Tech Stream
Archive for the ‘ Copyright’ Category
Tech Stream 038
5 February 2010
Listen and download: MP3
A classic old 14.4k modem from the early ’90s. Image from Flickr by Richard Masoner.
Very few people know how the internet developed in Australia and that the research-focused network that gave birth to it is still going strong today. We’ll find out more in the Tech Stream this week. Plus the fallout from the film industry losing their case against a major internet service provider whose customers downloaded pirated movies and television programs. For more details on the program read on or listen now via the MP3 link above.
Tech Stream 033
2 October 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Triple J’s Unearthed.com, a community music site for Australian independent artists and their fans.
In the Tech Stream this week we look at some of the new tools available to music fans and artists to help them discover or share their music online. Soundcloud, RCRD LBL, We Are Hunted and Triple J Unearthed (pictured) are all featured. We also dig deeper into some of the issues around music file-sharing, free content, online promotion and streaming services. The MP3 link at the top of this post has the audio, or take the jump for more information.
Just for the RCRD
11 September 2009
Listen and download: MP3
One of the region’s biggest music industry events wraps up in Brisbane, Australia today. The Big Sound 2009 conference featured three days of panels, workshops and artist showcases for local, national and international music industry representatives. There were opportunities for networking, learning and debate, with much of the latter focusing on the future of the music industry.
One of the international guests at Big Sound was Elliot Aronow, the creative director and co-founder of RCRD LBL which descibes itself as “a network of online record labels and blogs serving up fresh new music downloads and exclusive content curated by our team of editors and partner labels every day”.
I had a chance to meet Elliot while he was in Melbourne this week and we got talking about the philosophies underpinning the way RCRD LBL operates and a range of other topics around music, mobile, streaming, free content, copyright, twitter, social media and the value of curators.
You can hear the discussion via the MP3 link above, or start discovering some new music at rcrdlbl.com
Tech Stream 029
4 September 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Photo from Flickr by John Johnston.
In the Tech Stream this week we ask whether internet addiction is a clinical disorder; the lowdown on Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 from Blizzard’s annual conference; how new undersea cable networks in the Pacific could deliver high-speed, affordable broadband internet to the region; and look at how the goings on in Australian parliament are being documented and shared in a way that enhances our experience of democracy. Jump straight into the program with the MP3 link above or read on for more details.
The future of copyright in a digital age
29 May 2009
Phillip Adams interviews Lawrence Lessig, author of Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. Lessig says says that in this digital age where young people’s culture is the media, they are being criminalised because copyright laws haven’t kept up with digital technology and the way it’s being used. You can download the MP3 radio interview and there is more on the Late Night Live website.
There are some great resources on copyright and fair use at the Centre for Social Media including the video below:
File sharing update
6 May 2009
Reuters is reporting that a recent poll shows the Swedish Pirate Party has enough support to win a seat in the European parliament. The party, which has no official ties to the file-sharing website Pirate Bay, wants to “deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and a decrease the level of surveillance of the Internet”. We speculated on their chances in an earlier Tech Stream program, but I remain skeptical that they will get the numbers in the upcoming vote. Imagine the feathers ruffled if they do get up!
Last week The Guardian (among others) reported that the lawyers defending the four men behind Pirate Bay had applied for a retrial, after it came out that the presiding judge, Tomas Norstrom, was a member of various copyright protection trade bodies in Sweden. And Ars Technica today makes an interesting observation that Google’s search algorithm is proposing links to .torrent files when TV shows are searched for. The Pirate Bay founders had argued (unsuccessfully) that their service was no different to Google’s and it will be interesting to see how the world’s largest search engine responds to the results.
Finally, IT journalist Patrick Gray offered his opinion and analysis of the future of peer-to-peer file sharing at ABC online on Monday. It is worth a read, and has stirred some interesting debates at the bottom. Unfortunately the comments on the story have closed.
Tech Stream 010
24 April 2009
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Photo from Flickr by Giorgio Montersino.
We’re celebrating our tenth episode in the Tech Stream this week with a special discussion on travel related technology and web services.
Jail verdict for Pirate Bay founders
20 April 2009
As reported on the weekend on ABC News Online:
Four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world’s biggest file-sharing sites, say they will appeal against their convictions and have refused to pay any damages for breaking copyright law. A Swedish court sentenced the four Pirate Bay founders to one year in jail for their involvement with the website. Said to have 25 million users, The Pirate Bay indexes and tracks BitTorrent files which allow users to download films, music and computer games from others. The men were ordered to pay $5 million in damages to a number of entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Columbia Pictures. Throughout the trial, the four men denied the charges saying because they did not actually host any files, they were not doing anything wrong.
Read the full article online and Elizabeth Jackson also reported on the result on ABC Radio’s Saturday AM program as well. For more analysis of the verdict and ramifications I would recommend Nate Anderson’s article on Ars Technica which gives some background; Greg Sandoval on CNET asks whether internet piracy has reached a tipping point; and Wired magazine reports on how file sharing may have saved Hollywood and the music industry. Fascinating and timely reading.
Google and the battle over music rights
13 March 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Its been an interesting week for Google-watchers and anyone interested in music or video content online. We heard about a new service called Muziic, which uses an iTunes-like interface to tap into content on YouTube. It was started by a David Nelson, a 15 year old teenager, and enables users to stream YouTube’s music to their PCs without the videos. The site has yet to receive the blessing of Google, who own Youtube, but the company has raised concerns that it violates the video site’s API.
But Google have a lot more on their plate this week. They’re launching a new VOIP-like service to rival Skype. Google Voice will offer a single number for home, work and mobile phones and also turn your voicemail into an email. The service is built on top of Grand Central, a company they acquired in 2007. So far Google Voice is only available to current Grand Central users, and it isn’t clear if it will work for people outside the United States.
Also in the news this week is that Youtube is blocking certain copyrighted music videos in Britain, in a dispute with the UK’s Performing Rights Society for Music, the PRS. The block affects only premium music videos – those supplied by the record companies – but it raises some interesting questions about how content is licensed and funded in the digital world.
Elliott Bledsoe is a researcher at the Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. I asked him what he thought google were hoping to achieve by blocking this content. You can listen to our chat via the MP3 link at the top of this story.
