Copyright distorts the market

An excellent opinion piece in the SMH on copyright: Copyright distorts the market - smh.com.au There's been a lot of coverage lately about music being downloaded from the internet. This has been going on for years but now the Recording Industry Association of America has given the matter a much higher profile by prosecuting individuals and giving great publicity to the fact.

Events since I wrote those words have only served to reinforce my views. The actions of the RIAA and the record companies are the desperate acts of an industry based on a superseded business model attempting to hold back the tides of history. They will fight all the way, and they will win the odd battle, but they will lose the war.

Copyright is not the natural order of things. It was invented only some 300 years ago to protect printers - not writers. And it remains a means to protect the near-monopolistic rights of music companies, publishers and software houses. It distorts the market and is a barrier, not a boon, to creativity.

Still fixing things

Still working to get this site up to speed. Moveable Type is a fun package but has some quirks I haven't figured a workaround for.

I spent much of the day driving the car to and from the Acura dealer so it could get a 20,000 mile checkup and oil change. Took close to an hour to drive the ~9 miles there, maybe 30 minutes to drive back.

Whipped up a bunch of food for someone's gathering tonight (a red bell pepper blend that we've found works well with cous-cous as well as risotto, a cherry tomato salsa that should work fine with the soy sauce marinated chicken, and a veggie plate).

Frisket is quite dejected that we won't let her play with the guests tonight. She was a bit too jumpy around the food to be let loose.