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In The News - Edition #73
Posted by Mike (Shmoo) on November 22, 2005 at 3:21 PM   (printer friendly)




To post hypertext links to articles/items, use the following method:

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Folks, sometimes it is a lot quicker/better to alert our readers to important/relevant news articles and other items by sticking a quick link to them right here in this "news" thread than it is to submit using the "news/submit" button at the top of the page.

If you point your cursor at the "news" button, then do a "mouse-over" (awaiting the drop-down menu to provide you the "submit" option and all... THEN bother to type in or C&P your submission correctly in the proper format...
...Sheesh, after all that, your submission STILL has to await the "approval process" (meaning that I, or one of the fine Dmusic admin have to be online and alert enough to check the article input box, THEN decide where it needs filed, proof-read, etc... )

If you have an article/story/item that needs our attention, why not simply stick it here "In The News" instead! (Besides, I'll go to the front page with anything found here that meets the same criteria used for that "article input box" anyways.)

Let's save some time and hassle. Use that "submit" button only for ORIGINAL articles that come from your own hand.


User Comments (These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 3:23 PM
For the previous edition of "In The News":

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/18650
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 3:42 PM
Firm behind licensed file-sharing service to offer NBC shows --Mercury News

The company behind the commercial online file-sharing software Peer Impact said Thursday it struck a licensing deal with NBC Universal to sell feature films and television programming over its service.
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 3:43 PM
Arnie promotes campaign to combat DVD piracy --IOL
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 3:55 PM
Deal aims to stamp out piracy on cell phones --News dot com

Antipiracy technology companies said on Wednesday they were hopeful that within months they would sign a license deal with mobile operators and handset makers for a common digital rights management system.
Bleargest  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 4:06 PM
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4449580.stm

Madonna is a thief!
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 4:18 PM
FROM THE INBOX:

Message: I thought I'd let you know that i2hub was shut down. The RIAA basically said shut it down or be sued. We just can't afford to fight them. Today is a sad day. They won this one.

www.i2hub.com
TrueAudio  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 4:19 PM
http://p2pnet.net/story/7032

Go ahead. Sue me


"Generic products: cereal, soda, cough drops - in many cases they sit right beside the name brand products they cloned and yet they don’t pay licenses to use the same formula for their product. So in essence, they're exercising fair use of the product and repackaging it for their own profit.

But if we looked at food products in the same way we look at music and movies, there'd be no generic products whatsoever, unless they were owned by the manufacturer themselves in a way to offload their surplus products.


How long do you think this would take to be shut down in Congress if we tried to put this genie back in the bottle? Congress would take a look at all the businesses that would have to be closed and would then likewise be sued by copyright holders for the various products that the evil generic-manufacturing pirates are selling in every grocery and corner convenience store every day - billions of illegal products, given the same way of thinking.


What if there were no off-brand monitors? What if Packard Bell, or whomever the first manufacturer was, were to have refused to allow others to use its 'product'? If that was the case, all monitors would be from one source and cost 100x what they do now.


Music and movies are no more special than the daily generic soda I consume in mass quantities. Just like other 'products,' the hard core limitation being shoved down our throats now will eventually go away - the genie can't be put back in the bottle and even if the internet were shut down globally today, it wouldn't stop the way most people think about the music and movie 'products' now.

It's like these cough drops I'm sucking down today: Richola would have had my sale but instead, I bought the generic in similar packaging and identical flavor for 79 cents instead of $1.79.


Freedom. It's what America was supposed to be founded on. At some point, that all died in the minds of many people in our government but the 'will of the people' has been very clear - we're going to use 'products' in the ways WE want to.

Sue the customers - go for it - but it's not going to stop anything.


Just my 10 cents."


_-Jile-_
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 4:20 PM
Dear All,

I need a help! It's about the internet radio, located in Europe (Bulgaria).
I need information about the RIAA rights - it is valid for us (in Europe).
If you know anything about licensing a internet radio station - please give me short info

Thanks in advanced!

Best
Danny

DaAngel at gmail.com
==========================

Anyone know anything about it in Europe? If so, send this guy some links.
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 5:05 PM
Well Well Well, The Sony F.ckup that just doesn't seem to go away...

Damage Runs Deep With Sony-BMG Fiasco
Thomas Mennecke

Trying to gauge the damage caused by Sony-BMG’s rootkit DRM will take years to comprehend. The gaping wound caused by Sony-BMG exists well beyond infected computers, security problems, and a tarnished reputation. The record label’s entire philosophy on P2P networking, Internet piracy and DRM has been effectively destroyed.

The copyright industry has attempted to persuade P2P users back into the record stores by exploiting a largely overblown claim that file-sharing networks expose risks to malicious software. On June 14, 2004, MPAA CEO Dan Glickman made the following statement.
"While these P2P services would have users believe they simply offer an easy way to download movies and music, they really do much more. It is well-documented that using these services can lead to user’s computers being infected with spy ware and viruses. Often, unwitting users have their most sensitive, private information exposed to unfriendly eyes around the world. Further, P2P systems have been used by pornographers as an easy avenue to reach children."

This argument by the copyright industry has been annihilated. Computer Associates labeled Sony-BMG’s rootkit as both spyware and a trojan horse. Minimum estimates suggest as many as 500,000 individuals have Sony-BMG’s rootkit DRM installed – far exceeding any infections caused by P2P networking.
Even without an official label by Computer Associates, the public perception of Sony-BMG’s rootkit is that of distrust. In an ironic twist of fate, computers infected with Sony-BMG’s DRM software run the serious risk of being exposed to malicious software. Considering the files Sony-BMG use are hidden from anti-virus and anti-spyware applications, any virus writer can write an identically named file and exploit an untold number of computers.

The copyright industry has also preached from a moral standpoint. Believing there is a parallel between downloading a file from the Internet and physically stealing a CD from a music store, both the music and movie industry have accused file-traders of moral corruption.
"This is not just about online versus offline," said Hilary Rosen, former president and CEO of the RIAA. "Most in the online business community recognize that what Napster is doing threatens legitimate e-commerce models - and is legally and morally wrong."
Much like the virus argument, the “moral” argument has also been vanquished. The reason why Sony-BMG found itself in so much trouble is because they hid information – otherwise known as deception – and thought they could get away with it. The specifics of Sony-BMG’s rootkit were never disclosed in the EULA, and they certainly did not disclose the consequences of its removal. Whatever moral standpoint the copyright industry had was effectively nullified when Sony-BMG and First4Internet inked their deal.

Although Sony-BMG succeeded in negating the music and movies industry anti-P2P argument in one swift stroke, that’s not the extent of the damage. The music and movie industry’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) campaign – once shrouded in secrecy – has also suffered irreparable harm.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a blanket term used to describe copy protection on any digital medium. The protection can be simple, such as blocking unlicensed search terms, or very complex, such as First4Interent’s XCP (extended copy protection.) The deployment of DRM can be considered secretive because very few individuals are actually aware of it.
During a recent anti-DRM protest in New York City, a wide majority of individuals were unaware that such copy protection even existed.

Sony-BMG managed to change all of that.

The last thing record labels want is a tremendous amount of attention drawn to the implementation of DRM. As if Sony-BMG’s actions weren’t bad enough, drawing negative publicity to the DRM issue on only compounded the situation.
Now people are very aware of the Sony-BMG fiasco and the implementation of DRM. What was once largely invisible to the average customer has been shot right into the spotlight. The term “DRM” is now associated with malignancies such as ‘virus’, ‘malicious software’, ‘deception’, ‘arrogance’, ‘distrust’, and ‘trojan.’
This situation has already delayed the implementation of DRM on CDs. Sony-BMG has ceased the manufacture of CDs with XCP software, and does not expect to reinstate their DRM policy until sometime next year. Other record labels are also coming under increased scrutiny for their DRM products, forcing EMI to state, “We don’t use rootkits.” With so much public scorn now directed towards DRM, record labels are facing the very real possibility that DRM in its current incarnation can no longer manage to exist.
Sony-BMG has managed to accomplish in 16 days what bloggers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, writers, journalists, and niche sites have been working on for years. Sony-BMG has destroyed the music and movie industry’s arguments against P2P, and brought mainstream attention and public distaste to the DRM debate.
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 5:16 PM
Funny part about all this is little reporting from the Major Media outlets.
I have the feeling that they (the cable news giants) didn't want to offend an existing/potential advertising client.

That or they're getting ready for the upcoming Republican vs. Democrat wars going on in Congress.....After all why report on Sony when reporters have more to worry about...Being the fact they're 85% voting Democrats and all!

Sure not exactly a diverse newsroom when it come to both politics and tech news if seems...
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 5:25 PM
More Sony news here....

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310AP_Music_Copy_Protection.html
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 5:27 PM
And if that's not bad enough....

Apple iTunes security flaw discovered!

http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5960413.html
autodidact  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 5:53 PM
GadFly, would you please post links to the main article you posted? Some of us are too lazy to google.
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 6:06 PM
"The term “DRM” is now associated with malignancies such as ‘virus’, ‘malicious software’, ‘deception’, ‘arrogance’, ‘distrust’, and ‘trojan.’"

As it SHOULD be!

(Great find GadFly!)
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 6:07 PM
Oh, BTW, put the Sony XCP news in the thread we created for it.
independentm...  
 Date: November 18, 2005 @ 8:14 PM
NOTE ABOUT THE GOOGLE ADS!!!!
=======================

We are experimenting with ads from Google's AdSense program to help generate a little revenue to help off-set some of the costs of running this site. (Google seems to be about the least "evil" of the advertisement options that we know of.)

So, to help support this site, you are asked to pay some attention to those google ads (supposedly, they are "targeted" to our issues and interests) and then CLICK on the ones that actually do interest you. (It really CAN help us pay a few bills if you do!)

(The non-google ads are from Dmusic's servers pages and I have NO CONTROL over them at this time.)
CynicalGeezer  
 Date: November 19, 2005 @ 12:04 PM

Along with Shmoo, I also (albeit belatedly) compliment Gad for some great 'finds'.
I just love that article Gad posted, "Damage Runs Deep With Sony-BMG Fiasco" by Thomas Mennecke.
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 19, 2005 @ 12:40 PM
Enjoy the finds gents. And grumpy, you keep saying such nice things about me you're going to start getting people talking!!!

On the RIAA front....more great gems from THE GADFLY to "you" the public are on the way. It's becoming clear that we're a united front against the bullying and greed that our people have to endure for far to long. We're in a War ....And judging from the latest examples from the likes of Sony....We have the high moral ground. And with that we have capital so lets start spending it. Take up your sword and join the fight against the oppressors.

The future depends on it! Cry Freedom.........
MajorTreat  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 3:47 AM
Why did the corrupted rats at First 4 Internet use a rootkit in their DRM?
Because they know that DRM is a pipe dream that can not work. So the strategy was to buy time by hiding the DRM software until it got discovered.

They also know that they sold this pipdream to Sony/BMG and this is what I mean when I said that a parasite is riping off another parasite!

There is no way to prevent a computer to copy whatever it can read and no method can prevent that.

I Jacked one of this CD with XCP and rip the CD at the first attempt without problem.
So unless the root kit is installed there is really no copy protection at all.
any CD with "copy protection" can be ALWAYS riped or copied unless the OS prevent it. This is why they try to corrupt secretly your OS to prevent you from copying. And now they try to pretend that this was an Honest mistake.

At First 4 Internet they know that even this extreme and illegal measure might not work. The very nature of computers is to copy. There is no way to prevent a computer to copy whatever it can read and no method can prevent that. Corrupted the music industry? This is a weak work to describe them! Ok! People are made at the Sony Rootkit but what make me the madest is all the crap they did to so many people and to the world society! I was a big mistake for them to make us pay attention to the way they where conducting their business. Believe me these guys are criminals!

They deserves nothing but bullets!
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 11:30 AM
Weekend news update. Think twice before you think of putting that Ipod in the kids stocking for Christmas!

Apple iTunes Likely to Institute Variable Pricing....

iTunes has been steadfastly attached to their 99 cent structure, claiming it is both fair and convenient to the customer. Yet over the summer months, news began to circulate that iTunes' flat rate was facing mounting pressure from the music labels.
Responding to the music industry's demands, Apple CEO Steve Jobs struck back."If they want to raise the prices, it means that they are getting greedy…If the price goes up, they (consumers) will go back to piracy and everybody loses."
Yet Steve Jobs' tough stand doesn't appear to have made a kink in the music label's position. At a news conference yesterday in London, Alain Levy, chief executive of EMI told the Wall Street Journal that variable pricing would soon become a reality.
"We are having discussions which make us believe it will happen in the next 12 months...There is a common understanding that we will have to come to a variable pricing structure. The issue is when. There is a case for superstars to have a higher price."
That's an interesting position. Although Mr. Alain states variable pricing is needed for a "higer price", an EMI spokeswoman says that's not really the case."This is not about us trying to get higher prices. It is about trying to get flexible pricing."
It is not known what transpired since Steve Jobs took such a strong position only two months ago. Have the record labels agreed to give Apple a bigger cut? Perhaps they threatened to withdraw their music from the iTunes music store? Every Apple public relations person related to iTunes or iPod was not available for comment. Most likely this situation will be kept under wraps until Apple has prepared a suitable press release.
Steve Jobs fears that variable pricing will lead people back to P2P networking and other forms of piracy. This concern doesn't seem to phase the record labels, probably since they know the file-sharing population has been humming right along.


This the season to be greedy...Fallalala.
CynicalGeezer  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 12:53 PM

MajorTreat,
About the only way DRM software will work for them is to have some form of DRM embedded in a computer's hardware — and that could happen.
DeadMan2003  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 3:13 PM
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/18/uk_music_market_survey/

Apple's iTunes 'owns' UK digital music market

Apple's iTunes Music Store has a larger share of the UK digital music download market than the rest of its competitors put together, recently published figures from London-based researcher Xtn Data reveal.

Xtn's research, based on a late September survey of more than 1,000 British consumers who buy music online and offline, puts ITMS' UK market share at 54 per cent. Its nearest rival, Napster, has just ten per cent of the market. British company Wippit, one of the longest running providers of legal music downloads in the UK, comes in at number three, with an eight per cent market share.

Rounding out the top five are MyCokeMusic, with a six per cent share, and MSN, on five per cent. The Microsoft operation is just ahead of CD Wow, which has four per cent of the users who buy music downloads in the UK, according to Xtn's survey.

Virigin Digital and HMV have thus far failed to make much of a mark on the market. The two music retail giants, who in September both revived their lacklustre download services with bright, new versions, have three per cent and one per cent of the UK market, respectively.

The two other High Street retailers operating in the space, Tesco and Woolworths, both of whom entered the UK download market in the autumn of 2004, have only managed to take two per cent of the market each since then.

All the other players together account for 11 per cent of the market, Xtn's numbers show.

Still, the legal services are not getting it entirely right. Of the consumers Xtn surveyed, 58 per cent criticised the legitimate download shops for their high prices, while 41 per cent said they were difficult to use and 43 per cent of respondents said they don't offer the music they are interested in.

Users who were disappointed with legitimate music download services were more likely to illegally download music, Xtn said. Despite high-profile anti-piracy campaigns launched by the music industry, two-thirds of respondents who use P2P networks to download music said they were not worried by the legal action taken against file-sharers.

And why not, when the lawsuits tackle uploaders, not downloaders?

Since the survey was performed, a number of P2P companies have closed their networks down while they reach accords with the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) and equip their software with code to ensure any file-trading that takes place is legal. There may no longer be 52m people in the US using P2P, as Xtn suggests, but equally quite a few P2P networks are up and running outside the US, suggesting the RIAA's victory is a local phenomenon.
DeadMan2003  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 3:17 PM
http://www.cpwire.com/artman/publish/article_1212.asp

CP NewsLink Transcript: Cary Sherman of the RIAA

Following is a transcript of the Nov. 18, 2005 CP NewsLink conference between college journalists and Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

----------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 18, 2005 2:00 p.m. EDT
----------------------------------------------------

moderator: OK, let's begin. Thank you, everyone, for coming to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s CPNewsLink newsmaker conference today.

moderator We are pleased to welcome as our CPNewsLink guest this afternoon Mr. Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA's member companies are responsible for creating, manufacturing, or distributing 90 percent of all legitimate sound recordings sold in the United States.

moderator: As many of you know, the RIAA is an organization frequently in the news when it comes to issues of online file sharing and music piracy, and recent weeks have been no exception. The recent shutdowns of file sharing services Grokster and i2hub have generated headlines across the country.

moderator: Today, we will have the chance to hear from Mr. Sherman on these developments and others affecting colleges and universities in the wake of the Supreme Court's Grokster decision this summer.

moderator: Mr. Sherman, welcome.

cary_sherman_riaa: Good afternoon. It's great to join you all once again in this forum. I very much appreciate the invitation. Before taking your questions, I have just a few opening remarks.

cary_sherman_riaa: When it comes to illegal downloading, a great deal has changed since I last participated in an online chat with college reporters in April of this year: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in MGM v. Grokster that not only individuals but businesses that encourage illegal file sharing can be held accountable for their actions.

cary_sherman_riaa: That decision was followed by a series of similar international rulings in Korea, Taiwan and Australia, where the Federal Court found Kazaa to be illegal.

cary_sherman_riaa: Earlier this month, Grokster agreed to settle with the major record companies, movie studios and publishers, marking an important milestone in the continuing transformation of the online marketplace. And just this week, we saw reports that i2hub had gone dark.

cary_sherman_riaa: What does all of this mean? Contrary to what you might think, it means even more options for enjoying music and movies online. These developments have given the legitimate online marketplace a tremendous boost - enhancing our ability to invest in new bands and new music.

cary_sherman_riaa: This is, after all, about more than just the artists at the top of the Billboard charts. This is about the next generation of music. It's less about the musicians of today and more about the unsigned musicians of tomorrow. When you download a song illegally or burn a copy for everyone on your dorm, you are undermining the ability of the music companies to invest in the next great up-and-coming band you have yet to hear about.

cary_sherman_riaa: The impact of these efforts is already being felt on college campuses across the country, with almost 80 schools now offering students a legitimate music service. This is tremendous progress from just two years ago, when this map was qute literally empty. Yet we recognize that there is considerable work still to be done, particularly in regard to addressing the emerging challenges of campus Local Area Networks or LANs as well as unauthorized hacks of iTunes such as myTunes and ourTunes.

cary_sherman_riaa: We look forward to continuing our work with the university community on these important issues as well as our work with music services that respect the laws protecting creators.

cary_sherman_riaa: With that, I am happy to take your questions.

moderator: Let's begin with a question that's on everyone's mind...

On a timely note, what do you make of the shutdown of the i2hub file-sharing network earlier this week? What does it mean for students and file-sharing on campus?

cary_sherman_riaa: We've seen the same reports that i2hub has shut down. To the extent that this reflects their reading of the Grokster decision, we're not surprised. In fact, other p2p's appear to have read the decision the same way, as WinMX has also reportedly shut down, and other p2p's are in active discussions for how to turn their businesses into legitimate services. What this ultimately means is that venture capital money and advertising money will flow to licensed music services, which will give them the incentive to innovate and provide even better music experiences to their consumers. The winner will be music fans who want better and better online music experiences.

moderator: OK, now we will turn it over to our participants for some questions. Participants, if you can, when asking a question, please state your school and newspaper name at the front of your question.

moderator: And now we will move to take our first question... Please stand by.

UMass - Amherst, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: Mr. Sherman, I am wondering what your thoughts are on the price of music to the public. In that what is the production cost of a CD and how much of the money goes to the musicians and the record company as profit. I feel that a lot of people cannot justify spending $15 on a CD to give more money to people that are already very wealthy.

cary_sherman_riaa: It's a common misconception that when people spend $15 on a CD, they're simply paying ultra-rich megastars and big record labels. First, a lot of that $15 goes to the record retailer who is trying to make a living by selling music. But more importantly, behind the artist you've heard of, there are countless others who have contributed to that recording or to trying to make that recording a commercial success. Studio musicians and background vocalists, the members of the band, the studio engineers, the producers, the songwriters and publishers, the marketing and promotion people -- you wouldn't believe how many people get involved in the making of a CD from conception to distribution. They make their living by the revenues that are earned from the sale of the product. When people download it without paying for it, or get a burned copy from someone else, there's that much less money for the people who worked to make that recording. And there's also a lot less for record labels to invest in another artist tomorrow.

USC, Daily Trojan: Can you please briefly explain what I2Hub is?

cary_sherman_riaa: i2hub is (or was) a file-sharing network that was specifically configured to operate on Internet2, an ultra-high-speed network largely used for academic research purposes. Unfortunately, the major use of i2hub was copyright infringement, especially of movies and music albums, because they could be transferred in minutes instead of hours.

Columbia University, Columbia Spectator: With fears of illegal file sharing throughout the music industry, many companies have taken measures into their own hands. Within the last two weeks, there has been a great deal of discussion about Sony BMG's rootkit program. Does the RIAA condone such actions on the part of individual companies to protect their profits?

cary_sherman_riaa: There is nothing unusual about technology being used to protect intellectual property. You can't simply make an extra copy of a Microsoft operating system, or virtually any other commercially-released software program for that matter. Same with videogames. Movies, too, are protected. Why should CDs be any different?

cary_sherman_riaa: The problem with the SonyBMG situation is that the technology they used contained a security vulnerability of which they were unaware. They have apologized for their mistake, ceased manufacture of CDs with that technology,and pulled CDs with that technology from store shelves. Seems very responsible to me. How many times that software applications created the same problem? Lots. I wonder whether they've taken as aggressive steps as SonyBMG has when those vulnerabilities were discovered, or did they just post a patch on the Internet?

cary_sherman_riaa: One other thing to point out: The music industry has been more permissive about copying of its copyrighted product than virtually any other industry. How many burns are you allowed of a movie? None. How many of a videogame? None. You get the idea. Even the CDs with content protection allow consumers to burn 3 copies or so for personal use. The idea is not to inhibit personal use, but to allow personal use but discourage (not prevent, you can never prevent) copying well beyond personal use.

University of Southern Mississippi, The Student Printz: History seems to show that anything done to stop files sharing will only create new methods and technologies to get around their controls. In light of that, should the middlemen (RIAA, et al) be thinking about ways to bring consumers what they want -- which they'll mostly end up getting in any case -- instead of futilely struggling to keep their finger in the dike, which ultimately only causes further public unhappiness with them?

cary_sherman_riaa: History also shows that no matter what is done to stop bank robberies or shoplifting, some people will always find a way around those techniques. Does that mean we should simply give up and allow people to take what they should be paying for? Record companies ARE trying to give consumers what they want. Think of how music was available just a couple of years ago and how it's available now. You can buy an individual track, at any time of the day or night, and get it instantly on line. You can subscribe to services with a million-and-a-half tunes to choose from that you can listen to whenever you want, for an all-you-can-eat monthly fee.

cary_sherman_riaa: And these models are just the beginning. Online offerings (as well as new forms of physical offerings) will continue to get better and better. That's the marketplace at work.

University of Southern Mississippi, The Student Printz: If gun makers are not liable for the public's illegal use of their products, why are p2p sites?

cary_sherman_riaa: If a gun manufacturer encouraged a gun owner to use the gun in the commission of a crime, you can be sure that they'd be liable. The Supreme Court said that Grokster could be liable for actively encouraging or inducing its users to commit copyright infringement.

CPLisa: A question submitted via e-mail... It has been said that since the lawsuits began a couple of years ago, the number of P2P users has doubled. It seems that the lawsuits are not really that effective at stopping the file-sharing problem. What can the RIAA do at this point to make a bigger difference in the ongoing battle against piracy?

cary_sherman_riaa: There's a lot of conflicting data about the level of p2p file sharing. It's not easy to monitor what is actually happening on the Internet, so I guess it's not surprising that the data would be inconsistent. We've seen data that shows that file-sharing has remained relatively flat, and some that shows growth, but at far lower than the rate it was growing before the lawsuits. And relative to broadband penetration, which has gone way up, file-sharing has been either level or gone up only slightly.

cary_sherman_riaa: Whatever we do, we know that file-sharing will continue, just as physical piracy will always continue no matter what we do. We all recognize that the most important thing we can do to deal with illegal activity online is give consumers a better alternative -- a legal service that they love. That's what lots of companies are now doing, and we hope that ultimately the legitimate marketplace will outpace the illegal downloads.

U. of Houston: What future measures does the RIAA plan against music piracy? Is it going to be protected so no one can make a copy of cds?

cary_sherman_riaa: You've got to distinguish between what RIAA does and what individual record companies do. RIAA will continue to protect intellectual property rights in court, etc. But only an individual record company can decide to use copy protection on a CD. Record companies have different policies on whether to use such technology, but I know of no record companies in the US that have sought to prevent the making of any copies at all. Everyone understands that consumers want to be able to listen to their music in their car, in the family room, at the beach, and that allowing them to do that is part of giving them a great music experience. So even when a CD is protected, it will almost certainly allow personal use copying.

moderator: And that leaves us time for one more question.

UMass - Amherst, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: Thank you for your answer, Mr. Sherman. Is it not rather harsh of the RIAA to be suing college students that most likely will not have the ability to pay the fines imposed on them? And along those same lines will the RIAA still follow though with the lawsuits even after all the p2p networks are shutdown and college students get the point and stop downloading music illegally?

cary_sherman_riaa: Obviously, anyone who has stopped downloading (or uploading) illegally will not get sued. Lots of college students try to justify taking music for free because they can't afford it. That, of course, is no excuse, any more than it would justify stealing a CD from a record store. And for generations, students have spent their hard-earned dollars on the music they love in the local college record store. How many of those stores are left now? Makes you realize just what the impact of illegal downloading can be, and why we've taken the actions we have.

moderator: Mr. Sherman, any closing remarks?

cary_sherman_riaa: I want to thank all of you for participating in this afternoon's chat. Illegal file sharing on college campuses is an issue that looms large for us, making it all the more important that we take opportunities such as this to help the higher education community better understand our positions and actions. Thank you for your thoughtful questions and for your time today.

moderator: This concludes today's newsmaker conference with Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The conference is brought to you on CPNewsLink, a joint service of College Publisher and Collegiate Presswire.

moderator: On behalf of the RIAA, thank you for attending, and thank you for your interest. And, on behalf of the college journalists attending this event, and those reading about it, our thanks go out to Mr. Sherman for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us today.

moderator: If you have additional questions about this story, please direct them to Jenni Engebretsen, Jonathan Lamy, or Amanda Hunter of the RIAA at (202) 775-0101.

moderator: Additionally, for your use in writing a story, we will be sending a full transcript of this event over Collegiate Presswire to all of our subscribing newspapers shortly, and we'll be posting a copy on the front page of the CPNewsLink website after that. (http://www.cpnewslink.com)

moderator: As a reminder, we will be hosting additional CP NewsLink newsmaker events throughout the upcoming year, so please keep an eye on this website for details.

moderator: We hope you enjoyed this chat, and trust that it provided you with some insight and perspectives into this issue for your use in writing stories on this topic.

moderator: Thank you, once again, for attending today's CP NewsLink conference.

moderator: Good bye, everyone!
MajorTreat  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 5:36 PM
Shitman!

You are a fat pack of BS as your name indicate. But you are right a lot have changed.
The P2P comunity is now much larger than before. We have now anonymous P2P networks. The boycott is growing. Your music sales are way down. The "legitimate" download service are microscopic and will most likely remain so. Your business will most likely continue to go south until all the parasites and traitors of your kind go out of business. The pieces of shit in congress that you managed to corrupt such as Diane Feinstein Hei Hithler! and Orible Hachish are about to get voted out of office. The only thing you have achieved is bring down the music industry by pissing off the customers and aquire the right to get shoot! Congratulation! Just continue to play dirty politics, to robe the innocents, to break our laws and trample our constitution and let see how long you last on your feet! The rope is breaking!
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 7:41 PM
Right on MajorTreat !

This is the kind of guy I want in the trenches with me.

Sir I salute you.....! Take note George. You could learn something from this guy.
TotallyFrust...  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 10:03 PM
"You can't simply make an extra copy of a Microsoft operating system, or virtually any other commercially-released software program for that matter. "

Liar....I make second copies of almost all my software. I ran into a couple of games that are doing somthing funky, but ALL of my MS software is easily copied with any cd duplication software. In the case of the OS, only the latest (XP) requires an online registration. Even with that you can install it more than once.

I wonder.....If the big four pull their arms out of his ass will he stop talking right away, or will reflex keep his lips flapping for a few extra seconds?
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 20, 2005 @ 11:36 PM
"RIAA Downs i2hub"

i2hub is a network linking more than 200 universities from A (Arizona State) to Y (Yale) which Ed Felten once described as being like a, "set of express lanes for the Internet, built so that network traffic between Internet2 member institutions can go faster".It shows, brilliantly, just how effective p2p communications can be.

Or it used to.

Organized Music [read Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan, Germany), EMI Group (Britain) and Warner Music (American, but with Brothman running it] has finally succeeded in shutting i2hub down. With a little, or a lot, of help from its friends, Hollywood Howard Berman and Lamar Smith, the man who wants file sharers thrown into jail.
"Last December two influential members of Congress sent a letter to Douglas E. Van Houweling, president of Internet2, asking him to crack down on the rogue network," says the Chronicle of Higher Education.
"The congressmen - Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, and Howard L. Berman, a Democrat from California - are the ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property."By an amazing coincidence, Organized Music's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) recently bought its way into Internet2. It and fellow entertainment cartel bully organization the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are now full-blown corporate members.

i2hub, founded in 2004 by Wayne Chang, then a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, ran on p2p application Direct Connect.But, "In April record companies and movie studios started filing lawsuits that accused students of using the network to pirate music and films," the Chronicle of Higher Education goes on.
But, "In April record companies and movie studios started filing lawsuits that accused students of using the network to pirate music and films," the Chronicle of Higher Education goes on."The Recording Industry Association of America has since filed suit against 635 i2hub users at 39 different institutions."
When Berman and Smith started their Kill i2hub on behalf of the Big Four, "Internet2 officials responded by sending the committee a report on the steps they had taken to control illegal file sharing, according to Lauren Rotman, Internet2's media-relations manager," says the story.
"As pressure mounted against i2hub, the network made an attempt to prove that it had legitimate applications, experimenting with features like a textbook exchange and a dating service. But the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. - which found that peer-to-peer networks could be held liable for acts of piracy if they "induced" the violations - further compromised i2hub's legal standing. In September the recording industry sent cease-and-desist notices to seven peer-to-peer networks, including i2hub."Given all of this, my guess is that the RIAA is pushing the Internet2 angle mostly for policial and public relations reasons. By painting Internet2 as a separate network, the RIAA can imply that the transfer of infringing files over Internet2 is a new kind of problem requiring new regulation. And by painting Internet2 as a centrally-managed entity, the RIAA can imply that it is more regulable than the rest of the Internet."

i2hub founder Chang, "declined to comment on the reason for i2hub's closure," says says the Chronicle of Higher Education. "But he said in an e-mail interview on Tuesday that i2hub was already being commemorated by its campus fans. 'Students are hanging signs, painting campus boulders with Remember i2hub, etc., across the country,' he wrote."Will i2hub's death make a major difference to p2p file sharing, particularly with respect to students?

Not even nearly.

OM boasts it's successfully prosecuted some 16,000 people, many hundreds of whom were students. And yet no-one has ever been found guilty of anything, and no-one has appeared before a judge.

The RIAA says its sue 'em all marketing campaign has resulted in significant numbers of file sharers swearing off the p2p networks in favour of corporate 'product'.However, the truth is very different.Around the world, in October, 2004, the number of individuals simultaneously logged onto the networks at any one time was 6,255,986, says p2p research company BigChampagne..

By this October, the number had soared to 9,168,812, OM lawsuits notwithstanding.
CynicalGeezer  
 Date: November 21, 2005 @ 3:06 AM

Gad, another great news post!
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 21, 2005 @ 3:15 AM
Thanks grump! Enjoy em....
DeadMan2003  
 Date: November 21, 2005 @ 10:06 AM
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=9682a973-f0e4-4610-819f-f96bf087ec43

TORONTO (CP) - It's becoming a regular occurrence in CD shops across the country: an irate customer comes in complaining the CD they bought won't play on their computer, and worse yet, they can't transfer the tunes to their IPod.

The culprit is copy-protected or copy-controlled CDs - something many Canadian music retailers say they would like to see pulled from store shelves.

"This is just another really, really ridiculous way of telling our customers, 'We don't want your business,' " said Tim Baker of Sunrise Records, which has 31 shops in southern Ontario.

"It's so stupid."

The issue was underscored last week with news that the anti-piracy technology used on about 50 Sony BMG titles released in the United States and 37 in Canada secretly left spyware behind on people's computers.

The software - developed as a way to fight music piracy - made the machines susceptible to viruses and hackers. And trying to remove the software disabled CD drives.

Needless to say, the technology irked consumers. Thousands flocked to the web to vent, using blogs and online petitions to encourage people to boycott Sony products altogether.

"There's still plenty of work to be done if we are to achieve our goal of being treated like the music lovers we are rather than the criminals that (Sony) assumes us to be," read one posting on www.boycottsony.us.

Sony BMG said Friday that about 120,000 of the 4.7 million faulty CDs were sold in Canada.

They are not the only company to issue copy-protected CDs in Canada.

EMI has been releasing select albums - including the latest Nickelback album, All The Right Reasons - this way for about three years. The company intends to ship out all its releases with the technology by year's end.

The EMI discs use different software than Sony BMG, and have yet to cause any computer troubles.

Labels say they need the technology in order to stop people from sharing music with those who haven't paid for it.

Still, retailers say such technology is punishing those who are actually willing to fork over cash for music - an ever-dwindling group as it is.

"Consumers are not liking it," says Leslie Purchase, assistant manager at CD Plus in the Halifax Shopping Centre. "People are getting very frustrated by (copy-protected CDs)."

She's noticed an increase in customers who put CDs down after noticing the "copy-controlled" or "copy-protected" label.

"A lot of customers won't buy them now. They say 'I don't want it'," she said.

The copy controls are possible through digital rights management technology, or DRM. It lets labels restrict the number of times a CD can be shared - meaning burned or copied.

More controversial is the ability to control which programs consumers can use to playback their music. With EMI and Sony BMG discs, for instance, the music is compatible only with Windows Media Player but not with ITunes (for PC users).
DeadMan2003  
 Date: November 21, 2005 @ 10:47 AM
Both of these articles have only partial relevance (Mainly the first). But nonetheless are still interesting reads.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8673

"This is a big article, really big and it is all about the battle to take away the freedom we have experienced but which is rapidly being eroded by folks who want to control, profit, censor and ignore the consumer. It is also about removing freedom of choice and being fed pre-digested pap carefully selected to keep you uninformed and suitably information-medicated.

I left the reference numbers in, but you will have to go the article to see the bibliography.

Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes
By Doc Searls
Created 2005-11-16 02:00 "

Article is long so go to link for full item.
---
http://www.computerworld.com.au/pp.php?id=75779762&fp=2&fpid=4

IPv6 Forum chief: the new Internet is ready for consumption

Dahna McConnachie

18/11/2005 10:02:18

IPv6 is not a pipedream. Founder of the IPv6 Forum Latif Ladid took time out from the IPv6 summit in Canberra to talk to Computerworld about why the new Internet Protocol is a pie to be consumed here and now.

IPv6 has been talked about for years - is it still a pie in the sky or is it finally a reality?

Well you talk about a pie in the sky - the Internet started from a beep in the sky. The US didn't know what it was - but it was the launch of Sputnik by the USSR (the first artificial earth satellite. It took the US about a year to come up with APRA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) to look into developing new technology. A series of events led them to come up with the TCP/IP protocol in 1973. They worked on this with a lot of experts and engineers and by 1978 they had designed IP much as we know it today.

It then took them about five years to promote it before people began switching from the old APRA with just 2 to the power of eight address spaces to the new version that we have today. They issued a notice that by January 1 1983, the new Internet would be switched on, but even then many users did not know about it until six months later. Even then, it still remained within research and academic institutions until it was opened to the public as the World Wide Web in 1992.

So you can see it took more than 10 years to switch over back then and it involved a smaller number of people, all of whom were computer and technology experts.

How did IPv6 come about?

By the day the Internet was opened to the public, researchers realized that half the address space was already in use by research, so the address space would soon run out. Registries were opened up in Europe and much later in Asia and the US and by 1995 the Internet Society was developed and ICANN as we know it today started in 1998.

From 1992 to 1995 there was a call to all Internet researchers and engineers to come up with the next IP version that would primarily deliver extra IP space. There were three proposals. There were probably about 20 people working on IPv6 and virtually 3000 on the other two proposals solutions, of which only one was selected. Obviously when you select one out of such a big number there will be a lot of solutions rejected. That was the beginning of the fragmentation of the Internet engineering task force.

Where does Network Address Translation (NAT) fit in to the picture?

While waiting for IPv6 to mature, some people decided to design a time-stalling tactic that would ensure IP address space did not run out. This is where NAT comes in. I think NAT worked well to keep the Internet going and it also attracted the telecomms world to adopt the Internet as it gave them "walled gardens" and they were able to sell their IP address space on to customers who had to connect through them. So it has attracted a bigger Internet community.

By 1998 IPv6 was mature and stable, but we did not see adoption happening because in the mean time NAT, which was introduced as a temporary fix, had almost become its own protocol. It's then when we said - OK, since NAT has deferred the deployment of IPv6, we have to go out there and really market and promote IPv6 around the world as the true second version of the Internet.

There is a debate now between those that support IPv6 and those that support NAT, as NAT has become an important driver for the Internet. To a certain extent, it is easier to deploy, but it is a vision of the Internet that is no more what it used to be, so end-to-end is not possible and we depend upon service providers.

The Internet was not designed like this. It was designed to enable peer-to-peer and VoIP. In the meantime, through NAT, telecomms companies are offering VoIP but they want to bill you for it, but the Internet was not designed with any billing mechanism. When you connect to the Internet you pay anyway, so why should you pay for more services? This is the big debate. The Internet was not designed for telecomms companies, it was designed for everyone to share expensive CPU power. When you share expensive resources you can do anything.

So peer-to-peer functions and VoIP will be easier over IPv6?

When you look at the traffic on the Internet, 72 percent is peer-to-peer, so that is what people want. People think 'I want to send a piece of music directly to a friend. I don't want to pay someone else to do it for me.' At the moment peer-to-peer is facilitated by a server. We need to use that server in order to talk to each other. With IPv6 we won't need that server anymore. We will each have our own IPv6 address open all the time and can decide who to publish it to. We will in effect each become little ISPs and we decide who will connect to us and who won't.

It's like having a door with a key, but you don't give your key to just anyone. With this concept you will be able to design all kinds of new models over the Internet. Today (with IPv4) we have a house without a door and without a key. So what we do is create wire fences next to the door - but that is intrusive, and it makes it complicated to open the door when you want to. The new concept with IPv6 will be similar to Skype - but that is facilitated by somebody else and they are using complicated technology to do what IPv6 will do automatically and simply. They have to wait until you connect in order to find you and know that you are there before they try to connect you with [someone else]. This will all be cut out with IPv6.

So where do service providers fit into an IPv6 world, will they become redundant?

No, because you will always need to connect through an ISP. They will not go away. I need an ISP, I just don't need someone else like Skype to offer me additional services over my connection as I will be able to do it all myself.

So your vision is that the end user will be more empowered with IPv6?

Everyone will be a consumer and a producer. So yes, it will empower the end users. Instead of being slaves to the network, we become peers to anyone else. This is the next stage of culture that we have not yet reached. Many people now find it too hard to produce their own Web sites, for example, but that will change.

IPv4 with NAT is a transition model until people become educated and sophisticated enough to become peers themselves.

How far away is the global IPv6 community?

I think you have about 40 different [uptake] speeds [in various countries]. First one would be Japan, followed closely by Korea, Taiwan, and China, then you have the Western World including Australia. But then within each country you have different speeds. So ISPs are a lot faster at migrating and the industry is lagging behind.

Within industry you have different speeds as well. So you have the manufacturers of routers and networking equipment who are mostly up to speed. The majority of IPv6 device manufacturers are in Asia, primarily in Japan, Korea and Taiwan and followed by the US and Europe.

Asia will be dominating the IPv6 market, largely because [its users] understood early on in the piece that there is value in taking the next step.

Overall, I would say that the show is happening in Asia, and in five years time you can expect China to be the biggest IPv6 user base in the world. By 2010 they will have two or three hundred million people using IPv6. Today the Western world will be taken by surprise. We are staying in denial. When mobile ring tones came out for instance, the Western world laughed at it, but now they are everywhere.

What is holding western countries back from adopting?

When you think you are advanced, you have the perception that you have done everything and you become relaxed. This is normal. It has happened many times in history and is happening now with IPv6 in the Western world. We have become focused on the instant gratification of making money. The end point is money, not technology or innovation.

So, we got into services. We have become a group of couch potato nations - 'I have a job. It's OK. I don't need to invent much. If someone asks me for a service I'll sub-contract it to someone cheaper and then sell it for a steal.' That is the current business model and attitude, which is not good for progress or innovation. Nations that have stopped doing research will not progress.

What is the most significant benefit that IPv6 offers the world?

Global connectivity. Currently we have less than 15 percent world-wide Internet penetration, and we have used most of the address space. If you look at the Western world, we have more than 50 percent penetration. In total we have close to a billion people connected to the Internet. So it is a false perception that we have full Internet penetration. We have six billion people on the planet. When the Internet protocol was designed back in 1980 there were 4.3 billion address spaces; it was already insufficient for the population. By 2050 we will be nearly 10 billion people. But there are not only people. There are things. Billions and billions of devices that will service these people. Just within a home you might have 250 points that will be connected for various purposes. In a car or a train you might have 100 points connected. In a multi-story building for instance, you will have 20,000 points that you can connect - sensors, lights, security, air conditioning - all of these things that are today manually controlled can be connected on a network. The new version needs to give this broader, deeper scalability to be capable of delivering this future. That is called progress.

Some people think that we have done enough. That is an incumbent attitude. It is a lack of vision. There are about 10,000 people (with vision) who have been working on IPv6. IPv6 will connect everyone and everything, and it will empower the end user to become a producer. The culture of the Internet will become far more interesting than it is today. At the moment you are just a tourist on the Internet. You connect and disconnect. IPv6 will be a permanent connection. You will be constantly connected. The number of applications that will be possible because of this is limitless.

For example, think of online banking - you will be able to be notified every time a transaction is made. You do not have to be paranoid about it anymore. So many things that happen in a manual way now will be a service to you. You will also be a publisher and producer. The Internet has a habit of cracking industries. For example Napster etc has cracked the music industry. The next thing will be [high definition] TV. The list will go on and the end user will become increasingly empowered.

How does and will IPv6 most impact the IT industry, and IT professionals?

IPv6 will impact the IT industry from a value proposition viewpoint and from a scalability perspective. The new value-add that IPv6 will put on the table is a comprehensive reduction of complexity of networks to enable deployment of new end-to-end services and thereby create innovations to generate new revenues at much reduced costs. The scalability will bring the IT industry the much needed abundance and scalable address space to move into commodity networking and deployment of large scale networks like sensor networks and RFID to mention just two.

What is the best way to migrate to IPv6?

A strategic transition roadmap should be laid out to clearly link transition to both new revenue generation and cost reduction. The obvious plan should fit in with a technology refresh and enable smooth transition planning so as to avoid last minute haste and thereby costly chaos.

The IPv6 Forum Downunder together with ISOC Australia will work on a general-purpose national transition roadmap in the next couple of months, so industry players should join this effort and be a contributor in this non-trivial undertaking.
cobrastrike  
 Date: November 21, 2005 @ 9:10 PM
Guitar master Link Wray dies at 76

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/21/obit.wray.ap/index.html
stilltrying  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 12:40 AM
Father of the POWERCHORD. R.I.P. Now the state of Texas has joined IN!!! It has filed a lawsuit against Sony/BMG!!! The more the better I say!! Let's hope that this rootkit thing cost them millions !!! Billions !!!!!
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 2:10 AM
Canadian ISP blocking iTunes store/podcasts?
--BoingBoing

Over the past month Rogers (ISP) in Canada has put some software on their networks that prevents activity for BitTorrents, P2P, IRC, and also along with that is a rule that if you are trying to download a large media file from more then 1 server it will be dropped.
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 2:16 AM
Musicians Returning to Radio City Special --AP
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 2:24 AM
Online crooks shift to players, software: study --Reuters

Among the software programs that attackers are now targeting are anti-virus software as well as programs used to listen to online audio and video programing, according to the SANS Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Bethesda, Md.
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 9:08 AM
iTunes outsells traditional music stores --CNet

Apple Computer's iTunes music store now sells more music than Tower Records or Borders, according to analyst firm the NPD Group.
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 11:30 AM
"Physical Piracy Bust in New York State"
Thomas Mennecke

In one of the RIAA's more humorous press releases, New York State police have raided a home in Rochester suspected in a large scale physical piracy operation. The raid probably went just like any major physical piracy raid. The police arrive, serve the search warrant, and conduct their operation.
And most other well planned raids, the police found a wide array CD and DVD manufacturing equipment. This raid yielded 136 DVD and CD burners, 6,316 pirate DVDs, and 7,595 pirate CDs. However the raid also found something on the unusual side - a human skull.
While this action seemed more akin to a drug raid, as five guns and $16,000 in cash were also seized, owning a human skull and firearms is not illegal in the state of New York or the United States. Either one is easily purchasable, either through your local Wal-Mart or online.
It's quite possible this individual was leading a perfectly ordinary and peaceful life, albeit a double life shrouded in physical piracy. But let’s paint him as Scar Face anyway.
“Operations like this one not only undermine our ability to invest in new music, they affect the quality of life of the local community as well. The large sums of money and firearms seized in this operation illustrate the rising level of violence frequently associated with today’s pirate music trade,” said Brad Buckles, Executive Vice President, Anti-Piracy, RIAA.
The scope of the raid was a bit on the unusual side. Considering almost half of New York State's population is squeezed into Long Island and New York City, a raid of this yield is not typically found upstate. It's possible this individual could have been providing for the greater Rochester area, if not beyond.
PenisBrain  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 11:38 AM
Tivo to Record on iPod and PSP
By Jon Newton

iPod or PSP users will be able to transfer TV shows into their devices, says TiVo.
But the shows will be infected with Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) software.
"The enhanced TiVoToGo feature being announced Monday will also add more copy-protection measures to discourage possible copyright abuse that would anger Hollywood," says the Associated Press.
."TiVo officials said shows recorded via TiVoToGo will have digital watermarks. The extra encoding will follow the copied program wherever it goes, giving TiVo the ability to trace the origin of a transferred program that might get posted freely onto the Internet."
By adding support for the MPEG-4 video format, TiVo "hopes to capitalize on the popularity of iPods and PSPs," says AP.
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 3:16 PM
I know that many of our "regulars" already keep an eye on the "doings and goings on" over at Dmusic,

but I thought I'd alert the REST to this:

http://news.dmusic.com/article/18734

(Our 'fearless leader' leflaw/Larry has a hot-thread that might be of interest!)
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 3:26 PM
Hey GadflyDiscourse,

PLEASE learn how to provide a hypertext link to those articles you have been bringing us!

If you can't figure out the "trick" I posted in the instructions above, simply go ahead and post the whole url/link and I will fix the rest.

PLEASE attribute and provide links to the source articles/items!
gdZiemann  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 3:44 PM
Warner Music Settles Payola Suit

The Warner Music Group, the country's No. 3 record company, agreed today to cease using pricey gifts and promotional giveaways to buy radio airtime for its artists. It was the second settlement to emerge from the New York attorney general's investigation into such pay-for-play arrangements.

Home to more than a dozen record labels, including Atlantic, Bad Boy and Lava, Warner Music said that as part of the agreement it would give $5 million to New York music charities and pay the state's $50,000 in legal expenses. It said it would disclose any valuable items given to radio stations in the future.
independentm...  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 4:32 PM
"The Warner Music Group, the country's No. 3 record company,"

Warner is the ONLY record company of the "Big 5" in the RIAA that is domestically owned.

lol, does that mean that there are 2 indie-labels OUTSELLING Warner???

:)
DeadMan2003  
 Date: November 22, 2005 @ 5:17 PM
I hate to bust peoples optimistic bubble...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/22/analysis/

Sony unsinged by rootkit CD fiasco

Analysis What next for CD buyers?

For all the lawsuits, over-the fold-coverage in mainstream print and on primetime TV, and howls of anguish from the blogosphere, Sony Music has sailed through the rootkit CD fiasco largely unharmed.

The only figure that matters - the bottom line - appears to be unaffected by the fiasco. CNet's John Borland reports, and as retailers confirmed to The Register, that Sony hasn't lost sales from popular titles infected with the notorious XCP copy-restriction technology.

The poorly written software leaves a PC wide open to hackers, and attempts to remove it can disable the CD drive. Sony Music reluctantly announced a recall and exchange program for XCP-infected CDs last week.

But the CD buying public doesn't seem to care. One large retail store, Amoeba Records in tech savvy Berkeley hasn't seen a single infected CD returned to the store. Chart rankings and Gracenote lookups don't reflect a fall off in sales for the affected CDs.

Far from being a historic turning point in the public's perception of nefarious DRM tactics, that many hoped, it's proof that the CD buying public is impervious to technology warnings, or at least extremely slow to cotton on.

We may have feared as much. One in four PCs connected to the internet in the UK is "owned", in other words, fatally compromised by malware. And yet good technology advice isn't hard to find: news stand magazines and part-works offer lucid explanations, most newspapers feature weekly PC advice columns, and much more information is only two clicks away on the internet.

So more information in itself isn't the answer.

Will the lawsuits succeed where education has failed? Yesterday the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the state of Texas duly filed suit against Sony.

Don't hold your breath.

For all the angst in the US about 'tort reform' and the prominence given to excessive damages won by 'ambulance chasing' lawyers, the effect is negligable. If the Microsoft trial taught corporate America a lesson, it's that litigation can be considered a minor operational expense. Business treats it like a spot fine for littering.

Sony Music can also take heed from the limitations of internet based activism. The New York Times reports that over 700 Amazon.com reviews pointed out the dangers of XCP DRM, and that "... snarky Internet shoppers have quickly turned Amazon.com's tagging system into digital graffiti" - attaching the 'rootkit' warning tag to Sony XCP CD titles.

Why, then, has the saturation and uniformly negative coverage of Sony's DRM failed to harm sales?

Your guesses are as good as ours, but it's hard not to conclude that the WiReD myth of a 'Rip Mix and Burn' population has been somewhat overstated. Only a third of CD purchasers actually play music on a PC. And a vanishingly small number of them appear to want to take their music anywhere other than where it's directed to go by the manufacturer. If a CD plays in the home stereo and the car, then that's quite enough digital freedom already for most people.

This may have less to do with a public acceptance of artificial restrictions such as DRM than the fact that music tends to stay in hardware 'silos', and digital music tends to stay where it's bought, largely through apathy and forgetfulness.

And given an atomized tech savvy population, tagging and bleating in the safety and comfort of their own PCs, Sony's nefarious tactics have failed to harm the business.

Ultimately, there's little to change our view that DRM restrictions are an expensive and economically inefficient stop-gap, an absurd attempt to replicate the inconvenience of physical product in a digital form. But equally, the 'Chicken Little' scenario of DRM as the means of introducing a vast lock down is a paranoid fantasy. Sony now knows it only need keep the CDs playing in home and car stereos, and it can swat away the digital rights lobby like flies.

A better analogy, and one we've made many times, is that we're in a Prohibition era: this is a transitional age, one where the inconveniences of DRM are