Tech Stream
Posts Tagged ‘ Copyright’
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.
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.
Shanzhai Phones
28 April 2009
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Counterfeit mobile phones are big business in China, with research firm Gartner suggesting they already account for more than 20 percent of sales in the world’s biggest mobile phone market. The New York Times reports today on the boom in blackmarket “Shanzhai” phones, which often sell for as little as US$35 each, far less than the devices they are ripping off. And while these devices have been available for years, the drop in price for components and the ability to tap into the supply chains of the bigger brands has made it possible for a small company to mimic anything from an iPhone to the latest Nokia or Motorola.
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.
A little light reading
23 April 2009
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Photo from Flickr by Phillip Torrone.
It took us a while, but finally we have our filthy mits on Amazon’s new e-Book reader the Kindle 2. The reason for the delay is that it is actually not for sale anywhere but the USA. That’s right, in spite of all the tech-hype around the gadget, Americans are the only people able to buy it and use it to its full potential.
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.
