Posts by Paul Campbell
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err "didn't'
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Did we notice that Dylan Horrock's cartoon is now leading on the Pirate Bay?
yes we (I) did - I'm traveling today and access to The Pirate Bay, even to read their press releases, is blocked in the Koru Club - apparently business people are timid wee things and must be protected from people with eye patches
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Well I'm in a good place - no debts (personal or in my corporation), an increasing income stream due to the US$ and I'm still turning work away - I know it wont last and that I probably should be moving to customers who will pay in Euros ....
I kind of see this as a good time to expand, and will try and swing a real startup this year - my potential competitors who are extended are being winnowed as we speak and done right I'll catch the start of the next biz cycle - building stuff in China's going to get cheaper too about now ....
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I was trying to exp,lain to a 'merkin friend that "we'd won!, well we got a postponement, and maybe a seat at the table" - he responded "Sometimes it works -- in a creaky, Brazil sort of way"
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the TCF are now arguing from a point of strength - time to pull back to the point where RIANZ baulks and wont sign - then the whole thing gets suspended
Maybe now's also the time for some more grass-roots rights holder's organisations to spring up and join the negotiations
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actually I just had a horrible thought - when I said "I want you to cut Google off - they copied my robots.txt file 3 times" I was of course being facetious - but what if I really did make that complaint - would they shut off all the cable to the US?
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Simon - I'm sure you're right - they don't represent me though, nor do they really a lot of musicians in the small - I'm sure they haven't asked all the musicians they claim to represent about this issue
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remember we are all "rights holders" - this very comment I'm writing here was born imbued with my personal copyright - everything we write, every photo we take, every image we make, song we sing contains our own personal copyright - the internet is full of it (in more ways than one of course).
But the internet works because we're mostly willing to not follow up people who make copies of our works (by visiting PA for example) and demand payment.
Part of the problem I think is that not only are the users of copyright not being represented in this process but neither are the small rights holders, you and me, anyone who sends email, our kids on bebo and myspace, etc etc.
RIANZ and APRA have deep pockets from their corporate masters, and are able to push a particular message - but probably not the view that most people who publish copyrighted material on the internet (ie all of us) have.
Reading the TCF proposal one thing that's interesting is that it creates two classes of rights holders, essentially them and us - the 'recognised rights holders' (the rich guys) who will pay less every time they report an infringement, and us who will have to pay more (I think I heard someone say $20 - still means anyone can probably knock someone they don't like off the internet for ~$60).
Now we're not having a say in this process - I think partly because everyone knows that if they let just anyone in it will all turn to farce really really fast: "I want you to cut Google off - they copied my robots.txt file 3 times"
As I said above the internet is all about copying, it's how it works - we're all rights holders - there's nothing special about music or movies, they're all bits - and bits owned by people who can afford lawyers shouldn't be treated any different by those owned by people who can't.
There is a real big-picture problem that needs to be addressed - the economics of the movie and music businesses given the changing technologies - we all want to bounce along to great beats or watch wonderful movies - the problem is that the technology doesn't replace the artists, it replaces the middle men - who are what RIANZ et al represent - the future of music is, I think, going make them redundant - I worry more about movies which genuinely do cost large amounts of money to make - but fortunately are initially 'performed' rather than sold as recordings
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for heaven sakes can't we avoid the baseball metaphor and come up with something of our own
I like "10 wickets and you're gone"
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(of course this is already true for those early adopters who have already moved to VOIP providers)