2008, the year D.R.M. hits your T.V. December 7, 2007
Recently many television subscribers have started worrying about whether or not they will continue getting what they pay for. High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) has begun rolling out through many service providers and could be in use very soon. While this will only apply for premium channels and pay-per-views for now, who knows where it could extend. The service providers can not really be blamed for this as they all have contracts they have to abide by if they wish to continue providing channels to their customers. The content providers have mandated this protection if the service provider wishes to continue showing their channels or pay per-view-movies. (more…)
Viacom steals video, issues take down notice to the artist August 30, 2007
Christopher Knight made a video as part of his campaign for Rockingham County Board of Education and posted it on Youtube last fall. A little over a month ago the cable network VH1 took the video he made from Youtube without permission and used it in their for-profit television show Web Junk 2.0. Knight wasn’t upset about that. He was pleased that so many more people got to see his work than he expected. So he put a clip of the VH1 segment showing his own video on Youtube.
Yesterday he got a letter from Youtube. It seems that Viacom had the clip containing the work they pirated taken down for copyright infringement.
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Viacom International Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:Web Junk 2.0 on VH1 features my school board commercial!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddyVQwpByug
On his blog Knight brings up questions we all should be asking. “What does this mean for independent producers of content, if material they create can be co-opted by a giant corporation without permission or apology or compensation? When in fact, said corporations can take punitive action against you for using material that you created on your own?” Vaicom is heavy handed in it’s copyright infringement patrol but they don’t seem to have a problem violating copyright them selves. It’s not just fair use thats under attack these days. We the people are too.
Boycott Regal Cinemas August 9, 2007
Fair Use Day is joining the call for a boycott of Regal Cinemas .
Jhannet Sejas was celebrating her 19th birthday with her boyfriend when she took a 20 second video clip of the movie “Transformers” to show to her 13-year-old brother. Minutes later the Marymount University sophomore was hauled off to jail for illegally recording a motion picture.
This is not the kind of world I want to leave to my children. This isn’t the kind of world I grew up in. This isn’t the kind of world they deserve to live in. Things should get better for our youngest generation of people. This is just sad and ridiculous. What will a boycott accomplishment? It will send a clear message. Treat us like criminals and we will stop coming to your theater.
We have the responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen again. This young lady did not intend to distribute 20 seconds of a video for monetary gains. She just wanted to show her brother. Do ya think he will want to spend money to see it now?
You can find Regal Cinemas in your area here
More on the story…
Free Culture @ NYU Boycott Regal Cinemas
Slashfilm.com Teen Arrested for Recording 20 Second Movie Clip
Washingtonpost.com Out of the Theater, Into the Courtroom
BoingBoing.net Boycott Regal Cinemas for suing over 20-second clip
Consumerist.com Regal Cinemas Facing Boycott After Pressing Charges Again Teen “Pirate”
Big Media Cult Leaders February 9, 2007
If you think the way big media bosses (RIAA / MPAA / TV Studios) treat their customers is fair, think again. This video is scary how well it meshes with the tactics of media (crime) bosses.
Making Your Documentary Matter 2007 January 10, 2007
The Center for Social Media is holding their third annual conference, Making Your Documentary Matter 2007, for documentary filmmakers non-profit communications directors, funders and students on Jan 31st and Feb 1st at the Katzen Arts Center at American University in Washington, DC.
The agenda lists some impressive speakers and panel members like Glenn Otis Brown (Creative Commons alumni and later Google), Rahdi Taylor (Sundance Documentary Film Program), Sarah Dewitt (Senior Director of PBS Kids and Parents) and many more. Registration is required and space is limited so don’t delay.
Steal This Film August 29, 2006
In 2006, a group of friends decided to make a film about file sharing that they would recognize, and they did just that! In part 1 of this series Stockholm, Summer 2006 (link to torrent) the film documents the raid on the popular torrent sharing web site Pirate Bay. The MPAA somehow got the US to pressure the Swedish government with trade sanctions if the Swedes didn’t break their own laws in the process of taking the site down (BB post with more).
From the site,
“We wanted to make a film that would explore this huge popular movement in a way that excited us, engaged us, and most importantly, focused on what we know to be the positive and optimistic vision many file sharers and artists (they are often one) have for the future of creativity”
One of my favorite parts of the video is a clip with actor Richard Dreyfuss who says (time index ~23:25)
“I think that the laws going to be re-writen as the technology insists that it is. It’s not a question of right or wrong anymore. People will do what they want to do in order to get what they want….whats the line about.. ‘behind every great fortune lies a great crime’. So, the guy’s who started this business cheated somebody to get there and so now they are being cheated perhaps.“
This really is a fantastic documentary and a slice of our digital culture. Go steal it and see for your self!
Tell Your Senators to Kick Out the Flags May 6, 2006
DO IT TODAY - THIS CAN’T WAIT!!!!
This is a direct quote from EFF.orgSenator Stevens has introduced a bill that includes not just the broadcast flag, but the audio flag too. Write to your senators now, and tell them to keep the entertainment industry’s tech mandates off the law books!
“On May 1st, Senator Stevens introduced the “Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband
Deployment Act” (S.2686). Buried inside this 125 page bill is language that would create a broadcast flag in over-the-air TV transmissions, and give the FCC power to create a similar technology mandate for digital radio.If this bill were to pass, government - and the entertainment industry - would control what you could do with digital media in your home. The broadcast flag would place TV shows in a DRM ghetto, where your right to copy, back-up, sell, time-shift or convert them into formats convenient to you would be at the whim of the broadcasters. The audio flag would give the FCC matching powers over “digital audio broadcasting,” including satellite radio, digital HD radio, and potentially even Internet radio.There’s no benefit here for artists or customers, and for infringing copiers, evading these copy controls will be as easy as ever. No matter how inconvenienced individual users would be by a flag, pirates would be able to bypass it. The bill would usher in a new world of anti-consumer electronics, and a chance for the MPAA’s and RIAA’s member companies to seize even greater control over all media distribution and use.”
More info:
Video Flag (Digital TV)
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/
Radio Flag
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/?f=digitalradioflag.html
nomasteryoda - wanting to keep my rights and everyone elses!!
