Greed knows no borders

The RIAA isn't just a terror in the United States; it also seems to have found it's way all the way to Moscow. Russia has just agreed to shut down AllOfMp3.com, a site that came under RIAA scrutiny for allowing cheap, legitimate (according to Russian law) downloads. The RIAA wasn't happy because they weren't getting a cut of the money (this sounds familiar) and thus pressured the US government to put it as a major item on the US-Russian agenda. Looks like they got their way. Lobbyists are quite effective, aren't they?

Don't just blackmail the little guy, do it to the big guy too!

Universal is considering negotiating a deal with Apple to get a cut of the profits from each iPod sold. Sound improbable that Apple would just choose to hand out money? Think again... Microsoft already does this with the Zune, as the article points out. Another classic case of the big media companies' most famous extortion trick: "Nice product... you wouldn't want a lawsuit to go with it, would you?" Except an RIAA member isn't suing a dead person or grandmother or ten-year-old this time... it is extorting a major multinational corporation.

What reason would any judge rule in Universal's favor in a case like this (besides their proven track record of incompetence on intellectual property issues)? Because of all that illegal music on your ipod, you criminal! At least, that is what Universal would surely argue: since all of the music on iPods is illegally pirated (possible, but highly unlikely and certainly not provable, and what responsibility does Apple have for the actions of its cusomers, anyway?), Universal deserves a share of the profits from the iPod to feed the poor, starving artists it represents. Anyone that buys this argument is need of a reality check: not only are large record companies certainly not on the side of the artists, they are a purely profit-motivated organization that cares not at all for freedoms of fair use.

As much as I hope that Apple sides with all freedom-loving Americans and tells Universal to take their deal and shove it, Apple has a history of dabbling in compromises with the record labels (the result of which is annoying DRM on the iTunes store). Still, I'm rooting for the little guy... er, I mean the multinational corporation. The one that sells computers, that is.

Is free speech terrorism?

Well, Newt Gingrich thinks so. He believes that re-examining our ideas about free speech will enable us to stay ahead of the terrorists. The irony of all of this is that he was speaking at an event that honored those that stood up for first amendment rights. I'm exercising my right to freedom of speech -- I guess that makes me a terrorist. Leaving the country keeps sounding better and better...

Great anti-RIAA blogs

The Recording Industry vs the People

"A blog devoted to the RIAA's lawsuits of intimidation brought against ordinary working people."

Boycott-riaa.com

"Take a stand against the RIAA"

RAC -- Recording Artists Coalition

Not explicitly anti-RIAA, but close: "a non-profit, nonpartisan coalition formed to represent the interests of recording artists with regard to legislative issues in which corporate and artists' interests conflict, and to address other public policy debates that come before the music industry."

Defective By Design

Anti-DRM blog. Of course, anti-RIAA and anti-DRM are related issues.

Don't think the election is being thrown? Think again.

Need proof that elections that use Diebold electronic voting machines are a piece of cake to manipulate? Here's a video by some Princeton professors that show how easy it is to tip an election in someone's favor by hacking a Diebold machine.



In case you needed more proof, here's the full HBO documentary,"Hacking Democracy," on the subject:

At least the Aussies have some sense

Sounds like things over there aren't so much different from over here... the music lobby lies and cajoles in order to get its way and is always in bed with the government. Super lame. At least the Aussies have the sense to cut through this bullshit... some of the time.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20713160%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

Article snippet:

Piracy statistics are labelled "self-serving hyperbole" in a draft government report.

A confidential briefing for the Attorney-General's Department, prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology, lashes the music and software sectors.

The draft of the institute's intellectual property crime report, sighted by The Australian shows that copyright owners "failed to explain" how they reached financial loss statistics used in lobbying activities and court cases.

Figures for 2005 from the global Business Software Association showing $361 million a year of lost sales in Australia are "unverified and epistemologically unreliable", the report says.

BSAA chairman Jim Macnamara said the figure was an extrapolation, but other studies had supported it.

"They're entitled to say they're not convinced, but not necessarily entitled to say it's unverified," he said.

The study, which says some of the statistics used by copyright owners are "absurd", will be redrafted after senior researchers disagreed with its conclusions.

Painting a picture of an industry seething with competitive jealousies, the report describes how "well-connected Canberra-based lobbyists" fight for government attention and police time on piracy.

Suspension of Habeas corpus

Watch the video, and be amazed at how our liberties have just been signed away by the current president. And then, how he frames his action as a noble effort. And then, how no one does anything about it. Very sad.



From the YouTube video summary:

Today, 135 years to the day after the last American President suspended habeus corpus, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006. At it's worst, the legislation allows President Bush or Donald Rumsfeld to declare anyone -- US citizen or not -- an enemy combatant, lock them up and throw away the key without a chance to prove their innocence in a court of law. In other words, every thing the founding fathers fought the British empire to free themselves of was reversed today with the stroke of a pen.

George Washington University Constitutional Law professor, Jonathan Turley, joins Keith to talk about the law that Senator Feingold said would be seen as "a stain on our nations history.