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diff --git a/content/posts/2000-05-15-witchhunts-lawyers-and-the-riaa-oh-my.html b/content/posts/2000-05-15-witchhunts-lawyers-and-the-riaa-oh-my.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8e107d --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/2000-05-15-witchhunts-lawyers-and-the-riaa-oh-my.html @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +--- +date: "2000-05-15T13:09:00Z" +title: Witchhunts, Lawyers, and the RIAA... Oh My! +--- + +Well, I've been working on a bunch of small stuff. I wrote a quick +bookmark wrapper for feh called cam, you can probably find more info +over on <a href="http://www.linuxbrit.co.uk/">Tom Gilbert's</a> (aka +gilbertt on #e) page. Oh yeah, I've also been reading +<a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org">Kuro5hin</a> a lot lately; they're +kinda like Slashdot, only smaller and easier to digest (ie less stupid +people). Oh yeah, I wrote a neat little auto-refresh JavaScript so +raster's web cams would updated without a page refresh. Check it out +on <a href="http://www.rasterman.com">raster's page</a>. +<br /><br /> + +I found an +<a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory&sid=2000/5/13/222627/304"> +interesting article</a> that seems to ahve been lost in the all the +RIAA vs. Napster noise. Hey, if you're one of the +<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,36290,00.html">300,000 +people who were banned from Napster</a>, don't let it get you down. You +can always <a href="http://www.paylars.com">pay Lars</a>, +<a href="http://www.newgrounds.com/assassin/metallica/index.html"> +assasinate Metallica</a>, or just +<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,36290,00.html">keep +using Napster anyway</a>. I prefer the latter; the +<a href="http://www.riaa.org">RIAA</a> really overprices CDs +(<a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/05/10/1246256&cid=304">here +</a> is an excellent Slashdot post justifying my position). Either way, +this whole thing is silly; the RIAA and their lawyers will eventually +put Napster down. Unfortunately, they're fighting a losing battle: +<a href="http://www.bigredh.com/">Hotline</a> (and the unofficial +<a href="http://apps.freshmeat.net/homepage/947382039/">Linux client</a>), +FTP, and <a href="http://www.icq.com">ICQ</a> are here to stay, and +peer-to-peer search solutions are on the way (check out +<a href="http://gnutella.wego.com/go/wego.group.group?groupId=116705">Gnutella</a>, +<a href="http://freenet.sourceforge.net/">Freenet</a>, and +<a href="http://opennap.sourceforge.net/">OpenNAP</a> +if you're interested). And before I get a bunch of junk mail, this is +__not__ about <b>piracy</b>: +<a href="http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=piracy">piracy +is theft, rape, and murder on the high seas</a>, +not exchanging computer data (I'll reserve the discussion about +the effect of mass marketing memes effecting the connotation and +eventually the denotation -- as witnessed by the second definition under +the first result returned by that link -- for another day). I plan +on writing a paper about +this soon (I need to do somehting to the <a href="/bits/">Bits</a> page +or remove it from my navigation bar), but the gist of the situation is +this: people have been exchanging music via cassette tapes for almost +20 years with little or no intervention from the RIAA (ie they have +_not_ sued the makers of high-speed CD-to-cassette dubbing equipment), +yet they prop up <a href="http://www.encycmet.com/">a cookie-cutter +band with a lot of mind-share due to a musical fad from over 15 years +ago</a> and use them to attack +<a href="http://www.napster.com">a method of sharing music</a> which +is statistically insignificant when compared against to the method +which the RIAA is implicitly condoning. Why? Because greed is a +powerful motivator, the public doesn't really understand what's going +on, and big corporations don't like technological innovations fucking +with their distribution channels. Whew, this news post is getting a +bit hefty, so I'll stop there. +<br /><br /> + +<a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/05/06/1512219&mode=nested"> +This Slashdot article</a> is a pretty funny discussion about Computer +Support people: I like +<a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/05/06/1512219&cid=14"> +this comment</a>, but +<a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/05/06/1512219&cid=44"> +this one</a> takes the cake. In case anyone is interested, I +added a <a href="/screenshots/">Screenshots</a> page, and I plan on +adding a new shot every week or so. Speaking of keeping things up to +date, the <a href="/projects/">Projects</a> page is due up for an +overhaul. I have a ton of new goodies to add, and none of my active +projects are currently up. Basically, I've been spending all my time +<a href="http://mindprod.com/unmain.html">writing code</a>, and +playing <a href="http://www.quake3arena.com">Quake 3 Arena</a>. + |