Family Holloway

In this document [PDF] the New Zealand Society of Authors say “There is increasing debate about the Google Books settlement overseas. Yet, here in New Zealand we seem to be just ignoring it as if it doesn’t mater to us. Maybe that’s because there seems to have been an assumption that it is only relevant to books published in the US; or maybe we just assume that the publisher will take care of it or maybe its just one of those things on the list that we’ll get to later. Well whatever your excuse for avoiding it, time is fast running out to do something – and do something you should.” Every NZ writer should learn about the Google Books settlement and how it will affect them

Associated Press made waves last year with it’s plan to charge $12.50 for 5-25 word quotes from news articles. Now more details about AP’s plans for the web have emerged and it looks like they’re foolishly heading down the route of Digital Restrictions Management . DRM imposes arbitrary restrictions and bypassing DRM is a criminal offense in New Zealand. Not only does DRM fail at its task for fundamental reasons but – like all snake oil – those selling it mislead naive people about its effectiveness. Associated Press have a clear misunderstanding about the technology they’ve chosen (it can’t do what the diagram says) and Arstechnica comments that “You’ll be forgiven if you find it difficult to square the reality of [the technology] with the AP’s pronouncements about it.” and “AP posted a diagram of the system, which only adds to the confusion—your satisfaction with the diagram will be inversely proportional to your knowledge of the technology”. Unfortunately this large organisation may soon push for law changes in New Zealand as it has in other nations.

Earlier this year Scoop had a press release from the World Association of Newspapers about ACAP , the Automated Content Access Protocol which is a DRM-scheme for newspapers.

ACAP builds upon an existing technique while also defining the amount of text that can be quoted, whether to quote or display the entire site in a scrollable box, and even what colour and font to display quotes in (!).

DRM removes legitimate access to copyrighted material that would be allowable under New Zealand’s Fair Dealing provisions, and Arstechnica comments that if AP believe that “hNews” or any technology can do half of the things they believe they’re sadly mistaken. Artstechnica comment,

hNews looks like a nice way to mark up news, to make it visible to search engines, and to provide useful metadata for those who want to do interesting things with the content. But what it has to do with “wrappers,” “enforcement,” and “protection” is unclear. Reading the AP announcement and the graphic that accompanied it, one is struck by the thought that perhaps the AP has been snookered into believing that it’s getting “DRM for news,” when in reality it’s simply using an open-source news metadata markup language with Creative Commons rights expression.

Down the road, of course, the AP might go to Congress and ask that whatever tracking and rights system it settles on be given the force of law. It’s not as crazy as it sounds; European publishers already hope to get a law enforcing the Automated Content Access Protocol.

Holland recently decided to tax internet connections to help newspapers and it’s likely that this debate will soon come to New Zealand.

Zeropaid reports that “Record labels and others in the music industry frequently lament that they can no longer make money, that piracy and illegal file-sharing has all but made their industry extinct, or so they would have you believe. So when Will Page, the Chief Economist for PRS for Music, a UK-based royalty collecting group for music writers, composers, and publishers, publishes a study concluding total music industry revenues are up 4.7% since 2007 it corroborates what many studies have shown, that P2P actually increases music consumption [...] The music industry is growing increasingly diverse as music fans enjoy a wide range of platforms to hear and consume music. Sales of recorded music fell 6% for example, digital was up 50% while physical dropped 10%, but concert ticket sales grew by 13%”

Image source Zeropaid

(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)

Techdirt.com reports on Kyle Gann , a music professor, composer, and author who was working on his latest book but had to drop an entire section because he wasn’t allowed to quote short sentences that are, themselves, apparently considered works of art. Gann says “I’ve been trying to get permission simply to refer to Fluxus pieces like La Monte Young’s “This piece is little whirlpools in the middle of the ocean,” and Yoko Ono’s “Listen to the sound of the earth turning” and so in frustration well past the eleventh hour, I’ve excised the pieces from the text.” Techdirt comments that “Yes, it’s become so impossible to quote a single short sentence, that it’s just not worth doing at all. Welcome to permission society. Some copyright system believers may claim that this is just the market at work, but it certainly seems a lot more like an undue restriction on freedom of expression at the hands of copyright law.”

New It Make! , a Waikato-based radio show interviewed Bronwyn Holloway-Smith [mp3] about the history and future of Section 92A, internet-based campaigns, and copyrights’ effect on artists. Be sure to subscribe to their podcast.

Amazon have apologised for remotely deleting books from peoples e-book readers. Jeff Bezos their CEO has said that “Our ’solution’ to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.” Good on Amazon for admitting their mistake.

(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)

In this mp3 Stephen Fry discusses the history of creativity and the dark future ahead, saying that “It seemed to me very appropriate share with you some questions I have, some deep questions about the way the way the world is going in terms of music but also film and television and the creative arts. Now, I hope I’m not – I hope – going to be too dull, but I’ll obviously be very dull for those of you who don’t want me to talk about this subject so I’d advise you to fondle the thighs of your neighbour as I speak.”

(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)

TorrentFreak reports that “The attorney general in Brussels has concluded a three year investigation into the money trails at the the local music royalty collecting agency SABAM. The attorney general concluded that the copyright group is not paying the artists the money owed to them, and will prosecute five managers for forgery of documents and abuse of trust.”.

The New York Times reports the obvious, that “There was a time when most aspiring musicians had the same dream: to sign a deal with a major record label. Now, with the structure of the music business shifting radically, some industry iconoclasts are sidestepping the music giants and inventing new ways for artists to make and market their music — without ever signing a traditional recording contract.” We’ve previously covered Polyphonic but this story has more detail and responses from artists.