Yes, you can rightfully argue that ignorance of the law is no excuse: as citizens we each have the responsibility to know what the rules are. But the main rules are just common sense: don’t kill anyone who isn’t trying to kill you, don’t beat people up, don’t steal, don’t …

Because of the DMCA, the RIAA can literally extort money from “customers” beyond the supervision of the law – it kind of reminds me of the good old days of sharecropping and the company store. Remember what Tennessee Ernie Ford sang? “Load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another …

I’ve been saying this for over a year: digital music is priced WAY too high for it to be either anything close to a good deal, or for it to be appealing vs the price of FREE (not really free – it costs time, the expense of the computer, broadband, …

For those who missed it, about 72 hours ago Amazon installed new software for their affiliates. It hasn’t worked right yet other than a couple hours on Friday. Writers, please keep putting those ASINs in as usual and when Amazon gets their manure compressed they will show up as usual. …

Our favorite blogger-law professor-record producer-space afficionado-dude Glenn Reynolds has a very heartfelt and evocative discussion with Bob Walkenhorst of the Rainmakers on his GlennReynolds.com site: Back when I was practicing law in Washington, I went to see a show at the 930 Club, a little place that held a couple …

Jack Valenti and the seven dwarfs just don’t get it, and still the revolt escalates. Let them eat cake until your head rolls down the hill. Rarely in recent Hollywood history has there been an uprising of this magnitude over such an apparently trivial matter. But ever since the Motion …

The ratings thus far have been great for Fox – I predict the World Series will be less so. The pairing of the Yankees and the Marlins is the worst possible scenario of the original eight teams that began the playoffs: the world is absolutely fed up with the disgusting …

New Internet speed record announced by scientists: The European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, said the feat, doubling the previous top speed, was achieved in a nearly 30-minute transmission over 7,000 kms of network between Geneva and a partner body in California. CERN, whose laboratories straddle the Franco-Swiss border near …

This very informative run through copyright history and theory since the Betamax decision of 1984 is marred by just one thing: the conclusions are EXACTLY 100% wrong. It isn’t Betamax that needs to be overturned, it is the extensions of copyright over the last century past any reasonable time limit, …

As Dawn mentioned, a lot of Cubs fans are blaming the 26-year-old fan who went after the foul ball for the team’s misfortune in Game 6 of the NLCS. Face it: your team collapsed, choked, screwed the pooch, flushed itself down the toilet. The Gonzalez error, the freaking EIGHT RUNS …