Digital Impulses

HD-DVD Key

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Does the MPAA know I exsist?

Cory Doctorow launches "OverClocked"

Cory Doctorow, the SF writer, co-founder of BoingBoing, blogger, former European Affairs coordinator for the EFF, current Wired Magazine correspondent, Fullbright Chair at USC, 'Net activist and the leading Anti-DRM authority on the planet, launched his latest novel, 'OverClocked: Stories of the Future Present' at The Secret Headquarters comic book shop in Los Angeles this evening.

Aside from being mis-lead for the first time on record by Google Maps and getting there 15 minutes late, I had a wonderful time. 

I was able to purchase two copies of 'OverClocked: Stories of the Future Present' (one for reading and another that I got Cory to sign which I plan to put away in a safe somewhere) and then I mingled and perused the awesome selection of comic books and science fictions tomes that The Secret Headquarters had on display.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped while waiting for Cory to read one of the stories from his new novel:

Around 8:00 P.M. or so, Cory read the 1st short story in 'OverClocked', an 800-word vignette entitled 'Printcrime'' that he put together for Nature Magazine a while back. To get an idea of the cool ambiance at the event last night, click on the following link to watch a small quicktime movie:

All in all, I am glad I took the time to go see Cory launch his book.  To purchase the book, click on one of the following links:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble

Highly Recommended.

Steve Jobs: Thoughts on Music

Steve Jobs has posted a long treatise on the current state of Music on the Internet over at the Apple website.  In it he explains that Apple sells DRM-laden music only because it is forced to do so by the "Big Four" music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI.

Incredibly, Jobs is advocating the abolishment of DRM.  To quote Jobs:

"...Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries.  Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free.  For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard.  The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company.  EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company.  Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace.  Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly..."

Very interesting read. We certainly do live in interesting times, indeed.

Canada Fulbright Chair Lecture Series: John Gilmore & John Perry Barlow

USC Annenberg
School for Communication
Center for Public Diplomacy
3502 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Room 207
Google Map

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
1850 Hrs

John Perry Barlow & John Gilmore on the continuing erosion of Civil Liberties

Between them, Gilmore and Barlow co-founded EFF, Greenpeace and Earth First; co-developed the compiler that runs almost all the code you've ever used; wrote the Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace; founded the first great dial-up ISP and invented the alt. hierarchy; wrote the Grateful Dead's best lyrics and much more -- Gilmore philanthropic work includes relief for victims of Guantanamo Bay, lawsuits against the Attorney General over the right to fly anonymously, and much more.

1849: Cory Doctorow, John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore just walked into the room.  I am amazed at how completely unassuming these guys are.  They look like anyone else sitting here in this room.

1900: John Perry Barlow has launched into a background talk on the beginings of the EFF.

1940: John Gilmore has just explained how he made a pile of money by creating a set of tools and giving them away, charging large companies on a support package for these tools lik the gnu compiler, etc.  His company was sold to Red Hat in 1999 for 675 millon dollars.

2000: John Gilmore has just stated that all commercial / consumer printers embed a series of dots in any image that is printed by the engine in that printer that can be used to tie that print-out to the  serial # of the printer that printed it.

So, when you buy a printer or copier anywhere they really would prefer that you pay for it with a credit card so that they can trace the sale of the printer or copier to you directly via the CC transaction.

Here are a few images of the event:

John Gilmore on the left and John Perry Barlow on the right:
   

John Perry Barlow & Cory Doctorow:


Cory Doctorow:

This room is PACKED like I have never seen it before.  They are bringing in extra chairs as I type this.  I am very glad I got here 90 minutes early. 

It's a little surreal to be sitting directly across from John Gilmore and John Perry Barlow, true living legends of the computer industry... 

John Perry Barlow is wearing an Osama bin Laden t-shirt that says "He's still free.  How about you?"

I am really enjoying these talks, and seeing as to how Cory is scheduled to be the Fullbright Chair at USC until July of 2007, here's hoping he keeps inviting interesting people from around the Tech industry to come and speak at USC.  I will be at each one, time permitting.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, drop by USC when one of these talks are scheduled. Highly recommended.

Canada Fulbright Chair Speaker Series: Cory Doctorow

USC
Annenberg School Center for Public Diplomacy
Room 207
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
1837 Hrs

I am sitting at USC in the Annenberg School for Communication waiting for the talk by Cory Doctorow to begin at 1900 hours.

Because the original speaker slated for this evening had to cancel and subsequently Cory did not promote this event, only 4 people showed up aside from myself and so we had the whole room to ourselves and got to listen to Cory give a really interesting talk on the evils of DRM, Intellectual Property rights, his work with WIPO  Copyrights, Trademarks and how all of this affects the developing world.

As usual, Cory was at his articulate best, riffing on a wide-ranging palate of topics and kept me engaged from beginning to end.  I attempted to record the talk via Audacity on my IBM Thinkpad T60 but the integrated speaker was much to weak to pick up Cory's un-amplified voice from across the room.

So, that part of the evening didn't work out so well.

I am really enjoying these talks, and seeing as to how Cory is scheduled to be the Fullbright Chair at USC until July of 2007, here's hoping he keeps inviting interesting people from around the Tech industry to come and speak at USC.  I will be at each one, time permitting. 

If you are in the Los Angeles area, drop by USC when one of these talks are scheduled.  Highly recommended.

Canada Fulbright Chair Speaker Series: Steven Starr

USC
Annenberg School Center for Public Diplomacy
Room 207
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
1837 Hrs

I am sitting at USC in the Annenberg School for Communication waiting for the talk by Steven Starr to begin at 1900 hours. 

Cory Doctorow is holding an animated discussion with two gentlemen on the evils of DRM and what the MPAA and the RIAA in lockstep with the hardware manufacturers are planning to foist on the public in terms of DRM and your ability to do what you want with the media you pay for.

Cory just stated that if you update your Creative MP3 player to get the newest firmware, it surreptitiously disables the ability to record from the built-in FM receiver, all this under the guise of “added functionality”. This is precisely the reason I am here tonight.

 Here we go:
 (1903 hrs) 

• Steven Starr is the co-founder of a company called Revver.
• Revver pays MORE the MORE a media file gets played
• He just mentioned the sale of YouTube to Google
• Revver sets up technology to allow the distribution of media files
• They have developed ‘Super Distribution’, where media files fly through the      Internet, reporting back to Revver “Hey, I'm being watched! Send me an Ad!”. So people get paid on those terms.
• Revver splits ad revenue 50-50 with the media creator
• The Mentos and Coke creators got:
  • 5 – 6M views and
  • got $70K in Ad revenue that they split with Revver, thus
  • making 35K on a 2.5 minute video that cost
  • $100-200 to make
• Revver has a set of tools and technologies, with an API that allows you to create      your own site and become an affiliate of Revver that makes money as a      re-distributor who makes 20% of the Ad revenue
• Content creators can opt out of Ad categories that they do not wish to be associated with
• Revver released its BETA 11 months ago
• They do NOT allow copyrighted video
• Revver has been seen as a company that has taken UGC to the forfront of the ‘free media conversation”.
• Revver uses CC licenses. Every piece of video flies out with a 2.5 version CC license.
• Revver is NOT a video portal destination site, per se. They differentiate themselves as a tools and services company

All in all, it was a great talk, where a lot of very good questions and issues were raised on the legalities and dangers of content creation and rights retentions/ownership in the world of UGC or User Generated Content.

Keynote speech at ToorCon 8 by Cory Doctorow

Cory  Doctorow did his usual spectacular job when dekivering a Keynote.  The Keynote in question was delivered at ToorCon 8 the hacking convention in  San Diego, CA.

Click below to watch the video:

At the USC Annenberg School Center for Public Diplomacy

USC
Annenberg School Center for Public Diplomacy
Room 230
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
1900 Hrs

Some images from outside USC







I am in room 230, waiting for Cory Doctorow and Wendy Seltzer to arrive.  There are 11 people here right now, including myself. Mostly student types, with three women and eight men making up the gender breakdown.  Another young lady just arrived, making 12 of us.

19:04:  Cory Doctorow has just arrived accompanied by Wendy Seltzer.  They are busy up at the front, trying to get her communication equipment set up.  Here we go...

Wendy gas started off by giving us a background on the case involving speech suppression and copyright law.  Wendy is a Law Teacher at Brooklyn College and works with the EFF and also founded an organization called the  Chilling Effects Clearinghouse

Wendy is speaking to the following themes:

• Diebold Electronic Voting Machines
• DMCA
• Myth TV
• The transition to Digital Television
• The government is eager to speed up this transition so that they can resell the spectrum that will be freed up as analog broadcasters move over to all digital systems.
• Content creators refuse to create "high value" content until assurances are in place that will protect said content from "indiscriminate Internet-based re-distribution of digital content".\
• The Broadcast Flag

Day Against DRM

Today is "Day Against DRM" day.  Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing! has a post with all of the relevant links. 

For now, right-click on the following images and use them to post on your blog or anywhere else of prominence to do your part in celebrating International Day Against DRM