] Record labels are under attack from all sides - file
] sharers and performers, even equipment manufacturers and
] good old-fashioned customers - and it's killing them. A
] moment of silence, please.

Wired 11.02: The Year The Music Dies

"San Diego, Calif. -- Hoping for a simultaneous marketing and military coup, the Bush administration today officially set a war date, announcing that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq will be part of the Super Bowl XXXVII halftime show."

Brilliant satire. :)

U.S.-Led Iraq War Slated For Super Bowl Halftime Show

Interesting little piece on wealth distribution:

Specifically, the number of people with some value of wealth w is proportional to 1/wE. Pareto claimed that E is generally has a value of between 2 and 3. The bigger this value, the greater the extent to which extreme wealth is suppressed - and the more socialist the economy.

Burda's group define liberal economies as those in which E is less than 2, and social economies as those in which E is greater than 2.

Wealth spawns corruption

] Microsoft's new Windows Media Data Session Toolkit allows
] media companies to add a protected "second session" to
] CDs and DVDs for use on PCs. This second session includes
] the audio and video content in Microsoft's Windows Media
] format, plus rules for the use of that content, Microsoft
] said.
]
] For example, content owners can limit the number of times
] a user can play the content on a PC and restrict copying
] of audio and video or transferring of songs to a portable
] device, Microsoft said. The protection is handled through
] Microsoft's Windows Media Digital Rights Management
] technology, Microsoft said.
]
] Microsoft's product announcement comes a week after
] representatives of the recording and technology
] industries, including Microsoft and the Recording
] Industry Association of America, urged the U.S.
] government to keep its hands off of the digital
] copyright protection issue.

Ok, let me make sure I have this straight.. Before, I couldn't play a copy protected CD/DVD in my computer. Now, if Microsoft has its way, I can't play a copy protected CD/DVD in my computer unless I'm running windows.

If this continues to move in this direction, I am simply not going to be able to listen to music _at all_ without obtaining it via illicit means. Its going to be the only option if I want to retain my freedom to use open technology. Either that, or the artists I support will have to work outside the current system.

The chains are both becoming clearly visible and heavy.

New Microsoft Tools to Copy Protect CDs and DVDs Support Their Monopoly

The Bible, interpreted with legos, complete with warnings for nudity, sexual content, violence, and cursing.

Everyone needs a hobby I guess..

The Brick Testament

] The Gulf inhabitants have welcomed this giving Gulf News
] an average daily circulation of 91,000. The Gulf News has
] a commitment to follow the issues which interest its
] readers. This has helped shape the newspaper into one
] which is closely involved with what the people resident
] in the region want to read about, reflecting their
] concerns and interests.

Gulf area local newspaper out of the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf News Online

The recording industry asked Verizon last summer to reveal the name of a customer believed to have downloaded more than 600 songs in one day, but Verizon refused, saying that such a move would violate customer privacy and force Internet service providers to serve as the music industry's online policeman.

But U.S. Judge John Bates ordered Verizon to turn over the customer's name.

At least now they are going directly after the consumer, aka, their customers. Best way to make the angry mob grow faster.. Remember two words, Civil Disobedience.

RIAA vs Verizon : Court orders Verizon Must Reveal Internet Song-Swapper

Does anyone know about this? I can't believe they actually do this. Never pay for long distance again!

Sprint Realy Online

A brief article about your friend, and mine, the DMCA, and how it's perhaps the most anti-consumer legislation in the modern era.

DMCA: Ma Bell Would Be Proud

] A woman who stole a patrol car and led police on a
] 60-mile, high-speed pursuit Sunday night won her
] temporary freedom by squeezing her double-jointed body
] through a small opening in the car's plastic glass
] divider, authorities said yesterday.
]
] Police yesterday described the woman, Jennifer A. Lach,
] 33, of Wall, as a drunken and out-of-control
] manic-depressive who left the scene of an accident,
] fought with a pedestrian at a gas station, attacked an
] officer, stole a South Belmar police car and sped down
] the Garden State Parkway with lights flashing and sirens
] wailing while cursing at police on their own radio.

Belmar..

Stolen cruiser crashes after 60-mile chase; Charges mount