-
After Grokster: why (almost) everything we’re told about P2P is wrong
by
Andrew Orlowski
–
Grokster! Is it the end of the world as we know it? No, it isn’t. But before we examine how the two lobbies, the technology lobby and the recording industry lobby, have let us down so badly, let’s pause for a moment to consider how the press has let us down this week, too. The…
-
Tag me stupid, baby!
by
Andrew Orlowski
–
This postbag contains small pieces of irony or humor which may choke small children or law professors Perhaps we should call them The New Literalists. Or is Nitpickers a better word? Or how about Pixel Pedants? The Road to Hell looks like it’s going to be Tagged With Good Intentions, if you pardon the twisted…
-
On Computers, Creativity and Copyright
by
Andrew Orlowski
–
“We’d run out of ironic things to say” Neil Tennant Creative Commons is an intriguing experiment to granulize the rights a creator has over his or her work, and to formalize what today is largely spontaneous and informal. What we rarely see when it is discussed, is a genuine attempt to answer the question “Why…
-
Are you trying to be funny? If so check [ ] this box
by
Andrew Orlowski
–
The return of the irony tag After ten years of the net, few amongst us have yet to realize that computer networks can be a lousy communication medium. Against all the good things that we’ve gained – such as the disappearance of physical distance, traversed by very slow moving postal workers – we must stack…
-
‘Sims school’ abandons books for laptops
by
Andrew Orlowski
–
Technology vendors have long viewed the state of Arizona as rich pickings. In addition to the Federal pork barrel, state tax payers have found over $60m dollars for IT investment. Now a high school in Tuscon is abandoning textbooks entirely, at the urging of the school district’s technology evangelist, who appears to have caught the…
-
For ambulance-chasing bloggers, tragedy equals opportunity
by
Andrew Orlowski
–
No human disaster these days is complete without two things, both of which can be guaranteed to surface within 24 hours of the event. First, virus writers will release a topical new piece of malware. And then weblog evangelists proclaim how terrific the catastrophe is for the internet. It doesn’t seem to matter how high the…