Category Archives: free culture

Tarnation is the talk of Cannes (or so the BBC says; as if I talk to anyone who talks to Cannes). This autobiography of abuse by Jonathan Caouette cost $214 (video tape; one set of angel wings) to make. Cost to clear the rights for a public distribution: $400,000. (Thanks to Josh Cogliati). Continue reading →

Those radicals in Holland have protected the right of a search engine to search for MP3. (Thanks to Branko Collin) Continue reading →

Alas, whether record sales have fallen (which is a different question from whether sales have fallen BECAUSE OF quote-piracy-unquote) continues to be contested. Continue reading →

WHYY reports that Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, host of The O’Reilly Factor, will not authorize Fresh Air to relicense segments from his amazing appearance on Terry Gross’s amazing show. Speculation why he’d ban the repeat of his worlds elsewhere is growing. But it is obvious to this writer that it is nothing more than a flash of modesty by this engaging figure, no doubt motivated by a desire to drive traffic to Fresh Air’s site (again, it is here). Yet another example of commercial media reaching out to help noncommercial media.

Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky)’s new book Rhythm Science just came in the mail. Cool form, cooler words, amazing tunes.

Tomorrow I’ll be in DC (sigh) testifying before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection about Congressman Boucher’s Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act. Testimony here. Essential message to follow:

Wulfius Khan put the words into a picture, which links the argument to Ed Felten’s Freedom to Tinker argument in a way I hadn’t quite seen.

(edited at the request of a friend) Continue reading →

I’ve been told we’d never get anywhere until our argument fits on a bumpersticker. Well, the folks at Bumperactive had no problem doing that:

. Continue reading →

Michael Madison was kind enought to point me to this link of Helen Vendler’s speech to her 2004 Jefferson Lecture. It’s provocative on matters of the relative value of philosophy and literature to a humanistic education. It would not be hard to embed some of her points in a Free Culture argument as well. Continue reading →

re: Domain Name disputes. Continue reading →