Random Musings

So Apple is pitching a hissy fit over the possibility that France might force it to open iTunes.

Let me explain what the proposed French law would do: It would simply require that, if you download a DRMed music file, you be able to play it on whatever MP3 player you want. It would require that you be allowed to use what you paid for. What’s wrong with that? Artists would still get their cut, it’s just that consumers would not be able to be locked in to a specific company’s products. Frankly, I wish the United States would consider similar legislation. Proprietary DRM systems may be good for Fortune 500 companies, but they are no good for artists, or consumers.

# posted by Dan @ 5:39 PM 0 comments

A friend sent me this. I just can’t believe how stupid people can be. The saddest part is, the woman managed to reproduce. I guess natural selection isn’t infallible.

# posted by Dan @ 3:44 PM 0 comments

Walking back from gaming

Almost midnight

The full moon in the sky

The wind like a knife

My time at DeSales is close to an end

Would that the beginning have been as good as the end!

# posted by Dan @ 12:26 AM 0 comments

Now they’re introducing the Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act. This would, as the name suggests, mandate that that all digital radios obey a broadcast flag that says what you can and cannot do with the broadcast. Right now, you can record radio broadcasts. You can do so automatically. You can do so for as long as you want. If this bill is passed, all that could change. The broadcast flag will not just prevent distributing broadcasts over the Internet; it will dictate whether or not you can record radio broadcasts at all, and for how long. In short, it would end home recording as we know it.

# posted by Dan @ 3:54 PM 0 comments

I’ve been thinking about the Dubai ports deal, and I’ve realized something: Many people are asking the wrong question. The question is not “Should there be a 45 day review period?”, the question should be “Should Dubai Ports World have any chance to run our ports?”. Dubai Ports World is owned by the UAE government. Two of the 9/11 hijackers were from the UAE. Money for 9/11 was laundered through the UAE. AQ Kahn used Dubai ports to smuggle nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea. Bush claims that the UAE is our ally…but what about the next sheik? I don’t mean to sound anti-Arab, but we need to be very careful about letting a company from that part of the world have access to sensitive parts of our ports. Yes, the workers will be Americans, but the management will be UAE-which also brings up the question of whether people coming from a mindset in which it takes two women to equal the testimony of one man, where a husband can beat his disobedient wife, can be trusted to follow our gender equality laws.

# posted by Dan @ 5:33 PM 0 comments