Haiku

I jokingly told a friend that there’s a new coding standard that all code must be written in haiku form. I knew it wasn’t an original idea so I Googled it. Among other things I found the DeCSS Haiku by Seth Schoen. I had seen it before and realized that not much has changed since it was released. This rediscovery inspired my humble attempt at haiku:

In this harvest time
We chose to girdle the tree
Have we killed freedom?

Fade to Black, The Day the Music Died

Have you heard of Weird Al Yankovic? He became famous as a direct result of independent radio. KMET ran the Dr. Demento show where artists could send in their tapes to be heard on the radio. KMET was silenced on February 14, 1987.

Have you heard of Metallica? They were made popular by KNAC, an independent radio stationed silenced on February 15, 1995. In 1998 KNAC was reborn on the Internet as KNAC.com. They, along with many other independent Internet radio stations, are about to be silenced again.

It seems that record companies aren’t making enough money to buy Lars Ulrich another solid gold Humvee, or pay lawyers to sue 12 year olds.

Click here for more information about this issue.

RIAA Accused of Extortion and Conspiracy

In a the case, UMG v. Del Cid, the defendant has filed the following five counterclaims against the RIAA, under Florida, federal, and California law:

1. Trespass
2. Computer Fraud and Abuse (18 USC 1030)
3. Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices (Fla. Stat. 501.201)
4. Civil Extortion (CA Penal Code 519 & 523)
5. Civil Conspiracy involving (a) use of private investigators without license in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030 (a)(2)(C); (c) extortion in violation of Ca. Penal Code §§ 519 and 523; and (d) knowingly collecting an unlawful consumer debt, and using abus[ive] means to do so, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692a et seq. and Fla. Stat. § 559.72 et seq.

Read more about this:

• http://www.pp-international.net/node/259
• http://p2pnet.net/story/12413
• http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/#3914475353333661234

To do something about the RIAA: