A good response

Have been playing around with my Soundsold blog which so far hasn't been cancelled. A good article in the Herald by Chris Barton answering the Record Industry Association of NZ defence of the new Act. A shortened version is :

The Chief executive of Rianz, is disingenuous when he says: "Internet service providers are in a unique position to help us protect creative content online."

What he really means is: "We want internet providers to be our vigilantes - cop, judge, jury and executioner - to hunt down illegal music downloaders and cut off their internet."

Isn't that job of the police and the courts? And what about due process - don't people accused of wrongdoing deserve a fair hearing? Not according to those who are pushing for one of the most stupid, unjust pieces of legislation this country has ever seen. Thankfully, even though it voted for Section 92a National has decided to put the section into abeyance until March 27.

It's possible it could just sit forever in a kind of legal purgatory - a reminder to politicians the world over of how not to make legislation. The politicians who voted for this law should hang their heads in shame. Rejected by the select committee process, Section 92a was re-inserted at the last minute by the real villain in this sorry affair, Judith Tizard.

You have to wonder whether our politicians have really thought at all about what they are trying to achieve in this copyright law.

Do they really want to pass a law that makes children criminals and stifles creativity? That's not what copyright is all about. It's supposed to give people the independent means to be a creator, to provide a structure of incentives for artists. But much of the act passed into law does just the opposite.

Section 92c is the sort of law that stops a mother putting a video on You Tube of her baby dancing to Prince's Let's Go Crazy because the copyright holder doesn't authorise it.

The kind of law that stifles debate by preventing spoofs of political campaigns.

It's also a law that stops a multi-media savvy teenager remixing original video, music and graphics to create something new to share with friends on Facebook, because it might breach copyright in the original work.

The lawmakers say they are trying to stop abuses of copyright but have got so narrowly focused that they have become copyright abusers themselves - distorting the fabric of copyright to such an extent that they limit creativity.

It's relatively easy to identify who is uploading or downloading what - it's also relatively easy to spoof IP addresses and disguise who's actually online.

If Rianz want to hunt down the downloaders let them do their own dirty work. And follow standard due process.

But what our politicians should really be looking at is whether passing laws like this is an appropriate means of promoting copyright. When there is such widespread thumbing of the nose at copyright via the internet, isn't it perhaps time to ask whether there may be another way to deal with the problem?

Isn't it time to say banging a square peg into a round hole doesn't work? What is really required is a radical rethink of internet copyright, the deregulation of amateur and non-commercial creativity and probably some form of collective licensing to enable sharing economies to function in way that allows artists to be rewarded.

What we also need are politicians to make just laws for the people, not legislation that shows they are captured by vested interests.

Breaking News - Rugby World Cup 2011

The Rugby World Cup 2011 venues have just been released and Wellington will get 5 matches including a Quarter Final. To show what a backwater Dunedin has become is that they will only get 3 games like New Plymouth, Rotorua etc.

A big argument is on in the city at the moment about getting a new all weather stadium in Dunedin and there is a lot of local opposition. The choice is there's - if they don't do something then places like Palmerston North, Tauranga, New Plymouth and the like will move ahead of them. Hamilton has already done so.

This, that and a bit cooler

A bit cooler with the weather heading into winter.

As it happened Rhett was due for his haircut (actually with him it is a fur-cut) and this was done yesterday, just as the temperatures dropped, so we have put a little woollen coat on him. It wasn't cool in Hamilton at the India NZ cricket - India are on fire. Sehwag is in incredible form - the 7th fastest 100 of all time. We are not in the hunt. One thing about the cricket this year is that it is a drought breaker. Whatever team we have played - even in Oz - it has rained.

The above cartoon sums up Rhett - all bark no bite.

While Rhett was away getting his fur-cut we spent most of yesterday morning with Sarah so we had Kipp and Monty with us at the Library playground.

To prove beyond doubt logic does not prevail I went to log into the TV3 website (why bother having a log in system anyway??) but couldn't. Sent them an email and they advise I was registered at TV3 News not TV3 !!! Crazy as it seems they can't link the two - not that I even realised there were two different sites.

A good Friday

It was a good Friday as I took part in helping Rotary raise funds for our local Hospice, Te Omanga, through a Golf tournament. I didn't take part in the golf, not being a golfer, but assisted on the treasurers side. Incredibly we raised $10,000 which was the same as last year. With all the doom and gloom about we had visions that we would struggle, but it all turned out well.

Luckily the weather held up and we only got a little of the rain that spoilt the Black Caps versus India game - well, spoilt it for India as they were on their way to a massive total.

As for the attack on the Sri Lankans cricketers what can one say. We don't know yet who carried out the attack but I gain the impression that it was the usual fundamentalist Islamics rather than the Tamil Tigers. It also gave an impression that some in the security forces were aiding the terrorists.

Read an interesting line the other day that an American thought all the cameras in London were the result of 9/11, until it was pointed out that was to track attacks by the IRA. The comment ended with

' that was when Americans supported terrorism - now they seem to have changed their tune'

On the day of the attack I watched the CBS news from America to see how much importance they gave to the tragedy and it was about the 10th item, all of about 15 words!! There is also tragedy in Zimbabwe where the 'Prime Minister' (really the leader of the Opposition who should be the leader of the country) Morgan Tsvangirai's wife has been killed in a traffic accident.

Hmmmm... coming from Zimbabwe the immediate thought is, that was no accident, but it seems as if it really was an accident.

3 March 2009 was a square root birthday day

Did you know that the 3rd March this year was Square Root Day, a rare birthday that when the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits of the current year. Numerically, 3 March 2009, can be expressed as 3/3/09, or mathematically as √9 = 3, or 3² = 3 × 3 = 9.

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day--and poof--they're gone," said one square rooter who organised a contest intended to publicize the event.

My brother is one of those elite having the 3rd March as his birthday.

Square Root Day occurs only nine times in a century. The last one occurred on February 2, 2004, and the next will occur in seven years on April 4, 2016. The entire list is -

01/01/XX01
02/02/XX04
03/03/XX09
04/04/XX16
05/05/XX25
06/06/XX36
07/07/XX49
08/08/XX64
09/09/XX81

Computing Experts

Hard at 'work'.

Banking

It seems incredible that the 8th biggest bank in the world is now Westpac as all the big US, UK, Japanese and EU banks have got into difficulties through stupid lending. How the Royal Bank of Scotland who used to have the most conservative policies have struck trouble is beyond me.

The top banks are now
1. Canada 2. Sweden 3. Luxembourg 4. Australia 5. Denmark 6. Netherlands
7. Belgium 8. New Zealand 9. Ireland 10. Malta

I don't see how we could rate lower than Australia as ours are all Australian owned except for Kiwibank, which is state owned and the TSB which is very small and has a Government Guarantee anyway. US banks rate 40th just ahead of the UK. Although how Ireland rates so high makes me wonder. I have never liked the US system of Banking with small operations in amongst the giants preferring a multi branch British style.