Thursday, September 18, 2008

There is no buffer time here...

I never really realized how much of a break driving home from school and work was, and how relaxing it could be, until I moved here. The "relax" time has gotten progressively shorter and shorter since I've been moving away from rural living and moving towards the most urban of urban settings. The school/work to home commute has gone from a very enjoyable, relaxing and windy drive through the forest to a smog-filled jaunt through the streets and freeways of suburbia to literally being crammed into an overcrowded subway car. Once you start to walk towards the open doors you just keep getting pushed from behind until there's literally only enough room to breathe, and sometimes you're not even able to breathe fully. You're also crammed into a car full of commuters going down to wall street and showing up to their highly stressful jobs only to have heart attacks and add to their ulcers, all so they can make a pretty penny. A big departure from the windy trek that let us unwind going up (and down) Highway 9. Even living in suburbia we had that "buffer" time between the stresses of work/school that let you unwind and clear your mind before you returned home. Here, you're just moving between types (and intensities) of stress - and you're constantly surrounded by them. I think that's what I really miss most about California, and why I miss driving so much.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

"It's Time To Rethink Copyright Law"

"Shared" via Facebook link. Original article is located at this address:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052700617.html?referrer=facebook

Michael Arrington
TechCrunch.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2008; 5:09 AM

There was more posturing today in the big YouTube-Viacom copyright showdown that began around the time that Google acquired YouTube and started talking to big copyright holders about paying them to get their content legally onto the popular video site. It spun out of control from there until it became a billion dollar lawsuit.

Normally I'm on the side of whoever's against the copyright holders and their agenda of ever-expanding rights on these types of issues. They will stop at nothing to preserve their expired business models.

In this case, though, I'm just as afraid of YouTube, which still aims to get rights to show all, or virtually all, professionally produced television and film content. Their goal is simple - copy the adsense model and get the same stranglehold on advertising around video that they have around search.

That may be more difficult for Google than sewing up search was, since there are so many players determined to stop them before they get a proper foothold. The music guys got hooked on the iTunes fees and still haven't been able to get off the juice. Their tv and film cousins are fully aware of what happens if a single middleman gets too much power.

What's Best For The Internet?

The front lines of the copyright war are the ISP and service provider skirmishes. The MPAA and RIAA continue to fight consumers directly, of course, but their only real chance of locking down the Internet and file trading/steaming is to go after the companies that allow it to happen. In 1998 the DMCA made copyright infringement even more illegal than it already was, but also gave service providers a safe harbor to protect them against infringement by their users.

Did/does YouTube properly comply with the DMCA? That's pretty much irrelevant at this point. What matters is the law going forward. And since this case is likely to go to trial, there's a good chance that new law will be created. Exactly what is decided, and how Congress reacts, will have a big impact on the Internet going forward.

My position is that it's bad to criminalize natural behavior. And watching a clip of The Office, whether it's legally on Hulu or illegally on YouTube is natural behavior. The only question is whether or not people are getting sued, or going to jail, for doing it.

It's time to rethink copyright laws, and it's time for copyright holders to rethink their business models. The winners won't be the companies that win or lose billion dollar lawsuits. It'll be the companies that throw out everything that's come before, and build new businesses around the natural behavior of people. Remove friction and win.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

2008 Update

I know, I know. It's been an extremely long time since I've even looked at this blog. But I thought I'd give you all an update as to what's been happening in the past 6 months or so. I'm now fully moved in to our brand new apartment in the city. It's pretty amazing if I do say so myself, and if I had to pick out its best features I would have to say A) The location, by far; and B) the aged brick wall that gives it so much character. I'll post pictures on Facebook soon, I just have to reduce them so they can be uploaded.

School just ended the week before last, so that's a huge relief. I already got my grades, and I'm extremely happy with them. I'm well on my way to completing both the Politics and the History major. Next semester I'm taking Civil Liberties, The Molecules of Life (for Nat Sci II), Food and Drugs in Chinese History, and History of Modern Ireland. So if you're in any of my classes, let me know!

I finally got an extremely well paying job at a law firm. No more being a host, no more retail, no more cashiering. I'm a full-blown paralegal for Silverstein & Stern. So over summer I'm working M-F 9-5, and during the school year I'm working Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays part time. I absolutely love the work there, my bosses, and my coworkers, so I have a feeling I'll be settling in there for quite some time. Who knows, I might end up working there as an attorney. The office is down at 40 Fulton (the Thomas Edison Building), so those of you in Water or Cliff next year we need to have lunch and hang out during the week!

Plus, probably the biggest news of all, I'm happily taken!

Well, if I'm bored over summer (which is likely to happen as most of you guys went back home and ditched me) I'll continue to post here. Until then, arrivaderci!