Conservatives ♥ 'South Park'
Frank Rich
Conservatives can't stop whining about Hollywood, but the embarrassing reality is that they want to be hip, too. It's not easy. In the showbiz wrangling sweepstakes of 2004, liberals had Leonardo DiCaprio, the Dixie Chicks and the Boss. The right had Bo Derek, Pat Boone and Jessica Simpson, who, upon meeting the secretary of the interior, Gale Norton, congratulated her for doing "a nice job decorating the White House." Ms. Simpson may be the last performer in America who can make Whoopi Goldberg seem like the soul of wit.
What to do? Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers have sunk, the right's latest effort to grab a piece of the showbiz action is a new and fast-selling book published by Regnery, home to the Swift Boat Veterans, and promoted in lock step by the right-wing media elite of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page and The New York Post. "South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias," by Brian C. Anderson of the conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute, gives a wet kiss to one of the funniest and most foul-mouthed series on television. The book has even been endorsed by the grim theologian Michael Novak, who presumably forgot to TiVo the "South Park" episode that holds the record for the largest number of bleeped-out repetitions (162) of a single four-letter expletive in a single television half-hour. Then again, The Weekly Standard has informed us that William Bennett, egged on by his children, has given the show a tentative thumbs up.
Cynics might say that conservatives, flummoxed by the popularity of Jon Stewart, are eager to endorse any bigger hit on Comedy Central: The animated adventures of four obstreperous fourth graders in the mythical town of South Park, Colo., outdraws "The Daily Show" by a million or so viewers. But Mr. Anderson has another case to make. He quotes "South Park" profanity without apology and cheers the "scathing genius" with which it mocks "hate-crime laws and sexual harassment policies, liberal celebrities, abortion-rights extremists."
In one episode he praises, "Butt Out," a caricatured Rob Reiner journeys from Hollywood to South Park to mount a fascistic antismoking campaign that "perfectly captures the Olympian arrogance and illiberalism of liberal elites." Mr. Anderson also applauds last fall's "South Park" adjunct, "Team America: World Police," the feature film in which the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, portray Michael Moore as a suicide bomber and ridicule the antiwar activism of Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn and Janeane Garofalo by presenting them as dim-witted, terrorist-appeasing puppets (literally so, with strings) who are ultimately blown to bits at a "world peace conference" convened by Kim Jong Il. (The film is out on DVD, with an expanded marionette sex scene featuring coprophilia, on May 17.)
So far, so right. Among their other anarchic comic skills, Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone have a perfect pitch for lampooning what many Americans find most irritating about liberals, especially Hollywood liberals: a self-righteous propensity for knowing better than anyone else and for meddling in everyone's business, whether by enforcing P.C. speech codes or plotting to curb S.U.V.'s and guns.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the publication of "South Park Conservatives": Emboldened by the supposed "moral values" landslide on Election Day, the faith-based right became the new left. Just as Mr. Anderson's book reached stores in early April, Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone, true to their butt-out libertarianism, aimed their fire at self-righteous, big-government conservatives who have become every bit as high-handed and meddlesome as any Prius-pushing movie star. Such is this role reversal that the same TV show celebrated by Mr. Anderson and his cohort as the leading edge of a potential conservative victory in the culture wars now looks like a harbinger of an anti-conservative backlash instead.
In the March 30 episode, Kenny, a kid whose periodic death is a "South Park" ritual, lands in a hospital in a "persistent vegetative state" and is fed through a tube. The last page of his living will is missing. Demonstrators and media hordes descend. Though heavenly angels decree that "God intended Kenny to die" rather than be "kept alive artificially," they are thwarted by Satan, whose demonic aide advises him to "do what we always do - use the Republicans." Soon demagogic Republican politicians are spewing sound bites ("Removing the feeding tube is murder") scripted in Hell. But as in the Schiavo case, they don't prevail. Kenny is allowed to die in peace once his missing final wish is found: "If I should ever be in a vegetative state and kept alive on life support, please for the love of God don't ever show me in that condition on national television."
This remarkably prescient scenario, first broadcast on the eve of Terri Schiavo's death, anticipated just how far the zeitgeist would swing in the month after the right's overreach in her case. A USA Today poll a week later found that Americans by 55 to 40 percent believe that "Republicans, traditionally the party of limited government, are 'trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans' on moral values." In other words, what Hillary Clinton's overreaching big-government health care plan did to the Democrats a decade ago is the whammy the Schiavo case has inflicted on the G.O.P. today. And like the Democrats back then, the Republican elites have been so besotted with their election victory and so out of touch with the mainstream they didn't see their comeuppance coming. At the height of the feeding-tube frenzy, Peggy Noonan told her Wall Street Journal troops that federal intervention in the Schiavo family brawl was a political slam dunk: "Politicians, please, think of yourselves! Move to help Terri Schiavo, and no one will be mad at you, and you'll keep a human being alive." (Italics hers.)
Oops. But what's given the Schiavo case resonance beyond the Schiavo story itself is that it crystallized the bigger picture of Olympian arrogance and illiberalism on the right. The impulse that led conservatives to intervene in a family's bitter debate over a feeding tube is the same one that makes them turn a debate over a Senate rule on filibusters into a litmus test of spiritual correctness. Surely no holier-than-thou Hollywood pontificator could be harder to take than the sanctimonious Bill Frist, who, unlike Barbra Streisand, can't even sing.
The same arrogance that sent Republicans into Terri Schiavo's hospice room has also led them to try to police the culture of sex more rabidly than the left did the culture of sexism. No wonder another recent poll, from the Pew Research Center, finds that for all the real American displeasure with coarse entertainment, a plurality of 48 percent believes that "the government's imposing undue restrictions" on pop culture is "a greater danger" to the country than the entertainment industry itself. Who could have imagined that the public would fear Focus on the Family's James Dobson more than 50 Cent?
But in this crusade, too, few on the right seem to recognize that they're overplaying their hand; they keep upping the ante. One powerful senator, Ted Stevens of Alaska, has proposed that cable and satellite be policed by the federal government along with broadcast television - a death knell for even the Sirius incarnation of Howard Stern, not to mention much of Comedy Central. A powerful House committee chairman, James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, topped that by calling for offenders to be pursued through a "criminal process." Last week President Bush signed a Family Entertainment and Copyright Act that allows "family-friendly" companies to sell filter technology that cleans up DVD's of Hollywood movies without permission or input from the films' own authors and copyright holders. That sounds innocuous enough until you learn that even "Schindler's List" isn't immune from the right's rigid P.C. code. As the owner of CleanFlicks, the American Fork, Utah, company that goes further and sells pre-sanitized DVD's, once explained to The New York Times: "Every teenager in America should see that film. But I don't think my daughters should see naked old men running around in circles." And so Big Brother can intervene to protect our kids from all that geriatric Holocaust porn.
On the first page of "South Park Conservatives," its author declares that "CBS's cancellation in late 2003 of its planned four-hour miniseries 'The Reagans' marked a watershed in America's culture wars." It did, in the sense that the right's successful effort to stifle what it regarded as an un-P.C. (i.e., somewhat critical) treatment of Ronald Reagan sped the censorious jihad that's now threatening everything from "The Sopranos" on HBO to lesbian moms on PBS. Of course "South Park" is also on this hit list: the Parents Television Council, the take-no-prisoners e-mail mill leading the anti-indecency charge, has condemned the show on its Web site as a "curdled, malodorous black hole of Comedy Central vomit." Should such theocratic conservatives prevail, "South Park" conservatives will be hipper than they ever could have imagined - terminally hip, you might say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/op...wanted=2&8hpib
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Falling in Love With Elvis
Stuart Elliott
ELVIS may have left the building, but for Madison Avenue, it is as if he were still inside, helping woo consumers more ardently than ever.
A multimedia marketing blitz with a budget estimated at $10 million to $20 million is under way to promote a new round of entertainment programming about Elvis Presley. The CBS division of Viacom has declared next week "Elvis Week," in hopes of luring viewers to watch two biographical shows, one fictionalized, the other factual, that run a total of six hours.
CBS has a lengthy list of marketing partners to pitch the shows, "Elvis," a mini-series starting this Sunday, and "Elvis by the Presleys," a documentary, on May 13. Among the partners are American Airlines, part of the AMR Corporation, which will run a Presley program during its in-flight entertainment and distribute Presley CD samplers to passengers; Crown Publishers, part of the Random House division of Bertelsmann, which will release a book, also titled "Elvis by the Presleys"; and People magazine, part of the Time Inc. unit of Time Warner, which will run in its May 9 issue an insert carrying the headline "The King is Hear." When opened, the insert plays a snippet of "Blue Suede Shoes" and a commercial for the TV shows.
Other partners are Presley's music label, Sony BMG, owned by Bertelsmann and the Sony Corporation of America; the quiz show "Jeopardy," owned by Sony, which will feature an "Elvis" category during its show Friday; TV Guide, part of Gemstar-TV Guide International; and Web sites like citysearch.com, with a promotion called "Elvis Was Here," as well as elvis.com and yahoo.com.
There will also be copious cross-promotion by Viacom siblings including CMT, Infinity billboards and radio stations, MTV, Spike, TV Land and VH1.
"It's the biggest thing we've got going for the May sweeps," said George F. Schweitzer, president of the CBS Marketing Group unit of CBS in New York. His reference was to a month in which the broadcast networks typically stuff their schedules full of special programs to stimulate ratings gains as the TV season concludes.
Indeed, almost 28 years after his death, interest in Presley seems bigger among advertisers, agencies and media companies than it was during his life. His growing appeal is emblematic of the increasing interest in deceased celebrities as endorsers because their fame often outshines that of today's stars - and it typically costs less to use their images than their contemporary counterparts'.
Presley, in fact, topped the fourth annual list of top-earning dead celebrities released last October by Forbes magazine, with annual revenue of $40 million, compared with $35 million for No. 2, Charles M. Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts," and $23 million for J. R. R. Tolkien, author of "Lord of the Rings." Here are some additional examples of current Presley projects:
A musical inspired by Presley, "All Shook Up," opened March 24 on Broadway, featuring live performances of 25 tunes he originally sang. The cast recording, on Sony BMG, is due in stores on May 31.
A 24-hour Presley music channel, called Elvis Radio, is among the choices offered by Sirius Satellite Radio.
Presley will be a character in a biographical film about Johnny Cash, "Walk the Line," scheduled to be released on Nov. 18 by the 20th Century Fox division of the News Corporation. Presley will be played by a young singer, Tyler Hilton, who warmed up by performing two Presley songs last month at the wedding of his cast mates Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush from the WB series "One Tree Hill."
Presley is a central part of a musical celebration of the 100th anniversary of Las Vegas, with "Elvis: Live from Las Vegas" to be released May 10 on a new label, Las Vegas Centennial Records, by EMI Music Marketing, part of the EMI Group. The same day, Sony BMG is to release a two-CD set of music from "Elvis by the Presleys," which features his wife, Priscilla, and his daughter, Lisa Marie.
The first commercials to encourage tourists to visit Presley's Graceland home in Memphis began appearing last month on national television. The spots, created by Thompson & Company in Memphis, carry the theme "Graceland. Where Elvis lives." Note the present tense.
"It's a perfect storm of Elvis," said Jennifer Burgess, marketing director for Elvis Presley Enterprises in Memphis. An 85 percent stake in the company, which controls the rights to the Presley image, likeness and name, was recently acquired from the Presley heirs by the entrepreneur Robert F. X. Sillerman; he is making it a centerpiece of his new entertainment firm, CKX.
Some elements of this most recent Presley blitz were timed to appear all at once, Ms. Burgess said, while others are turning up around the same time by coincidence. The CBS shows were once scheduled for last November, Mr. Schweitzer said, and Jonathan Pollard, the lead producer of "All Shook Up," said his musical had been in development for five years.
But Presley's return to prominence at this time is no accident, many executives say. It has been building for the last three years, as shown by the success of the compilation CD "30 No. 1 Hits," as well as by commercials for brands like Nike and movies like "Lilo and Stitch," which used original or remixed versions of Presley songs.
"It's the re-emergence of Elvis Presley as a brand," Mr. Pollard said. "He has always been popular, but there has been a resurgence in attention to his music and his place in cultural history."
Presley "resonates today because he was a forerunner, a catalyst for change and larger than life," Mr. Pollard said. "And when you look for icons, you expect them to be larger than life."
The renewed interest in Presley is partly due to assiduous efforts by Elvis Presley Enterprises to introduce him to consumers who grew up after the 1960's and 1970's. The goal is to help ensure a continuous revenue stream as older fans lose interest or, um, are returned to sender.
"We've worked hard to present him as contemporary and timeless and it's paying off," Ms. Burgess said. "Our demographics show 80 percent of the visitors to Graceland are under 49."
Others report similar examples of youthful appeal.
"There's a whole generation of new fans," said Chuck Cordray, senior vice president for consumer marketing at TV Guide in New York. "Three of the four times we ran Elvis on the cover in the last five years, those were the best-selling covers of the year."
As part of the CBS promotion, mini-CD's of a previously unreleased version of a Presley tune, "Young and Beautiful," will be attached to millions of covers of the May 8 issue of TV Guide, which goes on sale Thursday. There are four covers, each bearing a Presley likeness from a different year from 1955 to 1968, and a "Discover Elvis" sweepstakes online (tvguide.com/elviscbs), co-sponsored by "The Early Show" on CBS.
There are those who would perceive all this as commercial exploitation, said Joe DiMuro, executive vice president for Sony BMG Strategic Marketing in New York, who acknowledged that "there is a business here, a solid business."
"But we are the home of Elvis Presley," he added, "and it's up to us to find new and innovative ways to keep the legacy going."
What is next for the hardest-working deceased man in show business?
"We're planning another major network event in 2007," Mr. DiMuro said, to mark the 30th anniversary of Presley's death.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/bu...col.html?8hpib
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Iron Mountain Loses Data On 600K Time Warner Employees
Boston Business Journal
Iron Mountain Inc. lost computer tapes containing information on 600,000 people employed by Time Warner Inc. since 1986, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Iron Mountain spokeswoman Melissa Burman confirmed that one box of computer tapes containing Time Warner employee records had been lost.
New York-based Time Warner said the U.S. Secret Service is investigating the incident.
The newspaper quoted Time Warner spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan saying the tapes were placed in a container on March 22 and failed to show up at an Iron Mountain storage facility that same day.
No evidence has turned up that the tapes' contents have been accessed or misused, but the companies have been unable to rule out foul play. Time Warner is providing affected employees with resources to monitor their credit reports.
On April 21, Iron Mountain issued a general statement recommending that companies encrypt information contained in backup tapes.
http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston...ml?jst=b_ln_hl
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U.S. Supreme Court Denies to Hear Case InternetMovies.com vs. MPAA to Change the Good Faith Provision of the DMCA
Press Release
The Supreme Court has denied to hear the case InternetMovies.com (Rossi) vs. Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), setting the stage for continued subjective interpretation of the good faith belief provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This decision sets the standard to threaten web site owners and unrelenting shut downs prompted from copyright holders accusing alleged copyright violations without reasonable investigation.
The case was originally filed in 2002 after the MPAA shut the web site down for allegedly offering to download copyrighted materials. The MPAA issued a cease and desist letter to the site's host service citing Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was available for download, forcing them to shut off
http://www.InternetMovies.com under the provisions of the DMCA. The MPAA claimed they had believed in good faith and swore under perjury that the 2003 release of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was available, in 2001, and did not conduct any further investigation. Michael Jay Rossi, President of InternetMovies.com Inc. said, "All I was doing was reporting news about movies online. This now proves there are no freedom of speech or due process rights on the Internet for the common person."
"The MPAA did not dispute it had made an error in judging the site's content, the District Court, Ninth Circuit Court and Supreme Court have all sided with the subjective interpretation of the DMCA and ruled in favor of MPAA," says Rossi.
According to Rossi, "Believing material from the future is downloadable is now a valid and reasonable belief that protects copyright holders to continue to abuse the 'shoot now, ask later' good faith belief in the DMCA. A Pandora's box of troubles for web site owners and individuals is open. Rossi continued, "I am very sad to see that American rights have been an illusion all this time. The DMCA is meant to sever our constitutional rights in my eyes. I can only hope that copyright holders do not abuse this DMCA super power, but as you can see they already do. Look for the book downloadable soon: 'In Hollywood we trust, no liberty or justice for all.'"
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050502/lam107.html?.v=6
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Nielsen Entertainment's Broadcast Data Systems and BigChampagne's P2P Charts to Link Data, Providing Actionable Entertainment Intelligence on the Relationship Between Radio Airplay and Download Activity
Press Release
Nielsen Entertainment, the leading provider of Actionable Entertainment Intelligence (AEI) and BigChampagne Online Media Measurement, have entered a strategic relationship to link airplay monitoring and Peer to Peer download data, it was announced today. This relationship will link Nielsen Entertainment's BDSRadio.com, to BigChampagne's Peer to Peer (P2P) charts, combining radio airplay "spin" data with "Top Swaps." This combined analysis of Nielsen Entertainment's BDSradio.com resources; digital, terrestrial, and satellite airplay data and BigChampagne's P2P measurement, will provide both the radio and record industries with a unique matrix of music consumption measurement.
"The linkage of Nielsen Entertainment's Actionable Entertainment Intelligence in music with Big Champagne's P2P charts is the beginning of a broader new landscape we plan to map, detailing the interrelationship between technology and consumption. I anticipate Nielsen Entertainment's relationship with BigChampagne will grow beyond music," said Andrew Wing, President and CEO, Nielsen Entertainment. Rob Sisco, President Nielsen Entertainment's Music Group, and COO Nielsen Entertainment East Coast Operations added, "Given everything Nielsen Entertainment knows about entertainment consumption and specifically, music retail and radio airplay, this relationship provides both our companies' subscribers with greater insight into marketing and monitoring their product." Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, said, "Partnering with Nielsen Entertainment has been an ambition of ours from the start. We're thrilled to be working with Nielsen Entertainment's BDS, one great step towards validating that online interest is the leading and most immediate measure of market response to radio and music television programming."
Nielsen Entertainment's BDS captures in excess of 100 million song detections annually on more than 1,200 radio stations in over 130 markets in the U.S. and 22 Canadian markets. Record labels and music programmers rely on Nielsen Entertainment's BDS for information about radio and video airplay. Nielsen Entertainment's products such as BDS and SoundScan provide data that Billboard magazine uses to determine its airplay and sales charts. Affiliated Nielsen Entertainment companies SoundScan, VideoScan and BookScan carry point- of-sale information in the music, video and book publishing arenas respectively. Nielsen Entertainment's BDS subscribers include record labels, radio stations, concert promoters, music publishers, and advertising agencies. Nielsen Entertainment's SoundScan accrues sales information from more than 20,000 retailer locations in the U.S., including digitally downloaded tracks, singles, and albums, accounting for more than ten million sales transactions per week, representing more than 90% of over-the-counter music product sales in the nation.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...3542267&EDATE=
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File-Sharing, Sampling, and Music Distribution
MARTIN PEITZ International University in Germany; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research) PATRICK WAELBROECK Free University of Brussels (VUB/ULB) - European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES)
International University in Germany Working Paper No. 26/2004
Abstract:
The use of file-sharing technologies, so-called Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, to copy music files has become common since the arrival of Napster. P2P networks may actually improve the matching between products and buyers - we call this the matching effect. For a label the downside of P2P networks is that consumers receive a copy which, although it is an imperfect substitute to the original, may reduce their willingness-to-pay for the original - we call this the competition effect. We show that the matching effect may dominate so that a label's profits are higher with P2P networks than without. Furthermore, we show that the existence of P2P networks may alter the standard business model: sampling may replace costly marketing and promotion. This may allow labels to increase profits in spite of lower revenues.
Abstract has been viewed 5972 times
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...ract_id=652743
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Grossly Excessive Penalties in the Battle Against Illegal File-Sharing: The Troubling Effects of Aggregating Minimum Statutory Damages for Copyright Infringement
J. CAM BARKER
University of Texas at Austin - School of Law
Abstract:
The recent copyright-infringement lawsuits targeting individual file-sharers have in common the following facts: a statutory damage award with a substantial punitive component, a large number of like-kind violations, and fairly low reprehensibility as assessed under the relevant Supreme Court test. The substantive due process principles laid out by the Court in BMW v. Gore provide a roadmap for evaluating whether the aggregated punitive effect of these awards has become unconstitutionally excessive.
In this paper, I argue that there is a constitutional right to not have a highly punitive statutory damage award stacked hundreds or thousands of times over for similar, low-reprehensibility misconduct. I point to the rationale behind criminal law's single-larceny doctrine, identify the concept of wholly proportionate reprehensibility, and use this to explain why the massive aggregation of statutory damage awards can violate substantive due process.
I conclude that massively aggregated awards of even the minimum statutory damages for illegal file-sharing will impose huge penalties and can be constitutionally infirm like the punitive damage award of Gore itself. Yet practical and institutional reasons will likely make this norm underenforced by the courts, pointing to Congress as the actor that should modify copyright law to remove the possibility of grossly excessive punishment.
Abstract has been viewed 12680 times
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...ract_id=660601
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Editorial
Sharing Isn't Caring
By The Daily Illini Editorial Staff
Last Wednesday, President Bush signed The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, also known as the Artist's Rights and Theft Prevention Act (ART Act) into law. While the act takes significant strides toward punishing copyright violators and allowing for greater technological freedom for the entertainment industry, the law also threatens file-sharers with excessive punishments.
There are three significant parts to the act. The first makes using a camcorder to copy a film showing in a movie theater a felony. The second makes it a felony to distribute "pre-released" movies over the Internet. The third part allows for companies to produce products that allow users to use a device to play a movie in a "censored" format (i.e. skipping over scenes containing excessive violence and sexuality or omitting foul language).
The third part of the law should be praised for allowing parents and users greater control over the versions of movies they want themselves and their children to see, and the second part of the law is redundant because there are laws already preventing the recording of movies in theaters.
The area that concerns us is the punishment for distributing a pre-released film - that is, copies of movies that come out before the movie is formally released by the studio. Under the ART Act, putting a film online via a peer-to-peer (p2p) network such as Kazaa or BitTorrent can put away first-time offenders for up to three years in jail, plus additional fines - even if the movie was never downloaded once. Attempting to distribute a pre-released film for a commercial profit could result in a prison term of five years plus fines. Repeat offenses can range up to a 10-year sentence.
While copyright infringement is illegal and artists and producers should be paid for their work, we believe that these new penalties are excessive. Is it fair to take away an Internet user's right to vote just because he or she offered a copy of the next Tom Cruise summer blockbuster for download?
If studios want to seek punishment and recover damages from movie pirates, they should do so with a civil lawsuit. If financial damages are the problem, then seeking financial recoveries would be the logical course of action to take against file-sharers.
Instead, the U.S. government has now put Internet pirates on the same level of bank robbers, child molesters, drug dealers, drunk drivers and domestic abusers in terms of societal harm. The government has just turned the common college student and Internet user into the common criminal. Sharing a pre- release DVD of the next Marvel comic book movie is hardly the same crime as manufacturing methamphetamine.
While the safest way to not get caught for copyright infringement is simply to not engage in the file-sharing process, we do realize that many students will still do so on a regular basis. We urge users to be aware of the penalties and know that no one is completely anonymous while using most mainstream p2p programs.
Participating in the distribution process is still illegal and those who create films deserve to be compensated for their efforts to bring society the entertainment that enriches our lives and stimulates our minds to think differently. The users and the copyright owners should learn to come to a compromise that can benefit both sides - otherwise there could be harsh consequences on both sides.
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/2005...g-947561.shtml
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Recording Official Reminds UTSA Community Of Copyright Laws
UTSA technology officials recently were informed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) that a computer at one of the UTSA residence halls was used illegally to share 24 copyrighted songs.
The RIAA is the watchdog agency for music publishers and artists
According to Cary Sherman of the RIAA, a personal computer at UTSA's Chisholm Hall was found March 4 to be sharing copyrighted materials.
The student was using a software program that creates a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection to allow sharing of files and other information.
Although the unidentified UTSA student was not included in the latest round of lawsuits that targeted more than 400 students at 18 universities, Sherman reiterated that the RIAA will continue to prosecute those who illegally share copyrighted materials.
Students who are found to be using the university's network to illegally share copyrighted materials will be referred to the Disciplinary Affairs Committee.
http://www.utsa.edu/today/2005/05/copyright.cfm
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Point…
Puts & Calls: Mellifluous discord
Universities' High-Speed Internet2 Used By Students To Pilfer Music
Cary Sherman
America's universities are home to many of the great minds and future leaders of our nation and our world. It is on these campuses that knowledge and skills are developed and critical core values established. That is why the epidemic of music theft on our college and university campuses -- Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh included -- should concern us all.
Stealing music on the Internet -- just because it can be done easily and, as some mistakenly think, anonymously -- is somehow being accepted as OK. It is not OK. It is illegal. It steals the livelihoods of current artists, technicians and manufacturers and limits possibilities for future creative innovation. The acceptance of theft is not a value we desire for today's students, and it is a dangerous pollutant in a climate in which innovation and creativity are nourished and protected.
It was with this in mind that the Recording Industry Association of America, on behalf of the major record companies, took action last week against a new strain of the epidemic of music piracy emerging on our campuses. Of the 405 students at 18 universities identified in the new copyright infringement lawsuits, some 10 percent of them are enrolled at universities here in Pittsburgh.
Students stealing music on the Internet is not a new challenge for the higher education community. For several years now, students have been using peer- to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications such as KaZaa and Grokster to illegally trade files containing copyrighted works. Even before last week's lawsuits, recording industry enforcement efforts had resulted in almost 10,000 lawsuits against illegal file sharers nationwide.
What is new about these latest cases is that an advanced, high-speed network -- specifically created by participating universities for important academic research -- has been hijacked for music theft. The network is called Internet2, and because of its speed, it is increasingly becoming the network of choice for students seeking to pirate copyrighted songs and other works on a massive scale. The use of P2P applications such as i2hub on the ultrafast Internet2 network allows students to trade copyrighted works at unprecedented speed and volume.
It's not hard to see why a determined music pirate would see this as hidden treasure. Using i2hub via Internet2, a movie can be downloaded in five or fewer minutes, a song in less than 20 seconds. On DSL or cable, a song might take one to two minutes and a movie an hour or two. Plus, there is a widespread, albeit false, perception that abuse on i2hub is undetectable.
Don't get me wrong -- the problem is not Internet2, which is a marvelous technological initiative to harness and expand the power of the Internet for research and learning. The problem is that this network, supported in part by taxpayer dollars, is being subverted for the illegal sharing of copyrighted files.
Forty-one students at CMU and Pitt are cited in the initial round of i2hub lawsuits filed last week. Combined, they've illegally shared a staggering 144,000 files, including more than 68,000 music files. And while the music industry can sue to help arrest the growth of this illegal activity, the universities themselves can be the most powerful leaders in curbing theft of copyright materials on campus.
Through filtering and other technical means, universities can prevent this mass piracy. Proactively, they can partner with legal music services to offer students legitimate music downloads -- as have 44 other universities (including Penn State). And through consistent education programs, they can continually remind users of the value of copyrighted works and the necessity of responsible use of network resources.
Through the 20th century, Pittsburgh was known as a national and world leader in innovation in industries ranging from minerals to steel to food production. Today, as we move into the 21st century, that spirit of innovation is alive and well on its university campuses, creating new ideas for the "new economy" and educating the next generation of leaders.
Yet, this epidemic of music piracy threatens that spirit of innovation today. Piracy undermines both Internet2's stated and noble purpose to promote research and higher education, and our ability to invest in the next generation of creativity. It threatens -- both in theory and practice -- to leave new ideas in science, industry and finance vulnerable to theft and abuse by anyone who can somehow find a way to uncover them in the ethernet. The music community may have taken the first blow; but if this rampant theft is left unchecked, other industries cannot be far behind.
As we educate the future leaders on campuses in Pittsburgh and throughout the nation, we have the opportunity to foster a climate where creativity is valued and respected. In this way, we can pave the way to a new century of innovation.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05121/496886.stm
Counterpoint…
Letters to the business editor
Music Stealing All Around
Cary Sherman's opinion piece on Sunday, "Mellifluous Discord: Universities' High-Speed Internet2 Used by Students to Pilfer Music," was as one-sided and illogical as the whole Recording Industry Association of America he represents, as president.
Sherman suggests that universities should remind users of "the necessity of responsible use of network resources." In my computer science class at Carnegie Mellon, "Introduction to Computer Music," I spend a little time doing just that. I teach students how, historically, the major recording labels have dominated the recording industry, refusing to record some of America's greatest artists, including Louis Armstrong. (His first recordings were manufactured by a former piano company in Indiana, which was sued by the major labels of the day for patent infringement.) Mr. Sherman, is this an example of "a climate where creativity is valued" that you are seeking?
My students also learn how the broadcasting industry, dominated by NBC and CBS, ignored recording technology until the NBC monopoly was broken up by the FCC. The innovations in magnetic recording for broadcast introduced by the struggling ABC were a major step forward, enabling the modern recording industry and even modern computer technology. Mr. Sherman, was the monopolistic suppression of innovation the "responsible use of network resources" you are seeking?
Mr. Sherman, you say that stealing "is not OK," and yet I have musician friends who cannot get RIAA members to pay them the royalties they are due. While you are asking universities to address your problems, please don't forget that you too can be a "powerful leader in curbing theft of copyright materials on campus." If you'll stop your members from stealing from my friends, and then study some history, maybe I can help you.
Roger Dannenberg
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05123/497993.stm
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Share Float Cash Or We Quit, Linkin Park Tells Warner
David Teather
Rock'n'roll used to be all about sex, drugs and wrecking hotel rooms. For today's angry young men of music, add share prices.
Linkin Park, the best-selling American rap metal band, is demanding to be released from its contract with Warner Music, complaining that it will not see a penny from the company's planned stock market flotation.
In a statement from the band's management, Linkin Park claimed it has been responsible for 10% of Warner Music's sales during the past five years.
Its albums, including Hybrid Theory and Meteora, have together sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. The band has threatened to delay its next album, which is due to be released in 2006.
"The new owners of Warner Music Group will be reaping a windfall of $1.4bn [£740m] from their $2.6bn purchase a mere 18 months ago if their planned initial public offering moves forward," the statement read. "Linkin Park, their biggest act, will get nothing."
The Grammy award-winning band also said it had become "increasingly concerned" that Warner Music's "diminished resources will leave it unable to compete in today's global music marketplace". It added: "We feel a responsibility to get great music to our fans. Unfortunately, we believe that we can't accomplish that effectively with the current Warner Music."
It noted that only $7m of the $750m proceeds of the IPO had been earmarked for corporate purposes.
The investment team led by Edgar Bronfman Jr that bought the business from Time Warner last year has since cut $250m in costs, reducing the workforce by 20% and its roster of artists by about 30%.
Warner responded by saying the threat was nothing more than an attempt to wring extra cash out of it. "While Linkin Park's talent is without question, the band's management is using fictitious numbers and making baseless charges and inflammatory threats in what is clearly a negotiating tactic.
"Warner Bros Records has made significant investments in Linkin Park, and they have always been compensated generously for their outstanding success worldwide."
The company contends that the band accounted for less than 3% of sales in the past five years, not 10%.
According to reports, the band's management, the Firm, is seeking a $60m payment and a 50:50 split of future profits as part of a new deal. The band's current contract demands four more albums.
Warner's other artists include Madonna, Green Day and Missy Elliott.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/...ticle_continue
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EMI Signs Up For Fanning's Swap Service
Adam Pasick
The world's third-largest music company, EMI Group Plc, has signed a deal with Snocap, a technology firm that is working to create a legal peer-to-peer music-sharing network.
Snocap, headed by Napster founder Shawn Fanning, identifies songs by their digital "fingerprints" and determines how copyright holders want them to be used. For example, a music label could authorize an up-and-coming single to be freely distributed, or to play three times before requiring payment.
Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Bertelsmann <6758.T>, the largest and second-largest music companies respectively, already have deals in place to register their content with Snocap. Terms of Thursday's Snocap-EMI deal were not disclosed.
"This sends a signal to music industry critics who claim we are technophobic. If anything, we are embracing technologies like Snocap, which allow the P2P (peer-to-peer) community to share music legally," said David Munns, chairman and chief executive of EMI Music North America.
The music industry reacted slowly to the threat of peer-to-peer file-trading networks, beginning with Napster, and suffered one of the worst downturns in its history as millions of songs were illicitly shared online.
In the past year, legal online music services such as Apple's iTunes, RealNetworks's Rhapsody and the reformed Napster have grown increasingly popular, bolstering hopes that music companies can create a viable online business model.
At the same time, music companies have launched an aggressive legal battle against users who illicitly share large amounts of copyrighted music, filing hundreds of lawsuits.
A new breed of authorized P2P services such as Mashboxx -- in contrast to unauthorized services like Kazaa -- rely on Snocap to identify which songs are controlled by copyright owners. Matchboxx is set to launch a test version this month and is in active negotiations with the four major labels, according to its chief executive, Wayne Rosso.
Rosso, like Fanning, is a former antagonist of the music industry who is now seeking partnerships with the labels. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a landmark copyright lawsuit by the entertainment industry against Grokster, his old peer-to-peer company.
EMI shares were up 1.3 percent to 242 pence by 1517 GMT.
http://today.reuters.com/News/TechSt...SIC-EMI-DC.XML
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Get Ready for Corporate Peer-to-Peer Applications
The networking traffic dynamics are not trivial in the P2P world. Complexity is the norm, with today's clients and servers becoming next-generation I.T. peer nodes. This seems to be a natural blueprint for the future.
Peer-to-peer networking has caused a dramatic increase in Internet traffic. Today, the major P2P user is the consumer, and the major application is media file sharing. Music, movies and the like now are available to consumers using P2P technology. Depending on the analysis methodology, P2P networking accounts for 60 to 89 percent of all Internet traffic.
P2P uses the computing power at the edge of a connection rather than within the network. The concept of clients or servers does not exist. Instead, peer nodes function as both clients and servers to other network nodes.
Although pure P2P networks exist, almost all efficient P2P networks use a hybrid approach in which the critical applications of indexing and searching are implemented in a client- server form, and data transfer is accomplished in a P2P manner.
This technology is analogous to a router's use of a route or table look-up processor and multiple forwarding processors.
There is a fundamental difference between P2P and client-server network traffic. For example, when using the classic client-server Internet FTP application, a user uploads a file to the FTP server and then other users can download that file, without any user-to- user communication.
The only network bandwidth being consumed is that of the client and the contended server. As the number of clients increases, the available server bandwidth decreases. If the same file distribution application is implemented using P2P networking, the download bandwidth increases with the number of distributed peer nodes.
Most corporate networkers believe P2P, with its ability to "hog" bandwidth and its myriad security issues, is a consumer phenomenon.
This is a misconception that in the future may be the undoing of the corporate network. P2P network applications such as Kazaa or Napster may not have a place in the corporate environment, but the same cannot be said for BitTorrent's File Sharing technology, currently being used for Linux software distribution, and Groove Networks' Virtual Office application, designed for shared workspace-online collaboration.
The use of BitTorrent and Groove software currently does not impose a significant bandwidth demand on corporate networks. But Microsoft's recent acquisition of Groove may drastically change the bandwidth consumption equation.
One of Microsoft's stated intentions is to add Groove's P2P technology to its next- generation operating system called Longhorn. With Longhorn's arrival on the desktop and server, Microsoft may single-handedly redistribute and accelerate corporate bandwidth demand.
Also on the horizon is another corporate networking nightmare called the grid. Lo and behold, the underpinning of all grid technology is P2P. With the adoption of Globus 4.0 as the new XML-based protocol standard, grid services will become the P2P of Web services.
As corporate terminal-mainframe centralized networking evolved into client-server distributed networking, so shall all forms of corporate networking eventually evolve into P2P.
The networking traffic dynamics are not trivial in the P2P world. Complexity is the norm, with today's clients and servers becoming next-generation I.T. peer nodes. This seems to be a natural blueprint for the future.
All edge nodes will become highly intelligent, simultaneously and randomly capable of dynamically participating in the combined execution of an application as well as interfacing directly with the user. The corporate network also will become more internally intelligent, being required to optimize applications bandwidth demand dynamically while simultaneously managing network latency/jitter and corporate policy.
Be forewarned, get educated and be prepared for the network implications of corporate I.T. P2P applications. The corporate next-generation network future may be just around the corner in 2006.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtm...d=002000001GK2
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Hackers Lookin’ For New Meat: MACs Are Next
John Stith
It would appear the hackers are looking for new meat and your MAC may be next. With SANS releasing their internet security update, ITunes and MAC users are in for a rude awakening.
Microsoft products have always been the hackers venue of choice because everyone used it. Windows in one form or another is on nearly every computer in the world so it was easy for hackers to work over. They'd hit you in Outlook or visit a webpage. Look at an email or download a file. It was easy.
Microsoft has been concentrating more on its security protocols and that means hackers have to work a little harder. Why do that when you have all these other venues to work on. Apple just released the OS X and Longhorn is still a year plus away. ITunes are everywhere now. It stands to reason that the hackers will eventually go for these formats.
You might want to keep an eye on your file swapping too. Peer- to-Peer (P2P) links are popular now and file swapping could cause some problems as hackers send you little presents and dig through your computers looking for names and email addresses.
It's getting tougher and more complicated to be a simple computer user and surf for porn or games or some other useless geek entertainment. I just don't know what I'm going to do.
http://www.securitypronews.com/news/...CsAreNext.html
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New Technology Controls Accessibility of Adult Content Online: Media Rights Technologies Announces the Release of SeCure Alliance DVD
Pres Release
Media Rights Technologies ("MRT") announces a powerful new technology that addresses and mitigates one of the most pressing issues of online piracy: underage viewing of adult content.
SeCure Alliance DVD is an integral part of MRT's powerhouse SeCure software suite, which provides comprehensive and/or selective control of digital copyrighted material. This effective and robust technology is the most potent advance offered thus far toward the critical goal of protecting adult material. By preventing unauthorized ripping, uploading and redistribution via peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, SeCure Alliance DVD transparently yet solidly blocks age-inappropriate adult content from becoming available to minors. In addition to "blanket control" options, MRT's application features multiple provisions for selective security to manage value-added content, enhancing the DVD's value for both the end user and content owner.
The development of DivX video and other smaller file formats has resulted in widespread consumer DVD ripping. Illegally shared adult content propagates rapidly and unmonitored through Internet communities, P2P networks and newsgroups. Once on these networks, minors have immediate and unrestricted access to adult content. This problem will undoubtedly continue to grow at an accelerated pace as more DVD ripping programs become available, some even available for free. Parents and the adult entertainment industry are equally and legitimately alarmed that the ease of sharing adult content over the Internet is exposing minors to inappropriate material.
MRT's SeCure Alliance DVD technology protects against the growing unrestricted access to illegal adult content online. MRT CEO, Hank Risan adds, "Through the implementation of this unique technology, the adult entertainment community and major motion film companies can exhibit their willingness to proactively protect and ensure that adult content does not fall into the hands of minors without inhibiting freedom of artistic expression." MRT's SeCure Alliance DVD works across all DVD platforms and, in conjunction with MRT's dynamic software updates, provides an ongoing solution to this expanding industry dilemma. Evaluation discs for testing are available to all interested parties. All evaluation and licensing inquiries should be directed to Elizabeth Crowell, Director of Business Development, 831-426-4412 or
liz@mediarightstech.com.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050503/sftu151.html?.v=4
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New ASA 5500 Series delivers converged market-proven security technologies to help protect organizations of all sizes
Press Release
Cisco Systems®, Inc., today announced the availability of the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance ( ASA ) 5500 Series, an innovative family of multi- function security appliances that help stop attacks before they spread through the network.
The Cisco ASA 5500 Series controls network and application traffic, delivers flexible Virtual Private Network ( VPN ) connectivity, and reduces the overall deployment, operations costs and complexity that would otherwise be associated with this level of comprehensive security. A key component of the recently announced Adaptive Threat Defense phase of the Cisco Self-Defending Network ( SDN ) security strategy, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series includes the Cisco ASA 5510, Cisco ASA 5520, and Cisco ASA 5540 products. This appliance family is designed to span from small and medium sized businesses to large enterprises, and is purpose built for concurrent services scalability and unified management. This enables high- performance and simultaneous operation of multiple security services without added operational complexity.
The Application security services available on the Cisco ASA 5500 series provide advanced application inspection and control for dynamic and reliable protection of networked business applications. These services include control of bandwidth-intensive peer-to-peer services ( P2P ) such as Kazaa and Instant Messaging ( IM ), Web URL access controls, protection and integrity validation of core business applications like database services, and numerous application-specific protections for Voice over IP ( VoIP ) and multimedia services.
The Cisco ASA 5500 Series also offers Network containment and control services that provide precise control and segmentation of users, application access and network traffic flows. These include Layer 2-4 stateful inspection firewall capabilities let customers track the state of all network communications and help prevent unauthorized network access. The Cisco ASA 5500 Series also includes virtualization services that enable network segmentation and services scalability.
http://i-newswire.com/pr18466.html
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Gee. That’s no fun
Network Shares Audio And Video, Screens Out Bootlegs
Jon Healey
Mike Homer sees the future of public broadcasting, and it's on the Internet.
Or rather, it is the Internet.
Homer and erstwhile Netscape wunderkind Marc Andreessen are using file-sharing technology to distribute audio and video files for free online. Unlike Kazaa and other popular "peer-to-peer" programs, however, Open Media Network allows only authorized sharing and weeds out bootlegged goods.
The nonprofit network is designed to be an outlet for anyone who creates audiovisual works -- be it an independent filmmaker, a public television station or a hobbyist with a camera or a microphone.
The effort tries to tap the growth in noncommercial and grass-roots media epitomized by weblogs, the personal Web sites frequently updated with fresh reporting, commentary and creativity.
Weblogs have grown from a handful of sites in 1997 to about 31 million today, by Open Media Network's count.
More broadly, the rise in high-speed Internet connections has fueled an evolution of the Web from a medium heavy on text and graphics into a source of music and moving pictures as well. And the proliferation of low-priced digital camcorders and recording gear has created millions of potential producers of entertainment and information in search of an audience.
The challenge for organizations such as Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Open Media Network, though, is generating a market for this new material, said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
Such efforts can attract an audience if users easily can sort through the "undifferentiated mass" and find what interests them, Palfrey said. "But I think most of them are going to fail," he added, because "they won't get that stuff right, and it will just be a mass that's very hard to sort through."
All the same, the field has drawn some big players. Both Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are building collections of video files -- including television shows and homemade movies -- that users can search through and, in some cases, watch.
"I really believe there's a big, huge publishing revolution," said Homer, who has provided some of the start-up capital for Open Media Network. "A new system like this can take advantage of it."
Open Media Network's approach is different from Google's and Yahoo's in at least two important ways.
First, Homer said, Open Media Network will offer several means to help people navigate through its offerings. Its TV-style program guide is expected to sort files by type and topic, as well as lists the most popular ones. Later this year, it plans to let users rate files, post comments about them and provide descriptive tags to help identify the files to searchers.
Second, users can download copies of files on the network, rather than just watch them or read transcripts. Open Media Network's file-sharing technology, which comes from Kontiki Inc. of Sunnyvale, slashes distribution costs by having users download popular files from one another's computers, not Open Media Network's servers.
Kontiki tries to deter piracy by keeping a tight lid on the material that users can share. This central control makes it difficult to publish copyrighted audio or video on Open Media Network without the copyright owner's permission, and easy to remove anything that proves to be pirated, Homer said.
The network also can distribute files with electronic locks, enabling copyright owners to restrict copying or demand fees for playback.
Homer, Kontiki's founder and chairman, said the several thousand files available on Open Media Network could be downloaded free.
Later this year, though, the network plans to introduce tools that will enable publishers to charge for their works. The fees they generate will be split with Open Media Network, helping to cover its costs, Homer said.
Among the network's first suppliers are numerous audio and video bloggers such as Los Angeles-based Shannon Noble, creator of "This Is Vlog," whose works are syndicated online.
Others include Cinequest, a San Jose, Calif.-based motion picture institute that offers independent features and short films, and three public broadcasters -- KWSU in Pullman, Wash., KQED in San Francisco and WGBH in Boston.
John Boland, KQED's chief content officer, said his company was experimenting with several alternative ways to deliver its TV and radio programming "to try to meet what we feel the demand of consumers will be, which is to have their content where they want it when they want it."
Using the Internet not only helps KQED retain supporters by keeping up with their shifting habits but also helps the station to reach new ones, said Boland and Tim Olson, director of KQED Interactive.
The station's flexibility to experiment is limited by "mind-boggling" copyright issues, Boland said. Still, Olson said, the company is working with several online distributors because, "It's so early in this marketplace that it's really hard to say how it's going to shake out."
http://www.detnews.com/2005/technolo...ech-170546.htm
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File Sharers Can No Longer Hide
Jack M. Germain
FirstSource monitors for the first uploads of a client's intellectual property to the eDonkey and Bit Torrent networks. When the system spots a file name matching the client's content, it initiates a download to confirm that the file is what it appears to be.
eDonkey.com, Bit Torrent and other file-sharing networks beware: The commercial equivalent to Big Brother is watching you.
BayTSP, a leading provider of online intellectual property monitoring and compliance systems, last month began offering a service aimed at software, movie and music pirates. FirstSource is an automated system that identifies the first users to upload copyright- or trademark-protected content to major peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.
The service gives owners of intellectual property a way to identify the first individuals who upload illegal content. It also allows companies to track all subsequent users who download and share a particular file.
Evidence for Court
With this information in hand, intellectual property owners can produce evidence in court to substantiate piracy charges.
"Pirated copies of movies and software typically appear online within hours of release," Mark Ishikawa, CEO of BayTSP, said. "Identifying and taking action against the first uploaders can greatly slow the distribution of illegally obtained intellectual property and might make users think twice before doing it."
The FirstSource concept was tested successfully in BayTSP's computer labs. "We've been working with this system in-house since the summer," Ishikawa told TechNewsWorld.
He said the system is based on a unique search protocol, but declined to provide specifics. He added that the process is similar to conducting an Internet search with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) .
Ishikawa said the concept has proved successful in trials conducted since the last quarter of 2004.
"We don't have to touch the file first. We identify the first person to make it available," Ishikawa said.
Initial tests of the FirstSource service indicate that several thousand copies of a movie available for download on the eDonkey.com and Bit Torrent networks can be traced back to the initial uploaded file.
Ishikawa said the FirstSource service is already in use for some of BayTSP's clients for gathering evidence to be used in pending litigation.
How It Works
"Just watch for the news when the first major case breaks," he told TechNewsWorld.
EDonkey and Bit Torrent are two of the most popular file sharing networks and use a technique called swarming that allows users to download slices of a file, according to BayTSP. These slices could come from a pirated movie or software application.
The swarming technique lets multiple users access the files for download simultaneously. As users download a file, they also share the portions they've already received.
FirstSource monitors for the first uploads of a client's intellectual property to the eDonkey and Bit Torrent networks. When the system spots a file name matching the client's content, it initiates a download to confirm that the file is what it appears to be.
Once the content is validated, the FirstSource system captures the Internet Protocol address and identifying information of other users downloading and sharing the pirated material.
The system also logs which portions of the file that each user shares. This data is stored in an infringement database as evidence in the event the client decides to pursue litigation against the file sharers.
Offenders Put on Notice
The FirstSource system permits BayTSP's clients to monitor the tracking via a Web-based interface. When computer users are identified as being a tracked downloader or supplying copyrighted material, they receive a notice of violation.
Clients have the option of automatically or manually issuing these take-down notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The process is so efficient that sometimes the notices can be served while the downloads are still in progress.
The take-down notice is directed at both the ISP operators and the individual file-sharers.
U.S.-based ISP operators are directed to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by blocking access to infringing files. The notice directs the ISP owner to reply to the infringement notice and verify that the infringing material is blocked. According to the notice, International ISPs are bound by the Bilateral Treaty and/or the Berne Convention to similarly block access to the copyrighted material.
The notice sent to identified users announces that copyrighted material belonging to a client of BayTSP is publicly available on the users' computers without the proper authorization and/or license.
Effective Deterrent
The notice states: "Under the DMCA (USA) and the Bilateral Treaty and Berne Convention (International), this constitutes a copyright violation. You must promptly remove the infringing works. We also strongly recommend you reply to the infringement notice verifying removal of the infringing files. Please note that blocking access/removal of infringing material does not relinquish our client's right for further action against you."
Ishikawa said the FirstSource scans find between 3.5 million and 5 million copyright violations per day.
BayTSP officials are counting on word of their success rate spreading quickly to file-sharers who exchange illegal files. The penalties, noted Ishikawa, are too severe not to take notice. He hopes to discourage people from taking the risk.
"I could be the best Internet op around. I still could never stop the piracy completely," Ishikawa said.
"Theft of intellectual property is so prevalent on the Internet that I will never put myself out of business," he said.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/40247.html
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Macrovision Corporation Reports Results for the First Quarter of 2005
Press Release
Company Achieves Record First Quarter Revenues and Earnings
Macrovision Corporation (Nasdaq:MVSN - News) announced today first quarter 2005 net revenues of $51.3 million, an increase of 35% compared to $38.0 million in the first quarter of 2004. Pro forma earnings (before amortization of intangibles from acquisitions, non-cash deferred compensation expense, impairment gains and losses on investments, and adjustments for changes to our tax rate, as applicable) were $11.5 million. Pro forma diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.22. The Company generated $15.1 million of cash from operations and its ending cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and long term marketable securities were $265.2 million.
GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2005 was $5.5 million which includes a charge of $5.8 million as a result of writing down an investment in Digimarc to market. Diluted GAAP earnings per share for the quarter were $0.11.
"We are very pleased with our first quarter results," said Bill Krepick, President and CEO at Macrovision. "Our software business turned in a strong performance and for the first time our software technologies' revenues exceeded our entertainment technologies' revenues. We increased our customer base for both our new Hawkeye(TM) peer-to-peer anti-piracy service and our RipGuard DVD(TM) anti-ripping product. We are pleased that we were able to manage our costs even in the face of additional Sarbanes Oxley expenses and continued investment in new products and in the integration of our acquired products. We were also pleased that we filed our first 10-K under the rules governed by Sarbanes Oxley, and we received an unqualified opinion from our independent registered public accounting firm on our internal controls."
Krepick continued, "Looking ahead, we are confirming our FY2005 guidance for revenues to be between $220 and $230 million, but increasing our guidance for pro forma EPS which we expect to be in the $1.05-$1.07 range, and GAAP earnings per share in the range of $0.83-$0.86. For Q2 2005, we are estimating that our revenues will be in the range of $47-$49 million and our pro forma EPS will be in the range of $0.15-$0.17. Our forecasts take into account the fact that we have a number of new products that we expect will slowly gain traction as the year progresses and will culminate in a strong Q4, which will reflect historical seasonality in both of our business units. These projections include the impact of the InstallShield® acquisition for the full year."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050502/26086.html?.v=1
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Terror on the Internet!
We write scare stories!
File Sharers, Beware!
CBS
It was among the most frightening phone calls Don Bodiker ever received. A stranger calling from California was reading Bodiker's tax return.
"We had not even sent our taxes in yet," he says. "They had not even been mailed."
And worse, the stranger got the tax return online straight out of his computer, "where he could read every single line of everything that I had on my taxes," says Bodiker.
It was, he says, "a very scary moment for us."
CBS News found the mystery caller, who wants to be known only as "Jeff from Sacramento." So far, Jeff has called 120 people to warn them their financial documents are available because of file sharing.
It's all there, he says – tax files, checking account and routing number.
As CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, file sharing today is the rage on the Internet, mostly because of users who want to share songs. But because file sharing literally opens your computer to outsiders it can also lead to snooping. All Jeff does is search for the word "tax."
Millions of Americans now share files, usually music, by downloading what's called peer-to-peer software. The problem is many users don't understand which files exactly are being made public.
While we watched, Jeff pulled the tax return of Zachary in New Mexico and called him
"You had your refund of $794 sent directly to your checking account," Jeff tells Zachary. "No sir I am not kidding."
Zachary, clearly shaken, agreed to speak with CBS News.
Asked to share his thoughts about it, Zachary says: "I'm deeply concerned, and I think something needs to be done now. "
After tracking down Zachary, it's learned that both he and Bodiker had installed a file share program called BearShare. They had no idea BearShare was giving away personal documents like their taxes.
Zachary says the software program didn't give him enough warning that he was giving away personal information.
"If I had known that I never would have downloaded the program," he says.
The makers of BearShare declined comment but an industry spokesman, Adam Eisgrau, says the privacy rules for Bear Share will be upgraded immediately.
"As I understand it, a new version will be coming out literally in a matter of days that will seek to close any possible vulnerabilities of this," says Eisgrau.
And there are plenty of vulnerabilities. Besides tax returns, CBS News also found private medical files, and private bank statements.
Jeff doesn't believe both Bodiker nor Zachary meant to share their tax returns.
Jeff says computer users need to be more responsible for what they allow on their computer and need to know what a program does or can do. Otherwise users in such a rush to take in music files, may well be giving away much, much more.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in692765.shtml
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Don’t care whacha call me long as ya call me…
RIAA Suits May Actually Promote File Sharing
Richard Menta
Today it is accepted as common knowledge that the record industry lawsuits against the original Napster served as advertisement for the new service. That can happen when you take an application only a few months old and splash it on the front page of newspapers throughout the world for two years. Over the course of the trial tens-of-millions flocked to the service and when it was finally shut down those users turned to Morpheus, KaZaa and later to eDonkey and Bittorrent. File sharing was big and only became bigger.
The entertainment industry's "Sue 'em All" campaign seems to be suffering from the same effect. Rather than do what it was designed to do (as Jon Newton would say 'scare file sharers into purchasing their overpriced products') and cause file sharing to drop, trading on the P2P applications have increased. According to Thomas Mennecke in his great article "RIAA's Grand Total" 10,037 - What are Your Odds" there are approximately 12 million P2P users online at any given moment.
Now that the media conglomerates have topped the 10,000 lawsuit mark Tom's article lays out the fact that the chances of being sued are 1 in 1,840. The chances of dying by external causes like a horrible accident? 1 in 1,755. People don't stop driving cars because of fears it will kill them (though they might buy bigger more secure ones if their concerns are high). Likewise, file sharers won't stop sharing.
Tom parses the numbers quite adeptly and is a recommended read for all as is this article by Jon Newton. By placing the risks in this perspective, the fear of lawsuits is lessened. Lower the fear and the suits themselves only become more like ads, keeping the spotlight on file sharing. These articles could become quite influential should it pick up a wide readership.
But what if the RIAA uses these numbers as an excuse to turn up the heat? What if they decide to increase the mass scale of these suits to worsen the odds? Then they have to deal with another effect, lost sales due to bad PR. Ask Martha Stewart about that one if you doubt its influence.
http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/5002/advertise.html
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RIAA’s Grand Total: 10,037 - What are Your Odds?
Thomas Mennecke
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) began their lawsuit campaign against alleged music pirates in June of 2003. When the first RIAA lawsuits began rolling off the assembly line, an enormous media frenzy accompanied this event. Since that time the lawsuits have become second-rate news, as the chances of becoming another RIAA statistic is relatively low – very low.
So what exactly are your chances of being sued by the RIAA? In our news story last Wednesday, Slyck reported the number of online file-sharers was approximately 9 million users. Among other networks, this number did not account for the BitTorrent, WinMX, Manolito, Warez/Ares, Gnutella2 or SoulSeek populations. If we did include those users, we would be looking at a much larger population – perhaps as many as 15 million users. For the purposes of this article, we will split the difference and approximate there are 12 million P2P users online at any given moment.
With this number in mind, there have been 10,037 people sued by the RIAA since June of 2003. According to the web log “ RIAA Watch”, 6,523 people were sued by the RIAA in 2004. What exactly does this mean?
If we divide the total population of the P2P community (~12 million individuals), by the total number of lawsuits in 2004 (6,523), we get 1,840. In other words, your chances of being sued are 1 in 1,840 for all users (regardless of network) per year. How does that stack against all other odds of dying from an intentional or non- intentional injury? According to the National Safety Council, one’s yearly chances of dying from all external causes were 1 in 1,755 in 2002.
Basically, your chances of dying from all causes of external injuries, whether from a car accident, motorcycle accident, plane crash, murder, etc was 1 in 1,755 – fairly remote odds. Although the odds were remote, they still were not as remote as specific causes of death – such as lightening strikes, suicide, “fall on and from stairs and steps” or being electrocuted. In some cases, your chances of dying from contact with a sharp object were 1 in 2.8 million.
So let us examine the chances of being sued by the RIAA a bit further. The main focus of the RIAA lawsuits have been against the FastTrack network. The effects of this campaign has crippled FastTrack, dropping its population from ~4.5 million to ~2.5 million users. From the last capture of the proportion of networks under the RIAA’s gun in November of 2003, 150 users of FastTrack were sued, compared to 5 Blubster users. Since the RIAA cannot subpoena individuals anymore, we unfortunately cannot provide a more current proportion. However, common knowledge dictates that FastTrack remains a priority, and on November 13 of 2003 it represented ~96% of those being sued.
If we were to eliminate 96% (proportion of FastTrack users) of the 6,523 sued in 2004, the odds of being sued changes dramatically. If we consider only those using a non-FastTrack P2P network, the total number of lawsuits drops to only ~261. In other words, you then have a 1 in 45,977 chance of being sued if you do not use FastTrack. Comparatively, according to the National Safety Council, you have a better chance of being killed in a transportation or non-transportational accident, death from suicide, death from assault or death by legal intervention (such as execution or being shot by a police officer.)
However this assumes the RIAA has remained consistent in which network users are being sued from. Let's say the RIAA was more diverse in which networks they pursue. If we assume half of those sued in 2004 were using FastTrack, that leaves us with 3,261 non-FastTrack related lawsuits. You would then have a 1 in 3,679 chance of being sued. That still places you above all external cases of mortality (1 in 1,755), but below all transportational accidents (1 in 5,953.) However, you would still have a better chance of being killed in an unintentional accident (1 in 2,698), then being sued by the RIAA.
Although these numbers are hardly an exact science, they do reflect the odds of being sued are little different than the risks one takes by simply living day-to-day life. But if we were to get real specific, the odds of being sued by the RIAA for non- FastTrack users (1 in 3,679) is still much greater than death by contact with a venomous snake or lizard (1 in 95 million.) So just watch yourself.
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=769
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Intermix is just the start
Ramifications Of Adware Suit Are Broad
Bambi Francisco
As I stepped ashore onto the island of Cozumel last year after a pleasant few days aboard a cruise ship I was accosted by solicitors offering scuba diving tours before I could get 50 feet away from the ship
One after the other, they invaded my space.
I thought: "Ugh! Live pop-ups!"
That happened once. But on the computer, the digital equivalents of pesky sports' tours or timeshare salesmen haunt us every minute of each day.
The way they get on our computer is through adware, which is on an estimated nine out of 10 computers. The definition is fluid, but broadly speaking it is software that's mysteriously installed on computers without user consent. It can track user activity and serve up advertisements related to that activity. It's typically bundled with applications, like screensavers, or music file-sharing applications or when people mistype URLs.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has sued Intermix Media Inc. (MIX), accusing the Internet marketing company of secretly installing spyware on millions of home computers. Spitzer's civil suit accuses Intermix of violating New York General Business Law provisions against false advertising and deceptive business practices, according to the Associated Presss. He also accuses them of trespass under New York common law, the AP reported. See related story
If history is any guide, the attorney general -- who's taken on Wall Street, brokerages, insurers and others -- won't be satisfied with one tiny company. There are a whole slew of companies that distribute malicious adware applications as well as advertisers or ad networks that know such practices occur but turn a blind eye to them.
There are file-sharing companies, like Grokster, Morpheus and Kazaa that bundle their software with 20 to 30 adware applications, according to Webroot CEO David Moll.
Then there are companies, backed by major venture capitalists, like 180Solutions, funded by Spectrum Equity Investors, as well as Claria/Gator, Direct Revenue and eXact Advertising, that many observers consider adware/spyware companies.
There's also FindWhat.com (FWHT), Yahoo (YHOO) and ValueClick (VCLK), to name a few ad networks that may or may not know the extent to which adware is used to deliver their ads.
And then there's Ask Jeeves (ASKJ), which just on Monday terminated an agreement with a marketing/distribution partner that uses drive-by downloads (a form of adware). The termination was prompted after I questioned Ask Jeeves about this partnership, which was uncovered by spyware sleuth Ben Edelman. Edelman was an expert witness who testified on behalf of media publications in a case against Gator, now known as Claria, back in 2002.
Adware is big business. It's estimated that ads worth $2 billion are served up via adware, according to a report being released Tuesday by Webroot. That's more than 20% of the estimated $9.6 billion in advertisements placed online last year. Watch interview with Webroot's Moll.
Webroot measured ads delivered via pop-ups, pop-unders, as well as those seen when applications redirect searches or hijack home pages. As a maker of anti- spyware software Webroot is clearly motivated to heighten the risks. But there's no question that adware is a real menace to Internet surfers and to investors.
Investor risk
Intermix shares dove 23% when Spitzer announced the lawsuit against the Los Angeles-based company last Thursday. See full story.
But Intermix won't be the only stock to see its share price slashed as Spitzer's investigation widens. Based on my conversation with Spitzer's office, the Intermix case may pry open a Pandora's Box for the industry.
"A lot of advertisers are using spyware companies," said Assistant Attorney General Justin Brookman, who's handling the case for Spitzer's Internet Bureau. "Intermix is the only company sued at this point," said Brookman. Translation: Spitzer's team isn't stopping with Intermix.
In fact, Brookman told me that there are as many as 30 other Web sites or companies acting as agents helping to distribute applications without consumers' consent. One tiny company highlighted in the report, Acez Software, already settled with Spitzer's office, according to Brookman.
Spitzer's team wouldn't elaborate on specific companies being investigated. But it's fair to say it's a comprehensive list.
So what happens when Spitzer cracks down? What's the risk and who's at risk? Do the ads go away? If not, where do they go, and which online company will they benefit?
Guilty by association
"We're not ruling out in the future going after advertisers, or Overture," said Brookman. Yahoo's Overture accounted for some 10% of Intermix's revenue, said Brookman.
Yahoo would not comment.
Claria, formerly Gator, is another company that's been accused of distributing spyware. It has said in its pre-IPO S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Yahoo's Overture accounted for 31% of its sales in 2003.
To be sure, two high profile lawsuits against the company have been settled without any admission of wrongdoing. Claria, describes itself as a "behavioral marketing" company. It's sensitive enough to criticism to carry disclaimers on its website insisting that "We have strictly abided to our commitment to privacy and are dedicated to providing valuable permission-based software applications in exchange for delivering targeted messages to our users based on their anonymous online behavior."
Netflix was another Intermix advertiser. Its ads were seen on the FloGo toolbar that is one of Intermix's applications that is downloaded alongside an Intermix screen saver program. Netflix said that it's unaware of any promotions on adware and prohibits its affiliates or distributors to place ads on such applications.
While Brookman believes there may be culpability on the part of advertisers, Spitzer's office hasn't drawn any conclusions.
After all, Netflix said it's not aware of its ads being delivered in such a nefarious way. There's also a question of whether advertisers should be responsible for how or where their distributors place their ads.
Suffice it to say that if advertisers did know that ads were being placed by misleading installations of toolbars or redirects of Web pages, then Spitzer's office will likely have a word or two with them.
Ask Jeeves is particularly worth noting since there have been a number of independent sources alleging that Ask Jeeves uses distributors of spyware.
Heather Staples, a spokeswoman for Ask Jeeves, said the company does not use distributors that inadvertently install applications on computers of unsuspecting or non-consenting consumers.
So I alerted her to a video clip captured by Edelman, who documented an instance in which he received the Ask Jeeves' MySearch toolbar without his request. See Bendelman's video and reports.
Staples came back and said that Ask Jeeves did in fact find fault with this particular distribution partner. "We just turned off that partner," she said, adding, "I don't think this is a widespread issue because of the preventive steps we've taken." That said, "this is an imperfect industry... We need to rely on consumer feedback to identify these outlying issues."
But outlying issues seem to plague Ask Jeeves.
Ask Jeeves worked with distributors of spyware in the past, such as Mindset's FavoriteMan, a spyware program that installs other spyware programs, installs new icons on computer desktops and adds links to a users' favorites list in Microsoft's (MSFT) Internet Explorer. FavoriteMan was also used by Intermix, according to Spitzer's suit.
The agreement between MySearch and Mindset was that MySearch would be bundled with downloadable games, said Staples.
The agreement ended in the fall of 2003 when Ask Jeeves realized that the distribution of MySearch via Mindset fell outside the scope of the Ask Jeeves' policies, namely that distributors had to give consumers proper notification. Additionally, the company advocates that its distributors comply with proper disclosure and notification and removal requirements for any of its applications.
But Ask Jeeves still partners with Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file-sharing company as well as Grokster. Peer-to-peer companies bundle a number of adware programs with their own software. Ask Jeeves won't be able to rely on that type of distribution if the P2P companies are found to be liable for distributing spyware.
Even if Ask Jeeves isn't doing anything wrong, it's still not off the hook with investors if a significant amount of advertising is placed on its properties that acquire traffic via devious channels. Two-thirds of Ask Jeeves' search traffic in March came from its MySearch, MyWebSearch and MyWay properties, according to comScore Networks. These are the properties that have in the past, and may still be relying on distributors that use adware to get onto computers.
Not only does this have implications for Ask Jeeves, but InterActiveCorp (IACI), which has agreed to spend $1.8 billion to buy the property.
As for FindWhat.com, Tom Wilde, senior vice president of primary traffic acquisition said that the company currently has a distribution agreement with Direct Revenue, but the revenue is "well under half a percent of total revenue." Direct Revenue's software monitors a users' activity and serves up ads related to that activity, according to Edelman. I asked Wilde why FindWhat.com even uses Direct Revenue if the company allegedly uses spyware, and Wilde said that Direct Revenue also uses legitimate channels to distribute advertisements. Wilde also said that FindWhat is not distributing through Intermix, Gator or 180Solutions.
ValueClick did not return calls seeking comment.
Final thoughts...
The problems are getting some companies to act. Last week, CNet (CNET) said that any application downloaded from its Download.com site will be tested for adware and will be adware-free.
Many of these ad networks, like Ask Jeeves, say they that this type of behavior is new and tough to track. Indeed, it is.
But perhaps companies should take better care in conducting their due diligence in choosing distribution partners. Goodness, it was once the case that we couldn't trust Internet revenue figures. Now, is it the case that we can't trust audience figures and traffic? Are companies so driven to drive up traffic to attract advertisers that they're lowering the standards their partners must meet?
If that's the case, I'm glad Spitzer is on this. If companies aren't going to comply or make their distributors or marketing partners comply, then Spitzer will have to make them.
http://www.alwayson-network.com/comm...=10117_0_3_1_C
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RIAA Shrugs Off Court Ruling In Favor Of File-Sharers
North Carolina decision pertains to outdated litigation process.
Brandee J. Tecson
A federal judge recently ruled that two North Carolina universities do not have to disclose the identities of two college students who allegedly file-swapped songs on the universities' computer systems.
While the ruling might at first seem like a setback for the Recording Industry Association of America's effort to eradicate illegal file-sharing, the RIAA said the overall effect will be minimal. "This [ruling deals with] an old process that we no longer use and have not used since 2003," explained Jonathan Lamy, a spokesperson for the RIAA.
According to The Associated Press, the RIAA filed subpoenas at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in November 2003 in order to obtain the schools' cooperation in identifying two file-sharers who logged on to a peer- to-peer system as "CadillacMan" and "hulk."
But starting in January 2004, the RIAA began using a different litigation process, dubbed "John Doe," to obtain the identities of illegal file-sharers. To date, the organization has issued more than 11,000 lawsuits, including 800 against university students, under the "John Doe" process.
The way it works is the RIAA sues an anonymous computer address under the name John Doe. After the suit is filed and the judge grants the request to start the investigative process, the RIAA can subpoena the individual's identity from their Internet service provider. The complaint is then amended to include the alleged file-sharer's name. "John Doe" has been highly successful, the RIAA said, and universities have been responsive to the process.
Prior to "John Doe," the RIAA was relying on a provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allowed for pre-lawsuit subpoenas to learn the identities of file-sharers. However, in December 2003, the D.C. Court of Appeals struck down the use of DMCA subpoenas to learn names.
"When the court ruled against us, we stopped using DMCA subpoenas, but there were still lingering cases left over that had not been resolved," including the two in North Carolina, Lamy explained. The RIAA decided not to withdraw the suit, but to also move forward using the "John Doe" litigation process.
Fred Battaglia and Michael Kornbluth, lawyers who represent one of the students targeted in the case, said they were not concerned with allegations of music piracy but with whether identifying their client would violate her privacy rights, according to the AP.
"This was a test case for North Carolina, and the way it stands as we speak is that the North Carolina schools cannot release the names of these individuals," Battaglia said.
Kornbluth added that the ruling only applied to P2P file-sharing. "We would never condone music piracy," he said. "What we're interested in is the rights of the individual [and] privacy rights being protected."
Earlier this month, the RIAA filed 405 lawsuits against students at 18 universities who allegedly used Internet2 — a private research network used by colleges — to trade copyrighted songs and movies (see "RIAA Sues More Than 400 College Students Over Internet2 Downloads"), also utilizing the "John Doe" litigation process.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/150...headlines=true
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REM Song Row Halts Film
Deborah Haile
BLOW: Stephanie and Sarah
A COPYRIGHT row over a song by American supergroup REM is threatening a plan by Stockport youngsters to spread a green message across the world.
The three-minute film, produced by pupils from the Reddish Vale Technology College to promote green travel, was due to be shown at the World Expo 2005, which is being held until September 25 in Japan.
But without the backing of REM, the film, which won the Panasonic Witness News Competition to be shown at the event, will have to go back to the cutting room because it features the band's songs, Everybody Hurts."
The hauntingtrack accompanies images of potential disasters resulting from climate change and carbon dioxide emissions. And the children believe replacing it would take away the power the dramatic scenes create.
Ecology
School bosses say they have tried without success to obtain permission to use the track. And now deputy headteacher Jenny Campbell has written to the band.
She said: "The kids are really upset. The song is so apt for the subject - damage to our ecology does hurt us all."
And the school's head of citizenship Pat Spencer said: "We didn't anticipate there would be any problem with copyright."
Youngsters have been working on the film for almost six months. Now they hope the plea to singer Michael Stipe and his bandmates will enable them to keep the track.
The film's director Sarah Murphy, 15, said: "If Michael saw the film he would understand why we want this."
And Stephanie Bruckshaw, 14, who starred in the film, added: "Changing the music will change the whole film and I don't think the seriousness of it will get across."
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/me...alts_film.html
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Fan Fiction Booms As Modern Folklore
Legions of serious fans take to the Internet to let their imaginations run wild writing scenarios for their favorite shows
Diane Werts
Have you ever loved a TV show so much that you wanted to be a part of it, to share the characters' adventures, to guide the action into exotic realms unexplored in actual episodes?
Maybe you visualized yourself kicking butt with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or hanging with prehistoric heroine Xena at a modern-day Starbucks. Maybe you feared your beloved show's scripters just weren't heading in the right direction. Why not get "X-Files" colleagues Mulder and Scully together - reeeeally together? For that matter, what about Mulder and assistant FBI director Skinner? Hey, Kirk and Spock on "Star Trek" sometimes seemed more than just "good friends." And what if Mulder and Scully crossed paths with Kirk and Spock?
These may be idle daydreams - but only if you don't type all your fervent imaginings into the computer, then post the doings on the Internet for the world to read. These days, it seems that's what everybody else does.
Down a new-old path
Fan fiction has become a booming hobby, with millions of stories written for cyberspace by ordinary consumers of TV shows, movies, books, even video games. "Fanfic" recycles well-known characters by taking them down fresh paths, recounted in epic-length chronicles, 100-word "drabbles," explicit character vignettes and crossovers between completely unrelated series. The reimaginings use existing entertainment icons to present an alternative mythology to the "official" version - a modern grassroots folklore subverting corporate control of "intellectual property."
Yet it isn't modern at all. While the Internet delivers fanfic with new efficiency through archives such as fanfiction.net, this kind of shared storytelling is actually an ancient form, which was once the norm.
"For most of human history, that's how narrative evolved," says Henry Jenkins, director of comparative media studies at MIT and author of "Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture" (1992). "There was never a single author, whether it's Homer or Shakespeare. Writers always borrowed heavily from the stories of their time," which were shaped and altered while being retold, Jenkins says. "There's a human need to tell stories to each other, and fanfic now fulfills that need."
"How many different King Arthur and Robin Hood stories are there?" asks Batya Wittenberg, who studied literature at Barnard after writing her own fanfic stories from age 9 (she started with a new "Wizard of Oz" tale). Now 29, the Kew Gardens Hills office manager discovered as the Internet mushroomed that thousands of fans were reconfiguring their faves.
She began riffing on shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" after she took a shine to a sixth-season "nerd" character named Andrew Wells seen in only an occasional scene. She remembers feeling, "'I bet I know what this character was thinking right after that. But I didn't see it. So I'm going to write it.' It's like, here's something the show didn't explore. It's filling in the blanks."
"They're expanding the relationships into a place that we don't have time to do on television," observes David Kemper, executive producer of "Farscape," the acclaimed Sci Fi cable drama whose fervent fandom still churns out stories online two years after cancellation. Like other TV professionals, Kemper says he doesn't read fan fiction - studios forbid it, fearing lawsuits over "borrowed" ideas - but he knows what it is and that it means a valuable core of loyal fans. He also understands the urge that makes them write. Kemper loved "Star Trek" as a kid. "I remember thinking, I should be a 12-year-old on the ship with these guys, going down to the planets and seeing all these things."
"Star Trek" actually owes its franchise life to the devotion fanfic epitomizes. After the original NBC series' cancellation in 1969, viewer zeal kept the concept alive in fan clubs, conventions and self-penned stories laboriously produced in printed fanzine form. "Fans were the only ones producing anything for a long time to satiate that hunger," says producer Ron Moore, who now runs Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica" but cut his teeth as a writer on the several "Trek" TV sequels dating from the late 1980s. "It told Paramount there were people out there willing to pay for more 'Star Trek.'"
"It's still considered the grande dame of fandom," says Melissa "Merlin Missy" Wilson, a 30-year-old analytical chemist in suburban Chicago. Wilson has written dozens of fanfics but is best known for her "Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fan Fiction," a detailed online how-to widely consulted for a decade. Wilson says most TV fanfic is devoted to series with "some element of the fantastic or sci-fi" to stimulate imagination, as well as to "a certain kind of ensemble drama that just clicks with you." Fanfic writers know it when they see it.
Reality isn't big - really
The tube's big kahunas include the "Trek" series, "Buffy," "The X-Files," "Xena: Warrior Princess," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (a 1960s fanfic pioneer that's still active) and "Alias," all of which seem obvious. But also "The West Wing" and "JAG," which don't, along with "Gilmore Girls," "Law & Order" and "Diagnosis Murder." Also inspiring fanfic are soap operas ("Passions"), animated series (from "Justice League" to "Rugrats"), even wrestling entertainment. Wilson says, "Sitcoms don't get a lot. Reality shows don't get a lot. They don't draw in the kind of people who write fanfic. Those are shows you click onto, watch and move on to the next show."
More appealing are shows in which viewers feel a stake in the characters' emotional lives. That bond can pull the writer personally into the tale. The "Mary Sue" story is a subgenre in which a perfect, altruistic, often tragic character represents an idealized version of the writer herself. And it usually is a "her." TV fan fiction writers are overwhelmingly female (with more men in areas like anime and video games that attract male users). "In the shows that tend to attract fan fiction," says MIT's Jenkins, "women are a 'surplus' audience. For men, what they want from the show is fully aired onscreen, while what women want is in the margins. Fandom is a mixture of fascination and frustration."
TV episodes revolve around plot. Fanfic writers prefer character. Their prose often languidly describes a passionate intimacy that's rarely conveyed between commercials. "Farscape's" Kemper notes that fanfic writers work in "the written form: This is for you to curl up on the couch to read and daydream. Whereas our show had to be visual and aural. They're two different things."
The presumption of fan fiction to get inside characters' heads ticks off some professional authors. Legal action has been taken by Anne Rice to deter fanfic of her vampire books and by J.K. Rowling to stop "adult" takes on Harry Potter. Fanfics often lead with disclaimers that their writers don't claim to own the characters or seek profit from their "fair use" extensions.
"Galactica" producer Moore, conversely, is thrilled to hear of even peculiar permutations of his characters. "I always loved it when writers went into strange nooks and crannies and turned the universe upside down in ways that we couldn't. 'Wouldn't it be great if Kirk and Spock were lovers?' We can't do that, but it's great that somebody can."
Which they certainly do. While some stories are innocuous what-ifs - the latest poker night of "Galactica's" Starbuck, or chance meetings between characters from "The West Wing" and "Will & Grace" - others are intricately detailed accounts of sexual explorations far beyond the series' established "canon." A wildly popular subgenre named slash, for the slash punctuation between character names, revolves around explicit sexual acts that make physical the emotional connection between male "buddy" pairs - Solo/Illya on "U.N.C.L.E.," or that ever popular Kirk/Spock team.
MIT's Jenkins is unfazed that women write such elaborately envisioned homoerotica. "Our culture loves passionate friendships between men that are more glorious than any man would have in real life," he says. "On 'Star Trek,' Kirk loves a girlfriend-of-the-week that he abandons at the end of the episode. But if Spock is in trouble, he'll risk everything in his career to go save him. It doesn't take a PhD in comparative literature to see the real relationship there."
No dead shows
Writer Wilson observes that "without a male-female power dynamic in the relationship, you can get down to quote, unquote 'pure' emotion." Would that also explain all those Xena/Gabrielle fanfic flings?
As the online activity around "Xena," "U.N.C.L.E" and "Trek" proves, there are no dead shows in the fan fiction universe. Tales are still being written around 1960s hits "Bonanza" and "Combat." Even short-run series such as NBC's 1997 half-season spy drama "UC: Undercover" have inspired hundreds of stories online. Writers collaborate to string together "virtual seasons" of canceled cult faves like the 1990s "Gargoyles" cartoon or CBS' "American Gothic" spooker.
And, of course, mass media are evolving from the passive model of reading and watching to the active engagement of computers and video games. If "Galactica" producer Moore is an old-school creator of top-down television, he also answers viewer questions on the show's Sci Fi site, writes a blog dialogue on its moral and aesthetic choices and records "podcast" commentaries fans can download for listening while watching episodes.
So is Buffy an immutable creation that a studio can employ copyright laws to prevent others from adapting? Or is she a folk character a la Snow White, and a fine jumping off point for storytelling variations? "I'm sure Shakespeare wouldn't like a lot of the incarnations of Romeo and Juliet," says Moore. "But once you create characters and they leave your computer and go out into the world, somebody is going to do something with them. I really think it's more flattering than anything else."
Lingo according to The Powers That Be
Fan fiction is a huge, fluid subculture with its own language and modus operandi.
A quick primer:
Canon. The officially aired or distributed form of the original concept the fanfic expands on, as created/ approved by The Powers That Be (TPTB).
Gen. "General" fan fiction stories, which tend to hue close to canon in terms of behavior and taste. Can signify nonromantic content when used alongside "ships" or "shippers" (meaning relationships).
Alt or AU. Alternate Universe tales stray from canon in any number of ways: time frame, setting, diverging.
Crossover. Stories that mix separate series. "Charmed" witches show up at the "M*A*S*H" camp. Xena patronizes the "Seinfeld" coffee shop. The "Beverly Hills 90210" kids meet "Kung Fu's" Caine. The "South Park" boys party with the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" folks.
Slash. Named for the slash punctuation between names, this indicates (mainly) male/male sexual pairings that violate series canon. Can mean female/female pairings, sometimes marked f/f. "Het" denotes heterosexual activity. Adult in nature, usually explicit, often emotionally charged.
PWP. Plot, What Plot? Here, sex is pretty much the only point.
Ratings. Fanfics may be categorized online by their adult content. Some sites apply familiar movie ratings (PG) or TV ratings (MA). Others use labels such as "adult" or "teen" to indicate appropriate readership.
Drabble. Brief scene lasting exactly 100 words.
Challenge. Soliciting stories to be shaped around a suggested theme, character, dialogue.
To explore fan fiction
Learn about fanfic at en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction.
Read stories at
www.fanfiction.net.
Follow links at
www.fan ficweb.net/directory.
Peruse the amusing "Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fan Fiction" at missy.reimer.com/library/guide.html
See what not to do at
www.godawful.net
Browse thoughtful essays at
www.trickster.org/symposium and web.mit.edu/21fms/www/facul ty/henry3
http://fanfiction.notlong.com/
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The First Lady's DVD
Posted by daddydirt
Laura Bush is a big hit for the one-liners she told at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night. some pretty funny stuff from an unlikely source. i've heard some clips and her delivery was quite good.
Quote:
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I am married to the president of the United States, and here's our typical evening: Nine o'clock, Mr. Excitement here is sound asleep, and I'm watching Desperate Housewives— with Lynne Cheney. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife. I mean, if those women on that show think they're desperate, they oughta be with George.
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later, her press secretary set the record straight.
Quote:
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Playing off "Desperate Housewives," the racy hit U.S. television show, was a natural, even though Whitson said in a brief interview after the dinner that Bush had never actually seen it. Whitson said the first lady had heard about the characters and plot from her twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, who are fans, and was planning to watch the entire first season on a DVD she has at home.
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now i know they watch first-run movies at the White House movie theater, but do they get their hands on DVDs that haven't been released yet? if not, just what the hell is she gonna watch and where did she get it?
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/...comments_x.htm
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.ph...ews/letter.php
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...87113?v=glance
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...ad.php?t=21482