Category: Intellectual Property
DIGG THIS: Micro-blogging citizen journalism toy Twitter beats granddad Digg in traffic war
Internet traffic tracker Hitwise has reported a readership boom kicking off for mini-blog portal Twitter, with the number of visits to the “citizen journalism” gonzo reportage site topping that of Digg for the first time.
The graph generated by Hitwise – stolen by us and shown to the left there – tells the story of Twitter’s unstoppable rise, with recent high-profile Twitter events pushing user numbers to new highs…
Isle of Man gets free, legal, P2P downloads
Residents of the Isle of Man, take note. You may soon be able to download all the music you like, from wherever you want, but you’re going to have to pay a little extra on top of your broadband bill for it. The Manx government wants to enforce a blanket music consumption license, tied to broadband bills.
“At the end of the day, we are not going to stop piracy, so let’s embrace it,” says the remarkably sensible Inward Investment Minister, Ron Berry. Surprisingly, the BPI endorses the move as well, with head honcho Geoff Taylor saying: “If ISPs take the position advocated in the Isle of Man, we’d be in an enormously better position.”
Track Obama's inauguration day LIVE, thanks to everyone in America live-blogging like mad
We saw last month exactly how modern internet technology is kicking the hell out of traditional news media when it comes to on-the-spot reporting – and today’s the perfect day so see America EXPLODE in a sea of sickeningly patriotic citizen journalism.
Numerous dedicated Flickr groups have popped up to catalogue Obama’s special day, as people hanging around in Washington right at this very moment use up all their data allowance for January by uploading evocative photos of children waving flags live from the scene…
The $30 "Yes We Can" Kenyan celebratory Barack Obama Mi-Obama mobile phone
Kenyan mobile supplier Mi-Fone is the latest company to have a go at cashing in on Brand Obama, launching this curious Barack Obama themed mobile phone in the region.
The Mi-Obama phone will help Mi-Fone “forge new frontiers in African urban youth market,” apparently, although unlike the man whose slogan the phone carries, the low-spec handset is unlikely to change the world for the better and have people sobbing with joy.
It’s a generic dual-band GSM piece, and you know there’s nothing to get excited…
95% of music downloads in 2008 were illegal, says IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, is basically an international version of the RIAA and BPI, who claim to act as a trade body for record labels, but seem to only exist in reality to head up the music industry’s anti-piracy campaign. True to that role, last night it released a statement claiming that 95% of music downloads in 2008 were illegal.
However, there’s some bright news for the labels hidden in there too – download sales are up 25% on last year, and now make up a fifth of all recorded music sales. The IFPI reckons that it’s worth £2.5 billion.
eBay Nutcase of the Week: Keith Senior "heaps shame" on England by selling Rugby World Cup medal
Leeds Rhinos player Keith Senior has decided he doesn’t want or need a memento of England’s abysmal performance in the recent Rugby League World Cup – so he’s stuck his appearance medal on eBay.
The medal is currently going for £600 on the auction portal, triggering TABLOID OUTRAGE from newspapers who believe Keith’s being a bit of a traitor in flogging off a bit of English sporting history…
YouTube shoots self in foot – mutes all video with 'unauthorized copyrighted music'
In a strange, sudden and unannounced move, YouTube has suddenly muted a bunch of videos that it claims have ‘unauthorized copyrighted music’. Under the video, it says “This video contains an audio track that has not been authorised by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled.”
Two things bother me about this. Firstly, the users are going to absolutely detest it. They’ll leave in their droves for YouTube’s competitors. I don’t understand why YouTube would agree to something as ridiculous as this – they’re not stupid, and I’m sure they realize what the effects will be.
Secondly, how does this square with the deals YouTube made two years ago, when labels made their content “available for inclusion in sanctioned consumer uploads”. This move seems to run 180 degrees in the reverse to what those deals aimed to facilitate. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one, and update the post when I hear more and/or YouTube releases some sort of official statement.
(via Media Futurist)
Related posts: Universal Music: We’re getting heaps of cash from YouTube | YouTube goes full HD at last?
Make your life even more ironic with the 3.5" floppy disk iTunes and Firefox posters
Here’s how you can be even more ironic than your ironic mate who does nothing but ironically play ironic 1970s children’s TV programme theme tunes all day – buy yourself a set of the deeply ironic posters based around 3.5″ discs.
Ironically imagining what it would’ve been like had iTunes or Firefox launched in the 1980s and been distributed on floppy disks, these ironic posters will ironically enhance any ironic modern living space. They also feature the right number of discs required to fit today’s modern apps – iTunes 8.02 would need to be spread across 42 floppies, for example.
I’m only bitter because I didn’t have the idea first. Maker Mehmet Gozetlik is promising to have full-size prints available soon from his shop, for a relatively…
Nine Inch Nails release 400GB of raw, unedited concert footage for fans to make their own DVD
If you’re a NIN fan, then you’ve just been handed a massive, if a little belated, Christmas present. Trent Reznor, known for his liberal approach to his intellectual property, has released 400GB of raw, unedited HD video footage shot at three recent shows in Victoria, Portland and Sacremento.
New Zealand's approach to file-sharing – "guilt upon accusation"
The heavy-handed scaremongering and litigation being handed out by the entertainment industries in the UK and North America is one thing, but New Zealand seems to be taking an even-more-hysterical approach to the problem of filesharing.
From the end of February, Section 92 of the Copyright Amendment Act will come into force. This act assumes that any individual simply accused of sharing copyrighted works on the Internet is guilty. The punishment? Disconnection from the internet.
Scary, huh? Well, if you live in New Zealand, the Creative Freedom Foundation have got a “Not In My Name” petition for you to sign. If you’re not a New Zealander, then just thank your lucky stars that your politicians, for the moment, retain some sense.
Creative Freedom Foundation (via Torrentfreak)
Related posts: Australia remembers British convictism, asks for help dealing with filesharers | RIAA to drop failed lawsuits strategy
