Songwriters Guild: Network Neutrality Means More Piracy

from the oh-really-now? dept

There has been an effort made by some to try to connect the totally unrelated issues of network neutrality and unauthorized file sharing together. There is no connection between the two, but that won't stop busy lobbyists from doing their best to drum up such a connection. Copycense points us to the news that Grover Nordquit's group has decided to push this line of nonsense by parroting claims by the Songwriter's Guild of America (SGA) that accepting net neutrality is akin to encouraging piracy. How? That's not clear, because there's really no connection at all. The best they can say is that net neutrality would prevent efforts to crack down on file sharing (except, every plan for net neutrality has explicitly had exceptions for such things). I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am not in favor of laws mandating neutrality, but the arguments made by those against it are so over-the-top ridiculous that it's actually making me wonder why. There are reasonable arguments against mandating neutrality, but these groups don't make them.

That it's the SGA making these arguments initially shouldn't come as a surprise. The group has a rather antiquated view of business models and modern technology, and its boss has declared in the past that songwriting would not occur without copyright -- an obviously incorrect statement. The SGA has become a caricature of itself in the last few years. Rather than admitting that the market is changing and working with songwriters to help them adapt, it has basically decided the only reasonable strategy is to go crying to the government for more protectionism, and greater mandatory licensing fees. This is an odd group for the anti-net neutrality types to team up with, since most of them claim their reasons for being against net neutrality is to get away from government meddling in the internet industry. And then they go and team up with the SGA, who's entire purpose is to encourage more government meddling in the music business? Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed...

Separately, it's probably worth noting that ITIF, a "think tank" in DC and which has been a huge anti-net neutrality voice, has just come out with a poorly researched, poorly argued, joke of a report on "reducing digital piracy." In it, they promote kicking people off the internet (based on accusations, not convictions) under a three strikes regime, and also that ISPs should filter and monitor their networks to try to stop infringement. Apparently, ITIF is not a big fan of your privacy... but it's own... well, just try to find out who funds ITIF? That's secret. Funny how that works. Otherwise the report repeats a bunch of sweeping claims that have no support in reality, and does not back them up. It states, repeatedly, that you can't compete with free, even as many smart businesses do that every day. The report advocates DRM, and amusingly fails to mention the massive failure of every DRM system to date, and the harm it has done to legitimate users. But, of course, it saves most of its focus on supporting "technical measures" from ISPs to inspect your content and stop you if they think you're doing anything wrong. Welcome to the big brother state. The report also supports ACTA, even though it admits it doesn't know what's included. Basically, it's "recommendations" straight from the entertainment industry, with no basis in reality. And, with a nice "net neutrality" tie-in. Those ties seem likely to get closer, which is unfortunate. Funny that those who keep claiming they want the government to "stay out" of the internet, are so keen to have them very actively involved when it comes to copyright.
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Filed Under: digital content, grover nordquist, net neutrality, piracy, songwriters
Companies: itif, sga


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  • identicon
    Lobo Santo's Ugly :, 17 Dec 2009 @ 7:47am

    Another smart - dumb argument

    That it's the SGA making these arguments initially shouldn't come as a surprise. The group has a rather antiquated view of business models and modern technology

    Mike, I always get a chuckle when you get off on your "business models" argument. It doesn't take a very wise man to see that, outside of piracy, not very much business is getting done outside of the old business models, and there are still no business models put forward that replace and meet the consumers desire for high quality songs, recording, and "take home" music (aka, CDs, digital downloads, etc). There is a huge public demand for music, it is the product people value.

    Heck, by your own postings, it appears that as soon as piracy was dealt a blow in Sweden, sales of legal music went up. People are apparently willing to pay for music when they can't safely "infringe".

    The real answer to this: You can have all the net neutrality you want, but you give up your anonymous status. Basically, IPv6 enforced, everyone has to be identified, ISPs required to know exactly what user is on each IP, and end users being responsible for anyone connected to the internet via their connection. Same rule for VPN or proxies providers, they would be required to log and know who is using their services, and provide that information directly in response to a DMCA or similar style notice.

    Run your P2P, your skypes, whatever. But you cannot do it with the cloak of secrecy, you have to be out there and traceable. I suspect that P2P traffic would dwindle rapidly when people could no longer sneak around and hide their "infringing".

    The song writers have it right: If you don't address the issue of piracy, the profession of song writer will disappear.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      :Lobo Santo (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 7:56am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      A) If you're going to imitate my moniker, please learn to reason.

      B) I guess you've never heard of the 'sneaker-net'--the single best method of pirating software/music/moves (et al). The bandwidth of the sneaker-net rivals (and in many cases exceeds) that of the internet. Always has.

      To give you an example (considering your displayed ignorance, this is likely required): Mobile drives sizes continue to increase. In the near future the following scenario will play out all over the world:
      Person 1: "Hey friend! I happen to have a copy of every song ever made from 1854 thru 2013 on my 32 exabyte USB drive. Would you like a copy?"

      Person 2: "You're still using that crappy tiny drive? Anyways, yeah, my music collection has a couple holes in it, I'd love a copy. Thank you."

      Viola! Massive "piracy" has just occurred and no interweb involvement involved.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:58am

        Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

        Shhh. Copyright maximalists hate hearing about the future. They assume that the 32 exabyte USB drive will have a media levy on it that pays all the various intellectual property stakeholders. Why not just manufacture your 32 exabyte USB drive at home with your 3D printer?

        THEM STEALERS ARE DESTROYING OUR ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY!!!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Hephaestus (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:47am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          "Why not just manufacture your 32 exabyte USB drive at home with your 3D printer?"

          LOL .... dude you read my comment !!!

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ima Fish (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 8:08am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      "the profession of song writer will disappear."

      Obviously written by someone who has never written a song. It would simply be impossible to kill off the creation of new music. Music, well, quality music, does not come from your wallet. It comes from an unstoppable force within you.

      The question I have for you is this: Why should we artificially prop up a failing business model? If this one dies, a new one will come into existence. As someone once said, P2P will not kill off the music industry, only the current industry.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Dark Helmet (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:13am

        Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

        "Obviously written by someone who has never written a song. It would simply be impossible to kill off the creation of new music. Music, well, quality music, does not come from your wallet. It comes from an unstoppable force within you."

        Thank God someone said it before me. This is a concept that people who don't create simply don't seem to comprehend. Like all forms of art, be it music, film, poetry, fiction, paintings, etc., true art is created because it MUST be created and can't NOT be created. That art can vary in degrees of quality, but I have never spoken with an artist who created solely for monetary gain, nor even primarily for monetary gain. The urge to create comes from within, it simply MUST be done.

        "The question I have for you is this: Why should we artificially prop up a failing business model? If this one dies, a new one will come into existence. As someone once said, P2P will not kill off the music industry, only the current industry."

        What I think is going to be the wonderful outcome of all of this is the return to regional art, music, fandom, etc. The mega-star on the international stage might be going away to some degree, whether they like it or not. What might, and I for one hope, replace the current artistic business will be one where many more artists have much smaller but much more passionate followings that are based more on common geography than label or publisher promotion. Smaller regional concerts at smaller venues....but three times as many of them!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Marcus Carab (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:24am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          And don't forget tours - good, old-fashioned road-trip tours! No getting managers pre-booking a string of cookie-cutter venues across the country - just bands heading out on the road with a vague plan, a couple gigs lined up and a list of the phone numbers of every venue along the route.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Lobo Santo's Ugly :, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:27am

        Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

        What I find amazing is that you quoted me and didn't even read it.

        "the profession of song writer will disappear."

        I didn't say that song writing would disappear, but the PROFESSION of song writing would disappear. It is signficant, because much of the music that is popular is also NOT written by the performers. The best performers are often not very good song writers. Many of the best song writers are not powerful performers or don't have the look / attitude / desire to be a live performance musician.


        It's the nature of the game. Remove the song writer's ability to turn their work into income, and they stop be song writers. That is turn removes much of what the masses enjoy today.

        Will there still be people writing songs? Yup, probably the same sort of people who make buggy whips, right?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:00am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          You're so uncreative. Painfully so.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Hephaestus (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:22am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          " didn't say that song writing would disappear, but the PROFESSION of song writing would disappear. It is signficant, because much of the music that is popular is also NOT written by the performers."


          Funny thing ... on the list of applications for the business plan we are working on is an app to build songs line by line. The beta works rather well with 74,000 individual unique lines ripped from lyrics. We ran a thesaurus over it and ended up with over 500,000+ lines. The beta took only 1-2 hours to build in visual studio, the dataset took half a day (12 hours, import, clean, thesaurus modifications). Randomly generating songs is really fun
          most of them suck, but if you give it some search words and drop and drag the lines to organize them, then manually tweak them they end up rather good.

          Song writing isnt all that tough when you have Poems, lyrics, and other sources to pull individual lines from.

          Also your comments about IPv6, really dumb. Do you think the cable companies are going to replace all their hard ware for you? They wont even spend the money to upgrade unless forced to by competition or break downs. Every article I have read says it will take 20-25 years to go fully IPv6, and that we will be running a hybrid net work of IP4 and IP6.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:49pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

            Creative algorithms with AI-like programming will be the death of professional songwriting.

            "Smack that ass!" So professional. Or you could crowd-source song writing. An army of amateurs. Which would lead to more songs being written which kind of sounds nothing like a death.

            Oh, right, the professionalism is dying. Good riddance.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Richard (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:51pm

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          "What I find amazing is that you quoted me and didn't even read it.

          "the profession of song writer will disappear."
          "
          so by your logic the profession of song writer could not possibly have existed before 1710.

          If that were true I would be very sad because a lot of my favourite songs were written before that date. Happily it's nonsense.

          AND the profession of hymnographer existed long before copyright: eg
          http://orthodoxwiki.org/Joseph_the_Hymnographer

          and it will exist long after.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 3:48pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

            Shhh. Copyright maximalists hate hearing about the past.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      dorp, 17 Dec 2009 @ 8:20am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      This is so moronic, I am not sure how people even bring themselves to arguing with your pile of BS. Ugly does not even start to describe the tortured logic you use.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      John Fenderson (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 8:24am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      "Same rule for VPN or proxies providers, they would be required to log and know who is using their services, and provide that information directly in response to a DMCA or similar style notice."

      Yeah, screw due process! We need to jettison the very foundation of our justice system to deal with the evil scourge that is threatening to destroy music forever! We're not over-reacting at all!

      Actually, the idea you present here is impossible. You don't need any third-party providers to run a VPN, and good proxies are already stationed well outside the reach of the long arm of the law. Lawmaking to prevent these things are just bluster.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Lobo Santo's Ugly :, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:30am

        Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

        Yeah, screw due process!

        Pay attention! All it is to do is to START due process by pointing out WHO TO SERVE. It isn't to short cut and find them guilty without process, it's just to know who to process.

        There is no shortcut of due process, except in that users wouldn't be able to hide under being their ISPs and go "neener-neener" all the while pirating software and music without stop.

        Think past the end of your nose!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Dark Helmet (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:32am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          "Pay attention! All it is to do is to START due process by pointing out WHO TO SERVE. It isn't to short cut and find them guilty without process, it's just to know who to process."

          Given the provision advocated in cutting internet connections due to allegations without convictions, how is that not an end around of due process?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Luci, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:07am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          You are advocating the loss of basic freedoms. Privacy is a very, very basic freedom. You don't need to know who I am. If you do, get a goddamned court order and THEN find out. I'm not going to tell you who I am just because you want to know 'just in case.' 'Just in case' is the reasoning used by those who don't truly believe in freedom. This is still a free country that I live in. When that is no longer the case? Well, Canada is less than 30 minutes away.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:57am

          Re: Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

          Lobo Santo's Ugly is clearly trolling, don't feed him.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      deadzone (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 8:58am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      I just feel sorry for you and your ignorance. Don't you understand that every time a new business model is created you guys go and sue it out of existence?

      Your business is dying and it's all your fault.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:04am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      It doesn't take a very wise man to see that, outside of piracy, not very much business is getting done outside of the old business models, and there are still no business models put forward that replace and meet the consumers desire for high quality songs, recording, and "take home" music (aka, CDs, digital downloads, etc). There is a huge public demand for music, it is the product people value.

      That's why those who have properly embraced the new business model are making more money. It's why the musicians are making more money than ever before. It's why that recent study showed that 66% MORE MONEY is being spent in the music ecosystem than just a decade ago. The business is growing in any way you look at it. Though, I note that you continue to try to throw out any data that disagrees with you which is really funny. Denial is a terrible thing.

      Heck, by your own postings, it appears that as soon as piracy was dealt a blow in Sweden, sales of legal music went up. People are apparently willing to pay for music when they can't safely "infringe".

      Heh. You keep repeating that point, though you seem blind to what actually happened. And, by the way, piracy was not "dealt a blow." Latest stats have it much higher than it was before. It's not the crackdown that caused an increase in sales.

      The real answer to this: You can have all the net neutrality you want, but you give up your anonymous status.

      That makes no sense. What does one have to do with the other?

      Run your P2P, your skypes, whatever. But you cannot do it with the cloak of secrecy, you have to be out there and traceable. I suspect that P2P traffic would dwindle rapidly when people could no longer sneak around and hide their "infringing".

      Heh. You mean, drive people further underground and build up the encryption market.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Hephaestus (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:45am

        Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

        "The real answer to this: You can have all the net neutrality you want, but you give up your anonymous status.

        That makes no sense. What does one have to do with the other?"

        I was wondering the same thing, also what is that crap he is spouting about IP6? Seems that he heard a sound bite about how it would make it impossible to hide.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      mkam, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:22am

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      Run your P2P, your skypes, whatever. But you cannot do it with the cloak of secrecy, you have to be out there and traceable. I suspect that P2P traffic would dwindle rapidly when people could no longer sneak around and hide their "infringing".

      -Look up encryption and tunneling on wikipedia. If you try to track and harass them they will just further underground.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Steve, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:50am

        Re: Re: Another smart - dumb argument

        Who's hiding? Cloak of secrecy? Are you fucking stoned or just stupid?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Hephaestus (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:18pm

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      Yeah .... got another question for you ... what does a VOIP phone app (skype) have to do with piracy?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      chris (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:52pm

      Re: Another smart - dumb argument

      The real answer to this: You can have all the net neutrality you want, but you give up your anonymous status. Basically, IPv6 enforced, everyone has to be identified, ISPs required to know exactly what user is on each IP, and end users being responsible for anyone connected to the internet via their connection. Same rule for VPN or proxies providers, they would be required to log and know who is using their services, and provide that information directly in response to a DMCA or similar style notice.

      you sound like those idiots that think DRM will somehow be "fixed" in order to be effective.

      ipv6, as a standard, is 11 years old and it's still not in widespread use. something like 1% of the internet uses it, mostly for fail over. good luck rolling that out in time to save the recording industry :-)

      and remember, anonymity works both ways. if ipv6 does away with ISP's using dynamically assigned IP's, then apps like moblock or peer guardian that refuse connections from "suspicious" peers on lists will vastly improve in accuracy because the lists will be far easier to keep up to date.

      and a 128bit address space doesn't suddenly render NAT and proxy systems unusable. they will still work fine. and even if they stopped there are other, "darker" methods for sharing files, like freenet, tor, ip2p, or just encrypted links between small worlds networks.

      also, lately i have been getting a decent amount of stuff from sites like rapidshare in addition to my usual BT shenanigans. the right thread in a forum can yield terabytes of goodies.

      i won't even mention trading hard drives with friends.

      so unless you are willing to go house to house and shoot people, you can't stop filesharing.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    RD, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:05am

    So sick of...

    I am SO sick of the copyright maximalists creed of "you cant compete with free."

    TV - FREE tv, movies, shows
    Radio - FREE music, discussion, old radio dramas
    Libraries - FREE books, magazines

    And there you have nearly our entire artistic culture being given FOR FREE.

    If you cant compete with that, you shouldnt be in business, as you obviously dont understand how "Free" works.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:02am

      Re: So sick of...

      That's nothing. They also have a hard time competing with cheap.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      RD is still not getting it, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:17am

      Re: So sick of...

      RD, you still don't get it, do you?

      TV - FREE tv, movies, shows
      Radio - FREE music, discussion, old radio dramas
      Libraries - FREE books, magazines


      TV = NOT FREE. It doesn't extract money directly from your pocket, but it isn't free. You pay for it with your attention to advertising. If you want it without advertising (like HBO) guess what? YOU PAY. Over the air TV may be "without cash cost" but it isn't free.

      Radio? Same deal - it's not free. It's "without cash cost" but you pay for it with your attention. Want it without commercials? Subscribe to XM and PAY!

      Libraries? Well, first, the books are paid for. Second, the books can only be used one at a time. If each person takes a book for 1 week, only 52 people a year can read the book. So if you are #150 in line for the book, well, call me in three years when you get to see it. Of course, you could just PAY to get a copy now.

      It ain't free.

      I am SO sick of copyright minimalists who just can't figure out basic business.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:28am

        Re: Re: So sick of...

        TV is free, how many viewers pay for TV or radio?

        Viewers don't pay!
        Listeners don't pay!

        Those damn pirates watching and listening for free without paying artists LoL

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:29am

        Re: Re: So sick of...

        No, it is free, for me. I have a friend who lets me come over to their place and watch their tv for free, listen to their radio for free and read their books for free.

        Sure, it may not be free for them but it is free for me and all my friends.

        I am so sick of copyright maximalists who have no friends.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:55am

        Re: Re: So sick of...

        And I'M SO sick of Copyright Nazis who just can't figure out the basic fact that the market has changed. Where the trouble comes into paradise is that it's not the Industry that got to affect that change. welcome to the real world sweetie. Go cry to your Mommy.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Richard (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:58pm

        Re: Re: So sick of...

        In the UK BBC radio is free - because you don't need a TV licence and there are no Adverts.

        So there

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        JEDIDIAH, 17 Dec 2009 @ 7:31pm

        Re: Re: So sick of...

        All of those things are infact FREE as I the end user percieve it. Instead of paying 8 bucks for every paperback and 30 bucks for every hardback book I read I just read a common copy that circulates around everyone in town.

        Certainly that 50,000:1 reduction in purchased copies makes a difference to "professional authors" fixated on the almighty dollar.

        The problem of free content on the internet is just an extension of long held expectations of the consumer. The consumer is simply used to getting a lot of content for free. The internet really has nothing to do with it.

        The net only makes things more visible and gives people with a poor grasp of math and economics and inflated notion of their own value.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Michael Turk, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:52am

      Re: So sick of...

      TV - FREE tv, movies, shows
      Radio - FREE music, discussion, old radio dramas
      Libraries - FREE books, magazines

      Several problems with that theory.

      First, TV isn't free. It's not paid for by you, but it's paid for by advertisers hoping to reach you. Since more and more people are avoiding commercials with DVRs, that model can only continue so long before that "Free" TV comes with a real cost.

      Free radio is the same

      As long as we're on the topic, let's throw in the number of newspapers who are folding because they decided to give all of their content away for free.

      Finally, "free" libraries are paid for by the people in the form of taxes. That's hardly "free". So your argument that "nearly our entire artistic culture being given FOR FREE" is complete and total nonsense. Just because you don't get a bill doesn't make anything free.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        ., 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:31am

        Re: Re: So sick of...

        Ask anyone if they pay for TV and radio?

        They don't.

        The business side is of no concern to people watching TV they don't pay and doesn't matter if somebody else pays the fact is the consumer is getting free videos and free music.

        It is not a failure from the people is a failure from the business people, it is a management failure.

        Now people still watch free TV. Why is that TV can do it and others can't do it on the internet?

        Google did it, yahoo did it, even microsoft is doing it and maybe that is the kind of management that artists should be looking for the ones that get it.

        Maybe in the future there will be blockbuster coming out of "google studios" because they are the ones with money to do it and proven know how on how to monetize the internet.

        It is not people watching TV or listening to music for free on the internet that are thieves,

        Is manager that are dumb :)

        Other make money why can't they?

        South Korea have some of the more stringent laws on earth and it didn't stop "piracy", China crackdown on bittorrent sites but didn't touch the client that uses FTP, torrents, gnuntella, http, and others transfers protocols so there is no reduction of anything is there?

        Still artists are booming, local blockbusters are being created.

        And on the flip side artists that were employees before are now bosses. They hold the leverage because the money shifted from physical sales to performance acts.

        ps: people selling books still manage to make money ask cory doctorow.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ., 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:22am

    LoL

    Run your P2P, your skypes, whatever. But you cannot do it with the cloak of secrecy, you have to be out there and traceable. I suspect that P2P traffic would dwindle rapidly when people could no longer sneak around and hide their "infringing".


    http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/high-performance-ski-goggles-heads -display

    Next news 2015.

    Ski tourists were arrest for sharing video with their goggles.

    They just were seeing a movie together with the ski goggles syncronized with wirelles transmission.

    http://www.walyou.com/blog/2008/03/06/camera-goggles-record-and-tag-your-every-move /

    Law enforcement would love those. But there is in the market one that goes around the neck and take pictures every 15 minutes.
    http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/10/camera-records-your-life-10-days-at-a-time/

    Now imagine girls going crazy about how they tell stories to each other and are able to share those images in close proximity with a group of friends they can show "that guy" they like, they could share that incredible moment, or they could just share music and movies.

    And all will be encrypted. People trying to see what is going on will se just packets being passed but won't know what the data is.

    Now lets assume that cryptography gets outlawed, there are still ways to do it right bellow the nose of people.

    Now the question is. Are we going to let commercial interests trump civil liberties?

    If we do we deserve all the pain.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:34am

      Re: LoL

      Are we going to let commercial interests trump civil liberties?

      Nope. My privacy is vastly superior to anyone's threat of piracy. I would even go so far as die for the pirate's right to privacy.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Overcast (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:36am

    Songwriters Guild: We're out of good ideas for music, so let's sue people.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Hephaestus (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:14pm

      Re:

      "We're out of good ideas for music"

      That is why we are replacing you with computers, they dont talk back, dont feel entitlted, can't copyright their works, don't want a share of the profits, and never get writers block ...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Dark Helmet (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:25pm

        Re: Re:

        "can't copyright their works"

        Hoo-boy, isn't THAT a lovely can of worms? Computer generated lyrics that are immediately copyrighted in the name of their label owners?

        Do label execs dream of electrically generated lyrics?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Laurel L. Russwurm (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:44am

    2 sides: Canadian music take on P2P

    The SGA sounds like Canada's SOCAN (mired in the past, unable to grasp the concept of adaptibilty) but Canada also has the Songwriters Association of Canada who are looking at change: ThisMagazine: Pay indie artists and break the music monopoly — Legalize Music Piracy

    What I worry about is that this awful ignorance will kill off freedom (privacy IS freedom) and also file sharing, which is so important.

    In the latter part of my StopUBB public service blog post explaining BitTorrent for the non-technically minded, there's a fair bit about "other uses for BitTorrent that are not only legal, but even perfectly acceptable in polite society." I get so angry at all the people slamming P2P when it does so much good.

    William Goldman (writer of The Princess Bride and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid) famously observed of the movie biz: "Nobody Knows Nothing". The same is true of the music biz. Yet for the last half century both of those businesses were controlled by a few executives in a few corporations. When your company is only backing a handful of artists you're not going to be promoting much that's "outside the box".

    Dark Helmet is right, we are already seeing "the return to regional art, music, fandom, etc. " because artists can find an audience without selling their souls to a corporation that then enslaves them, making a tiny few mega stars and keeping the rest in penury.

    Yes, there have been some really good artists and some really great music in the last fifty years... But many as many really good creators never got a chance because some ignorant executive didn't get it.

    Myself I am looking forward to the new golden age of music.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:52am

      Re: 2 sides: Canadian music take on P2P

      [Doug] Morris [Universal's CEO] insists there wasn't a thing he or anyone else could have done differently. "There's no one in the record company that's a technologist," Morris explains. "That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?"

      Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. "We didn't know who to hire," he says, becoming more agitated. "I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me." Morris' almost willful cluelessness is telling. "He wasn't prepared for a business that was going to be so totally disrupted by technology," says a longtime industry insider who has worked with Morris. "He just doesn't have that kind of mind."


      http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/15-12/mf_morris?currentPage=all

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ., 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:47am

    About net neutrality.

    I think Net Neutrality should be guidelines and not law like the bill of rights.

    Still, what many already pointed out in other forums is that ISPs in the U.S. own the physical infra structure and the services part and that is bad.

    If you own the lines you should not own the service part it creates a fertile ground for abuse and misconduct and still is what the U.S. did.

    Traffic management is not the same thing as service management they are two different things.

    Like you don't put red lights for trucks, buses and cars you don't discriminate what is going on.

    If ISPs don't want to let go of the infra-structure, people should build their own in their communities and contract a service provider.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:01pm

      Re: About net neutrality.

      "f ISPs don't want to let go of the infra-structure, people should build their own in their communities and contract a service provider."

      Yeah that's been tried. High speed municipal fiber. AT&T sued to put a stop to it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:24pm

    The apt name would have been Songwriters' Guilt

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pets that are ugly but not lobo santos, 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:39pm

    the troll is neither smart nor dumb

    There is that smart / dumb thing again
    Care to explain just what the hell you are talking about ?

    Yeah, I didn't think so ...
    Oh well

    I assume that it means you are dumb and eveyone else is smart

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    WOOT we need mroe useless unions, 17 Dec 2009 @ 5:09pm

    HEY why not just send htem a cdr that says

    SHUT THE HELL UP
    your not making any sense
    so were not listening to you,
    OH and i hope your artists SPEND lots a cash on that lawsuit and LOSE

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Glenn, 17 Dec 2009 @ 6:22pm

    Further proof...

    that a high IQ is not needed in order to write a song.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    scubly boo, 6 Jan 2010 @ 5:32pm

    you all dont never have what people looking 4.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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