state51

Category: technology

  • What Happened to Vint Cerf?

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    This August, 2012, on FT.com Vint Cerf was quoted in an article about the upcoming UN discussions over Internet governance. But Mr Cerf says that pricing structures are antithetical to the internet as they could stifle innovation. “When Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google, they didn’t have to go and cut a deal with…

  • How Art Changes the Architecture of the Internet

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    Reading Neelie Kroes’ recent blog post on net neutrality (link updated Dec 2017) reminded me of a startling presentation that was given to Nanog in 2009 (I was not there so was thankful that the slides were made available here) which brought into focus some vague ideas I have been thinking about for the last few…

  • Music v. Tech – How to Stop Fighting Yesterday’s Wars

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    Google recently released some startlingly large numbers relating to the number of copyright infringement takedown requests it receives and continues to act upon. Almost at the same time (it can’t entirely be a coincidence) the UK book publishers’ trade association chief unleashed a broadside which looked calculated to prevent dialogue between content and tech for…

  • The Relative Incompetence of the Music Industry

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    Perhaps in the days of paper forms and typing pools it was excusable that the music industry shied away from line by line accounting in favour of statistical sampling and pro rata share outs of royalty pools. An additional copyright in those days meant a collective investment in administration that could be disproportionate. Now however…

  • Some Numbers In The Digital Music Industry

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    There are now very few barriers to entry in the digital music industry, if you are lucky enough to be middle class in a developed economy. Production tools are essentially free if you have a computer; broadband connects you to a number of service providers that can put you on sale. Even if you have…

  • A Simple Suggestion for Copyright Policymakers

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    This simple suggestion is offered to copyright policymakers around the world. Copyright economies are complex. So complex that your most carefully designed reforms are likely to have consequences you could not foresee, and may even damage the sectors or people you intended to help. But this does not mean that policymakers are powerless to effect…

  • Sony’s Gatfield Shows Mutual Misunderstanding Between Music & ISPs As Deep As Ever

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    Nick Gatfield, recently appointed CEO of Sony Music UK, took the opportunity of an interview with the Guardian newspaper to do a bit of grandstanding on behalf of the music industry. Broadband businesses he said “are being built on the back of illegal filesharing”, and went on to call ISPs liars if they claim they…

  • Lessons for Music from the Steam Age

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    If you go to London’s Science Museum and look at some of the early commercial steam engines you might notice a ‘pump counter’ which ticked up with every pump of the piston. Boulton and Watt’s original business model was to charge a build fee, and then a usage fee, on the basis that their engine…

  • Amazon, GaGa, & UITS

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    Amazon’s inability to ship Lady GaGa album downloads is getting a bit of attention currently. I doubt they under-estimated demand – if anyone knows about demand it’s Amazon. It was unlikely to be a basic scaling problem either. Just about anyone with a hardware budget and a few decent systems/network guys can manage to get…