Category: Stories

  • Music biz: get a cluestick from online games

    by

      An answer to the music industry’s woes slipped into the IFPI Annual Report last week, but its significance went unnoticed. Before I get to it, though, here’s a poser. “We screw the struggling artist, and pay the suit,” Nick Carr mused recently. Carr was examining a contradiction: information has never been less free, it’s…

    Continue reading »

  • Lords mull Hail Mary penances for file-sharers

    by

    Lucas is a self-styled libertarian, so he must realise the inherent contradiction of the state acting in this way. The Lords this week discussed new compensation for copyright holders this week – including a voluntary ‘Hail Mary fine’ payable by file sharers, instead of suspension – but nobody noticed. It was late on Wednesday night,…

    Continue reading »

  • Net Neutrality: the Good Guys always were white

    by

    Delicious news from the United States, where ‘Net Neutrality’ is again being recast for a new political purpose. The term long since ceased to mean anything – it now means anything you want it to mean. But as a rule of thumb, advocating Neutrality means giving your support to general Goodness on the internets, and…

    Continue reading »

  • The Digital Economy Bill: the story so far

    by

    Pelted from all sides by amendments, the Digital Economy Bill continues to plough its way through Parliament. This week, the Lords lined up to have their say, but since there are so many (300) Amendments, they’ll be at it again on Monday. Of course, out of the ten subject areas, the one labelled ‘online copyright…

    Continue reading »

  • Record labels seek DMCA-style takedowns

    by

    Exclusive Record label trade association the BPI wants sweeping changes to UK online copyright practice in 11th hour amendments to the Digital Britain bill. The amendments would grant copyright holders injunctions against websites and service providers similar to the US DMCA act – but with no ‘safe harbour’ provision to verify whether the claim is…

    Continue reading »

  • Nu Lab’s favourite boffin

    by

    New Labour’s favourite boffin has lost her job – for a very New Labour reason – and has responded with a classically New Labour riposte. Oxford neuroscientist Susan Greenfield was made redundant from her post as the Director of the Royal Institution after failing to balance the books. The full-time post itself is being abolished.…

    Continue reading »