“Jane, you ignorant slut…” On openDemocracy, Siva Vaidhyanathan and Bill Thompson begin an ongoing debate on the nature and meaning of P2P. Siva: This is the story of clashing ideologies: information anarchy and information oligarchy. They feed off of each other dialectically. Oligarchy justifies itself through “moral panics” over the …

John Dvorak blames the RIAA’s announced assault on file sharers for a raft of upcoming problems, including terrorism and the disappearance of the rain forest: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) may become indirectly responsible for our inability to stop the next terrorist attack on the US. Hear me …

Billboard analyzes the $.99 download and whimpers that “no one is getting rich.” Perhaps this is because the entire industry needs to be restructured to a model that emphasizes quantity at a reasonable price (MUCH lower than .$99 per song) rather than the all-or-nothing hit model that is failing so …

As we mentioned back in April, Tori Amos has had this big contest going on inviting fans to create a music video for her single “Taxi Ride.” The final nine are now up on her site for review and a vote: All votes must be cast by Friday, July 11 …

Not for the faint of heart – see this picture for a ghastly caution against bioengineering, in this case the unholy breeding of Harry Potter, an owl, and the Joker. Actually it’s an interesting article about the spread of media personalization: Coldplay, my favorite band, is performing on a Saturday …

Especially following a holiday weekend with some actual downtime for contrast, who among us cannot relate this this punch in the kidneys? In a way I am fortunate because I have learned I simply can’t concentrate fully on more than one thing at a time, but I find I do …

CNET’s Declan McCullagh hosts a debate on P2P between Freenet inventor Ian Clarke and Matt Oppenheim, RIAA’s senior vice president of business and legal affairs: News.com: Should file swappers have any expectation of privacy? Ian Clarke: Everyone, including file swappers, should have the ability to communicate freely without someone looking …

Our own well-dressed Ed Driscoll , smiling benevolently upon the reader but with the slightly pinched expression of someone looking for a restroom, has a fascinating column on Tech Central Station about digital vocal tuning and its philosophical ramifications for recording: The recording industry is doing everything in its power …

A formula typically only works as long as it doesn’t feel too much like a formula. Apparently this summer’s movies feel formulaic: The summer movies of 2003 have thus far made roughly 2 percent less at the box office than last summer’s fare, and actual attendance has fallen an even …

Henry Jenkins misses the soicio/cultural aspects of Napster: We didn’t hear our song for a decade. When we discovered Napster, one of the first songs I downloaded was “My Bestest Friend.” I left a note on the computer for my wife to read through our playlist and see what I …