debate
U2 frontman bitchslapped by TalkTalk
Bono bloody Bono TalkTalk has branded U2 windbag Bono’s intervention in the debate over illegal filesharing “outrageous”, after he said efforts to block child pornography showed ISPs should be doing more to protect intellectual property.…
Continue reading »a2f2a Goes Live, Let the Debate Begin
Site’s objective is to figure out a viable “direct artist-to-fan model” with the assumption that P2P can’t be stopped technologically, and that file-sharers are indeed willing to pay artists for their work. A few weeks ago I mentioned how Jon Newton over at P2PNet began a discussion with Billy Bragg, English alternative rock musician and member of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), over how best to create a stable digital music business model for the 21st century. Together they came up with a2f2a , artists-to-fans-to-artists , a site which is intended to create a community where artists and music fans are able to discuss how they can “cut out the middleman” and ensure that artists are fairly compensate for their work.
Continue reading »NDP Makes No Apology for Copyright Stance
The major drama was sparked by a Toronto town hall meeting when it was found out that the copyright industry stacked the deck in their favour . The fallout exploded when students and NDP MP Olivia Chow – the wife of NDP leader Jack Layton – was threatened by private security at the meeting and an American music group called fair copyright “disgusting”. The NDP fired back by saying they won’t apologize and they aren’t departing from their platform by taking up this stance.
Continue reading »Copyright Industry Stacks Town Hall Meeting In Their Favour
It was the second of only two town hall meetings, but it appeared that a vast majority of those in the audience were there to shut out non-copyright industry opinions. Some reports are suggesting that the government may have played a role in rigging the whole meeting, but more moderate reports suggest that the industry merely stacked the deck in their favour. For those outside of Canada, the thought that a consultation could be rigged by the copyright industry may not be a surprise.
Continue reading »UK caves to Big Content, backs ‘Net cutoffs for P2P use
Internet disconnection—it’s back on the table in the UK as one of the solutions to the “piracy problem.” The government’s announcement today (PDF) that it now supports the use of Internet disconnection for its new “graduated response” scheme puts it firmly on the French side of the debate about how to handle illicit file-swapping online. That’s an odd place for the UK to be, for several reasons—most notably, because the government explicitly said that Internet disconnections would not be coming and were not wanted. Now, at the end of August, surprise!
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