p2pnet World Headlines – Aug 25, 2009
CRTC wants internet pricing answers from Bell CBC
The CRTC wants Bell Canada to explain the prices it plans to charge wholesale internet customers when it rolls out a new billing model based on monthly usage later this year. In a letter dated Aug. 20, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said it wants Bell to explain how it has calculated the prices wholesale customers such as MTS Allstream and Teksavvy will be charged, and how the new usage-based billing model will reduce internet traffic during peak times. [Comment: LOL On the 20th of AUG, 3000 people already signed the Petition to dissolve the CRTC http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/node/1 I don't think there is anything the CRTC can say or do now to correct what they have done to the people of Canada.]
[CRTC f*cks over the average Canadian] Streaming video popularity doubles Canoe
There are plenty of ways to watch television shows and movies free online, and it looks like many people are starting to realize it. A new report from Ipsos MediaCT (www.ipsosmediact.com) suggests that 26 per cent of Americans have streamed a television show online in the past month, and 14 per cent have done so with a movie – more than two times the levels measured in September 2008. [Comment: In Canada they punish you for streaming videos with the blessing and rulings of the CRTC. If you are Canadian, sign this: http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/node/1
Pirate Bay buyer complains of smear campaign V3
Global Gaming Factory (GGF), the Swedish internet café giant attempting to buy The Pirate Bay, claims that it has been the subject of a smear campaign orchestrated chiefly by former GGF board member and chief technology officer Johan Sellström. GGF chief executive Hans Pandeya said that reports at the end of last week claiming that he owed Sellström around £500,000, and that the company was in too much debt to buy The Pirate Bay, were all "bogus". He also denied rumours that his firm has not even begun to prepare the technology needed to re-launch The Pirate Bay, and other reports that the Swedish stock exchange restricted trading of GGF shares due to irregularities. Pandeya accused Sellström of trying to jeopardise his company's acquisition of The Pirate Bay by tarnishing GGF's reputation so that he can purchase the file-sharing site himself.
Charlie Angus Q&A Exclaim.ca
What do you think is the purpose of the current consultations? Even a government as thick-headed as the Conservative have realized that they're going to get their fingers burned if they try to push through copyright reform without consulting the vast majority of people who are going to be affected by it. The previous bill, C-61 was bordering on ridiculous in its attempt to blur the line between criminal counterfeiting and legitimate personal use. The bill was dead on arrival because [to give it effect] you’d have to police every internet use, every home use and it’s simply not feasible. I think they learned that simply relying on corporate lobbyists to dictate copyright just isn’t realistic in the 21st century.
ATMs offer Cockney slang option Agence France-Presse
Would you Adam and Eve it? Cash machines in east London are offering customers the option of using the local Cockney rhyming slang to get their hands on their sausage, so to speak. Five automated teller machines (ATMs) in the East End are going Cockney for three months from today. While cash machines with several language options are commonplace in some countries, the chance to use rhyming slang could leave those unfamiliar with the east London lingo in a right load of Barney Rubble. Anyone opting for Cockney rhyming slang will be asked to enter their Huckleberry Finn (PIN) before choosing how much sausage and mash (cash) they want.
Jailed SF network administrator faces fewer charges CNet News
A judge has dismissed most of the charges against a former San Francisco network administrator accused of hijacking the city’s computer network he designed and maintained. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy on Friday tossed three tampering charges against Terry Childs, while preserving a lone charge of denying city authorities access to the network, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. Childs, who has been in custody since July 2008, had worked at San Francisco’s Department of Telecommunication Information Services for five years. Childs, 44, is being held on $5 million bail. Childs had formerly been accused of tampering with the city’s Fiber Wide Area Network after allegedly being disciplined for poor performance. He was also accused of electronically spying on his supervisors and their attempt to fire him.
Apple Hit With $2 Million iPhone Suit InformationWeek
A photographer claims Apple stole one of his images to help promote a mobile app that allows users to search for television programs and other entertainment content on their iPhones. Louis Psihoyos alleges that i.TV iPhone app’s promotional materials use an image purloined from his portfolio. The image, called “1000 TV’s”, shows an individual seated amid banks of glowing television screens. “Version 1.0 of i.TV directly infringed on Mr. Psihoyos’ copyright by incorporating the 1000 TVs image without permission,” attorneys for the photographer claim in court papers filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Ruling by court panel sends ownership of Unix copyright to trial Courant
A federal appeals court on Monday reversed a judge’s decision that granted the copyright of the Unix computer operating system to Novell Inc. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a judge erred in August 2007 by granting the copyright to Novell. The panel ordered a trial to determine ownership. Novell, a software and computer infrastructure company, has been locked in a yearslong legal battle with The SCO Group Inc. of Lindon, Utah, over ownership to the copyright. [Comment: Sounds like they are going after free linux]
Wondering How Seriously Apple Is Taking The FCC Inquiry? Check Out Their Home Page TechCrunch
Wondering just how seriously Apple is taking this FCC inquiry about their rejection of the Google Voice application for the iPhone? Just check out their home page, which is promoting the response they sent to the FCC last Friday.
Verizon offering refunds because of mystery `data usage` charges Cleveland
Verizon Wireless, the nation`s largest cell phone company, may refund thousands or even millions of dollars to customers because of problematic data usage charges. Verizon, with 84 million customers, also is making changes in staff training, internal procedures and customer service after a Plain Dealer column Aug. 15 revealed widespread billing problems. At a minimum, thousands of customers apparently have been charged $1.99 per month for Internet data usage even though they had not tried to go online. In some cases, customers were charged when their phones were off, the batteries were dead, the phone`s Internet access was blocked or even when the phones didn`t have the software to go online. Verizon vows to work with every customer nationwide who complains about unknown data and text charges. [Comment: Plus more in that story. So Verizon will only "work" with customers who noticed the fictional charges and complain? That's whats written. The rest can go to hell I guess.]
[Shaw VS Novus] TV, internet price war heats up in Vancouver CBC
Shaw has filed a defamation suit against Novus Entertainment in British Columbia [Novus] filed a complaint over Shaw`s pricing in July with the Competition Bureau and launched a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court.
Ghostwriting scheme common among drug companies: observers Montreal Gazette
The ghostwriting scheme that involved a prominent McGill researcher is only part of a widely-practised phenomenon among pharmaceutical companies, the lawyer who discovered the scandal said. It`s rampant, said Jim Szaller, a Cleveland lawyer who uncovered the evidence of ghostwriting in his work representing 8,400 women who are suing the drug company Wyeth for misrepresenting the benefits of hormone drugs. This particular practice has to be stopped. It can`t continue, because patients are going to suffer.
[Homicide] Jackson died from lethal dose of propofol: Coroner Montreal Gazette
Pop star Michael Jackson died from a lethal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol given in a cocktail of drugs, leading authorities to suspect his doctor of manslaughter, court documents showed Monday.
1,000 cameras `solve one crime` BBC
Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city`s surveillance network has claimed. The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals. [Comment: I have a solution for them and their "Security theater", install more Cameras!]
BMI Reports .4% Fiscal-Year Revenue Increase BillBoard
Broadcast Music, Inc. managed to eke out its 25th year in a row of growth, generating $905 million in revenue in its fiscal year ended June 30. That represents an 0.4% increase over the $901 million it collected in the prior fiscal year. Likewise, the company also increased royalty distributions to $788 million during the year, up from the $786 million disbursed in the prior fiscal year. [Comment: Damn those file sharers!]
Dutch ISP heralds end of net neutrality V3
UPC intends to severely restrict users` bandwidth when accessing certain web sites – Dutch broadband provider UPC is to introduce a new system in which its customers will pay more to access certain services and providers. [It is] important to know here that the changes are part of our continuous improvement
Wisconsin Sports League Sends Newspapers Invoices For Live Blogging TechDirt
a sports league in Wisconsin went so far as to send invoices to newspapers it felt were live blogging its events. We had written about this dispute a few months ago, but I hadn`t heard about the invoices before. Every newspaper who received an invoice smartly ignored it, but the whole concept is ridiculous. The league is claiming that such a live blogging of what`s happening at the sports event counts as a broadcast and thus should be required to pay the same fees that, say, local radio stations pay to broadcast the events.
Federal Courts Sound The Alarm Against RECAP; Worried About PACER Profits TechDirt
We`ve been excited to see what would happen with the RECAP Firefox extension, which is being used to help free up public domain court documents that have been locked up behind the PACER paywall. However, there were also questions about how the folks who run and/or benefit from PACER would react. We now have at least part of the answer: bogus scare tactics. Paul Alan Levy alerts us to the fact that the Federal Court system, which profits from PACER, has started sending out scare notices to try to keep lawyers from using RECAP:
Marc – p2pnet
August, 2009
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August 26th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Jon, here is another article on the entertainment kartels.
The article is an opinion piece by a Russian musician Dmitry Silnitsky and it is called “Beat-to-Bit”. It talks about the path of the music industry from its glorious seventies to the desolate state of today.
Insightful like “When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.” by Demonbaby.
Original article is a blog post in Russian. A translation job was started on the community site translated.by. It is almost finished, only proofreading in English is required. If anyone has time and can help finish it, just join translated.by and contribute.
Link: http://translated.by/you/beat-to-bit/into-en/trans/
August 26th, 2009 at 12:55 am
I will post some quotes from the article.
First:
”
Over the past twenty years far more than one industry gave up its soul under the onslaught of technological innovation.
The most intelligent and successful ones cured and benefited the most from this transformation.
Others have died simply, quietly and without fanfare. They will be soon forgotten; by the way, some people will keep good memories of them.
But the most disgusting are those, who, while dying, are screaming like slaughtered pigs, and, in their fever attack, smashing all medications on the table. Medications, that could have been a cure to their disease, had they paid attention to them.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Second:
”
What is the main difference between record companies of the golden era, “Beat” era, namely the seventies of the last century, and their todayâs successors of the “Bit” era?
Indeed, there are many differences, but one catches the eye.
In those days, little record companies were led by great people. Personalities!
Today, huge record companies are headed by little people from the category of “no-body, and no-name”.
The majority of them has no relationship to the music whatsoever. They are either accountants or lawyers.
Sometimes at heart, which is particularly awful.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Third:
”
A mere acquisition of one company by another has little meaning. It was very rare when it has brought tangible benefits to justify the acquisition cost. Especially when a huge accounting firm acquires a little creative and effective team in the hope to buy its creativity and charisma. However, the only thing they can achieve by this is killing all of the creativity and bringing their former charisma to zero, sinking it in the muddy puddle under the name of “corporate culture”.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Fourth:
”
In the meantime, charisma of artists was suffering equally dramatic changes. The era of musicians whose life could fill a book was replaced by the era of musicians about whom one could only write an article.
And then, one could only write a paid advertorial, because there was really nothing to write about the artist. And only journalistsâ and PR managersâ creative thinking could help to get the public to know the artist, whose disc they had to sell.
We all know how it ended. Music press came to naught almost everywhere in the world because of absolute lack of basis for its activity. Cheap scandals and attempts to “make up” a bright personality do not work for the new generation, who feels itâs all fake. While Amy Winehouse scandals look comical, in the case of some B. Spears they are just abject.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Fifth:
”
As the former president of Russia said:
âMissile defence, no missile defence⦠Our new missiles donât care.â
Same for good music. Piracy or no piracy, it does not really matter. Especially if you put aside your idiotic illusionsâ¦
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Sixth:
”
I liked the most a phrase told by one of my friends, who is a sound engineer. One of his job duties is to listen to a lot of new artists for one reason or another.
I do not listen to music for free – he said.
Copyright defenders and all other lawyers, there is no need to start cheering. It does not mean that he does not listen to free music. He meant that he wilfully refuses to listen to modern music, unless he is getting paid for it.
Approach that is worthy of respect and understanding. After all, if you bought a rotten fish, you consider it as damage to your health. So why do not worry also about your mental health, or at least about spoiled mood?
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Seventh:
”
References to past industry performance (especially in the seventies of the last century), are only making me laugh.
In those days, people had no other home entertainment except music. VCRs did not exist, neither did computer games nor gaming consoles. No gadgets at all. Books and vinyl records were the only entertainment in our homes. That’s the first explanation. Today, buyersâ attention has spread among all the new media and arts, while their available income remained pretty much the same. Music gets less attention. The attitude to it became simpler … in general.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Eighth:
”
You don’t need to think too long to realize that I consumed most of this music in radio mode, and not in home media center mode. Such music never reached my iPod. I kept downloading, deleting, downloading, deleting until I understood the futility of the process.
At this point all music in the world was divided for me into two classes â music that is so good for me that I will listen to it for my whole life, and music, which is so “nothing”, that is was only worthy of brief one-time sampling.
Since then, I stopped downloading anything from the net.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Ninth:
”
When music business almost ceases to generate income (and this will happen, inevitably), all those involved in music just for money will leave it.
The few that remain will be creating only because they have real spiritual needs.
And, as is customary in such cases, all that is done with soul will be so good that we will want to buy it again.
“
August 26th, 2009 at 1:07 am
The link above was to the translation page, if you just want to get the result, it is here
Link: http://translated.by/you/beat-to-bit/into-en/
August 26th, 2009 at 1:30 am
tenpostsinarowomg
August 26th, 2009 at 2:31 am
heh if I make 2 posts in a row Jons filter says I am posting to fast and blocks it.
WTF!
This guy does 10!