Subject: Re: Such Great Heights - msg#00014

Previous Message by Date: (click to view message preview)

Re: Google to censor search results in China.

> How does this play into the motivation behind the town > crier project? I don't know, no-one has ever announced the town crier project to those who weren't at the NYC summit. (even though I asked) > So, do people feel that Google is being "less evil" than they could have been? In real terms, I don't think it makes much difference, but... > Furthermore, is the fact that Google will alert users that some > content is being censored to comply with local laws a (small) step in the > right > direction? Yes. While I'm sure many Chinese bloggers and hackers know that their Internet is strictly filtered, I doubt that the average Internet user has much knowledge of this. So you are Joe User, searching for whatever, and for the first time you see a little note: "Some results have been excluded to comply with Chinese law." Doesn't it make you wonder? Perhaps in this context it doesn't make you wonder *aloud*, but it perks your curiosity, and deepens your awareness that your government is taking away freedoms that other people have. Is it better that Google does this than if it had refused to kowtow to Chinese censorship altogether? I'm not sure. But it's better than nothing. Gavin

Next Message by Date: click to view message preview

Re: Google to censor search results in China.

>> TOR I think it's worth noting, as someone who looks into running a Tor service, that the way Tor works right now would allow the Chinese to block Tor if they chose to do so. It's supposedly possible to figure out if someone is using Tor, although you would be unable to figure out what site they are accessing. I haven't tried this myself, so I don't know if this is fact. However, the list of servers to connect to is public, providing the Chinese with a sort of blacklist from which to block access to.

Previous Message by Thread: click to view message preview

Re: Such Great Heights

What legal action could there be? This situation appears to be a non-issue. Was the original video protected in any way? I suspect that the Postal Service were neither the creative force nor the "owners" behind the video's concept to start with. I am not sure I see the damage that has been done to the band during this exchange. Is it that they do not want to be associated with Intel? Or that a production company created a video to promote a processor that appears strikingly similar to one that the same company produced to promote an album? Did the production company agree never to use the concept again? And how distant from a television commercial is a music video anyway? In pop cultural news, I find Johnny Cupcakes v. Urban Outfitters has a lot more to chew on. (Pun intended!) Check this: http://www.urbancounterfeiters.com/ Kevin On 1/23/06, Dana Powers <dpk@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > So I read about this last week and was pretty convinced that there was > some copying going down at Intel, but now it looks like the band is a > little peeved: > > http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-01/23.shtml > > no legal action yet, but I wonder what you guys think about this wrt > Free Culture: should Intel be allowed to "remix" The Postal Service's > video? If it were The Postal Service "remixing" an original Intel video > would it be different? What happens when big corporations are the > beneficiaries of Free Culture ideals? > > dpk > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://mail.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_freeculture.org >

Next Message by Thread: click to view message preview

Re: Such Great Heights

Once the Postal Service created their video and aired it in a public forum they lost their exclusive "possession" of it. In a world where public discussion of intellectual property is so wide spread among the population, many professionals have learned how to recycle good ideas and images. Making them better, different, and even into new ideas and images. I think this sort of activity is essential in gradually destroying the rigid and archaic institute of copyright, and should be encouraged. The music video and commercial appeared quite different when I viewed them. They are similar, but also very unique in their own ways. I don't see why both entities could not benefit from this dual exposure. The two pieces of film will reinforce each other (Intel & Postal Service) into the consumers mind, for those viewers savvy enough to make the connection. Hopefully, helping one sell more songs and the other more computers. I also agree with Kevin Driscoll that their is not a large inherent difference between an advertisement and a music video in the first place. Thanks for posting this! It made me reserve a moment of my day to pause and think deeply, and for this I am always be grateful.