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There was an article on one of the man at the forefront of digital media rights, Mr. Lawrence Lessig. He’s the one responsible for the creation of the creative commons liscence, which promotes a sensible application of copyrights in this new age of computer-based creativity. More interesting than the article though, were the responses from the slashdot readers.

Out of intrest , are the makers of guns liable.
if not then why not and then why should p2p companys, With a gun you can break far greater laws than with emule.

Oh, you’re not paying attention…

The violation of commercial property rights is the worst possible crime imaginable. Taking a human life merely decreases the surplus population.

Corporations are eternal. People come and go.

It sounds just like: Every kitchen tools producers need to be sued because some of their customers use those tools in 55% of murder cases.

…it’s a shame it’s necessary. Why is it that if I’m writing my blog, I can take any paragraph of text in the world, quote it, then tear it a part, but if I’m making a song and I sample 1 second’s worth of The Beatles, my ass will be in court before the third chord progression?

It’s definitely a step in the right direction that Lessig has codified the Creative Commons license, allowing us to make things like Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] and one or two music sites, but really the CCL doesn’t give us any rights that we shouldn’t already have under Fair Use anyway. I mean, Walt Disney has been dead for 30 years. Why the hell can’t I draw Mickey Mouse smoking a joint if I want to? Why is Magnavox [wikipedia.org] still able to get license fees from people making video game consoles? Why does Nintendo still own the D-pad and A+B buttons? And what’s up with Apple paying Amazon for one click shopping in iTunes? It’s all just so ridiculous.

I recognize the need for some limited monopoly to spur innovation, but it’s clear that at this point IP has spun out of control. Thank goodness for people like Lessig, Groklaw, and the EFF!

Eventually, things will become so draconian that companies and independant (often open source) developers are afraid to develop software in America, from fears of breaking things like the DMCA or being charged with “Software Patent Infringency” that they’ll have to create new silicon valleys elsewhere in places that don’t care.

Europe would be a nice setting, depending on how that turns out, but who knows? Bright young programmers could be fleeing persecution for their works in the USA to set up shop in Bangalore, where they’d probably be able to live like kings. Either way, the way things are going, only monolithic corporations will still be putting out software.

If the US government decides to ban the sale of what everyone else in the world is using, then they’ll only fall behind in technology overall…

Well, I just finished reworking on the main opening credits. I anticipate that I will tweak it, but its pretty much complete at this stage. I processed and sorted some of the live footage today that I had taken yesterday morning. I will need at least one other day of live filming before that element is complete, after which point the remainder will be in-house filming, animating, video screen-capturing, etc.

Download the updated opening credits here (2MB, WMV).

I spent approx. 6 hours working on the introduction for the show. It’s still a work in progress; it is going to be clipped down by 30 seconds.

Download EYNTO Intro: Mirror [2:06 Minutes, 3.77MB]

This being my study week, I’ve undertaken a few projects including the Eynto show. For those who missed it, the Eynto show will be my contribution in the “hacking TV” genre. The show will be split in four major sections. The first part will focus on the basics of Internet Security, which will include some demos on wardriving and ARP poisoning as well as IE6 vulnerabilities. The second part will deal with warez and the various methods by which to come across it, such as IRC, Newsgroups, FXP, Bittorrent, ed2k protocol, etc. The third section will be a quick tutorial on DVD Ripping, and the fourth part will show the audience how to install RAM/HDD/Optical Drives/Video Cards etc. as well as some hardware shopping tips.

Yesterday, after spending $15 on donuts and much coffee, I stamped out a 30 page script for the show. Today I began the filming process, and I forsee at least one other day of filming. After that, I will still need to do the voiceover work, the incredible amount of screen capturing in video format, and the copious amount of animations for the show.

It’s a huge undertaking, and unfortunately I only have 2 more days (MAX) to do it in. The rest of the time will have to be consumed preparing for my physics midterm and job searching.

During an extremely dull Geographic Information Systems class, some buddies and I were just poking around having some fun and laughing our asses off at random things. Somehow that de-evolved into sacriligeous humour, and then me verifying to see ifdownwithjesus.com was taken. When I discovered that this popular domain name was in fact, available, I decided in the heat of the moment to go and get it. The site would in itself be a parody, poking fun both at chavs and at the christians that do a very, very, veeery bad job of trying to “act hip” as they market themselves to younger generations.

A week and much coding/photoshopping later, I bring you:
www.downwithjesus.com