Culture and Society

Another incisive commentary from Dave Pell, this one on the grim state of Democratic thinking, and he’s a Democrat: The tsunami from the right has been so complete in recent years that it almost seems as if they are operating in a vacuum. Politically, the Republicans have control of the …

Ongoing Verizon-RIAA dispute – U.S. District Court Judge John Bates said Verizon must reveal the names of the two alleged copyright infringers within two weeks: Bates originally ordered Verizon to reveal the customers’ names in January, but Verizon had argued that their identities should be protected as it pursues an …

The Dixie Chicks seem to be weathering the negative publicity from their anti-Bush/war statements rather well. Maybe we’ve entered a new era of show biz negative advertising campaigns, as I mentioned earlier today in relationship to Madonna. They’ve done wonders for us here, too, that’s for sure (see below). The …

I am root root rooting for 321 Studios in their court challenge to the Hollywood studios over its DVD-copying technology. As we have said here ad nauseum, all citizens have a right to make a back up copy of their own DVDs and music CDs. The DMCA denies citizens this …

It’s been a year since Wilco’s now classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out on Nonesuch. They are celebrating: thanks for your support, we’re making the previously announced “Australian ep” available here free if you have a copy of YHF. Click on the image above to launch the EP player and …

So here’s Madonna, messing with file sharers by flooding the sharing services like Kazaa with spoof files of songs from her new American Life CD that are blank other than a terse message from Herself: “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Then, playing right into her evil little …

I am no tech-head – I know what I know reasonably well because I use it all the time, but anything outside my immediate range of computer behaviors is pretty much terra incognita. But I am gradually adding to my knowledge – this post on a crackdown on file sharers …

An autopsy of a badly broken social system by a forensic psychologist, the creator of the documentary Six.

Let us carefully distinguish between two meanings of the word “pirate,” something the RIAA and MPAA do not do, to the detriment of their respective credibility. There is file sharing a la Kazaa where nothing physical is created or transacted – this is technically illegal but is clearly different from, …

Having killed the horse, record labels are now suing those who fed it: Two major record labels filed suit Monday against venture capital firm Hummer Winblad Venture Partners for its investment in Napster, alleging that it contributed to rampant music theft through the former file-swapping network. Universal Music Group and …