A lot of smart people say that we should separate network transport from application protocols. It seems that anyone who has thought about this carefully says the same thing, starting with Saltzer, Reed and Clark back in the early 80s, Cheshire in 1996, Isenberg in 1997, Cheshire again in 1998, Odlyzko in 1999, Reed again in 2000, Isenberg and Weinberger in 2001, and today Frankston.
We need a new Act to require this separation for the good of the internet, and all the users of it.
How about a Boucher-Hatch Internet Transparency Act?
Thursday, 31 January 2002
Wednesday, 30 January 2002
Congressman Rick Boucher has written an excellent article on theDMCA's overreach. As I have said, copyright violation occurs when republishing, not when editing. Preventing editing limits the usefulness of the content, and thus reduces its value.
Saturday, 26 January 2002
Friday, 25 January 2002
Andrew Odlyzko is one of the clearest thinkers on the future of the net, and he backs up his thoughts with good figures.
If only his name were easier to spell or pronounce, he'd be more widely known.
If only his name were easier to spell or pronounce, he'd be more widely known.
Thursday, 24 January 2002
I wanted an excuse to play with Runtime Revolution which is a sort of multiplatform HyperCard thing, and I was tired of Googlewhacking by hand, so I've made the Pocket GoogleWhacker. Runtimes are available for:
Mac OS X
Windows
Mac OS 7,8,9 (Includes 68k Macs)
Linux
Hope you enjoy it. Send me 50 cents by paypal to kmarks@mac.com if you do.
Mac OS X
Windows
Mac OS 7,8,9 (Includes 68k Macs)
Linux
Hope you enjoy it. Send me 50 cents by paypal to kmarks@mac.com if you do.
Tuesday, 22 January 2002
Every year, Beloit College in Wisconsin issues a list to help staff understand the mindset of students. I received a slightly edited version of the first 1998 list (class of 2002) by email, which was as follows:
1.Students starting college this fall were born in 1980.
2.They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era.
3.They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf war was waged.
4.Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
5.There has only been one Pope.
6.They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.
7.They have never feared a nuclear war.
8.They're too young to remember the space shuttle Challenger blowing up.
9.Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
10.They never had a Polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is.
11.The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.
12.The compact disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
13.They likely have never played Pac Man, and have never heard of Pong.
14.Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
15.Blue M&M's are not new.
16.They have always had an answering machine.
17.Most have never seen a black & white TV.
18.They have always had cable.
19.They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
20.Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
21.The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.
22.Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
23.The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as World War I and World War II, or even the Civil War.
24.Kansas, Boston, Chicago, America, and Alabama are places, not musical groups.
My son was born in 1995, which would make him class of 2017, I suppose. I wrote a list for him in 1998, and I think it is holding up well so far:
1.Students starting college this fall were born in 1995.
2.They have no meaningful recollection of Queen Elizabeth II.
3.They were toddlers when the Balkan war was waged.
4.The net stock crash of 1999 is as insignificant to them as the 1973 Oil Shock.
5.There has only been one Dalai Lama.
6.They were 9 when the EU broke apart, and do not remember Europe at peace.
7.They have never feared AIDS.
8.They're too young to remember Concorde.
9.Their lifetime has always included Computer viruses.
10.Wearing spectacles as anything other than dressing up makes as much sense as wearing bowler hats to work every day.
11.The expression "CD Quality Audio" means nothing to them.
12.The iMac was introduced when they were 3 years old.
13.They likely have never played Quake, and have never heard of Tomb Raider.
14.Titanic looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
15.Blue skin tinting is not new.
16.IP addresses and telephone numbers seem equally arcane to them.
17.They don't understand the distinctions their parents make between computers, televisions, radios and newspapers.
18.Most have never seen a postage stamp.
19.They cannot fathom everyone watching the News at 10 - it is as odd as the concept of newsreels.
20.Commuting to work daily by car for 2 hours is as alien as accounting using paper and ink.
21.Any notion of scarcity of memory, processor speed, storage or bandwidth is on a par with 12 pennies to a shilling.
22.Chips have always been cooked in the microwave.
23.The Gulf War is as ancient history to them as World War II.
24.Cranberries, Fish, Cookies, and Meatloaf are foodstuffs, not musical groups.
25.Owning physical media to play music from it has to be explained to them very carefully, but they still don't get it.
1.Students starting college this fall were born in 1980.
2.They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era.
3.They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf war was waged.
4.Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
5.There has only been one Pope.
6.They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.
7.They have never feared a nuclear war.
8.They're too young to remember the space shuttle Challenger blowing up.
9.Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
10.They never had a Polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is.
11.The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.
12.The compact disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
13.They likely have never played Pac Man, and have never heard of Pong.
14.Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
15.Blue M&M's are not new.
16.They have always had an answering machine.
17.Most have never seen a black & white TV.
18.They have always had cable.
19.They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
20.Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
21.The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.
22.Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
23.The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as World War I and World War II, or even the Civil War.
24.Kansas, Boston, Chicago, America, and Alabama are places, not musical groups.
My son was born in 1995, which would make him class of 2017, I suppose. I wrote a list for him in 1998, and I think it is holding up well so far:
1.Students starting college this fall were born in 1995.
2.They have no meaningful recollection of Queen Elizabeth II.
3.They were toddlers when the Balkan war was waged.
4.The net stock crash of 1999 is as insignificant to them as the 1973 Oil Shock.
5.There has only been one Dalai Lama.
6.They were 9 when the EU broke apart, and do not remember Europe at peace.
7.They have never feared AIDS.
8.They're too young to remember Concorde.
9.Their lifetime has always included Computer viruses.
10.Wearing spectacles as anything other than dressing up makes as much sense as wearing bowler hats to work every day.
11.The expression "CD Quality Audio" means nothing to them.
12.The iMac was introduced when they were 3 years old.
13.They likely have never played Quake, and have never heard of Tomb Raider.
14.Titanic looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
15.Blue skin tinting is not new.
16.IP addresses and telephone numbers seem equally arcane to them.
17.They don't understand the distinctions their parents make between computers, televisions, radios and newspapers.
18.Most have never seen a postage stamp.
19.They cannot fathom everyone watching the News at 10 - it is as odd as the concept of newsreels.
20.Commuting to work daily by car for 2 hours is as alien as accounting using paper and ink.
21.Any notion of scarcity of memory, processor speed, storage or bandwidth is on a par with 12 pennies to a shilling.
22.Chips have always been cooked in the microwave.
23.The Gulf War is as ancient history to them as World War II.
24.Cranberries, Fish, Cookies, and Meatloaf are foodstuffs, not musical groups.
25.Owning physical media to play music from it has to be explained to them very carefully, but they still don't get it.
Saturday, 19 January 2002
Meta-blog thought - there's a nice new RFC that should suit blogs down to the ground - Delta encoding.
Weinberger got me infected with the Google Whack meme.
(The game is as follows: Find 2 words that give a unique result on Google.)
I did in fact win his original challenge with this blog, with the two combinations in the links above, but then he arbitrarily changed the rules to exclude proper nouns.
Fair enough; I changed the rules too, inventing a non-subjective scoring system (the product of the indivdual words' scores). Memetic engineering is my hobby, after all.
Then I let the UCL Mornington Crescent fanclub loose on it.
Scary.
(The game is as follows: Find 2 words that give a unique result on Google.)
I did in fact win his original challenge with this blog, with the two combinations in the links above, but then he arbitrarily changed the rules to exclude proper nouns.
Fair enough; I changed the rules too, inventing a non-subjective scoring system (the product of the indivdual words' scores). Memetic engineering is my hobby, after all.
Then I let the UCL Mornington Crescent fanclub loose on it.
Scary.
Friday, 11 January 2002
According to New Scientist, Philips has taken my advice and threatened 'protected' CDs with lawsuits.
Sadly, another part of Philips has different ideas
Philips is leading the charge to start yet another industry initiative to tackle digital rights management, this time focusing on the wirelessly networked home, EE Times has learned.
At stake here, said Leon Husson, executive vice president of consumer businesses at Philips Semiconductors, is the "free-floating" copyrighted content that will soon be "redistributed" or "rebroadcast" to different TV sets throughout a home by consumers using wireless networking technologies like IEEE802.11.
Rather than wait for Hollywood studios to raise a red flag over unprotected wirelessly transmitted content, some technology companies want to tackle the issue in advance and develop solutions together with content owners.
"We are dying to lobby Hollywood studios on this issue," Husson said
Oddly enough, he seem to think you can use TCP/IP without IP addresses too...
Sadly, another part of Philips has different ideas
Philips is leading the charge to start yet another industry initiative to tackle digital rights management, this time focusing on the wirelessly networked home, EE Times has learned.
At stake here, said Leon Husson, executive vice president of consumer businesses at Philips Semiconductors, is the "free-floating" copyrighted content that will soon be "redistributed" or "rebroadcast" to different TV sets throughout a home by consumers using wireless networking technologies like IEEE802.11.
Rather than wait for Hollywood studios to raise a red flag over unprotected wirelessly transmitted content, some technology companies want to tackle the issue in advance and develop solutions together with content owners.
"We are dying to lobby Hollywood studios on this issue," Husson said
Oddly enough, he seem to think you can use TCP/IP without IP addresses too...
I wrote to Universal's new address asking why they were going to stop making CDs I could play on my Mac. Here's the response I got, annotated:
On Wednesday, January 9, 2002, at 12:51 PM, MusicHelpOnline.com Support wrote:
Thank you for your feedback regarding copy protected CDs. We
appreciate your opinion, as the consumer experience with the music we all
love has always been a priority at the Universal Music Group.
I don't 'consume' music. I listen to it. It's still there afterwards (though I get the impression that you'd like it if it wasn't).
Unfortunately, over the last few years, the music industry has been faced
with a growing problem of unauthorized CD "ripping" leading to illegal
Internet distribution of music - a practice that is hurting everyone from
recording artists to songwriters to record stores. This illegal copying is
taking place on a massive scale, with literally millions of copies being
made without any compensation to the creators of the music.
Interesting progression of words here. The ripping is 'unauthorised'. Who needs to authorise it? Some ripped files have been illegally distributed, I'll grant you that, but then you say that 'copying' is illegal.
Under the Audio Home Recording Act, ripping and copying are not illegal at all; they are expressly permitted. You are confounding the legal acts of copying and ripping with the illegal one of distributing your copyright content without your permission. You are applying technology to attempt to prevent the former, instead of legal prosecution to prevent the latter. This is your mistake.
Your second mistake is take the word of someone that they can stop CDs from being copied. If someone can play your CD, they can redigitise the output, and rip that, and distribute it online. Its not worth my time and effort to fiddle around to rip the CDs in this way, so I won't buy them, but I'm sure the illegal distributors will work this out.
Net result: you have a lot of fed up former customers, and your music is still distributed online without your permission. Fewer people pay to listen to it, you get less money, and the illegal distribution goes on unchecked.
If a way is not found to protect the music from these abuses, recording artists,
songwriters and many others will be deprived of their livelihoods. The
changing economics could cause fewer new artists to get a chance to find
their audience.
The music is not being abused. It is being listened to. It doesn't need protection.
Or do you mean 'protection' in the sense of 'protection racket'?
Courtney Love wrote a very well-reasoned essay on who is abusing whom in the record industry.
Universal Music Group is committed to protecting the rights of our artists,
songwriters, and copyright holders, and, like the rest of the entertainment
industry, is evaluating emerging technologies to assess their viability while
also attempting to maximize the consumer experience. In addition,
Universal is exploring new ways to make music available in a variety of
online formats. We are also working with technology companies on new
offline formats that appeal to consumers.
Uh huh. Let me explain again. I have an iPod. (125,000 other people do too, and its only been on sale two months). It lets me carry around about 120 CDs worth of music at a time, in a package about the size of one CD box. I like this. I'm listening to more music than I was before because of it, and I will continue to buy CDs to rip and put into my iPod. If that isn't an offline format that appeals to consumers, I don't know what is.
However, you are explicitly working to stop me doing this. When I buy CDs at the moment, I look at the artists name, not the record label. Now I'll need to check that its not a Universal CD, in case you have 'protected' me from listening to it. This is one way of building awareness of the Universal brand, but probably not a useful one.
We have licensed copy protection technologies developed by others and
are experimenting with the integration of those technologies into some of
our CDs as a first step in measuring their effectiveness in an evolving
marketplace. While the CDs with copy protection may not be playable in a
limited number of CD players, UMG is currently working with our
technology providers to achieve 100% playability. We also hope to
include Macintosh-based playability on copy-protected discs in the future.
We have not finalized our plans for 2002 nor have we made a commitment
to put copy protection on all of our CD releases.
You hope. I'm supposed to buy your CDs on the basis of a hope that you can kludge something together? Let me make it clear. I want Red Book Audio CDs, the gold standard for Audio Quality. I don't want CDs that break this spec, with an extra data track that includes some ghastly software player with a clickthrough licence you have bought from some software snake-oil salesman.
I have some very nice software to play CDs, thanks. It also helps me organise my collection, and move it to my iPod. I don't want to run your software.
I trust that these corrupt, Red Book violating CDs will be clearly labelled as such, so I can tell not to buy them? Otherwise, I'll just have to avoid all Universal CDs until you commit to shipping Red Book ones again.
UMG has also established www.musichelponline.com to provide
consumers with support and to answer any questions you may have
concerning copy protected CDs.
We appreciate your business, and your support for the musicians who
bring so much to all of our lives.
You evidently don't appreciate my business, as you have gone out of your way to stop me playing your CDs. I'm sure your support for musicians is just as sincere.
On Wednesday, January 9, 2002, at 12:51 PM, MusicHelpOnline.com Support wrote:
Thank you for your feedback regarding copy protected CDs. We
appreciate your opinion, as the consumer experience with the music we all
love has always been a priority at the Universal Music Group.
I don't 'consume' music. I listen to it. It's still there afterwards (though I get the impression that you'd like it if it wasn't).
Unfortunately, over the last few years, the music industry has been faced
with a growing problem of unauthorized CD "ripping" leading to illegal
Internet distribution of music - a practice that is hurting everyone from
recording artists to songwriters to record stores. This illegal copying is
taking place on a massive scale, with literally millions of copies being
made without any compensation to the creators of the music.
Interesting progression of words here. The ripping is 'unauthorised'. Who needs to authorise it? Some ripped files have been illegally distributed, I'll grant you that, but then you say that 'copying' is illegal.
Under the Audio Home Recording Act, ripping and copying are not illegal at all; they are expressly permitted. You are confounding the legal acts of copying and ripping with the illegal one of distributing your copyright content without your permission. You are applying technology to attempt to prevent the former, instead of legal prosecution to prevent the latter. This is your mistake.
Your second mistake is take the word of someone that they can stop CDs from being copied. If someone can play your CD, they can redigitise the output, and rip that, and distribute it online. Its not worth my time and effort to fiddle around to rip the CDs in this way, so I won't buy them, but I'm sure the illegal distributors will work this out.
Net result: you have a lot of fed up former customers, and your music is still distributed online without your permission. Fewer people pay to listen to it, you get less money, and the illegal distribution goes on unchecked.
If a way is not found to protect the music from these abuses, recording artists,
songwriters and many others will be deprived of their livelihoods. The
changing economics could cause fewer new artists to get a chance to find
their audience.
The music is not being abused. It is being listened to. It doesn't need protection.
Or do you mean 'protection' in the sense of 'protection racket'?
Courtney Love wrote a very well-reasoned essay on who is abusing whom in the record industry.
Universal Music Group is committed to protecting the rights of our artists,
songwriters, and copyright holders, and, like the rest of the entertainment
industry, is evaluating emerging technologies to assess their viability while
also attempting to maximize the consumer experience. In addition,
Universal is exploring new ways to make music available in a variety of
online formats. We are also working with technology companies on new
offline formats that appeal to consumers.
Uh huh. Let me explain again. I have an iPod. (125,000 other people do too, and its only been on sale two months). It lets me carry around about 120 CDs worth of music at a time, in a package about the size of one CD box. I like this. I'm listening to more music than I was before because of it, and I will continue to buy CDs to rip and put into my iPod. If that isn't an offline format that appeals to consumers, I don't know what is.
However, you are explicitly working to stop me doing this. When I buy CDs at the moment, I look at the artists name, not the record label. Now I'll need to check that its not a Universal CD, in case you have 'protected' me from listening to it. This is one way of building awareness of the Universal brand, but probably not a useful one.
We have licensed copy protection technologies developed by others and
are experimenting with the integration of those technologies into some of
our CDs as a first step in measuring their effectiveness in an evolving
marketplace. While the CDs with copy protection may not be playable in a
limited number of CD players, UMG is currently working with our
technology providers to achieve 100% playability. We also hope to
include Macintosh-based playability on copy-protected discs in the future.
We have not finalized our plans for 2002 nor have we made a commitment
to put copy protection on all of our CD releases.
You hope. I'm supposed to buy your CDs on the basis of a hope that you can kludge something together? Let me make it clear. I want Red Book Audio CDs, the gold standard for Audio Quality. I don't want CDs that break this spec, with an extra data track that includes some ghastly software player with a clickthrough licence you have bought from some software snake-oil salesman.
I have some very nice software to play CDs, thanks. It also helps me organise my collection, and move it to my iPod. I don't want to run your software.
I trust that these corrupt, Red Book violating CDs will be clearly labelled as such, so I can tell not to buy them? Otherwise, I'll just have to avoid all Universal CDs until you commit to shipping Red Book ones again.
UMG has also established www.musichelponline.com to provide
consumers with support and to answer any questions you may have
concerning copy protected CDs.
We appreciate your business, and your support for the musicians who
bring so much to all of our lives.
You evidently don't appreciate my business, as you have gone out of your way to stop me playing your CDs. I'm sure your support for musicians is just as sincere.
Tuesday, 8 January 2002
Dave Coursey is having a snit because Apple briefed Time and not him about the new iMac.
Such a snit that he then gets a lot of product details wrong, asking for a wireless keyboard and a second CD-ROM drive, then denying the existence of all the ports that would let him plug in such devices. Odd.
Time for some Truth, David - people are more interested in the machine itself than the details of who got to see it before release. Trolling to stir up pageviews of your column is what this is about, as this comment reveals:
AnchorDesk's readership, for example, is predictably below average on days when Apple appears in the headline, which is consistent with the company's overall market share.
Such a snit that he then gets a lot of product details wrong, asking for a wireless keyboard and a second CD-ROM drive, then denying the existence of all the ports that would let him plug in such devices. Odd.
Time for some Truth, David - people are more interested in the machine itself than the details of who got to see it before release. Trolling to stir up pageviews of your column is what this is about, as this comment reveals:
AnchorDesk's readership, for example, is predictably below average on days when Apple appears in the headline, which is consistent with the company's overall market share.
Monday, 7 January 2002
According to the logo license agreement issued by Philips here
Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA)
This logo may only be used on discs complying with the CD-DA specification: IEC60908 and/or the Philips-Sony Compact Disc Digital Audio System Description (also known as the RED Book).
If any Record company issues 'copy-protected' discc that violate the spec, they should not use this logo on the packagaing.
When I was involved with pressing CDs, including this logo on the artwork was mandatory. If Philips is smart, they will enforce this clause to preserve their brand as the gold standard in audio quality.
Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA)
This logo may only be used on discs complying with the CD-DA specification: IEC60908 and/or the Philips-Sony Compact Disc Digital Audio System Description (also known as the RED Book).
If any Record company issues 'copy-protected' discc that violate the spec, they should not use this logo on the packagaing.
When I was involved with pressing CDs, including this logo on the artwork was mandatory. If Philips is smart, they will enforce this clause to preserve their brand as the gold standard in audio quality.
Tuesday, 1 January 2002
Just watched Groundhog Day again on TV - what a great film. It takes on Nietzsche's theory of eternal return, which holds out the pessimistic prospect of your life repeating identically for all eternity, and then gives it a twist to say carpe diem!
Another book that takes on the same theme and attacks it from a very different perspective is Manifold Time by Stephen Baxter, which both confirms and rebuts Nietzsche's view with quantum mechanics.
Another book that takes on the same theme and attacks it from a very different perspective is Manifold Time by Stephen Baxter, which both confirms and rebuts Nietzsche's view with quantum mechanics.
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