Also I support them because they are fighting the likes of Apple and co. who are creating anti-competitive closed systems and thus being usually bad for the consumer (AppleVangelists and ‘Geniuses’ should read their rather damning revelation of the AppStore legals that Apple doesn’t want you to see – All Your Appz Belong To Uzz indeed) and fighting DMCA and ACTA which is probably behind the evil Digital Economy Bill, and fighting for free speech and net neutrality online.

Open Rights Group does a similar job but with a UK/European stance – there are things EFF can’t/won’t touch that are specifically UK (the aforementioned DEBill for example, ORG has been campaigning about that). It’s a double handed attack, because what may go down in the US could pop up here, and vice versa. They also cover CCTV and ID card and other security worries where technology is possibly going to infringe on civil liberties and privacy – things that are more specific to the UK.

Pirate Party is also getting bigger here in the UK, I’m a member there too, although not been as involved as I’d like.

So whether you’re a mashup DJ, video remixer, developer, interactive artist, musician, web designer or just concerned about security and the (mis)use of technology and laws around it, I strongly recommend punting some money and support over to EFF and ORG, amongst many others…because they really are fighting for the digital freedoms you currently enjoy.

/soapbox out.

You might like these previous posts:

• Want to help change the arcane UK copyright law? – March 25, 2007
• Freedom Not Fear – September 29, 2008
• Open source imagery – July 19, 2008
• Orphans and Widows – September 26, 2008
• Open Rights Group: Release the Music – November 6, 2006

No2ID and Open Rights Group are doing a Fear Not Freedom day on the 11th of October. Those in the UK – they need your pictures of the surveillance state!

Those of you outside the UK might not know there is the biggest density of CCTV cameras here in the whole world…and with the new yet STUPID ID coming in attacking migrant workers, it’s just Nanny State 1984.

I’ll try and take some pictures locally over the new few days – not hard since there are so many cameras everywhere now, entryphones and card entry systems…

Here�s how you can help:

1. Spot something that embodies the UK�s wholesale transformation into the surveillance society/database state. Subjects might include your local CCTV camera(s), or fingerprinting equipment in your child�s school library
2. Snap it
3. Upload it to Flickr and tag it �FNFBigPicture� – please use an Attribution Creative Commons license*
4. That�s it!

*We need you to license it this way because we want to give the image to newspapers to run on the day.

You might like these previous posts:

• RC 172: All Change (Oddz and Sods 12) – November 16, 2008
• Pictures from All Hands on Decks – October 11, 2005
• Disassociated Press – February 5, 2009
• Open source imagery – July 19, 2008
• Mutant night pictures – October 29, 2006

Not happy…

ORG Report:

However, transparency around the recording of valid votes was a major issue, leading many of our team of 27 official observers to conclude that they were unable to observe votes being counted. And while hundreds of screens set up by vote scanners showed almost meaningless data to observers, London Elects admit that the system was likely to be recording blank ballots as valid votes.

The report also details how London Elects are unable to publish an audit, commissioned from KPMG, of some of the software used to count the London vote, because of disputes over commercial confidentiality. The situation highlights the problems that arise when the very public function of running elections is mixed with issues of commercial confidentiality and proprietary software. In the context of a public election, it is unacceptable that these issues should preclude the publication of the KPMG audit.

Link to Open Rights Group report

You might like these previous posts:

• Electioneering… – May 5, 2010
• Open Rights Group: Release the Music – November 6, 2006
• Want to help change the arcane UK copyright law? – March 25, 2007
• Wassup? Change. Vote Obama. – October 25, 2008
• Legal mashups? Gowers review & Warners – December 6, 2006

Hmm rather long time coming this one, unlike the train this got re-recorded and edited…

Includes an interview with Glyn from Open Rights Group, my memories and thoughts of PodCamp UK, and various new and old mashups, covers and the like. Oh and a few Pirate tunes – YARR!

Chop Chop Busy Busy Work Work Gang Bang (67Mb, 94mins) http://media.libsyn.com/media/radioclash/rc_130.mp3

• Hexstatic – Hitchhikers
• team9 – Saturday Salmon
• Patrick and Eugene – Can’t Get You Out of My Head
• Electrosound - Zdarlight Avenue
• Specials – Gangsters (from The Singles)
• Interview with Glyn of Open Rights Group
  backed with CC tracks from CC Mixter:

• DJ BLUE – Hear Me (ft. 21Pele & Tacet)
• Mandala Underground – Marionette Man (Treatment) (ft. Suzi Q)
• His Boy Elroy – Revolve
• 3:1 – Luke Tripp

• Soundhog – 500 Bad Mice (from House of Infinite Zen 12″)
• The Illuminoids – Satan Said Walrus Eggs
• U2 vs Daft Punk (2002 Reworked White Label)
• Architecture In Helsinki – Do The Whirlwind (Haima’s Remix)
• Super Furry Animals – Sex, War & Robots (off Phantom Power)
• The Silent League – Can’t Get It Out Of My Head
• The Real Tuesday Weld – Last Words
• Akron/Family – One Spring Morning (from Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys)
• Slade – Everyday (from Old New Borrowed And Blue)
• Bob Neuwirth – Haul On The Bowline (from Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys)

You might like these previous posts:

• Radio Clash 121: Human After All – June 19, 2007
• Radio Clash 119: Incomplete Medium (aka ‘Humph Weird’ with DJNoNo) – May 21, 2007
• RC 138: Itchy and Scratchy – November 9, 2007
• Bushwhacked… – March 9, 2005
• Podcamp Report – September 3, 2007

Moreover, the watermarked disc itself is, in some informational sense, alive, or at least virally infected with the digital ghost of my life. When I let that Beirut advance slip out of my hands, a little piece of me went with it, a chunk of virtual identity that I hadn’t agreed for it to appropriate and that I didn’t even know about. Instead of the old informal economy of circulating copies of music, I had become enmeshed in an emerging and far more claustrophobic world of endless virtual contracts and licenses, a world where objects command and the turn against you, where music has become data, and enjoyment little more than the processing thereof.

(the emphasis is mine) 

The important points here are that when someone sends you something for free, are you really entering into a contract with them? Can you ever, when unbidded, and for their own monetary gain – a good review hopefully can sell albums -  but no direct monies exchanged, people send you copies? It would be interesting if reviewers started ignoring DRM/watermarked releases as being too much trouble.

I’ve seen promos down in places like the Record Exchange, marked as ‘Not for Resale’ but as Erik points out it, like ‘illegal’ yet record-label paid-for promo whitelabels, is actually one of those ‘turn a blind eye’ slightly seedy parts of the industry. Anyway, for practical reasons alone, what do you do with the millions of chunks of plastic? Throw them away? Burn them? Not very productive, or good for the environment. Surely recycling them to someone else who wants them is better?

Most interesting is that the ghost of your identity can be enclosed into products without permission, and the repercussions can be terrible – which is why as we know DRM is EVIL. In this case it’s easy for the Boing Boing crowd to tar and feather this bloke even though it was an honest mistake, but what happened if it had gone missing in the mail? Promos do get stolen, leaks happen. But if it has your name on it, that could have serious legal and professional consequences…and it seems like with ID cards and smart media even store cards, more and more data around our lives is being included into a diaspora of electronic devices, with little or no control if they go astray.

I’m waiting for the first ‘fit-up’ where someone gets prosecuted purely on smart card (Oyster), mobile logs,  digital watermarking or site log evidence to later to be found to be innocent…at the moment they seem to be treated something on a par with DNA, but unlike DNA they can be faked (although the statistical probabilities of DNA are disputed, either in millions or billions to 1).

You might like these previous posts:

• Why Radiohead weren’t revolutionary – October 15, 2008
• Pay to Play – your digital rights? – January 21, 2006
• Radio goes digital? – June 14, 2005
• Radio Clash promos – May 5, 2007
• Complete CONtrol; or how Glasvegas and Columbia need to get a clue – November 3, 2008

So here are my pictures of PodCamp with sporadic commentary!

Me and John went up on the Friday night to have a meal and get settled in for the early start the next day…wandered into the Fountain Inn and fairly quickly wandered out. So Saturday…

Arrive and who do I see almost immediately? Scott from the Night Nurse Show! Linda amd myself had worked on him, Linda with the offer of pop tarts and myself with my wondrous (err) upcoming DJ set and a tip about accommodation.

Dean was surprised to see me also:

I avoided the session full of Thatcher’s Children trying to mormontize or appletize their podcasts or whatever they call it. So first session for me I went into was the Social networking one about Twatter, sorry Twitter and deFaceBooks. There was a man with ‘Loudmouthman’ on his t-shirt.

“I wonder why” thought me, about 5 seconds later and for the next hour, I found out why. I think he was being the honorary Ewan (sorry Ewan .

I chatted more with Glyn of Open Rights Group and Dean Whitbread about copyright and music industry and how it related to podcasters, and thought ‘we should be having this in THERE’ so I hosted a session called ‘Music Rights and Podcasting’ which was very cool and very ad-hoc and probably was crap, but hey-ho I was entering into the unconference side of things.

I was actually secretly trying to start an anarchist Podcast Copyright Rebel Alliance like the TolPuddle Martyrs or proper ninja podcasters that actually know and carry out the first secret of Fight Club, or something.

Alas, the revolution was postponed for coffee and more gossiping, I mean networking…err…and free pens and tshirts. SWAG!

Oh no damn those sneaky capitalists…aargh…gimme! gimme! No!NO! Must resist!

Do you like the hi-tech way of updating the plasma screen? I was so disappointed the Wiki couldn’t update through osmosis via post-it notes.

Met Paul Knight, and he got on very well with Scott as you can see here . And he likes the metal and does great crazy videos as PJK Productions including the PodCamp promo which is very funny. Very recommended. Said he had a big gay following, well he does now, well 2

What you all want to know is about the piss up later, really? Well there was a band called Esteban (we like the MCOG reference):

There was drinking.

There was dancing.

And some DJing from me, which hopefully you’ll hear in a podcast soon as well as the Music Rights session if the libel laws get changed (ears burning already!). Sadly Rob from Top of the Pods and Claire had to go before my set, which was a shame. But I had fun playing some very silly tunes, and about 5 of mine.

Sunday was a bit bleary, got down there about 11ish and several sessions were in full swing. Glyn from Open Rights Group did a interesting session about what they do especially relating to podcasting, parody, mashups and some frightening info about e-voting in the UK. I did an interview for the podcast after his talk which will be on the next podcast.

My most favouritest session was the one at the end with Chris Vallance who works for 5 Live and also podcasts but also uses citizen media, Youtube and podcasters in his shows, and gets inspiration from podcasting shows and techniques. What was refreshing is a lot of established meeja people speaking at these things seem a bit condescending or trying to cash in on the novelty factor to me; Chris was the opposite, very open to learning from other people, amateur or professional. We talked about tips and techniques in interviewing and creating shows. I took an awful picture of him in response. C’est la vie.

I did find it interesting that a certain company wasn’t even mentioned in all but 1 of the sessions I was in, and it was I that mentioned them ? Not intentionally, I think they never came up as the likes of Twitter, Facebook and vloggy stuff seemed to be the love/hate buzzwords this year. Maybe their time has passed?

So it was time to go after that, well after a few hours wait in a chavvy pub with Scott and a horrible train journey with a screaming kid whose parents didn’t seem to give a shit, that is, and then home to London.

But otherwise a great PodCamp, my first and much more of a community effort than PodCastCon2006 I think (Stealth Disco excepted), I like the fluid nature more. It fits far better with the DIY nature of podcasting, if you don’t like a session then do one yourself – there’s the room, GO!

In fact I was thinking it was like the Second Life of Conferences, like SL there isn’t a rule or games, you either wander around thinking ‘what do I do now?’, hang out or go and create something yourself for others to share.

I wish it had been more dynamic and fluid, but it’s early days and people are getting used to the format. Like podcasting, people have been forcefed passive entertainment and learning and ‘discussion panels’ than do anything but, so it’ll take time to get people used to that loose format. I like the format though, and think there is a lot of scope and interesting times ahead – here’s to the next one (I hope)!

You might like these previous posts:

• PodCamp UK – I survived! – September 3, 2007
• London Podcasters meetup report – September 3, 2006
• Want to help change the arcane UK copyright law? – March 25, 2007
• A podcast of two halves? – January 31, 2005
• Legal mashups? Gowers review & Warners – December 6, 2006

They are looking for concrete examples of creative practices inhibited by the law, to back up proposed exceptions for the purposes of “creative, transformative or derivative works” and “caricature, parody or pastiche”. Would you, your colleagues, students or collaborators benefit from these exceptions? Are you working or have you worked on a project outlawed by the overly-protectionst copyright regime, which would have benefited from these kinds of exceptions? If so, please get in touch – info[at]openrightsgroup.org – and share your experience.

Obviously the introduction of similar ‘fair use’ laws as in the US would transform mashups and sample-culture, podcasting, remixing, music performance, recording and such like, so please give examples to Open Rights Group, they seem to be good people on the side of angels (and not Record Industry shills afaik).

Please do this – or at least if you don’t, don’t moan to me about the arcane UK copyright laws in future – we have out chance and it’s now.

You might like these previous posts:

• Legal mashups? Gowers review & Warners – December 6, 2006
• Warners Takedown – EFF want to hear – February 8, 2009
• Soapbox: why I support the EFF (and ORG) – March 9, 2010
• Orphans and Widows – September 26, 2008
• Lawrence Lessig gets DMCA’d for fair use by Warners – April 30, 2009

Cliff Richards and others were lobbying to extend musical copyright from the existing 50 years, to “95
years or even ‘life plus 70 years’” according to the original Open Rights Release the Music press release. Now according to The Times and others, this has been not recommended by the review; interestingly according to The Times the review recommends relaxation to help musical innovation and creation:

“The report suggests that exemptions to copyright law should be allowed for “transformative works”. This would permit the use of copyright material in new and creative ways, so long as it did not detract from the value of that material or offend artistic integrity. It calls on the EU to amend the law to allow for that exception.”

Now although the example given in the article is about hiphop; the interesting thing is if “tranformative works” applied to mashups and cutup culture, and the effect across the industry if these suggestions are taken on board by the government? At the moment bodies such as the MCPS-PRS look down on what it calls ‘unlicensed interpolations’; but if sampling is (preferably) allowed in the same US ‘Fair Use’ provision, or at least made less painful, that would be a great step forward…interesting that the Gowers Review recognises the issue that here in the UK the copyright law is way behind the US in this regard.

EDIT: Open Rights Group has just put up their press release in response…I agree with them about the restrictions to ‘transformative work’ – all parody should be allowed, who defines what is ‘offensive’?

And not offending the artist gets into the same sort of jumble we have now, where apparently all Outkast remixes have to be approved personally by Andre 3000 (a friend working at SonyBMG told me that once)!
The other interesting related news via a Second Life interview with Warners CEO Edgar Bronfman (thanks to Andy Churchill to alerting me to this) is that Warners are looking into letting people mashup their back catalogue:

AP: Taking a question from the audience, McLuhan Ennis asks: “Can you give a description of the what you describe as middle ground? Say, within the context of a mash-up, what would be an example of fair use?”

EB: It’s our hope we can find a way to generally license much or all of our content for users to adapt in any way they see fit. We want people to use their creativity to take our content and do what they think is an interesting thing.

And there is discussion in the GYBO thread that Universal* is doing likewise – so the concept of the legal mashup – would that take the fun out of it? Certainly as I said in the thread mashups are far, far, far away from being mainstream. Music industry is all about the money, and things that’ll make money get released/cleared quickly. Average of 2-3 years to release is not quick, in the case of the handful of legal mashups that have been cleared and released…

* interestingly last year or so Universal opted out of using PRS and now uses another rights-company, a Dutch one I think…I wonder if it partly was because the PRS as discussed at PodcastCon is positively stone-age and inflexible in it’s approach, compared to other rights companies? And the PRS apparently won’t let the rights-owners give their own songs away for podcasters to play for free, which if true is positively silly and autocratic…

You might like these previous posts:

• Warners Takedown – EFF want to hear – February 8, 2009
• Want to help change the arcane UK copyright law? – March 25, 2007
• Open Rights Group: Release the Music – November 6, 2006
• Lawrence Lessig gets DMCA’d for fair use by Warners – April 30, 2009
• Neon Sex People gets pulled off YouTube wrongly? – January 18, 2009

They’re having a public debate and journalist Q&A on November 13th in London – please go read and check it out…I’ll be out of the country, sadly.  Looks like something worth supporting.

You might like these previous posts:

• Legal mashups? Gowers review & Warners – December 6, 2006
• Want to help change the arcane UK copyright law? – March 25, 2007
• Orphans and Widows – September 26, 2008
• Electioneering… – May 5, 2010
• Open source imagery – July 19, 2008