THE WAR on sharing benefits a great deal from the death of net neutrality, which apparently now permits ISPs to throttle particular protocols [1] (based on stigmas), even here in Europe. The copyright law may soon change in the European Union (with input from people [2] and progressive parties [3]), but for the time being we see even "progressive" or "liberal" countries such as Sweden acting like [4] the US [5] when it comes to copyright. It's irrational zeal. As Muktware illustrated some days ago [6], other business models need to be adopted because Moby, a five-time Grammy Award nominee, is now moving to a Creative Commons-like model (free sharing as a core principle). The real problem with today's enforcement of copyright law is that it is trying to protect a dying business model, not to create new business opportunities. It's all about protectionism. ⬆
For more than a decade Internet providers have slowed down BitTorrent transfers for traffic management purposes. Today we look at fresh data from the Google-backed Measurement Lab, which provides new insight into the BitTorrent throttling practices of ISPs all over the world. The data show that many ISPs still interfere with file-sharing traffic, but to varying degrees.
Back in May last year, we wrote about how the European Commission's "Licences for Europe" initiative had turned into a fiasco, with public interest groups and open access supporters pulling out in protest at the way it was being conducted. The central problem was the Commission's attempt to force everything into the straitjacket of copyright licensing, refusing to allow alternative approaches to be discussed.
As you will be aware, this year is a big one for the party - we have the European Parliamentary elections coming up this May. The European parliament is vital to many of the issues we care about - from mass surveillance, copyright reform, international cooperation, to transparent trade agreements.
Well, this is a new one. Swedish Public Television just posted legal terms and condition as to what they are allowed to do when others are posting sports photos from the Winter Games in Sotji on Twitter. In terms of the worst copyright monopoly bullshit I’ve seen, this ranks pretty high.
We wrote earlier about the guy who told the story of being pulled out of a theater in the middle of a movie for wearing Google Glass (turned off), which he wears all the time, because he got prescription lenses installed on the device and uses it as his regular pair of glasses. As we noted, there were some oddities in the original story, including references to the FBI and "The Movie Association," neither of which made sense.
There is no rocket science to the fact that it is tough for most musicians to make a living based solely on album sales and streaming revenues. In fact the major amount of money that these artists make comes through touring and merchandise. But Moby, a five-time Grammy Award nominee, has a slightly different approach towards making and distributing music.