Kazaa in court
30/11/04 12:35 Media
issues Permalink
Now this is going to be interesting. File swapping
house Kazaa (www.kazaa.com)
is going to court in Australia to defend itself
against the idea that it advocates illegal transfer
of copyright material (see
Guardian story here).
I have no idea how this one's going to pan out. But I do think that the defence - that the technology isn't responsible for the copying any more than a video recorder is responsible for infringements - will start to look shakey when it's borne in mind that this is more like thousands of interlinked video recorders helping themselves to entire tape libraries.
We shall see.
I have no idea how this one's going to pan out. But I do think that the defence - that the technology isn't responsible for the copying any more than a video recorder is responsible for infringements - will start to look shakey when it's borne in mind that this is more like thousands of interlinked video recorders helping themselves to entire tape libraries.
We shall see.
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Top of the flops
29/11/04 12:33 Media
issues Permalink
Brace yourselves - if you didn't know already, Top Of
The Pops is moving to BBC2. The story is
here.
Looks like we fogeys were right, modern pop
music
is
rubbish.
Interesting timing, though. I'd guess another year of digital telly spreading and they could have shunted it over to BBC3 - oh come on, that's surely what they want to do with it really..?
Interesting timing, though. I'd guess another year of digital telly spreading and they could have shunted it over to BBC3 - oh come on, that's surely what they want to do with it really..?
Ozzy and Dave
25/11/04 12:32 Permalink
It was amusing to note the Ozzy Osbourne story the
other day. No, of course it wasn't amusing that the
poor bloke and wife Sharon were robbed of stuff, in
particular the ring he bought her when she was in the
clear from cancer. I wish them every success in
recovering the items. No, what I found funny was some
of the news reports rating that story above David
Blunkett's ID card plans - I mean, Ozzy's jewels are
important to everyone whereas the ID cards will
affect only a select few, or something...
Alas, poor Boris
16/11/04 12:31 Media
issues Permalink
OK, so Boris Johnson has gone from the Shadow
Cabinet. And in spite of all the flannel, it's pretty
clear that he's gone because he's embarrassed the
Tories and they don't want any sleaze before the next
election, thanks. Michael Howard looks decisive, God
is in his Heaven et cetera.
But to my mind, this isn't why Boris should have gone, or better yet, should never have been appointed. I hold no brief for him politically but of course respect his right to stand for principles I wouldn't uphold. My worry is that he or anyone else should have been appointed not only as a local MP but as a shadow cabinet member - people might be familiar with the phrase 'full-time job' - when he was still editing a weekly magazine (The Spectator, for anyone who doesn't know). The proprietors seem to agree, and have brought in Andrew Neill as overlord.
As a freelance I get to do 'journalism lite' in a way; I stick to deadlines and don't worry about the production process. Editors don't have that luxury, it's an arduous job involving budgeting, liaising with management, motivating writers and loads of other non-trivial stuff. The idea that you can stick an active part of running the country on as a little add-in is ludicrous.
This, to my mind, is why Boris should never have been in a position to attract the public humiliation to which he's been subjected over the last few days. What was Michael Howard thinking of?
But to my mind, this isn't why Boris should have gone, or better yet, should never have been appointed. I hold no brief for him politically but of course respect his right to stand for principles I wouldn't uphold. My worry is that he or anyone else should have been appointed not only as a local MP but as a shadow cabinet member - people might be familiar with the phrase 'full-time job' - when he was still editing a weekly magazine (The Spectator, for anyone who doesn't know). The proprietors seem to agree, and have brought in Andrew Neill as overlord.
As a freelance I get to do 'journalism lite' in a way; I stick to deadlines and don't worry about the production process. Editors don't have that luxury, it's an arduous job involving budgeting, liaising with management, motivating writers and loads of other non-trivial stuff. The idea that you can stick an active part of running the country on as a little add-in is ludicrous.
This, to my mind, is why Boris should never have been in a position to attract the public humiliation to which he's been subjected over the last few days. What was Michael Howard thinking of?