Science and Technology

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 …

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 …

The Guardian’s rock critic, Alexis Petridis, joins the chorus of those who say the recording industry’s tactics are foolish at best: The industry has always been full of bright ideas – eight-track tapes, plastering records with skull and crossbones logos that warned home taping was “killing music”, signing Mariah Carey …

In the midst of a legal war, Sharman Networks, the company that distributes Kazaa, countersued the RIAA and MPAA for antitrust violations last January. Last Thursday a federal judge threw the case out: The labels and studios filed suit last year against Sharman Networks, alleging that it violated their copyrights …

With his typical class, cutting through the nonsense, Jan Herman is leaving MSNBC today: Some media observers have pointed out the absurdity of that claim. What’s not absurd, though, is the occupational hazard. It grows on bloggers like a fungus. Show me a blogger and I’ll show you someone who …

“I know – we’ll threaten to sue them all, alienate everyone and watch the files fly!” Good thinking RIAA: The Recording Industry Association of America’s announcement on June 25 that it will start tracking down and suing users of file-sharing programs has yet to spook people, say developers of these …

The thunderstorm currently pummeling the environs feels like the wrath of God – perhaps He is angry with file sharers: Does “thou shalt not steal” mean “Thou shalt not download”? Just like other computer-savvy listeners, evangelical Christians swipe songs off the Net – and Christian labels have watched their fortunes …

Jan Herman Googles against WMD.