Culture and Society

There is none. Dawn and I had to attend a memorial service for the minister who married us yesterday – we were busy and sad – so I was unable to give Blogcritics the full attention it deserves. Interesting that on this particular day my pal Charles Johnson would choose …

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, …

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, …

The music industry will have to learn from those already living out its next incarnation.

Only a couple more weeks until Halloween, my second-favorite holiday. We are planning a Halloween Special here at Blogcritics and I’m revved about that. In the meantime, check out this calendar countdown to the big day, called Gothtober – there’s a daily fright, chuckle, amusement, etc. that began October 1 …

The Beatles refuse to license their music for online sales, with their spokesman saying, “I don’t see any reason for it at all.” This is a very neat statement of the recording industry’s attitude toward the Internet in general until file sharing forced them into the new millennium three years …

A strategic management paper [registration required] by a Wharton School legal studies professor says suing your customers is a less than ideal marketing strategy. He also finds a fascinating parallel from exactly 100 years ago: having a strong legal claim on the merits is only one factor in legal strategy …