THE RIAA IS AT IT AGAIN
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the RIAA is taking aim at individuals file sharers in their battle against peer-to-peer file sharing. People who share music files will start facing the legal music as the recording industry will begin suing individuals who make copyrighted sound recordings available on peer-to-peer networks.

"The law is clear ... this activity is illegal, you are not anonymous when you do it, and engaging in it can have real consequences," said RIAA president Cary Sherman.

So tell me CLAY, how is this going to motivate me to give them money for music?

06/26/2003 - 13:11:19 - James DeRuvo
UPDATE - How ironic that in the same week that the RIAA decides to be thugish with it's audience, that Apple announces their iMusic service has passed 5 MILLION downloads/sales. GET WITH THE PROGRAM, GANG, downloadable music is the future and guess what ... PEOPLE WILL PAY FOR IT.

DVD MANIA or DVD PARANOIA?
Over at the Washington Post, Rob Pegoraro, talks about whether there's paranoia over DVD ripping software. Is it a useful tool for making backup copies of your collection or a tool for piracy? Well, sadly, it's both. But that doesn't mean that programs like DeCSS, VideoLAN Client, and DVD Decrypter can't be used for good and useful things. Course, the MPAA would have you believe that this is the end of life as we know it. Didn't they say the same about VCRs?

Check it out here.

More about DVDs: CNN/AP reported on June 19, that DVD rentals official passed VHS video rentals for the first time in history. And that's a cool thing.

APPLE UNVEILS THE G5
But is it really the fastest? Steve Jobs thinks so.

Steve Jobs unveiled the latest overpriced, yet cool lookin' Mac today ... the new 64 bit G5.

At up to 2 GHz in processor speed, the new chip (designed by IBM) claims it can handle twice as much data at once as Intel's traditional chips ... even though Intel unveiled it's 3.2 gig chip last week. That's a bold statement considering the company it's in. But jobs says it isn't the horse power, that delivers the speed but the transmission. And the G5s 64 bit technology promises to leave Intel and AMD (which will release it's 64 bit chip in September) in the digital dust.

It had better considering what Apple will probably charge for it ... $2,999 for the 2.0 GHz model.

Today's BOONDOCKS
posted by James @ 2:18 PM  0 comments

CLARIFICATION ON MY POSITION OF FILE SHARING
Lately, readers may have noticed that I have taken the Dread Pirate Orrin to task for his support of technology that would destroy file sharing computers. This, in NO WAY MEANS I SUPPORT FILE SHARING. In concept, it sounds like a fun idea, but in reality - it's the perfect vehicle for PIRACY. And I DO NOT SUPPORT PIRACY.

But nor do I support the government giving a private entity a free pass for doing what I would be tossed in jail for.

It may be a fine line, but I can tread lightly.

NEW BILL TO TURN FBI IN FILE SHARING COPS
Entertainment and Software industry Lackeys/Representatives Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas) and Howard Berman (Democrat, California) are sponsoring a new bill on behalf of their entertainment-industry bribers ... er ... lobbies, which will commission the FBI to divert resources from solving serious crimes and preventing terror attacks to waging a new War against File Sharing.

No word yet on whether they will investigate the Dread Pirate Orrin for using unlicensd software to build his Senate website.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL ... at 35,000 FEET!
United Airlines has announced email service on their flights by the end of the year. Perhaps a tad steep for $15.98 for about 5 KB, but it's a start.