bruceb news

The recording industry continues its relentless quest to be the embodiment of evil in modern times. The latest announcements are aimed at all of us – the folks who would be its customers in less nasty times.

First, the recording industry is planting fake files on file sharing networks – files with the names of popular songs, but with empty content or commercials (or perhaps viruses, but no corporate suit will ever admit to such a thing.) One source reports that a company named OVERPEER – under contract to Interscope and Universal Music – is the source of a large number of files with short sections of each song repeated over and over to pad out the file so it’s the approximate size of the original. […] continued

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., whose district includes part of Hollywood, is preparing a bill that would let copyright owners, such as record labels or movie studios, hack into your computer or effectively disable your Internet connection if you use a file-sharing program. Here’s an article about the legislation now being prepared.

The bill would provide a shield against legal liability for copyright owners who used high-tech attacks to stop file trading. In the announcement of the bill, Berman cited some of the tools that would be protected by the legislation, and which copyright owners have expressed some interested in using. […] continued

A federal court overturned the order entered last month that required Sonicblue to write and install software to monitor what its customers were watching and report that information to the entertainment industry so they could scrutinize it for copyright violations. (See my item below on May 15 for some background; here’s an article about today’s ruling.) Although this is a nice victory for common sense, it’s not the end of this issue by any means. Count on the entertainment powerhouses to continue pressing in the courts and the legislatures to prevent all of us pirates from fast-forwarding through commercials or going to the bathroom during a broadcast. […] continued

More developments in the recording industry’s relentless war to make sure we can’t actually hear any music.

Yesterday KaZaA, the Dutch software and products company which founded KaZaA.com, announced that it intends to shut down because it can’t afford to defend copyright infringement charges brought against it by the entertainment industry. In a court filing, it described the industry’s tactics as “Rambo-style litigation.” For the moment, the Kazaa software will still work; it’s being run by another company that bought the software and web site a few months ago, and the industry’s attack dogs have not yet been unleashed there. Here’s an article and links about Kazaa’s death. […] continued

The recording industry is going to elaborate lengths to create music CDs that are copy-protected – to prevent you from copying, or “burning,” music onto recordable CDs, onto a computer hard drive, or onto a portable music player. Last week Apple Computers reported that the copy-protection scheme used by Sony and Universal can crash iMacs so thoroughly that they require a trip to a repair shop. (See my note below on May 14.)

An amusing followup that provides a good demonstration of why copy-protection efforts are doomed to failure. Reports are circulating widely this week that the copy-protection chosen by Sony can be cracked, and many people are having an easy time playing and copying the “protected” CDs. […] continued

“Personal video recorders” (PVRs) are the hot new item in the television industry. Tivo and Sonicblue Replay are the market leaders. These boxes act like a super VCR. They record shows for viewing later, holding thirty or more hours of shows at a time. They present program directories; they keep track of the shows you watch and record things you haven’t asked for but that you might like. TV hounds quickly get to the point that they can’t imagine life without their Tivo or Replay.

The usual entertainment industry heavyweights – Disney, AOL Time Warner, the three TV networks – ganged up on Sonicblue and charged into federal court. […] continued

More copy protected CDs are hitting the market – especially in Europe, but clearly the US is next. They corrupt the CD in ways that make many of them unplayable in a computer or in some car stereos. In fact, they no longer conform to the standards for “Compact Discs,” and the record labels have removed the “Compact Disc” logo from the case. A small label on the CD case advises, “Do not play in Mac or PC.”

Apple Computer has acknowledged a more serious problem. Inserting one of these copy protected disks into an IMac can sometimes cause the machine to go dead so deeply that a trip to a repair shop is required. […] continued

Miniature CDs will hit the market this summer, presumably with a heavy advertising blitz. The “Dataplay” discs look like CDs that are one inch across and come in a small plastic cartridge. They can store up to five albums, plus a bunch of computer data, which is pretty impressive.

Sound appealing? Read this article about the real reason they’re being introduced, which is that they have all kinds of copyright protection built into them, and offer new opportunities for the recording industry to extract money from your pocket. This article talks about an “education process” to convince you to re-buy all your music in a new format. […] continued

If you’re trying to catch up on the copyright wars, here’s an article that does a wonderful job of summarizing all of the issues and how the different players stand. Copy-protected CDs, the death of Internet radio, the DMCA, digital TV, digital rights management – all discussed in a straightforward way. The entertainment industry is attempting a worldwide intellectual property power grab that is breathtaking in its scope, and that has the potential to shape our world for decades to come. Get informed!

If you’re following the copyright wars, you might be interested in a question-and-answer session on Slashdot with Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor and one of the leaders of the fight to rein in the copyright police.

And consider donating to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the organization doing the most effective work to protect the interests of consumers in the courts and in Congress.