between the idea freedom and the reality of being a gluttonous capitalistic society lie? Things like this and the oil-based economic problems will show us quite clearly where.
Prepare to Do Battle Over DRM
For the last few years, this struggle has taken on the form of a classic defensive struggle: The forces of the movie and music industries continue to probe the defenses of technology defenders with attack after attack in the form of bad proposed bills from compliant members of Congress.
All the movie and music industry forces need is to find the one time when the defenders of technology are not vigilant or are distracted elsewhere. This will allow the industry side to break the techies' defenses and gain a victory through legislation that will make the DMCA seem like a minor irritant.
Sadly, this is a battle that few people out there understand or care about above the level of "How much will it cost me?" I know I've still got a lot to learn about all of it. But I do very deeply feel how important it is--as both a content creator and a consumer.
Needed: Sane Intellectual Property Laws
Intellectual property regulation in the United States is out of control. The thicket of legislation, policy and precedent through which we grant private monopolies on ideas has become, in many places, disconnected from its Constitutional mandate of promoting the progress of science and useful arts.
We've taken the U.S. patent system to task in this space previously, but equally suspect in our view is the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). We take particular note of the provisions of the act that outlaw efforts to circumvent the digital locks that content distributors place on their copyrighted works-even though no copyrights are infringed in the process.
Do we need IP/Copyright protection? Yes we do. But it has to be for us. We the people. Not skewed toward the elite few that insist on lining their pockets with the hard work of the content creators and the hard earned (and sparse) funds of the people.
A lot of this starts to get tied up in the whole "Net Neutrality" debate, too. For more on that, I give you:
Network neutrality - why it matters, and how do we fix it?
and
Mitch Kapor on Network Neutrality.