bruceb news

Noted science fiction author and Boing Boing curator Cory Doctorow delivered an important speech last month in London, explaining why attempts by copyright owners to lock down computers and web sites inevitably lead to surveillance and censorship, and how the copyright battles presage bigger fights to come over the very future of general-purpose computers. It’s fascinating and convincing – a must-read for anyone interested in the policy arguments about copyrights, Internet freedom, and how poor decisions now might affect us later. It’s been posted as an article here and deserves to be read and discussed and shared.

We don’t know how to build a general-purpose computer that is capable of running any program except for some programs that we don’t like, are prohibited by law, or which loses us money.

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One of the interesting mysteries of our time is how Wolfgang’s Vault has been able to stream live performances by hundreds of artists for the last few years, in an era where record labels have fought so bitterly to keep us from hearing music in the name of “copyright.” Apparently Bill Graham signed contracts with different terms than other promoters, giving him liberal rights to rebroadcast the audio and video of the shows, and his successors have been able to capitalize on that.

A few days ago the site added hundreds of concert videos for free streaming, including some priceless bits of history that have had me drenched in nostalgia this evening. […] continued

Our online purchases and subscriptions and services are associated with accounts linked to an email address. Be careful when you set up accounts and make purchases! These are turning into long-term relationships that need to be right.

A concrete example: buy Kindle ebooks from Amazon using the email address of the person who will read them.

I didn’t understand the consequences of that when I bought a Kindle for my wife a couple of years ago. Here’s the way the Amazon world works. Follow along and you’ll understand my wife’s Amazing Vanishing Library trick.

• Amazon is setting up an ecosystem built around your purchases of books, ebooks, music, movies, and all the other things it sells.

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Wayne Small, an Australian SBS consultant, took a look at Google’s license agreement recently and wrote up a nice reminder that big companies do not make any pretense of playing nicely with your information.

Google Terms of Service cover all of Google’s services, including Gmail. There are some provisions that shouldn’t be surprising – for example, that Google can turn services off without warning or notice, with no consequences.

You probably already know that Google runs through the text of email messages to decide what advertisements will be presented, but it’s interesting to find out that Google has reserved the right to filter, modify, or remove anything you receive by email. […] continued

Ah, Avatar. Extraordinary movie-making, one of the prettiest movies ever to hit the screen. The perfect movie for your new Blu-Ray player and HD TV – it will look splendid.

Well, that’s if it will play. And if the disc in the stores now is the one you want to buy. Because the release of Avatar on DVD and Blu-Ray has managed to combine all the worst instincts in our entertainment companies for marketing and for copy protection paranoia.

The Blu-Ray disc on the market now has the movie on it. It has no extras. It has no commentary. It has no 3D. […] continued

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has put together a fascinating article summarizing the history and effect of the RIAA’s five-year battle against online music sharing. The conclusion is compelling: every single move made by the recording industry has backfired. The RIAA has filed more than thirty thousand lawsuits and threatened even more people, turning public opinion overwhelmingly against the RIAA and the labels, and has accomplished nothing.

“The RIAA’s lawsuit campaign against individual American music fans has failed. It has failed to curtail P2P downloading. It has not persuaded music fans that sharing is equivalent to shoplifting. It has not put a penny into the pockets of artists.

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A few final thoughts about file formats for audio and video and how that affects a Vista Media Center Extender. This is the place where strong people are humbled and the whole project can be brought down with screams of frustration. I can only touch on a few of the myriad details.

There is a single overriding principle that you can put to use right away: make a conscious effort to avoid any file format that is locked up with any DRM (digital rights management, the schemes used with “licensed” content to prevent you from making full use of it), or that is even capable of a DRM layer. […] continued

In 2007, we started to work with Windows Vista, bought lots of handheld devices, and started to move things online – our mail, our photos, our movies.

What will 2008 bring? It will start with lots more of the same. Many of you will get your first Windows Vista computer and discover that it’s quite a nice operating system. There’s a flood of new handheld devices on the way inspired by the iPhone, although my guess is that Apple will stay a step ahead by releasing the iPhone version 2 with better data speeds and support for corporate e-mail systems – making it look very tempting for almost anyone who can stomach an account with AT&T. […] continued

Microsoft has a name problem.

I used to think that Microsoft had learned a lesson from the years of confusion and frustration caused by the similar names for “Outlook” and “Outlook Express,” two programs that were not even remotely related.

The same people must have been on the committee that decided “Windows Mail” (the free program included with Vista) would be on the market at the same time as “Windows Live Mail,” the similar but not identical free program for Vista and Windows XP. Not to be confused with “Windows Live Hotmail,” the final name for Microsoft’s webmail service. Which can sync with Windows Live Mail but not Windows Mail. […] continued

The music industry is in complete disarray; the shift away from CDs is irreversible and most consumers simply expect music to be free. The recording industry’s hostility, arrogance, and litigation tactics have alienated everyone, making it harder for the industry to imagine a business plan that works – especially while it’s controlled by executives who freely admit they don’t understand these new-fangled Internet tubes.

It’s no surprise that many different plans for distributing music are under way, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that the reporting is frequently confusing or wrong. Let me give you the shortest of refresher courses so you can follow the headlines. […] continued