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John Perry Barlow at technocrat.net - Napster.com and the Death of the Music Industry: How Napster, Gnutella, and Freenet will be the death of the music industry as we know it. And good riddance. Lots of reader comments, too. [grabbe]
(You gotta love Metallica. There were a pain in the ass to their parents. Now they're going to be a pain in the ass to their kids.)... since one of my current missions in life is to kill the music business and midwife the birth of the musician business and audience business, I'm keeping plenty busy.
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...When I reach through Napster to the hard disk of some kid in Ohio and grab his copy of, say, Cassidy by the Grateful Dead, I can also place it on my hard disk as I listen to it.
It is this characteristic of Napster that so haunts the RIAA . They believe that making this copy is as clear a case of theft as if I'd shop-lifted a CD from Walmart.
But what is being "stolen?" And from whom? Speaking as the fellow who co-wrote Cassidy, I don't believe that the kid in Ohio is injuring my economic interests by sharing it with others. Deadheads have been sharing our songs with each other for decades and it's done nothing but increase the demand for our work.
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Whatever models evolve to protect the creation of music, I am not concerned that we will fail to economically support its makers after we quit calling it property. For some reason, humans absolutely require music, and they were providing for the material needs of musicians for tens of thousands of years before copyright law, just as they will do so for tens of thousands of years after this brief and anomalous period has been forgotten.
Jordan Pollack - License to Bill: A free market remedy to information property abuse: Proposes a market-based solution to the software licensing problem. Interface-Based Monopoly (IBM). License, content, and medium. The three types of licenses. Proposes issuing software use shares, which will be traded on the market much like stock is today. This turns software ownership into a form of investment. Subject to capital gains taxes. Do this or else live with the Celestial Jukebox as it is currently being crafted into law by MDCA and UCITA. [wes]
The Celestial Jukebox is their ultimate wish - no fair use, no expiration date, no secondary market, no libraries. A perfectly efficient scheme to collect rent forever, leaving peasants with no possessions but our wages and clothing.
Angus Glashier's new mobile phone was "PUK'd". [latte]
Chuck Morse at Sierra Times - Why Our Government Slaughtered American Boys: Gives examples from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam of how America's war policies caused millions of our boys to be needlessly killed (why were we in any of these wars in the first place, for one). [sierra]
Why has our government engaged in this policy of slaughtering American boys? Your guess is as good as mine.
Karl F. Auerbach at Sierra Times - WCPC: hehe. [sierra]
The last bastion of manhood is about to fall.The one place where we all thought we were safe and free from the ravages of Political Correctness will soon succumb to the thought police.
The men's room (or water closet, WC) is under attack.
Kevin Tuma - P.N.T.R. Store: LOL!
Tony Roddam at Reuters via ZDNet - EU wants U.S. tax on digital exports: Many European Union nations steal from businesses that export software and music via the net. Now they want the U.S. to do the same to "level the playing field". Barf. [wnd]
Alan Bock at WorldNetDaily - Constitutional comeback? Applauds the Supreme Court for recent decisions that at least point in the direction of restoring constitutional government to the U.S. [wnd]
Dennis Elam at LewRockwell.com - With a Cloud of Dust and A Hearty Hi Ho Silver, It’s the Lone Ranger! A hypothetical discussion between the Lone Ranger and minions of the U.S. government. Would be funny if it weren't so true. [lew]
Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com - Dirty Work: "Cyber-Warriors" on the Loose?: Mr. Raimondo noticed the other day in his web server logs that there were lots of visits by the Army Computer Emergency Response Team (ACERT). This is a long piece telling us lots about the fed's cyber-terrorism warriors. [market]
Arianna Huffington - The War On Drugs: Just Say 'No More': Lots of evidence of the impending end of the war on freedom (er... drugs). [cn]
"There is a growing acknowledgment," Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told me, "that the drug war hasn't worked." Or as Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) put it: "The war on drugs is a total failure. It does more harm than good." Campbell, Nadler, Schakowsky and Paul are still in the minority -- a minority that includes some pretty high-profile pols, including New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. But common sense finally seems to be gaining the edge on demagoguery and pandering. The government's war on drugs has become a war on its own citizens. It's heartening to see more and more people crying out that it's time to sue for peace.
Steve Clements at the Times Record News - We Need To Save America from the Costly Drug War: This is 6 months old, but it's nice to see a Texas newspaper city editor come out against the insane war. [cn]
Jeffrey Steinborn at potbust.com via Marijuana News - Pot Busts at, on (or near) the Border: Advice from an attorney on how the feds catch, flay, & roast folks caught smuggling cannabis across the Canadian border. Aimed primarily at Canadians, but a worthwhile read for all. [mjn]
Warrantless searches conducted anywhere but in the middle of a private residence always seem to find some justification. So don’t expect to get off because the arresting officers used the Bill of Rights as toilet paper. If it helps to convict you, the evidence is probably coming in....
The government has all the advantages in federal court. Government witnesses are given huge sentence reductions, large cash payments, freedom for their loved ones -- even new identities and new lives in exchange for their testimony. Cooperation is the only way out of the incredibly long sentences. The rush to "get on the bus" to give evidence against virtually anyone of interest to the government is a silent stampede. Every now and then a jury is offended that the testimony of a low life scum bag witness has been purchased by the government with the dearest of all currencies but that's rare. Meanwhile, the defense attorney who tries to purchase testimony with any currency, much less that ultimate one will be promptly suspended from practice.
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In Singapore, they have a system of counsel that it much more straight-forward: You have the right to counsel if counsel would not impede the investigation. But, until you confess, counsel will impede the investigation. We have a similar system here, but it's not spelled out quite so clearly.
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...The often abused Public Defenders are among the very best lawyers anywhere. Their standards are high; their training is excellent. The sometimes higher paid members of the "private bar" often call on them for advice. So that's a good place to start...
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If you don't live in the United States you probably can't imagine the cruelty of the war on marijuana. Nor can you imagine the Alice in Wonderland quality of some of our criminal laws and procedures. When drugs are involved reason and civility flee from the justice system.
