Darwin, meet broadband

Societal evolution is an interesting thing to witness. Fast, faster, fastest. The ability to communicate across the globe instantaneously, whether voice or data, is changing the way humanity interacts. This is a really interesting story about how the dinosaur of media, Rupert Murdoch, has picked up the mantle of the web and finally said, “OHHH! This is what the buzz is all about” His company bought MySpace which, unless you have been living under a rock, is the hottest interactive portal on the web. I have poked around on it and overall it is way too busy for me to enjoy. As you can tell by my basic Blogger template I don’t like things that complicated. However, understanding the mass appeal of reaching that kind of audience is very easy. It is a new and effective way to sell stuff. There are some other sites that have really captured my attention recently also. The first is Café Press which I have mentioned before. If I had any artistic ability at all I would have my own Café Press store. The second and much more interesting site I have really come to enjoy is YouTube. Their motto is, Broadcast Yourself. Anyone can put anything on there. Obviously, if you don’t own the content you run the risk of getting it pulled for copyright violation. The really cool part of it is anyone can suddenly be a TV or movie producer. If you think you are a genius writer or genius film maker you can shoot some short films, or long ones and put them up there. You will find out how good you are in a short amount of time. One of the best things about the internet is that nothing cool remains a secret. If you provide anything of entertainment value at all, it will get out. Spend some time on YouTube if you have a broadband connection. You will probably really enjoy it. I plan on doing a YouTube video of the week post, but it will have to be on the weekend, when I can investigate from home.

Onward to more things of moderate import:

- The US government is running out of money. Not really shocking considering the unprecedented spending of the Bush administration.

- France is looking to screw over Apple and a lot of musicians. This, by the way, is total crap. It should not be legal to steal other people’s intellectual property. If you are a fan of Bruce Springsteen and you want to listen to his music, isn’t it fair that he be paid? He wrote the music, sang the music, produced the music in a format that makes it easy for all to enjoy. Isn’t he entitled to remuneration for his work? I think he is. I think making it legal to break the technology that protects digital rights is very shady and anti performer. There are plenty of places that people can share what they create, but it should be their choice to share it. If they choose to sell it, it is again, their right. If in choosing to sell something they own, they find a market for it, meaning people want to pay for it, then it is not the place of any government to impede their ability to protect what they created. As a matter of fact it is the responsibility of the government to at least try and protect intellectual property. France, getting it wrong again. Should be their national motto.

- Another kick in the teeth for freedom and privacy. This excerpt says it all;

Although the Justice Department said it doesn't want any personal information now, the victory would likely encourage far more invasive requests in the future, said University of Connecticut law professor Paul Schiff Berman, who specializes in Internet law.

"The erosion of privacy tends to happen incrementally," Berman said. "While no one intrusion may seem that big, over the course of the next decade or two, you might end up in a place as a society where you never thought you would be."

Honestly, this should be a post all by itself, but I am only allowing myself 3 minute increments to build this post today. So far it has taken me 5 ½ hours.

- Just in case you were worrying the German sex industry is ramping up for the World Cup in a big way.

No 1 of Consequence