p2pnet - rss feed: p2pnet roundup: Nov 15, 2007
p2pnet headline roundups | Last of the day …
Music and illegality - Financial Times
Jazz is illegal. Probably. Isn’t that a shame? Well, at least if the soloist does not pay a licensing fee to the composer of the tune he just quoted in that eight-bar solo. And as for basing an entire song on the famous chord progressions taken from Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm – something hundreds of jazz greats have done? Forget about it. Rap is illegal too – at least the interesting rap of the 1980s that sampled hundreds or thousands of other tracks to produce a wall of sound. The boringly simplistic thudding rap of today is fine – the two or three samples in each song have been cleared through an army of lawyers. The great classical composers? Well, it is a good thing they are not alive today. All those witty quotations, homages? All verboten. “Get a licence or do not quote, Ludwig!” As for a composer like Charles Ives, who scholars claim practised 14 different forms of “borrowing” in building his paean to the American musical spirit? Nowadays he would be advised to hire a good lawyer. Under contemporary law in the US,13 of them are illegal.
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China Telecom Introduces IMUSIC - TMCNet
China Telecom a landline telephone carrier and Internet access service provider in China, announced that it has launched digital music service, IMUSIC, by joining hands with eight big labels. The eight album companies are Warner, EMI Music, UMG, Sony BMG (News - Alert) Music Entertainment, Rock Music, Hurray!, Taihe Rye Music, and Music Nation Group, and according to company’s officials, China Telecom strictly controls the copyright of music. Miao Wei, director of telecom service department at China Telecom, told the press that IMUSIC features music ring tones, vibrating ring tones, online trial listening, online download, music news, online search, and membership services.
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Take-Two Settles Lawsuit Over “Grand Theft Auto” Hidden Sex Content - DigitalMediaWire
Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (NASD: TTWO) announced on Friday the settlement of all consumer class action lawsuits in the U.S. related to the “Hot Coffee” online download that could unlock sexually explicit content in its “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” game. Under the settlement, which still requires court approval, all claims against Take-Two will be dismissed without any admission of liability or wrongdoing by Take-Two or its Rockstar Games unit, which developed the game. Those who were party to the lawsuits will be entitled to either a cash payment of up to $35, or a copy of the game with the offending code removed.
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The hack of the year - The Age
A Swedish hacker tells how he infiltrated a global communications network used by scores of embassies over the world, using tools freely available on the internet. In August, Swedish hacker Dan Egerstad gained access to sensitive embassy, NGO and corporate email accounts. Were they captured from the clutches of hackers? Or were they being used by spies? Patrick Gray investigates the most sensational hack of 2007.
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China censors sued for cut steamy sex scenes - Reuters
A Chinese moviegoer is suing China’s film watchdog in frustration with the censored version of Ang Lee’s steamy World War Two drama “Lust, Caution,” Beijing media reported on Wednesday. The Golden Lion award-winning film opened in China last month minus much of the on-screen sex and other scenes that Taiwan-born director Lee cut himself at the behest of local censors. Dong Yanbin, a Ph.D student at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, had filed a suit against the nation’s film censor, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), for infringing upon his “consumer rights,” the Beijing Times said.
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£83,000 paid for Zeppelin tickets - BBC
A Led Zeppelin fan has paid £83,000 for two tickets to the rock band’s reunion concert, as part of an auction for the BBC’s Children in Need. BBC Radio 2 listener Kenneth Donnell, from Glasgow, paid to see the band rehearse and perform on 10 December. Listeners also bid £250,000 to have Aled Jones and Katie Melua perform an intimate gig, and £100,000 for VIP passes to 2008’s F1 British Grand Prix.
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