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| 2.25.01 Cliff loaned me the National Research Council's book, The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age. The entire book is also available online, in PDF or HTML format. It notes drily that "A significant portion of the committee's deliberations can be characterized as spirited and energetic discussions." (p.20; quotation brought to you by the Right of Fair Use). Heh. Good for them, though: this is important, complex stuff, and people should have strong opinions about it. It's an interesting book that really talks about the questions behind the questions, and where the tensions lie. Of course, even in the two paragraphs above, I've managed to cover several issues raised in the book. Besides the right to quote others' writings in the process of making my own commentary, I borrowed the book from a friend, a standard provision of the hard-copy "right of first sale" (Cliff paid for his copy and can do as he likes with it) that may or may not have a digital equivalent. The book's existence in an open, online format is a controversial business practice discussed in the book. I could go on and on. 2.23.01 Link to Webmonkey Color Codes 2.22.01 Someone gets it Introducing a new feature on snowtempest.com: Hatchwatch! Senator Hatch is hip to the issues. In his commentary on the Napster court ruling, he notes the huge popular demand for the format of the service itself. He notes that Napster, unlike similar services, had a central server and an office with which there was at least the potential to negotiate, and he worries that the polarized positions represented by the lawsuit limit the hope of companies and consumers to work out a balance. And he says, "I think keeping the focus on the artists and the audience can help the technologists and the copyright industries find a way for all to flourish." I'm not sure I agree with every single thing he says, but at least he's asking the right questions. 2.15.01 So the Napster decision came down. And the European Union passed its new copyright directive. I think artists should get paid, but I think most of this "digital watermarking" and listing of things people can't do is the wrong way to go about it. Instead of trying to prevent people from doing things they want to do, why not find a way that they can have the experience of downloading a song at a time that they get from Napster and its ilk, and offer a convenient way to pay for it? Part of the joy of downloading songs was getting them without paying for albums, but part was more like listening to the radio, with the chance to choose your own songs. I don't know why people don't get this. |
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