O O Ø O O O O
War on Me
There’s a war on, and it’s starting to get ugly.
The war is a funny one. Unlike the last few, this one doesn’t appear on CNN. This war is being fought on the Internet, and in the hallowed halls of our governments. It’s a war about things that are utterly intangable. and have been loosely lumped into a pile called intellectual property. I never really considered it a war, until I checked the facts. And the facts read something like this:
When radio stations and the record stores stopped serving up music that I liked, I stopped listening to them. Sure, I could hear the occasional gem on college radio or CKUA, but I could rarely find the albums I heard there anyway. Sure, there are a couple of independent record stores left, but nowhere near enough.
When my TV became bloated with crap, I stopped watching it. Sure, there were a couple of shows in there that I would have liked to see, but getting a VCR to work with the high channels was always a nightmare, and figuring out when the shows were on was a real pain. Then my digital cable box came along and wrecked everything. So I just quit.
When all the magazines I read became the same, and the bookstores I frequented started carrying the same, limited selection of books, I quit reading. Sure, I could occasionally find something in the Library to read, but there just didn’t seem much out there worth buying anymore.
When software stopped innovating, my computer became uninteresting to me. I stopped buying software. I stopped buying hardware. The ugly beige box became a tool, instead of the toy it once was.
When all the newspapers started running the same stories, stories that I had heard on the Radio on the way home, and seen on TV the night before, I stopped paying attention to the news.
But then, this Internet thing happened, and everything seemingly changed in a matter of hours.
All of a sudden, I could download songs by bands I actually wanted to hear. Bands that would actually play in my town, and not charge me $90 for the privilege of seeing them. For the first time in years, I was hearing new music that I really enjoyed. I even started going to shows again.
All of a sudden, I had a TiVo, and my favorite shows just showed up. They were always there for me to watch. I never had to check what time, or what channel they’d be on. If I was really desparate, I could even find episodes I missed with my TiVo online. And the best part was, I didn’t have to be a slave to the network schedules. I could watch my shows whenever I wanted to.
All of a sudden, the Open Source Software movement took off, and anybody at all could write software if they chose to. Innovation began anew, and my computer was a toy again.
All of a sudden, I could pick and choose my news sources. I get international news from international sources: Seattle news from the P-I. British news from the Guardian or Beeb. I could even get news from the horses mouth: blogs sprung up, and all of a sudden, everyone was writing. I got my techology news from people who understood technology. Business news from those who knew business. And best of all, I got to choose the source. And they all show up in my aggregator. I don’t have to go hunting for them, and I don’t have to subscribe.
And I can’t believe I’m alone.
But with all this technology releasing this pent-up demand for books, news, magazines, music, and video, the media companies are panicking. Because their trusty business models are changing. And they’re reacting like wounded predators. Worse, they’re declaring war.
In the US, the war over TiVo is being fought. A proposal called the “broadcast flag” would effectively kill off the Digital Video Recorder market, by putting control of your TV set back in the hands of the broadcasters. No longer will your TiVo keep your shows indefinately—the broadcaster gets to tell you how long you can keep their episodes. No longer will you be able to watch your favorite episode over and over—the broadcaster can delete it after one viewing. You won’t be able to record pay-per-view episodes at all.
Of course, the Broadcast flag issue has come up twice before, and was killed by the people, and then the courts. But this doesn’t bother the media companies. They have snuck the twice-defeated legislation into a Senate Appropriations bill that is less than 48 hours away from being passed. Most legislators won’t even know it is there when they pass it. Democratic Government is supposed to be about resoned debate. Not sneaking pieces of legislation in where they don’t belong. But this is war. And all’s fair.
In Europe, the battle is about software patents. Software patents tend to get issued for highly intangible, and often obvious things. They tend to be incredibly broad, and in many cases, may not even be enforcable. Unfortunately, proving whether a patent is valid takes Lawyers and money. This means they work well for those with money—large corporations, primarily—but are incredibly damaging for small companies, or individuals writing software.
Software patents have been debated many times in the EU parliament. And every time, the idea has been soundly rejected. But democracy means little when money is at stake, and so the decisions of the parliament have been utterly ignored by the various committees involved in the process. Now, software patents being pushed again, by people who clearly do not understand them, or don’t want to. Parliament has spoken, but it is being ignored. There is no place for democracy in war.
Finally, here at home, the war is about to heat up. A new copyright bill is before the Parliament. It will do much for the media companies. It will do little for media consumers. Downloading music will become difficult, it not utterly impossible. Copyrights will be extended again, and this time, even lecture notes from schools are not exempt. There are more protections for old business models, and fewer protections for consumers.
Everywhere you look, the benefits of the Internet and new technologies are being ripped away from us. Our music is being taken away. Our TV is being controlled from on high. Books, music, software, and video are being controlled by a handful of companies. And every time we step up and make it possible to take control of our media again, it is being taken away from us.
I’ve had enough. I want it back. The war is on. It’s time to fight back.
Kjell Wooding
June 21, 2005
OOØOOOO
June 22nd, 2005 at 12:31 pm
Here’s a good related article: http://www.fahrvergnugen.net/archives/2004/05/07/riaa-death-to-itunes/
What irks me is that when I bought my iPod I paid the RIAA fee to save copies on it. However if I purchase a song on iTunes I have to pay an additional fee for the song. Wait didn’t I just pay that when I bought my iPod? Hmmmm, can it be argued that the copy I download goes to my computer hard drive first and I didn’t pay a fee to store the song there? What happens if the software I use deletes the source once it is copied to my iPod. I’m not storing and using a copy on my computer. Why should I have to pay a fee for that?
Either way I’m screwed because the only music I have on my iPod came from cd’s I purchased so the RIAA got their share already twice over. Putting the songs on my iPod is like making a backup copy of my cd. If my original cd was lost, broken, melted or deteriorated what would I do? When I buy software I’m allowed to make a backup copy of the source. Why can’t I do that with music? Is the RIAA forcing me to carry around my original cd’s? They get a cut on blanks if I make a copy for backup purposes so they are screwing my every way they can. Is the only way to avoid the RIAA by buying cd’s from overseas which are not released in North America? Either way somebody is getting a buck or more I’m sure…If a particular label provides me with the music I like they can take a cut. I don’t have a problem with that. But they can’t dictate which product I will buy except indirectly by releasing music I don’t like. Hey wait…if they do that they aren’t making a sale. Seems to me it’s in their interest to sell something I like. The RIAA’s interference in this whole process is a result of several large labels wanting to ensure they line their pockets and everyone else be damned! Where do I sign up to fight this war?
June 22nd, 2005 at 3:48 pm
Update: Broadcast flag amendment goes away. From the article:
I like to think it’s because it was also pdoed.
June 24th, 2005 at 3:41 pm
EFF has been working hard to defeat the Broadcast Flag (and hosting parties for people to build their own DVRs in case the flag passes). They sent out an action alert and got some very strong responses. Now we just have to wait and see where the media conglomerates try to sneak it in next time. Here’s the happy quote from EFF’s Action Center:
Forty-Eight Hours to Stop the Broadcast Flag
You did it!
Following thousands of faxes and mails and calls to Appropriations Committee Senators, the amendment was not introduced in either sub-committee or full committee. The Broadcast Flag is now a red flag to politicians in Washington.
This was one of the few bright spots in a week that has been incredibly frustrating for Americans who favor upholding the Constitution as opposed to degenerating into a quivering mass of jingoistic thugs…sigh.
June 26th, 2005 at 3:07 pm
Ooh! Nice phrase: “jingoistic thugs.” I don’t think I had heard it before.