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DRM is about business models, as the DMCA has illustrated in the US. There have been a number of unintended, business model related, and adverse, consequences, of controlling tinkering and communication. Everything from garage door remotes to printer toner refills have rushed to avail themselves of the competitive advantage the legislation imparts.

While our Bill may be more wisely framed, it is still protecting a business model that is exploitative of more than it benefits.

DRM is the ultimate tail wagging the dog, where a minor, some might argue trivial aspect of culture and production is setting the rules for all of us. The inevitable vulnerability of placing the safe in the lounge will not be remedied by applying tax-payer funded enforcement in the hands of content proprietors and the State.

After all, once we can control "premium content," then there'll be enough incentive to extend it to "spam," "hate speech," and then, perhaps the utlimate incumbent, the State, will find a good reason to control a lot more communication.

Thus the changes proposed in The Copyright Amendment Bill, reassuringly described as seeking

"to achieve outcomes benefiting New Zealand’s society as a whole."

Much like the oft opposed parallel importing regulations that were extensively opposed in select committee, repealed, then re-instated after two rounds of "consultation."

Its not going to benefit any but a small proportion of New Zealander's and they are less likely to be "creatives" as it is the proprietors of the material, and it will impact on activities which have not been much more than the irritant "shrinkage" (the fee the recording industry charges its artists for breakage of celluloid disks, yeah right) but not to any degree.

Such legislation must have a special appeal at a time when NZ appears to be benefiting producers, and NZ, but change is inevitable in all industries and if enforcement of old models becomes more expensive than the revenue that could arise from newer ones, who is this for? Yes, comfortable incumbents who find it easier to sway legislators than customers.

Copyright is a deal we struck when it was more valuable for us to cede that right to create a state enforced monopoly in distribution. Now we all copy, perhaps we should revisit the deal rather than prop up constraints that no longer exist, in order to sustain those who solve a problem (creation and distribution) that largely no longer exist.

Robert Anton Wilson died recently, and like many artists, it drew my attention more than had been paid in the past and I stumbled over Celine's Laws.

They're entertaining, but seem to me, particularly the second, to have good applicability.

1. National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity.
2. Accurate communication is possible only in a non-punishing situation.
3. An honest politician is a national calamity.

Celine's Laws

Perhaps I've been a bit slow, but I think now that the "cute & cuddly" penguins in the animated feature "Madagascar" were intended to be geeks. The giraffe was a hypochondriac, the monkeys intellectuals, and the Brit accented penguins are geeks.

After all:

1. They are penguins.
2. They hack into the shipboard computer.
3. They make complex routines work.
4. They are obsessed.

And they stole the show.

"Just smile and wave, boys; smile and wave."

it's about more people making and living and fewer making a fortune, and its not just the music recording and distribution business. ObURL: "Who needs major labels, marketing, or airplay?"

By far the most contraversial claim is from several witnesses who cast doubt on the police statements that they shouted a warning or identified themselves before opening fire.

Lee Ruston, 32, who was on the platform said that he did not hear any of the three shout "poice" or anything like it as a frightened Mr de Menezes ran.

Less than a minute later Mr de Menezes tumbled on to a waiting train and was pinned to the floor of the carriage by two men while a third officer fire five shots into the base of his skull

— The Times

They held him down and executed him.

Perhaps you believe that some of us have to be at this risk that the rest of may live. Another terrorist victory.

The subject is a quote from Bob Frankston. Its the reverse of an idea I've had for a while, that if you make things a little bit easier they will occur a lot more often.

This is where I believe the explosion in cultural productivity (and other forms) is arising. Note I'm not claiming that the quality of production is increasing (though for the adept I'm sure that is true), the new entrants reduced barriers permit are also reduced guarantees they can leap as high as the incumbents.

But as Linus Pauling observed, "The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away."

And how are we to identify the good ones, when admittedly the "crud" will grow faster than the good? Collaborative peer to peer filtering via cheap, easy, personal global ("blogal?") publishing?

"LucasArts engineer Nick Porcino has an article detailing what to expect from graphics in the next generation of game systems including the "influence of cinematic realtime rendering, the promise of advanced lighting techniques and high-dynamic range images, the uses of the rendering pipeline, and the future of multiprocessor-based rendering and advanced geometry."

These will allow run-time rendering of high quality backgrounds and characters, ultimately resulting in games that are closer to full-blown Pixar animations, allowing better narratives and more immersive user experiences."

Ultimately improving Machinima, commoditising storyboards and eventually movie production. Another barrier to entry to creative production falls.

ObURL: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/02/1732234