Tue 3
“A citizen is so tired of his country’s copyright laws he has reported himself to an anti-piracy group. In his written confession, the ‘pirate’ admits to copying more than one hundred purchased movies and TV shows for his own use – legal in Denmark – but breaking DRM on the same is an act forbidden under Danish law.
“Because of copyright issues, none of the partner providers is able to supply music online in Canada, and, consequently, Google’s Discover Music simply doesn’t work here. It would seem that there is no licensing structure available that would let these services pay to provide music in this country.
Further marking Canada as a technological backwater is the news that a new online telephone service, Ribbit mobile, like Google Voice, with which it competes, is also unavailable here. Essentially, these services work to coordinate your various telephone numbers and provide voice mail transcription, along with other features. They provide the benefits, in effect, that local phone companies are unwilling to offer, either because they are inept or, more likely, greedy.
“A pathetic war for public opinion is taking place between Canadian television networks and cable and satellite providers. At issue: whether the CRTC, the country’s broadcasting regulator, should allow broadcast networks to charge broadcasting distributors for the right to carry their signal, a service that was once offered free. The broadcasters say they need the revenue to protect local television. The cable and satellite providers say Canadians will simply pay more for the same service and claim consumers will now pay a “TV tax.” Each side launched lame public relations campaigns complete with commercials, Facebook pages, and faux viral videos all intended to encourage Canadians to express their support for one side or the other to the CRTC. The deadline for public comment will have passed by the time this piece is published. One hopes few heeded the call. By getting involved, Canadians will only share a sad legacy of helping make television worse than it already was.
Mon 2
SWARTHY MUSKELLUNGE #wordsihate
Sun 1
Sat 31
First and only trick or treaters of the night. They just opened the door and came in. Mom screamed at them form the end of the drive.
Fri 30
