(no subject)

[lady_t_220]

This result on this bill and this breakdown of who voted what and the timing of it just...
I have no words to express my DISGUST. For the system using the wash-up right before government's dissolved before the election to push through a bill that is so agonisingly badly worded, so unspeakably open to political abuse, and so blatantly out of touch with developing technology's changing of commercial models... I just... it makes me furious for more reasons than I can't possibly lay down in one go without writing an angry, angry dissertation on the topic. Plus as a bonus it fucking smacks of George Orwell.
And what makes it worse is that in so many ways it proves that regardless of the election being, supposedly, a time for us as a nation to express our opinions on how this country should be run, increasingly there IS NO DIFFERENCE between the major political players.
There is NO viable alternative on some matters.

Oh, and for the curious, yes... my local MP was one of the 64% who couldn't be arsed to turn up. Not that he'd have done any good, because I seem to have directly opposing views on pretty much every decision he's made since 1996 and I want it on record I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM.

And it can be downplayed as much as you like, because yes, I know, the internet is essentially a self-healing circuit. You put a blockage on something and sooner or later the flow of traffic will figure out how to route around it, but it's kind of a matter of principal more than anything.
Yes, piracy is a problem, but piracy springs from a basic desire for media, and that often there IS NO legitimate way to get something in an expedient manner other than piracy. OK sure, I could wait 6 months between a show being aired in the US and it being licenced for broadcast here, but I don't want to wait 6 months. Not when I can have it in under 6 hours. Why should I wait 6 months?
The basic, existing commercial models for licencing do not WORK in our technologically altered marketplace. Pre-existing business models are outmoded, outdated and failing to keep up with independent innovation. That's the problem.

Comments

[deke.livejournal.com]

Sadly, we're going the same way and we didn't even have the sham vote to show for it. The FCC lost a ruling to Comcast about Big C being able to throttle network speeds on certain programs (BitTorrent) and high-volume users. The FCC had ruled Comcast couldn't do that, but now it's been reversed. So much for net neutrality. :(

[hobbit-chan.livejournal.com]

I would have been able to maybe get our MP to go..you know if he wasnt dead. ¬_¬
I hate them all right now....

[katduza.livejournal.com]

We need to start our own political party.
Seriously.

[simonthecat.livejournal.com]

Music Piracy is a problem of the music industry's own making!

How much does it cost to legally down load a chart single? £1.00? £1.50?

I actually have no idea, because I don't download music.

I buy CDs. Hang on... How much does it cost to buy a chart CD? Usually about £15. For about 8 tracks!

Ah, but look through the bargain bucket two months later and you can buy that same CD for £3.99!

Now, seriously, they are still making a profit on that bargain bucket sale! The mark-up on a chard CD is something like 750%! Oh, wait, how much does each CD cost to produce? About 5p. That's 30,000% mark-up!

Oh But what about the artists! Music piracy is stealing from the poor deprived artists.......

YEAH RIGHT! I've not seen any pop stars dressed in rags lately. Except Elton John, but that's his choice!

IF THE FUCKING POP STARS ARE SO FUCKING WORRIED BY FUCKING SO-CALLED "ILLEGAL" DOWN-LOADS, THEY SHOULD FUCKING CUT THE FUCKING COST OF LEGAL ONES!

Um, yeah. This is something I feel strongly about!

[lady-t-220.livejournal.com]

You and me both. It infuriates me no end. I can justify part of the cost of CDs with manufacturing and shipping costs and the stores taking a % on top, as well as designers for the graphics and the printers for the booklets in the sleeve that all soon accumulates on a physical, tangible product. But data is, like... pretty much free to multiply. You have online hosting costs and the copyrite holders wanting a cut but you can slice right off the factories and the haulage and the retailers and the printers. The industry is just greedy, and clinging to marketing models that just don't work any more.

Now I like buying CDs, I like the pretty art and the physical thing to look at on my shelf, but if I can't afford the damn thing of course I'm going to want to download a free version until i actually have the money to buy a real one. I'm not going to deprive myself when I know damn well I'm going to spend the money eventually sooner or later anyway. And some study or another already noted that the people who illegally download the most are amazingly enough the people who spend the most money buying albums. Wow big shocker. They download a huge pile of stuff they weren't certain they'd like enough to spend money on, and discover a bunch of things they ARE willing to spend money on.
*eyeroll*
I'm shocked by this revelation.

[simonthecat.livejournal.com]

I wrote to my (former) MP asking him why, as a supposed socialist, he voted for a bill that is clearly capitalist in nature! I've posted the letter on my LJ!

[lady-t-220.livejournal.com]

Dunno if you listen to The Now Show on Radio 4, but last Friday's ep had a chunk in the middle that pointed out how, *amazingly* Mandelson had the idea for the digital economy bill while having dinner with David Geffen on his yacht.
Really, it amazes me how record producers and their pet politicos such an unelected representative could come up with such ideas...

[simonthecat.livejournal.com]

Money talks!