Today I stumbled across this museum of obscure patents. Consider, for example:
May these fine examples of entrepreneurship brighten your day.
Just in time for the holidays, FC.o members have started compiling gift guides of RIAA-free CDs. This is a great way to get some holiday gift ideas, as well as to support those who oppose the way that the Recording Industry Association of America does business.
A few examples of these lists are:
Gavin’s list (indie pop/rock, electronic) PDF
Karen’s list (indie, blues, random)
Dan’s list (indie)
Here are Gavin’s instructions on making and submitting an RIAA-free CD Holiday Gift Guide
So, if you want to make a list, here’s what to do:
1. Make a list of 10 non-RIAA CDs (check riaaradar.com and the members list on riaa.com — neither list is perfect because the RIAA lies, go figure.)
2. You can have a theme for your list, or not — it’s up to you.
3. Try not to have more than 1 CD by the same band or more than 2 CDs from the same label.
4. Don’t use a CD that somebody else has used.
5. These should be CDs you could reasonably find in a record store or some place like amazon.com.Not sure where to start? There are some lists on riaaradar.com that might give you some ideas (poke around). “Major” labels that are non-RIAA include Sub Pop, Matador, Merge, and Kill Rock Stars. Two bands I thought about using in my list, but didn’t, are Bloc Party and Mates of State — so there’s 2 ideas right there.
Note that we are listing CDs, not bands — bands often switch labels, sometimes jumping to RIAA members. Occasionally the same CD will be re-released by a RIAA member; make sure you list the non-RIAA release.
Your list should include:
* 10 CDs with artist and title, and if possible, year and label
* a brief description of each CD or why you like it. (these can be wordier than mine)
* your name, age, school (if applicable), and a list of 3 likes OR 3 dislikes — serious or cute
* a 150×150 px photo of you. I can crop and resize if necessary, but if you want it look the way you want, you better do it yourself! jpg preferred, send a link or as attachment
In order to submit a list, email it to freedom@freeculture.org. More information can also be found at freeculture.org/riaafree/.
It’s Thanksgiving, and we at FreeCulture.org are taking a minute to give thanks to organizations who advocate for free culture in all its guises. Below are just a few of the many organizations we appreciate.
Please show your appreciation by making a donation to a free culture organization you care about. Remember, even modest gifts of $5 or $10 are valuable, because they help show the IRS and others that these nonprofits truly have public support.
FC.o thanks:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for being a strong, reliable presence on legal issues, and providing a variety of resources for free culture advocates.
Creative Commons, for showing the world what an alternative model of copyright can look like.
Public Knowledge, for their constant monitoring of pending legislation, and thoughtful efforts to educate policymakers.
Free Software Foundation, for their groundbreaking work to lay the foundation for the free culture movement.
Downhill Battle, for their innovative activism and especially their assistance in launching FreeCulture.org.
A Small Orange, for generously donating Web hosting to FC.o.
IPac, for translating the principles of the free culture movement into campaign reality. (Please note: IPac is a political action committee and not tax-exempt.)
We could go on and on — there are many other non-profits and NGOs doing important work for free culture and for cultural participation broadly. In addition, there are many businesses that support free culture financially and in their business practices. And there are many — probably thousands of — people responsible for the F/OSS software we use to run our organization. They are simply too many to name, but all of them deserve our gratitude.
Please feel free to thank your own favorite organizaton(s) in the comments.
The Texas Attorney General has jumped right out front on the Sony-BMG rootkit scandal (background) and filed a lawsuit. He’s using the new Texas anti-spyware law to sue Sony for its use of hidden malware in music CDs sold in the state. Why is this important? Let us count the ways:
1) Lawsuits are opportunistic. In the best possible sense, this AG saw a smouldering public issue and leapt for the fire extinguisher. Sure, it’s a good chance for him to play hero, but it’s a genuine fire. Kudos to his office for responding on behalf of citizens.
2) Lawsuits get attention. Some get attention from the press. (This one certainly has.) All of them get attention from the entity being sued. Sony is legally responsible for looking at its bottom line. I doubt the $100,000-per-violation penalty that Texas is asking for will ever materialize. Still, fighting lawsuits is expensive. Losing lawsuits is even more expensive.
3) Lawsuits (by attorneys general) reflect the public mood. Face it, this suit would likely never have been filed if it were an obscure digital-rights issue that affected only a handful of geeks. Instead, it’s the result of a public outcry, widespread enough to merit action by major retailers such as Amazon.com and coverage by big-city newspapers such as the New York Times. That’s a good affirmation for those of us who believe that ordinary people care about their technological rights.
4) Lawsuits can focus the power of the (bully) pulpit. What’s striking about this picture? Check out the wallpaper: Fighting Spyware. Thanks, Texas. You just re-branded Sony’s “anti-piracy” effort with a label that every computer user in America loves to hate.
Not every problem can be fixed through the legal system. But sometimes, the power of the law can reshape the playing field. This is one of those times. Want to join in? Here’s the Texas AG’s FAQ, which includes a link to their online complaint form (Texas residents only).
It’s all very well to be on the cutting edge of the blogging revolution. But what if you fall off that edge? Can you be sued over a blog post? What about your First Amendment rights — do they apply when blogging about your school? Or could you be suspended (or worse) for comments you make on your own time, in your own space?
Luckily for all of us, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has put together an FAQ on Student Blogging. Now there’s no more wondering about whether you’ve crossed a line. Just consult this roadmap. While you’re at it, take a look at EFF’s other blogging resources.
In addition, you may be interested in the work of the Committee to Protect Bloggers. And, from Reporters Without Borders, another bloggers’ guide (not focused on students).
Enjoy your freedom to blog!
The word pirate gets tossed around a lot in discussion of free culture issues, often by corporations. Recently, the tables turned when a corporation decided to model a new kind of piracy for the world to see. Instead of taking property, or even intangible “intellectual property,” this pirate is taking rights. And it’s doing it under the flag of a EULA, or End User License Agreement.
Let’s recap: First, it was revealed by a private citizen that some of Sony’s music CDs were secretly installing malware on users’ computers. Then, instead of responding with a full apology, explanation, and redress of customer grievances, Sony initially behaved as though it faced a minor p.r. problem, and grudgingly released an uninstall, which some users found hard to access.
Soon it was revealed that although Sony had not mentioned the malware in its EULA, a great deal else was included. The EULA went frighteningly far beyond what users expect, even in this age of digital-rights management.
You might say Sony was sailing its pirate ship into new waters and staking claim. Except those “waters” aren’t new — they’re long-established parts of your territory. The Electronic Frontier Foundation quickly provided a plain-English summary of some of the rights that pirate-Sony tried to assert over you, the paying customer. A few highlights:
1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That’s because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids “export” outside the country where you reside.
5. Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to “enforce their rights” against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this “self help” crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.
6. The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That’s right, no matter what happens, you can’t even get back what you paid for the CD.
7. If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
This goes far beyond fair compensation or fair anything. Sony is acting like a little kid who is asked what he wants for his birthday and says “Everything!”
Users rebelled. No, Sony, you can’t pirate away our rights to music that we bought and paid for. You can’t have “Everything!” We’re your customers. Remember? Without us, you wouldn’t exist. And Sony pulled back — somewhat. Millions of CDs are being recalled, and the company has apologized.
But has Sony relinquished its piratical tactics for good? Or have they merely taken down the skull-and-crossbones flag and decided to lie low for a few months? The spotlight is on Sony now, but the real test is whether they go back to piracy when nobody’s looking. Bookmark May 2006, and let’s check back then to see if this pirate is still reformed.
On Thursday, Nelson Pavlosky will be speaking at the John Hopkins University at the ACM meeting (Association for Computing Machinery). If you’re at JHU, come see him and bring your friends!
Date: Thursday, November 17
Time: 5:00 pm
Place: Shaffer 300
Extra: Free food
Here’s the email that was sent:
“Next time you hear, ‘Don’t touch that dial,’ YOU MAY NOT HAVE A CHOICE”
In 1985, the chief movie industry spokesperson said, “The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.”
Today, as the Internet and other advances give you the freedom to create music and movies and edit others’ work, the same corporations are trying to pass laws to build a “hands-off” world of passive consumption. Media companies have threatened to outlaw fast-forwarding through commercials and launched lawsuits against important works of art. Their laws limit civil liberties and public discourse. Copyright can be an important tool for encouraging creativity, but the industry’s abuse threatens the spirit of exploration and discovery that makes us human.
Nelson Pavlosky will explain the issues at stake in this crisis of law and creativity over FREE MILK AND CEREAL. http://www.acm.jhu.edu/ for more info.
About Nelson Pavlosky:
Pavlosky rose to fame in the digital rights scene by successfully suing Diebold in OPG v. Diebold. In this case, Pavlosky and fellow student Luke Smith fought for the rights to distribute Diebold corporate memos that showed the company defrauded states with its electronic voting machines and botched various elections. The publication of these memos, along with JHU’s Avi Rubin’s report on the insecurity of the voting machines, prompted states like California to file criminal action against the copmany in addition to the general national discussion.
Most recently, Nelson Pavlosky founded the student organization FreeCulture.org to help students fight for their disappearing online rights. He has helped lead several of its campaigns, including Barbie-in-a-Blender Day, Undead Art, and Save The iPod. Together with youth around the world, he fights for copyright reform and freedom of expression, taking advantage of the democratizing power of the Internet and digital technology to help build a more participatory culture.
Anime Music Videos, or AMVs, are what happens when you take a lot of technically inclined anime fans and let them have music and editing equipment to go with their anime. AMVs are fan-made music videos, sometimes highly artistic. They are audio-video remixes, and this has spawned an entire remix subculture, largely independent of other remix cultures.
AMVs have existed in some form or another for roughly twenty years. For the most part, the anime companies whose video is sampled have been ambivalent, seeing fan-editors as harmless at worst, and both free promotion and a recruiting ground for their own editing projects at best. Anime companies have been known to hire AMV editors to make trailers or DVD extras.
The logic behind the “free promotion” viewpoint is twofold. First, AMVs can and do introduce fans to series they may never have encountered otherwise. A video can show someone just enough to get sufficiently curious to go buy a DVD or two or six. It happens. The second mechanism applies only to editors. What happens here is that an editor sees a sample they want to use, buys the source, and then uses that. Later, rinse, repeat. It’s a free promotional machine for the anime companies.
Actually, the first mechanism applies to all derivative works. When exposed to something new, be it music, video, still art, or writng a person may decide they are curious enough to want more. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens often enough to be significant. At some point, money may even be involved. The second mechanism applies specifically to remix subcultures, and it feeds the first by helping to drive the creation of more remixes.
The music industry, until now, has been silent on AMVs. A few bands caught word, here and there. I’m aware of two cases of this offhand, and the band was supportive in both cases. In one case, the band has adopted the video onto their official site (bottom video on the page).
In recent years, a sizable community of editors has formed at AnimeMusicVideos.org, referred to simply as “the Org” by its denizens, including yours truly. The Org is the central website for editors to talk shop and for viewers to download tens of thousands of AMVs. We had hoped the Org would stay free of legal issues, and so far it had.
Well, that time is over. Full details are lacking for the moment, but at some point Wind-Up Records got wind of AMVs using music from Creed, Seether, and Evenescence being hosted on the Org. The result? A Cease and Desist letter. Phade, the founder and head administrator of AnimeMusicVideos.org explains the happenings here.
All is not lost, for the moment. The Org is still running, mostly, although a few videos the lesser for it. Apparently some well-intentioned fan thought to ask the record label if the AMVs they had found were official music videos… oops.
It seems that Wind-Up Records didn’t seriously consider the likelyhood of a backlash. Within hours of this occuring, a backlash is already starting:
Well, I am taking my recently purchaced Seether album back to the store, and I was considering buying Evanescense, but It seems I have changed my mind.
We’re pleased to see a (mostly) accurate quick gloss on FC.o in USC Annenberg’s Online Journalism Review. OJR is a high-profile resource both for journalists who are working online, and for online writers and others who have somewhat accidentally found themselves doing journalism.
Here at FC.o, we’re a resource for people with an existing interest in copyright and free culture issues, as well as people who have accidentally found themselves invested in the movement. Our members are artists and musicans, law students and high schoolers, geeks and activists. We’re delighted that OJR chose to spotlight us, since their readership is contending with many of the issues on which we focus.
We’re eager to see more press coverage of free culture issues. Free Culture NYU’s recent appearance in USA Today is one recent example. If you’re aware of others, please share. A robust public conversation about how and why copyright affects everybody is our best foundation for real change.
A new report says more than half of teenagers who are online have created their own content. That means launching a blog, creating a webpage, sharing their original artwork, photos, and videos — and remixing. Why is this important? Three quick reasons:
1) Being a creator gives you a stake. When new laws come along, suddenly they’re no longer abstract problems — they’re your problem. That joke song you wrote last week…is it parody, fair use, or something else?
FC.o works to draw connections between common activities like blogging and photo-sharing, and the fast-changing world of copyright.
2) Give a person a tool, and she’ll use it. About 1 in 5 repondents to this survey reported that they remix content. For some, that probably means putting goofy captions on their friends’ vacation pictures. For others, it may be political commentary using newspaper headlines. Regardless, the easy availability of tools to clip, paste, tweak, and rearrange encourages blending. It’s nothing new, but it’s never been simpler.
FC.o supports guerilla remixing using public-domain and Creative Commons-licensed materials, as in last year’s Bring Dead Art Back to Life contest.
3) If you don’t ask the question, you’ll never know the answer. The only reason we can point to the number of people creating their own content is because a researcher from the Pew Internet & American Life Project thought to ask the question. Got another question you want answered? Maybe someone should find out how many of these new creations use CC licensing, or if creators actively seek out CC products. To contact these particular researchers, e-mail data(at)pewinternet.org
FC.o believes that good data improves public conversation about crucial free culture issues. Important corollary: Ask bad questions, you’ll get bad data.
Caveats: Content: The survey also asked about attitudes toward music and video downloading. I did not review those results for this post. Freshness: The report is based on year-old survey data. Some numbers (percent of teens who have blogs, for example) are probably higher by now. Reminder: The survey results exclude people without telephones, people who don’t speak English, and those who wouldn’t give approval for their teenager to be interviewed. Also, the report says about 87% of teens use the Internet; that means an important 13% are left out.
