May 4, 2007
The online rebellion
Bit Player
Jon Healey blogs about Hollywood’s love-hate relationship with technology for the LA Times.
“The group that provides anti-copying technology for high-definition discs triggered an online rebellion this week when it tried to stop Web sites from publicizing a way to circumvent the copy controls on HD DVD discs. The episode recalled the movie industry’s efforts in 1999-2000 to stop sites from publishing or linking to a software program to circumvent the locks on DVDs. Then, as now, the crackdown on the offending code sparked a fight at the grass roots that caused the code to proliferate – the opposite result of what the industry had sought.”
Social networking gets a major challenge
IT Wire
Stan Beer has a blog site called BeerFiles. He says it is an in-your-face and sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator.
“Kevin Rose knows on which side his bread is buttered. Without the Digg community the site he founded is nothing. However, the events of the past 48 hours show that the social networking phenomenon has run up against its first real challenge – and it’s a doozy. One of the reasons social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace are able to exist is that they can claim refuge from the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). YouTube currently has thousands of unsolicited copyrighted video clips posted on its site which is one of the reasons it is being sued by media company Viacom. However, in accordance with the DMCA, YouTube will happily remove any offending clip if asked to do so by the legitimate copyright holder.”
Tech Web
Alexandre Wolfe has made another connection between Apple and Intel.
“Call it an Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), call it a handheld Web browser, but whatever you call it, it’s Intel’s most important new foray since it tried–and failed miserably–to become the major supplier of cellphone chips. Whatever the name, the planned lightweight platform is the Apple of Intel’s eye in more ways than one.”
