contents
Shocker: Ars, Hollywood agree on need for ACTA openness
MPAA head Dan Glickman sent a letter yesterday to both Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and to US Trade Representative Ron Kirk in which he called for a serious US push to pass the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. That’s certainly expected—ACTA contains a host of goodies for Hollywood and the recording industry—but what came as a surprise was Glickman’s irritation at various ACTA “protests” which create “apprehension over the Agreement’s substance.” He’s referring to online outlets that have hoisted the anti-ACTA flag over the last year, accusing the treaty of being a pretext for ramming “three strikes” laws through without Congressional oversight or empowering Customs agents to check the contents of your iPod . Based on our reporting, neither of these items appears to be in the draft text, but the secretive nature of the negotiations and the bland, impenetrable public statements about ACTA have fueled plenty of suspicion.
Continue reading »Marriage, Silicon Valley style: cake, ring, Web startup
Drue Kataoka and Svetlozar Kazanjiev were married this weekend in Silicon Valley, even as they prepared for the launch of their new stealth-mode startup, Aboomba. So they decided to combine the two big “beginnings” in their lives, registering not for crystal and flatware but for startup expenses like “lunch for a VC” and “rent a friend’s garage for a month.” The idea is clever, but using one’s wedding to bootstrap one’s startup (by generating solid PR, if not cash) won’t appeal to everyone. But to the digerati who feel as comfortable tweeting about topics that range from business decisions to the contents of their home refrigerators, the combination is a natural.
Continue reading »Australian Law Proposal to Turn ISPs Into Copyright Cops
There’s a disturbing new development in Australia. A law proposal was disclosed to the public that would get ISPs to spy on the contents of all communications to monitor for compliance. Presumably, the amendments would get Australian ISPs to monitor their networks for p2p activity and hand all their information to copyright holders.
Continue reading »