RIAA vs The World

Posted Monday, August 28th 2006

It seems that it’s really becoming a case of RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) VS The World. We are all aware that the RIAA is successfully alienating internet users and music listeners from their labels and musicians, and refuses to get with the times and embrace new technology. Instead, they limit consumer’s rights, sue everyone they can, for sometimes outrageous sums and make themselves look like the new evil in the process.

TechZ pointed me to this story about a defendant, that was initially sued by the RIAA for file sharing. However, the defendant tried to protect herself by wiping her hard disks clean, and ended up being punished for destruction of evidence. Now, it does make sence, but it just proves that the RIAA will be happy to get you for anything - it doesn’t have to be a copyright issue.

There seems to be a trick though - if you can prove that an IP address does not directly point to one single person, you can win a case against the RIAA, and get off clean.

It’s crap like the RIAA and MPAA that makes the Internet a worse place for all of us. Personally, I blame Altavista and Lars Ulrich.

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God’s Debris - A Thought Experiment

Posted Monday, August 28th 2006

When I was first pointed to the book, I couldn’t believe that Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, one of my favourite comics had written it. For one reason or another, I put off reading the book for over a year, because something more important always seemed to get in the way.

About two months ago, I had a few hours to kill, so I printed the book and read it. It only took me about and hour and a half, because it’s a short book, but it did exactly what Mr. Adams said it would - it grabbed my brain, and spun it around, all while completely messing around with my views and ideas.

Anyway, God’s Debris can be freely downloaded (legally), and I urge anyone and everyone that visits this site to download it, and dedicate a few hours to it. You’ll either love it, or hate it.

And once you’re done with God’s Debris, you can check out The Religion War, which is the sequel to God’s Debris, and a worthy read too, although not as deeply thought provoking title as the first.

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