Support Fair Labeling for Copy-Protected Media!
“Senator Ron Wyden recently introduced the Digital Consumer Right-to-Know Act (DCRKA), a bill that would require entertainment companies to label products with copy-protections that limit consumer use. Support the DCRKA if you think the content industry should be ordered to clearly label media that restricts your rights!”
I’m sure the loopholes that would make this possible would be closed in short order. It’s still a cool idea.
Son of Napster
One Possible Future for a Music Business That Must Inevitably Change
By Robert X. Cringely
“When I mentioned in last week’s column that I would this week be writing about a legal way to do a successful music downloading business — a business that would threaten the Recording Industry Association of America and its hegemony — dozens of readers wrote to me trying to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the fact that the real issues here aren’t technical but legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I’m probably more of a diabolical loon.”
No that’s not a typo. Groove for a moment with our silent brethren *snaps*
Hidden in every brain there lurks a poet
Dissecting creativity is ‘the last frontier of the last frontier’
Brad Evenson
“Mira Soularis is drawing a crowd. Her long, elegant fingers sway like tendrils of seaweed above her shoulders, then clap together with sudden violence. To the untrained eye, Soularis appears to be performing an exotic dance or Tai Chi. It is neither. She is reciting a silent poem, performed in American Sign Language (ASL), for a caffeinated throng of Montreal fine arts students who jokingly call themselves the Deaf Poets Society.”
This kid got off to a bad start in this world. I mean, what kind of name is Ghyslain?
Parents file lawsuit over Star Wars video
Humiliation forced Quebec teenager to drop out of school, document says
By TU THANH HA
“MONTREAL — The parents of Ghyslain Raza, the Quebec teenager who became a celebrity this spring after classmates posted on the Internet a video of him mimicking a Star Wars character, allege that their son was so humiliated by the experience that he had to get psychiatric care.”
The original video can be found here. I’d be pretty damn embarrassed if I goofed off in front of a camera and it ended up the net, and to a certain extent I can understand the teasing. However, the net is teeming with similar dorks, nerds, dweebs, geeks, and other “undesirables “who are the last people to be throwing stones.
A sample of some of the “special editions” of this video may be found here (and probably a million other places).