Blackmoor Vituperative

A study by the Australian Institute of Criminology revealed that software and music industries couldn’t explain how they calculated piracy losses, even though this data was used for lobbying efforts and in court cases (The Australian reports).

According to The Australian, the Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) – a body responsible for “investigative and intellectual property rights enforcement related services to the Australian music industry” did not know how piracy estimates were calculated as data it collected was processed by the IFPI in London. The MIPI manager commented that: “The reason … [she] wasn’t personally aware of how they are prepared is because they are compiled by the IFPI… They have a group that has been doing this for some time.”

Also the report noted that often the following misleading assumption is used to estimate piracy losses: a person who acquired pirate goods would otherwise have paid full price for the legal product. Moreover, unverified extrapolations were used by lobbyists to present the problem to the government.

Finally the report suggests that if these statistics are not thoroughly explained by the purveyors they should be withdrawn.

This study is a draft so far and the institute plans to check it further (after the criticism voiced by the industry) before it is handed over to the Australian government as “senior researchers disagreed with its conclusions”.

Piracy stats don’t add up, The Australian
New music ‘piracy’ statistics, p2pnet
Piracy losses fabricated – Aussie study, The Register
Australian Agency Questions Piracy Damage Valuations, Digital Music News

There’s a good reason the music industry can’t explain how they are calculating piracy losses. To my knowledge, there’s only ever been one serious large-scale research project conducted to try to calculate the direct effects of “illegal” downloading. The researchers’ conclusion was that peer-to-peer downloading’s effect on CD sales was so minimal that it was indistinguishible from zero.

This is yet another indication that the entertainment industry’s global push to expand their stranglehold on intellectual property rights is not about protecting creativity; it’s about the desire of a handful of global oligarchs to claim ownership of all forms of human creativity.

You can download a copy of the full study at: www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf

(from AllOfMP3.com, Music industry fails to explain how the piracy losses are calculated)

I have been saying for years that the whole “losses from piracy” argument is based on fallacies and that it’s just smoke and mirrors so that the media robber barons can seize and retain control of our cultural future. In my opinion, this observation falls into the “water is wet and teen-agers are horny” category. But some people are so damned gullible that they’ll believe anything the Digital Rights Mafia says unless there’s an egghead study that tells them what anyone with eyes could see for themselves.

I just finished watching a really cute movie called D.E.B.S. It’s sort of like Clueless, except the girls are in college, carry guns, and there’s some girl-girl kissing. It’s funny and campy and sweet.

An archive of 75+ inspirational messages from Despair, Inc., courtesy of TechRepublic.

The US Department of Homeland Security has warned that attackers are exploiting an unpatched flaw in Windows to compromise systems via malicious websites.

Microsoft on Friday said it was investigating reports of a newly discovered, unpatched bug in the XMLHTTP 4.0 ActiveX control, which it confirmed was being exploited on malicious sites. The bug has the potential to infect a large number of systems. Since it doesn’t require any user interaction, a user must merely use Internet Explorer to visit a site containing the exploit.

(from TechWorld, Windows hit by zero-day flaw)

Does a house have to fall on you people for you to get the message?

1. Don’t use Internet Explorer!
2. Don’t use or enable ActiveX!

The Oracle move may give Linux a little more credibility in enterprise shops, but realistically its credibility is pretty high already. Expect Red Hat to feel some pressure to reduce prices, make more frequent releases, and try to out-innovate Oracle in ways that are not easily copied. Customers will benefit no matter who comes out on top.

(from ZDNet, Red Hat: Unfakeable Linux)

David Berlind, for one, is suffering from a recurring DRM nightmare, and it keeps getting worse. Depending on your point of view, DRM stands for Digital Rights Management or Digital Restrictions Management. David calls it C.R.A.P. — and warns that we should all be very afraid.

The bogeyman that haunts Ed Bott and so many other Windows users has been Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage. In Vista, this anti-piracy program will only get worse, warns Ed. “Technically, it’s not a kill switch, but it’s arguably a near-death experience for your PC.”

What other terrors has technology wrought? Ten troubling examples:

1. Malware tricks
2. 64-bit drivers
3. Web 2.0 insecurity
4. Honest consumers driven to piracy
5. Virtualized SOA
6. Microsoft Zune
7. Floating nuclear plant
8. The DMCA
9. Electronic voting
10. Traceable ‘PattyMail’

And there’s plenty more scary tech here….

(from ZDNet, Technology that gives us the creeps)

I call “DRM” the “Digital Rights Mafia”, because that’s just what the DRM-pushers are: corrupt sleazeballs who use force to control, coerce, and rip off honest citizens while subverting our legal system in order to line their own pockets. RIAA, MPAA, and legislators who vote for abominations like the DMCA are the new Tammany Hall. Voters and consumers need to wake up and get rid of these scumbags.

The bottom line: Mozilla Firefox 2 is a winner, beating Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on security, features, and overall cool factor and deserving our Editors’ Choice award.

(from ZDNet, Firefox 2 Review & Comparison)

Not all of the extensions (now called “add-ons”) which I used with Firefox 1.5 are available for Firefox 2.0. On the other hand, not all of them are needed anymore. Here is what I am using now:

1. Adblock
2. Adblock Filterset.G Updater
3. ColorZilla
4. CSS Validator
5. DictionarySearch
6. DOM Inspector
7. DownThemAll!
8. Duplicate Tab
9. Forecastfox
10. Google Browser Sync
11. gTranslate
12. Html Validator
13. IE Tab
14. Tabbrowser Preferences
15. ViewSourceWith

Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion
Episode 20: A Celebration Of The Destroyer
Friday, November 3, 2006 – 20:00

Few names touch the hearts of action movie fans (particularly those who came of age in the 80’s) as that of Remo Williams. Released in October 1985, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins was an instant cult classic. The film was based on a series of novels (which are still being written to this day) featuring the character of Remo (also known as The Destroyer) and his mentor Chiun. Essentially, Remo is an ex-cop, who is kidnapped/recruited by a secret government agency to become an assassin (under the tutelage of martial arts master Chiun). What makes the books and film so special is the terrific relationship between the two characters, and of course spectacular action sequences. For one special evening, Team Fantasmo will be screening this legendary film on their mammoth screen. As if that weren’t enough, the guest speaker will be none other than the author of The Destroyer series himself, Warren Murphy! In addition to being a prolific novelist, Mr. Murphy is also an accomplished screenwriter. With this in mind, Fantasmo will also be showing one of Mr. Murphy’s early films, the Remo-esque The Eiger Sanction starring Clint Eastwood!

8:00 P.M. – Warren Murphy Speaks!

8:30 P.M. – Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) – A decorated police officer (Fred Ward) is kidnapped by a secret government agency and forced to become an assassin for the United States. Under the care of martial arts master Chiun (Joel Grey), he will be taught to walk on water, dodge bullets, and kill with extreme prejudice. Rated PG-13

10:45 P.M. – The Eiger Sanction (1975) – A former assassin (Clint Eastwood) is brought out of retirement to uncover the identity of a Russian spy, and then eliminate him. Unfortunately, he will have to accomplish his mission by taking part in a treacherous expedition to climb the Eiger mountain. Rated R

Chesapeake Central Library
298 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, VA 23322
(757) 382-6591

As I first mentioned back in May 2005, “it’s to fight terrorism” is the new all-encompassing excuse for anything the US government wants to do now, replacing the earlier excuse of “it’s for the children”. It would appear that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FBI Director Robert Mueller just now got the memo.

Oct 19, 2006

SpamCop and others are monitoring a huge global increase in spam volumes that started late last week. Networks are reporting anywhere from 30-50% increases in spam volume. On our system, this is causing occasional mail delays as our filtering systems struggle with the load. We’re working on installing more systems in the filters to increase our capacity but this won’t be finished for around a week. In the meantime, we may have delays during the middle of the day. We’re aware of the problem and doing what we can to mitigate it until all the new systems are operational.

(from SpamCop Email System News)

I have been getting swamped with spam over the last few days. Most of it has subject lines like “Momentous letter. You must to read.”

We really need a replacement for SMTP. Like, five years ago.