Tuesday, February 28, 2006

RIAA victim makes motion to dismiss

One of the defendants in the RIAA's latest rounds of copyright extortion has filed a motion to dismiss in the state of Texas on the basis of their predatory litigation tactics and the unconstitutionality of seeking damages of $750 per $0.99 cent song, among other things.

Oh my goodness, where do I begin? The RIAA needs to really step back and understand what it is doing to itself. They keep digging themselves into the largest hole I have ever seen. All the while they are trying to hold onto a legacy business model which folder as soon as iTunes opened its doors.

How many times has the RIAA had the opportunity to make deals with online music outfits, and P2P networks? Has the RIAA ever considered opening up a collaboration wing and play the Internet like everyone else? Do they realize it could reap huge dollar value?

If the RIAA sunk as much money as they spend on litigation, but into online technology, R&D, and a sure-fire community effort, they would be making hand over fist dollars as sure as Apple is at iTunes. Come on, the RIAA already makes huge profits off of iTunes in the first place.

Don't start crying about slowing CD sales, when CD's are not the thing any more. It's like complaning that tape sales, or vinyl record sales are slow now. duhhh.

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Scenes From the MySpace Backlash

Media and politicians are piling criticism on the fast-growing teen social-networking site, which has been linked to sexual predation. But scapegoating and overreaction may be an equal, if not greater, danger.

First off, this article is written extremely well, and offers several sides of the story. I would also like to comment that our public schools really need to stop playing parent, and just teach our kids.

As a parent I am getting really offended that our public school system is slowly becoming a place where they tell kids what they can and cannot do socially. If they want to have an ethics class, or something like that great, but DO NOT take free speech and throw it out the window.

I would agree that some speech is bad, and could hurt someone. This type of action is what parents are for. Simply send an e-mail to the parents, or get a 1-on-1 parent teach conference going. In the case where a parent has no interest in thier child in school then this needs to get adressed other ways.

In NO WAY should a public school play parent. Once we believe this is a good thing, all is lost. Public schools have absolutely no way of determining what is a good thing per student. Since all students have different home lives, then how can the school custom-tailer a parental program for them?

If our public school system wants to engage in ethical and moral discussions, then create a classroom environment for it. Invite parents to discuss thier ideas also. I bet you get such a wide range of discussion that it helps the kids more than anyone knows.

My plea to our school systems, is to also stop treating our kids like criminals. A school is more likely to call the cops, than simply handle an issue administratively. Don't even get me started on Zero-Tolerance policies.

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Monday, February 27, 2006

What would happen if everyone drove the speed limit on highways

5 cars line up on the highway and run at the speedlimit blocking faster traffic. Chaos ensues.

You must absolutely check this video out. We all know this is the case, but nobody ever does anything about it. Sure, some areas of the country are at 65 MPH now, but it that really a sane speed limit? I would make a fair guess that there are way too many places where the speed limit should be changed, but there is just not enough people to make it happen.

We all want a smaller government, but I say lets have a smarter government. Does that mean more people, possibly, but more than likely it means we need to seriously look at the way we work day in and day out with our government and make them more efficient.

It can be done people, lets make it happen.

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1st blog entry

This is my first blog entry to check out editing. I hope to input all my past blog entries over the last couple years, and more to come. Thanks to Google for this great service.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Acceptance instead of Tolerance. Goes for more than just religion.

I found this article incredibly written. It quotes that acceptance should be our goal, NOT tolerance. I feel this applies when talking about DRM, RIAA, DMCA, blogging, myspace like sites, digg like sites, free speech, and other such corners of our lives.

Why should we as a people settle for our Government, lawyers, politicians, big corporations, lobby groups, and others persuade us that thier way is the only way? Why is there so much illegal in the United States when talking about legacy corporate business models. Yes, this applies heavilty to the USA, but there are certainly applications for other legal systems also.

It seems to me that we need to accept the fact that we all do things differntly, and building off those differences is what will make us a great nation. This continual barrage of corporate scrutiny, which in turn gets willfully written into law is unacceptable. We are the people making the laws. Those who are in power and influance need to remember what makes communities great is our differences. My goodness, if we were all the same it would be way too boring.

I encourage everyone to step back and look at your company and how it is managed. Yes, we want our companies to make a profit, but at the expense of our freedom and future? Look at our government for those who work there, and apply the same principles. Those who work at home, review how you run your home and how you are raising your children. My kids will detest the world in which they grow up if we do not do something to change what is happening.

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