ARTBASE (4)
BIO
Doron Golan is an Israeli-born artist who lives and works in New York and Tel Aviv. He works primarily with digital video, media, and computer animation. Doron's current productions focus on the creation of movies and videos. Doron is a founder of computerfinearts.com and DVblog.org
newsletter - the thing - and happy 2003
Dates:
Tue Dec 31, 2002 00:00 - Tue Dec 31, 2002
---------------------------------
CFAs - computerfinearts.com
greetings and happy 2003 from NYC
---------------------------------
contents/topics ---
1. new site launched.
2. new projects were added to the collection.
3. COMPUTERFINEART'S SERVER IMPERILED
OPEN LETTER TO DOW CHEMICAL CORPORATION
4. 2x Warhol's prints for sale.
---------------------------------
1. new site launched.
computerfinearts.com has launched the site 'dialoque.ws' >
http://www.dialoque.ws
the on-going project is a portal and public space for political, social and
critical artworks.
dialoque.ws is hosted by thing.net
---------------------------------
2. new projects were added to the collection.
mark tribe - revelation 2.0 >
http://www.computerfinearts.com/collection/tribe/revelation2/index.htm
coyarzun - wIPhOME >
http://www.computerfinearts.com/collection/coyarzun/wIPhOME/index.htm
---------------------------------
3. COMPUTERFINEART'S SERVER IMPERILED
This is part of a much larger action instituted by Dow Chemical Corp.
Please review the information provided below.
---------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 23, 2002
ACTIVIST NETWORK IN NY EVICTED FROM INTERNET BY DOW, VERIO
http://www.rtmark.com/thingpr.html
---------------------------------
Cyberspace Artists Paint Themselves Into a Corner
By MATTHEW MIRAPAUL
NYTimes ARTS ONLINE, December 23, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/arts/design/23ARTS.html
---------------------------------
VERIO SETS OFF FREE THOUGHT ALARM AGAINST THE THING
posted by Rachel Greene, 12/24/02
Rhizome - http://www.rhizome.org
Advocate of online art and culture since 1991, The Thing, may have it
CFAs - computerfinearts.com
greetings and happy 2003 from NYC
---------------------------------
contents/topics ---
1. new site launched.
2. new projects were added to the collection.
3. COMPUTERFINEART'S SERVER IMPERILED
OPEN LETTER TO DOW CHEMICAL CORPORATION
4. 2x Warhol's prints for sale.
---------------------------------
1. new site launched.
computerfinearts.com has launched the site 'dialoque.ws' >
http://www.dialoque.ws
the on-going project is a portal and public space for political, social and
critical artworks.
dialoque.ws is hosted by thing.net
---------------------------------
2. new projects were added to the collection.
mark tribe - revelation 2.0 >
http://www.computerfinearts.com/collection/tribe/revelation2/index.htm
coyarzun - wIPhOME >
http://www.computerfinearts.com/collection/coyarzun/wIPhOME/index.htm
---------------------------------
3. COMPUTERFINEART'S SERVER IMPERILED
This is part of a much larger action instituted by Dow Chemical Corp.
Please review the information provided below.
---------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 23, 2002
ACTIVIST NETWORK IN NY EVICTED FROM INTERNET BY DOW, VERIO
http://www.rtmark.com/thingpr.html
---------------------------------
Cyberspace Artists Paint Themselves Into a Corner
By MATTHEW MIRAPAUL
NYTimes ARTS ONLINE, December 23, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/arts/design/23ARTS.html
---------------------------------
VERIO SETS OFF FREE THOUGHT ALARM AGAINST THE THING
posted by Rachel Greene, 12/24/02
Rhizome - http://www.rhizome.org
Advocate of online art and culture since 1991, The Thing, may have it
presentation update
-for artists with budget-
HARDWARE UPDATE:
1. DELL UNVEILS SECOND-GENERATION DLP PROJECTOR
Computer heavyweight Dell entered the projector market less than a year
ago and is already phasing out its introductory product for the new 3200MP
DLP projector. This 3.5-pound unit has some similarities with its
predecessor (the 3100MP), such as a similar weight and XGA resolution
(1,024 x 768 pixels), but notable improvements have been made. The new
model pumps out 1,300 ANSI lumens and offers an 1,800-to-1 contrast ratio,
a 1.2X optical zoom, a 32X digital zoom and a 2-watt built-in speaker.
Along with Dell's hard-shell traveling case and a low price, the $2,199
3200MP is a worthy upgrade. More info is at http://www.dell.com
2. SONY'S FX LINE GETS EVEN SMARTER
Sony's latest member of the FX series of SuperSmart installation
projectors has a brighter lamp and a new optical engine based on Sony's
new 1.3-inch LCD panels. The VPL-FX51 puts out 5,200 ANSI lumens at XGA
resolution and is IP-addressable for full network control. A presenter
with a computer on the same network can communicate with the projector via
a Web browser and, using a bundled software application, can download
still images as well as Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and Word files. In
addition, presentations can be uploaded onto the projector's internal
memory, letting you present without a computer. Suggested list price for
the VPL-FX51 is $14,000. For more info, go to
http://www.sony.com/projectors
3. JVC INTRODUCES NEW PRO CAMCORDER
JVC's new GY-DV5000U is a shoulder-mounted professional-level camcorder
that has three half-inch CCDs for producing images with more than 800
lines of resolution. The camcorder features low-light performance with a
sensitivity of F:13 at 2,000 lux, and technologies that produce better
skin tones and a more dynamic range between bright and dark scenes. Users
can also control the color matrix (four settings) and gamma (20 steps) to
give their video a unique look. The GY-DV5000U has been redesigned to
accommodate both full-size and MiniDV cassettes, and with an optional
external module it can record and log MPEG-4 files onto a flash-memory
card. The GY-DV5000U is priced at $6,995 (including lens and viewfinder);
more info is available at http://pro.jvc.com
___________________
SOFTWARE UPDATE:
4. NEW SOFTWARE CONTROLS MULTI-DEVICE PRESENTATIONS
Wet Electrics, a New York City multimedia-systems-integration company,
makes software for the coordination of complex multimedia presentations
found at trade shows, museums and elaborate business events. The company's
new Production Designer Studio software allows presenters to control
audio, video, MIDI and serial devices from a single interface. Instead of
manually coordinating each device and component of a presentation
separately, the software lets you control multi-device presentations that
can involve everything from projectors to smoke machines, from an onscreen
timeline on a desktop computer. The Macintosh-compatible program retails
for $995, but the company has a special introductory price of $695 for a
limited time. For more info or a free trial download, go to
http://www.wetelectrics.com
5. PROGRAM SIMPLIFIES FLASH FILE CREATION
Want to create Flash SWF files without committing hours to learning
Macromedia's Flash animation software? Wildform may have a solution with
its new Linx Flash Editor, a program that lets you drag and drop images,
audio, video and other files onto a timeline to create Flash files. The
WYSIWYG interface allows for the creation of virtually any type of Flash
SWF file with no knowledge of Macromedia's program. See
http://www.wildform.com/linx for more info on the $49, Windows-compatible
software.
6. ULEAD ROLLS OUT COOL 3D STUDIO
Ulead's new COOL 3D Studio software lets you create 3D animation for
video, the Web and other multimedia presentations. The program includes
video editing tools, an independent key-frame timeline for graphic
objects, new video effects and lighting controls. All projects can be
output as video, still images, GIF animation, image sequences and 3D Flash
movies. COOL 3D Studio costs $129; an upgrade from COOL 3D 3.5 is $60.
More information is at http://www.ulead.com
<presentations.com>
HARDWARE UPDATE:
1. DELL UNVEILS SECOND-GENERATION DLP PROJECTOR
Computer heavyweight Dell entered the projector market less than a year
ago and is already phasing out its introductory product for the new 3200MP
DLP projector. This 3.5-pound unit has some similarities with its
predecessor (the 3100MP), such as a similar weight and XGA resolution
(1,024 x 768 pixels), but notable improvements have been made. The new
model pumps out 1,300 ANSI lumens and offers an 1,800-to-1 contrast ratio,
a 1.2X optical zoom, a 32X digital zoom and a 2-watt built-in speaker.
Along with Dell's hard-shell traveling case and a low price, the $2,199
3200MP is a worthy upgrade. More info is at http://www.dell.com
2. SONY'S FX LINE GETS EVEN SMARTER
Sony's latest member of the FX series of SuperSmart installation
projectors has a brighter lamp and a new optical engine based on Sony's
new 1.3-inch LCD panels. The VPL-FX51 puts out 5,200 ANSI lumens at XGA
resolution and is IP-addressable for full network control. A presenter
with a computer on the same network can communicate with the projector via
a Web browser and, using a bundled software application, can download
still images as well as Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and Word files. In
addition, presentations can be uploaded onto the projector's internal
memory, letting you present without a computer. Suggested list price for
the VPL-FX51 is $14,000. For more info, go to
http://www.sony.com/projectors
3. JVC INTRODUCES NEW PRO CAMCORDER
JVC's new GY-DV5000U is a shoulder-mounted professional-level camcorder
that has three half-inch CCDs for producing images with more than 800
lines of resolution. The camcorder features low-light performance with a
sensitivity of F:13 at 2,000 lux, and technologies that produce better
skin tones and a more dynamic range between bright and dark scenes. Users
can also control the color matrix (four settings) and gamma (20 steps) to
give their video a unique look. The GY-DV5000U has been redesigned to
accommodate both full-size and MiniDV cassettes, and with an optional
external module it can record and log MPEG-4 files onto a flash-memory
card. The GY-DV5000U is priced at $6,995 (including lens and viewfinder);
more info is available at http://pro.jvc.com
___________________
SOFTWARE UPDATE:
4. NEW SOFTWARE CONTROLS MULTI-DEVICE PRESENTATIONS
Wet Electrics, a New York City multimedia-systems-integration company,
makes software for the coordination of complex multimedia presentations
found at trade shows, museums and elaborate business events. The company's
new Production Designer Studio software allows presenters to control
audio, video, MIDI and serial devices from a single interface. Instead of
manually coordinating each device and component of a presentation
separately, the software lets you control multi-device presentations that
can involve everything from projectors to smoke machines, from an onscreen
timeline on a desktop computer. The Macintosh-compatible program retails
for $995, but the company has a special introductory price of $695 for a
limited time. For more info or a free trial download, go to
http://www.wetelectrics.com
5. PROGRAM SIMPLIFIES FLASH FILE CREATION
Want to create Flash SWF files without committing hours to learning
Macromedia's Flash animation software? Wildform may have a solution with
its new Linx Flash Editor, a program that lets you drag and drop images,
audio, video and other files onto a timeline to create Flash files. The
WYSIWYG interface allows for the creation of virtually any type of Flash
SWF file with no knowledge of Macromedia's program. See
http://www.wildform.com/linx for more info on the $49, Windows-compatible
software.
6. ULEAD ROLLS OUT COOL 3D STUDIO
Ulead's new COOL 3D Studio software lets you create 3D animation for
video, the Web and other multimedia presentations. The program includes
video editing tools, an independent key-frame timeline for graphic
objects, new video effects and lighting controls. All projects can be
output as video, still images, GIF animation, image sequences and 3D Flash
movies. COOL 3D Studio costs $129; an upgrade from COOL 3D 3.5 is $60.
More information is at http://www.ulead.com
<presentations.com>
presentation news: wireless projector
for artists (with budget) that are interested in projectors.
HARDWARE UPDATE:
KATUN INTRODUCES THE AIRPROJECTOR
Want to make your projector wireless? It might be easier and cheaper than
you think. Minneapolis-based Katun Corporation has a product called the
AirProjector that can give almost any projector wireless capabilities. The
AirProjector connects to a projector via an RGB connection and can
communicate wirelessly with any Windows-based computer that's using a
Wi-Fi card. An unlimited number of computers can connect to the
AirProjector, and users can toggle between presentations if necessary. The
1.3-pound AirProjector is compatible with Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000 and
XP systems and costs $999. Katun's Web site is http://www.katun.com
CHRISTIE DIGITAL RELEASES NEW NETWORKING MODULES
Christie Digital has expanded its ChristieNET line of projector networking
products with three new Ethernet modules. The ChristieNET Projector
Organizer module lets you set up and control a Christie Digital projector
via a network. The ChristieNET Expanded Edition module features an
embedded Web server and includes Master Display Controller (MDC) software
for monitoring and controlling multiple Christie Digital projectors on a
company network. The ChristieNET Enterprise Edition module can manage and
send content to a Christie Digital projector over a wired or wireless
network. Users can control content from any computer on the network or
even via a PDA. The Projector Organizer is $649, the Expanded Edition is
$999, and the Enterprise Edition's price is TBA. More information is at
http://www.christiedigital.com
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING GOES WITH BLUETOOTH
Electronics for Imaging Inc. has added Bluetooth wireless technology to
its eBeam digital whiteboard system. This new version of the eBeam product
lets users send data wirelessly from the whiteboard to a computer or PDA.
Whiteboard notes can also be printed wirelessly with Bluetooth-enabled
printers. The new system will be available in early 2003 for $999. See
http://www.e-beam.com for more info.
HARDWARE UPDATE:
KATUN INTRODUCES THE AIRPROJECTOR
Want to make your projector wireless? It might be easier and cheaper than
you think. Minneapolis-based Katun Corporation has a product called the
AirProjector that can give almost any projector wireless capabilities. The
AirProjector connects to a projector via an RGB connection and can
communicate wirelessly with any Windows-based computer that's using a
Wi-Fi card. An unlimited number of computers can connect to the
AirProjector, and users can toggle between presentations if necessary. The
1.3-pound AirProjector is compatible with Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000 and
XP systems and costs $999. Katun's Web site is http://www.katun.com
CHRISTIE DIGITAL RELEASES NEW NETWORKING MODULES
Christie Digital has expanded its ChristieNET line of projector networking
products with three new Ethernet modules. The ChristieNET Projector
Organizer module lets you set up and control a Christie Digital projector
via a network. The ChristieNET Expanded Edition module features an
embedded Web server and includes Master Display Controller (MDC) software
for monitoring and controlling multiple Christie Digital projectors on a
company network. The ChristieNET Enterprise Edition module can manage and
send content to a Christie Digital projector over a wired or wireless
network. Users can control content from any computer on the network or
even via a PDA. The Projector Organizer is $649, the Expanded Edition is
$999, and the Enterprise Edition's price is TBA. More information is at
http://www.christiedigital.com
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING GOES WITH BLUETOOTH
Electronics for Imaging Inc. has added Bluetooth wireless technology to
its eBeam digital whiteboard system. This new version of the eBeam product
lets users send data wirelessly from the whiteboard to a computer or PDA.
Whiteboard notes can also be printed wirelessly with Bluetooth-enabled
printers. The new system will be available in early 2003 for $999. See
http://www.e-beam.com for more info.
<nettime> Resistance is futile (peer-to-peer)
from: Steve Cisler <cisler@pobox.com>
How Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Is Likely to Change Big Media
By Robert X. Cringely
<http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20021128.html>
Maybe you saw the story this week about a paper from Microsoft
Research analyzing peer-to-peer file sharing networks with the
conclusion that they can't be stopped -- not by the law, not by the
movie studios and record companies, not even by mighty Microsoft and
its Palladium initiative for trusted computing. Swapping songs and
maybe movies is about to reach some critical mass beyond which it
simply can't be stopped, or so the kids in Redmond think. The story
is interesting, that it came from Microsoft is even more interesting,
though the authors carefully disassociated themselves from their
employer in the paper.
But this all pales in comparison to the implications of their
conclusions. These are smart folks, taking a stand that is surely not
popular with their company, so I think there is a pretty strong
reason to believe they are correct. If so, then what does it mean?
Are record companies and movie studios doomed? Am I doomed, as a guy
whose work is regularly ripped-off, too? And will the print
publishers go away, leaving us with only weblogs to keep us warm? I
don't think so, but the world is likely to change some as a result.
Maybe it would help to deconstruct what publishers and broadcasters
and movie moguls do that makes them significant contributors to our
culture. They take financial risks by backing talented people in the
hope of making money. Publishers and broadcasters and film makers and
record executives have taken the time and spent the money to build
both a commercial infrastructure and a brand identity. The most
extreme version of such financial risk-taking is spending tens of
millions -- sometimes hundreds of millions -- to make a movie.
Forgetting for the moment that some of these media people are greedy
pond dwellers, let's ask the important question -- how are
peer-to-peer file sharing systems going to replace $100 million
movies? Peer-to-peer systems can share such movies, but since there
is no real peer-to-peer business model that can generate enough
zeroes, such systems are unlikely to finance any epic films.
Well, right there we have a problem. People LIKE epic films, but even
with the best editing and animation software, there is no way some
kid with a hopped-up Mac or PC is going to make "Terminator 4." One
can only guess, then, that people will continue to go to movies and
eat popcorn and watch on the big screen despite how many copies of
Divx there are in the world.
Peer-to-peer movie piracy is practical only in the manner that any
organized crime is practical: it works only as long as the host
remains strong enough to support the parasite. Tony Soprano can't run
New Jersey because then everyone would be a crook and there would be
nobody to steal from except other crooks. No more innocent victims.
Same with movie piracy, which needs a strong movie industry from
which to steal. If the industry is weakened too much by piracy, the
pirates begin to hurt themselves by drying-up their source of
material. It is very doubtful that this will happen simply because
the pirates, too, want to go to movies.
But the same is not true for records. This is simply because
technology has reached the point where amateurs can make as good a
recording as the professionals. The next Christina Aguilera CD could
be as easily recorded at her house (or mine) as at some big recording
complex out on Abbey Road.
And text, well, text is even worse because it is easiest of all to
steal. My columns are published in newspapers and websites and
handed-in as college essays all over the world and there is almost
nothing I can do about it because tracking down the perps costs me
more than does their crime. From the perspective of the established
publishers, there is also the horrible possibility that people might
actually come to prefer material they find for free on the Internet
-- not just pirated material but even original material. This column,
after all, is free, and my Mother claims to find some value in it
from time to time.
So movies, while they may be hurt by peer-to-peer, won't be killed by
it. But print publishing and music recording could be seriously hurt.
Maybe this is good, maybe it is bad, but probably, it is inevitable.
Of course, the recording and publishing executives, who often work
for the same parent company, aren't going to go without a fight. We
are approaching the end of the first stage of that fight, the stage
where they try to have their enemy made illegal. But the folks at
Microsoft Research now say quite definitively that legal action
probably won't be enough. That's when we enter stage two, which
begins with guerrilla tactics in which copyright owners use the very
hacking techniques they rail against to hurt the peer-to-peer
systems. This too shall pass when bad PR gets to the guerrillas. The
trick to guerrilla or terrorist campaigns is to not care what people
think, but in the end, Sony (just one example) cares what people
think.
That's when the record companies and publishers will appear to
actually embrace peer-to-peer and try to make it their own.
This will be a ruse, of course, the next step in the death of a
corrupt and abusive cultural monopoly. They'll say they will do it
for us. They'll say they are building the best peer-to-peer system of
all, only this one will cost money and it won't even work that well.
There is plenty of precedent for this behavior in other industries.
My favorite historical example of this phenomenon comes from the oil
business. In the 1920s, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company had a monopoly
on oil production in the Middle East, which they generally protected
through the use of diplomatic -- and occasionally military -- force
against the local monarchies. Then the Gulf Oil Company of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, literally sneaked into Kuwait and obtained
from the Al-Sabah family (who still run the place) a license to
search for oil.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company did not like Gulf's actions, but they
were even more dismayed to learn that Gulf couldn't be told to just
go to hell. Andrew Mellon, of the Pittsburgh Mellons, was the U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury, and he wasn't about to let his oil company
be pushed around by the British Foreign Office. So Anglo-Persian and
the Foreign Office did their best to delay Gulf, which worked for
several years. They lied a little, lost a few maps, failed to read a
telegram or two, and when Gulf still didn't go away, they turned to
acting stupid. As the absolute regional experts on oil exploration,
they offered to do Gulf's job, to save the Americans the bother if
searching for oil in Kuwait by searching for them.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company searched for oil in Kuwait for 22 years
without finding a single drop.
Remember that Kuwait is smaller than Rhode Island, and not only is it
sitting atop more than 60 billion barrels of oil, it has places where
oil has been known for more than 3,000 years to seep all the way to
the surface. Yet Anglo-Persian was able to fulfill its contract with
Gulf and keep two oil rigs continually drilling in Kuwait for 22
years without finding oil. To drill this many dry wells required
intense concentration on the part of the British drillers. They had
to not only be NOT looking for oil, they had to very actively be NOT
LOOKING for oil, which is even harder.
Back to music and text publishing. Expect both industries to offer
peer-to-peer systems that won't work very well, and will cost us
something instead of nothing. In the long run, though, these systems
will probably die, too, at which point, the music and the print folks
will have to find another way to make their livings. This will not be
because of piracy, but because of the origination of material within
the peer-to-peer culture, itself. We're not that far from a time when
artists and writers can distribute their own work and make a living
doing so, which makes the current literary and music establishments a
lot less necessary.
But they won't die altogether because of the record company back
lists of music, because peer-to-peer doesn't do a very good job of
self-organizing, and indicating what is important, and because people
won't take tablet computers with them to the bathroom.
So we will have little movies and little records and little magazines
on the Internet because the Internet is made up of so many different
interest groups. For the larger population, there will still be
Brittany Spears and Stephen King singing and writing for big labels.
And that will only start to change when the first really big artists
jumps from old media to new, trading 15 percent of $30 times 100,000
copies for 100 percent of $0.50 times 1 million copies.
The Grateful Dead showed that it is possible to make a great living
even in competition with some of their audience. This is a lesson all
old media must learn in time.
Either that, or die.
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net
How Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Is Likely to Change Big Media
By Robert X. Cringely
<http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20021128.html>
Maybe you saw the story this week about a paper from Microsoft
Research analyzing peer-to-peer file sharing networks with the
conclusion that they can't be stopped -- not by the law, not by the
movie studios and record companies, not even by mighty Microsoft and
its Palladium initiative for trusted computing. Swapping songs and
maybe movies is about to reach some critical mass beyond which it
simply can't be stopped, or so the kids in Redmond think. The story
is interesting, that it came from Microsoft is even more interesting,
though the authors carefully disassociated themselves from their
employer in the paper.
But this all pales in comparison to the implications of their
conclusions. These are smart folks, taking a stand that is surely not
popular with their company, so I think there is a pretty strong
reason to believe they are correct. If so, then what does it mean?
Are record companies and movie studios doomed? Am I doomed, as a guy
whose work is regularly ripped-off, too? And will the print
publishers go away, leaving us with only weblogs to keep us warm? I
don't think so, but the world is likely to change some as a result.
Maybe it would help to deconstruct what publishers and broadcasters
and movie moguls do that makes them significant contributors to our
culture. They take financial risks by backing talented people in the
hope of making money. Publishers and broadcasters and film makers and
record executives have taken the time and spent the money to build
both a commercial infrastructure and a brand identity. The most
extreme version of such financial risk-taking is spending tens of
millions -- sometimes hundreds of millions -- to make a movie.
Forgetting for the moment that some of these media people are greedy
pond dwellers, let's ask the important question -- how are
peer-to-peer file sharing systems going to replace $100 million
movies? Peer-to-peer systems can share such movies, but since there
is no real peer-to-peer business model that can generate enough
zeroes, such systems are unlikely to finance any epic films.
Well, right there we have a problem. People LIKE epic films, but even
with the best editing and animation software, there is no way some
kid with a hopped-up Mac or PC is going to make "Terminator 4." One
can only guess, then, that people will continue to go to movies and
eat popcorn and watch on the big screen despite how many copies of
Divx there are in the world.
Peer-to-peer movie piracy is practical only in the manner that any
organized crime is practical: it works only as long as the host
remains strong enough to support the parasite. Tony Soprano can't run
New Jersey because then everyone would be a crook and there would be
nobody to steal from except other crooks. No more innocent victims.
Same with movie piracy, which needs a strong movie industry from
which to steal. If the industry is weakened too much by piracy, the
pirates begin to hurt themselves by drying-up their source of
material. It is very doubtful that this will happen simply because
the pirates, too, want to go to movies.
But the same is not true for records. This is simply because
technology has reached the point where amateurs can make as good a
recording as the professionals. The next Christina Aguilera CD could
be as easily recorded at her house (or mine) as at some big recording
complex out on Abbey Road.
And text, well, text is even worse because it is easiest of all to
steal. My columns are published in newspapers and websites and
handed-in as college essays all over the world and there is almost
nothing I can do about it because tracking down the perps costs me
more than does their crime. From the perspective of the established
publishers, there is also the horrible possibility that people might
actually come to prefer material they find for free on the Internet
-- not just pirated material but even original material. This column,
after all, is free, and my Mother claims to find some value in it
from time to time.
So movies, while they may be hurt by peer-to-peer, won't be killed by
it. But print publishing and music recording could be seriously hurt.
Maybe this is good, maybe it is bad, but probably, it is inevitable.
Of course, the recording and publishing executives, who often work
for the same parent company, aren't going to go without a fight. We
are approaching the end of the first stage of that fight, the stage
where they try to have their enemy made illegal. But the folks at
Microsoft Research now say quite definitively that legal action
probably won't be enough. That's when we enter stage two, which
begins with guerrilla tactics in which copyright owners use the very
hacking techniques they rail against to hurt the peer-to-peer
systems. This too shall pass when bad PR gets to the guerrillas. The
trick to guerrilla or terrorist campaigns is to not care what people
think, but in the end, Sony (just one example) cares what people
think.
That's when the record companies and publishers will appear to
actually embrace peer-to-peer and try to make it their own.
This will be a ruse, of course, the next step in the death of a
corrupt and abusive cultural monopoly. They'll say they will do it
for us. They'll say they are building the best peer-to-peer system of
all, only this one will cost money and it won't even work that well.
There is plenty of precedent for this behavior in other industries.
My favorite historical example of this phenomenon comes from the oil
business. In the 1920s, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company had a monopoly
on oil production in the Middle East, which they generally protected
through the use of diplomatic -- and occasionally military -- force
against the local monarchies. Then the Gulf Oil Company of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, literally sneaked into Kuwait and obtained
from the Al-Sabah family (who still run the place) a license to
search for oil.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company did not like Gulf's actions, but they
were even more dismayed to learn that Gulf couldn't be told to just
go to hell. Andrew Mellon, of the Pittsburgh Mellons, was the U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury, and he wasn't about to let his oil company
be pushed around by the British Foreign Office. So Anglo-Persian and
the Foreign Office did their best to delay Gulf, which worked for
several years. They lied a little, lost a few maps, failed to read a
telegram or two, and when Gulf still didn't go away, they turned to
acting stupid. As the absolute regional experts on oil exploration,
they offered to do Gulf's job, to save the Americans the bother if
searching for oil in Kuwait by searching for them.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company searched for oil in Kuwait for 22 years
without finding a single drop.
Remember that Kuwait is smaller than Rhode Island, and not only is it
sitting atop more than 60 billion barrels of oil, it has places where
oil has been known for more than 3,000 years to seep all the way to
the surface. Yet Anglo-Persian was able to fulfill its contract with
Gulf and keep two oil rigs continually drilling in Kuwait for 22
years without finding oil. To drill this many dry wells required
intense concentration on the part of the British drillers. They had
to not only be NOT looking for oil, they had to very actively be NOT
LOOKING for oil, which is even harder.
Back to music and text publishing. Expect both industries to offer
peer-to-peer systems that won't work very well, and will cost us
something instead of nothing. In the long run, though, these systems
will probably die, too, at which point, the music and the print folks
will have to find another way to make their livings. This will not be
because of piracy, but because of the origination of material within
the peer-to-peer culture, itself. We're not that far from a time when
artists and writers can distribute their own work and make a living
doing so, which makes the current literary and music establishments a
lot less necessary.
But they won't die altogether because of the record company back
lists of music, because peer-to-peer doesn't do a very good job of
self-organizing, and indicating what is important, and because people
won't take tablet computers with them to the bathroom.
So we will have little movies and little records and little magazines
on the Internet because the Internet is made up of so many different
interest groups. For the larger population, there will still be
Brittany Spears and Stephen King singing and writing for big labels.
And that will only start to change when the first really big artists
jumps from old media to new, trading 15 percent of $30 times 100,000
copies for 100 percent of $0.50 times 1 million copies.
The Grateful Dead showed that it is possible to make a great living
even in competition with some of their audience. This is a lesson all
old media must learn in time.
Either that, or die.
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