Dutch Communications Agency Cracks Down On Pirate Stations; Can Go From 'Warning' To 'Fine' In 30 Minutes

from the sorry,-lenscrafters,-time-to-step-up-your-game dept

The Radio Communications Agency of the Netherlands has ramped up its efforts against pirate radio stations, which it claims are disrupting non-pirate radio stations along with airline communication. This isn't so surprising, as it has been increasing fines and enforcement over the past few months.

In response, pirates have been setting up stations using collapsible antennas (some reaching as high as 40 meters) in order to shift venues, as it were, should The Man suddenly appear. In response to the pirates' response, the Radio Communications Agency has expedited its processes to the point that it can now make this amazing/perhaps unbelievable claim:

The illegal broadcasters could be fined 2,500 euros just half an hour after receiving a warning letter.

Without any further details forthcoming, it's hard to imagine how this works. Here in the U.S., it can take months for the FCC to hand down a judgment and fine offending pirate radio stations. Officials in the Netherlands have been able to push their turnaround time down from several weeks over the past several months, and they've got a smaller area to police, but a half hour?

If it can trim it to a half hour between the arrival of the warning letter and the fine, wouldn't it just be easier to include the paperwork for the fine in the same envelope? Or is someone trailing the mail carrier with his or her fingers poised on the speed dial for the local enforcement team? The mind boggles. (And by "boggles," I mean "tends not to believe.") Or maybe it's some sort of EULA ("By reading this letter, you agree to be fined directly for illegal broadcasting...) wrapped in a Mission Impossible-esque self-destruction device, only instead of self-destruction, your warning letter morphs into a bill for $2,500 Euros.

No matter the delivery method, it's a bold claim, one equaled only by Domino's Pizza's long-remembered (but oft-violated) slogan of "30 minutes or it's free." Unfortunately for the pirates, there's nothing free about this offer.

Filed Under: netherlands, pirate radio, radio, warnings

Why Haven't Any Movie Studios Become The 'Fan Friendly' Studio?

from the makes-you-wonder dept

Copycense points us to a recent, if short, David Pogue blog post, in response to a reader question, complaining about the ubiquitous unskippable FBI warnings at the beginnings of DVDs. The questioner asks why the industry bothers with them, when all they serve to do is annoy legitimate customers (infringing copies cut that stuff out). Pogue makes an interesting point in response, questioning why some studios don't stand up to become the "friendly" studio, in the same way that newer discount airlines, like JetBlue have tried to become a more customer-friendly airline:

I don't understand why some movie studio doesn't decide to become the Good Guys of the industry. Get rid of all those annoyances, all the lawyer-driven absurdities, and market the heck out of it. Be like the breath-of-fresh air new airline (as JetBlue was in its day) or cellphone company (like T-Mobile, the only company that drops your monthly rate after you've repaid the subsidy on your phone). Dare to be different -- and win a lot of customer loyalty as a result.

There are some smallish indie studios that are sorta trying, but that's not quite the same thing. Part of the problem, I imagine, is the overall ecosystem. Studios can't become "fan friendly" without pissing off the theaters (even if the theaters are probably overreacting). Still, it does seem like this is the direction that movie studios should be moving in. While there will always be some who will automatically distrust the big studios, I would imagine that if a big studio actually stopped treating people like criminals and embraced a much more fan-friendly attitude, it would pretty quickly find that fans were more than willing to reciprocate.

Filed Under: fan friendly, fbi warning, movie studios, movies, warnings

Journalism Warning Labels: This Article Is Just A Press Release Copied & Pasted

from the who-reads-newspapers-any-more? dept

Romenesko points us to an amusing offering from a guy, Tom Scott, who noted that newspapers put warning labels on content that involves "sex, violence or strong language," but have no such warning labels for "sloppy journalism and other questionable content." So he made them. He's put together a printable document of journalism warning labels (and someone else has created a US formatted version (pdf)). Some of them are pretty damn funny. Here are just a few, though you should check out the whole list: Warning: Statistics, survey results and/or equations in this article were sponsored by a PR company:


Warning: This article is basically just a press release, copied and pasted:


Warning: This article is based on an unverified anonymous tipoff.


Warning: To meet a deadline, this article was plagiarised from another news source.


Warning: Journalist does not understand the subject they are writing about.


Warning: To ensure future interview with subject, important questions were not asked.
Of course, this assumes anyone actually still reads paper newspapers...

Filed Under: journalism, stickers, warnings

Verizon Starts Passing On RIAA Infringement Letters To Users

from the what's-next,-though? dept

Allison K alerts us to the news that Verizon is the latest US broadband provider to agree to pass along the RIAA letters accusing Verizon customers of unauthorized file sharing. AT&T, Comcast, Cox and some other ISPs already do this. The letters don't include specific threats of action (so, no "three strikes" type policies), but the RIAA is clearly hoping that by passing on the letters it will discourage unauthorized file sharing. It's a bit of a waste for Verizon to need to spend resources on this, and it really is just the RIAA's first step in the door to eventually push for kicking people off of the internet, but on the whole it's not that terrible to pass along notices. In the end, my guess is that it will actually serve to do a lot more to promote encryption services than anything else. Maybe some encryption service can approach Verizon about "sponsoring" those customer notifications.

Filed Under: file sharing, isps, letters, warnings
Companies: riaa, verizon