Who will save us from the record labels? Maybe a record label.
But it isn’t what you think.Nettwerk, the great Canadian label that represents Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and the Barenaked Ladies, has taken sides in the Recording Industry Association of America’s war on users…. “The current actions of the RIAA are not in my artists’ best interests.”Nettwerk is paying the family’s legal bills, and has announced it will cover any fines the court ultimately levies.This is classy.
Schism in the open-source world: GPL vs. DRM
It’s been brewing for a while, but a fissure in the world of open-source software may be about to widen dramatically.At issue: digital rights management (DRM), the technology that allows copyright holders to restrict how you use the media they publish.On the line: the latest version of the General Public License (GPL), the legal framework that establishes the ground rules for developing, using and distributing open-source software…. The man behind Linux, Linus Torvalds, wants to leave options open for open-source developers to introduce DRM to their software.The positions in a nutshell, as reported by ZDNet:The foundation believes that free software–that is, software that can be freely studied, copied, modified, reused, redistributed and shared by its users–is the only ethically satisfactory form of software development, as free and open scientific research is the only ethically satisfactory context for the conduct of mathematics, physics or biology.
Comments and blogs: If I could talk to the animals…
The Washington Post recently shut off comments on its post.blog, following a flurry of angry ripostes to its ombudsman’s clumsy handling of complaints over the paper’s coverage of the Jack Abramoff affair. Commenting has been partly restored; you now have...Speechlist Issue #5: Seven steps to powerful quotations
Issue 5 – January 25, 2006 IN THIS ISSUE… 1. Opening words 2. Feature article: Can I quote you on that? 3. Catch Rob at the Ragan Speechwriting Conference, February 8-10 4. Your reading list 5. Ever thought of blogging? 6. Subscribing, unsubscribing and...Bloggers 1, Bulte 0
I have a story in this week’s Straight Goods on the Sarmite Bulte affair, where bloggers turned a Liberal MP’s cozy relationship with large media rights-holders into an election issue: There were other factors at play, of course. Mayor David Miller...
Why, yes — I’d LOVE to speak at your event
Public speaking and speechwriting: the essential guides
Looking for advice on public speaking, speechwriting and leadership communications? Here are some of my most comprehensive posts, on topics that people ask me about most often.
