Author: thetrichordist

Beasties Countersue GoldieBlox–GoldieBlox brings in Google Books Lawyer

Sometimes life does imitate art.  The Beastie Boys have countersued Silicon Valley darling GoldieBlox in a very well written complaint focusing as much on right of publicity and false endorsement as copyright infringement (“Beastie Boys Sue GoldieBlox For Acting With “Oppression, Fraud, And Malice“).

In case you missed it, the wonderful new music blog MusicIntelligentsia has a series of posts about the connections between the rather unbelievable recent Google Books ruling on fair use and the lawsuit that GoldieBlox filed against the Beastie Boys and Rick Rubin.  One post in particular connects the lawyer for Google in the Google Books case to the artist-busting tactics Google employed to attack all the world’s authors, illustrators, songwriters, screenwriters and photographers (“Organizing the World’s Information Whether the World Likes It Or Not: Fair use for the 1% After Google Books“).   That lawyer, Daralyn Durie of one of Google’s principle outside law firms, led the attack on Google’s move to destroy the artist class in the Books class action and force all authors to sue individually on a book by book basis (“Google wants authors group out of [Google Books] case“).  Ms. Durie told the Court (apparently with a straight face):

Google attorney Daralyn Durie told Judge Denny Chin in federal court in Manhattan that authors and photographers would be better off fending for themselves because their circumstances varied widely, especially since the copyright issue for authors involves the display of small snippets of text.

Strangely enough, the New York Times reports that right on cue, Ms. Durie is now representing GoldieBlox.  GoldieBlox is/was/maybe still is also represented by Orrick, the old line San Francisco behemoth and one of the worlds largest law firms.  Perhaps Orrick lacked Ms. Durie’s special talents.

Look, over there–there are some artists left who Silicon Valley hasn’t jacked around!  Call the experts!

Gee, that sure is some high powered (and highly paid) legal advice for a little Silicon Valley startup.  Looks to be running about $3,000 an hour.  Or, said another way, about 3 Google shares per hour.

Welcome to life in the 1% of the 1%.

by thetrichordist

#YTMA: YouTube Music Awards You’ll Never See: RU486, DIY Abortions, Steroids and Human Growth Hormone

Google paid a fine of $500,000,000 of the stockholders’ money to keep their senior management team from being indicted for violations of the Controlled Substances Act.  This fine followed a multi-year sting operation by the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration that proved that Google was complicit in the sale of a variety of prescription drugs without a prescription including the abortion drug RU486, steroids and Human Growth Hormone.

RU486 not only is a drug that requires a prescription, but it also is to be administered under a doctor’s supervision.  According to Planned Parenthood, the drug is intended for women who are pregnant (different than the “morning after” pill) and:

It is administered under the supervision of a physician with appropriate follow up to assure completion of the abortion.

It is not available from a pharmacy

And what might be the demographic of the audience that these drug dealers are trying to reach?  Remember–this is not some rogue site on the Internet, this is YouTube.  100% within Google’s control.

So here are some music videos that won’t be part of the YouTube Music Awards:

1.  Do You Need a Prescription for RU 486?

2.  DIY: Medical Abortion (another YouTube “how to” video to self-administer RU486)

3.  Easy At Home Abortions:  This one appears to be a pro-life video of a woman telling her story with captions linking to “a cheap and even safer way to abort”

4.  Buy Steroids Online

5.  Buy HGH: Where to Buy HGH?

by thetrichordist

#YTMA: YouTube Music Awards You’ll Never See: Jihadi Recruiting Videos

YouTube is a very popular communications medium to recruit jihadis and to distribute news of the jihad.  Here’s a few examples:

1.  Equip a Fighter This Ramadan

2.  Jihadi Attack on Ship in Suez Canal

3.  Execution of Syrians in Town Square by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (al Qaeda in Iraq)

4.  Khost CIA Suicide Bomber is on Tape with Leader of Taliban in Pakistan

khost

Hakeemullah Mehsud (left), the Leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi (right), the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan that was a plot point in Zero Dark Thirty.  Here’s a link to the video but you’ll see that it’s been made “private” courtesy of YouTube.

5.  Armstrong and Miller Martyrdom Video

and on a lighter note…

by thetrichordist

#YTMA: YouTube Music Video Awards You’ll Never See: Best Counterfeit Steroid Video!

YouTube is hosting its first YouTube Music Video Awards–because, you know, YouTube is just like television.  According to Google’s Eric Schmidt, “YouTube Has Already Defeated Television,” and just to prove it YouTube is hosting its own music video awards to compete with the Grammys.

But YouTube is actually nothing like television–television has “standards and practices” that keep things on the rails.  Not YouTube.

We’d like to show you some videos that YouTube would probably not have you know anything about.

Let’s start with the nominees for “Best Counterfeit Steroid Video”.

“BUY STEROIDS” is a hugely popular search on YouTube!  And no flags!

And the nominees are:

1.  Buy Genuine Steroids! Featuring “Deep Enough” by The Corrs

2.  Buy Steriods Canada, Featuring Sunnyside by Leftover Cuties

3. Steroids Testosterone propinate, Equipoise, Sustanon 250, Nolvadex by Mex2You

4. How I Inject Testosterone and Overcome Anxiety (Start to Finish) – Testosterone Replacement Therapy

Brought to you by Merck and Ads by Google

steroid7

Benefits and Risks of Testosterone Replacement Therapy from the National Institutes of Health

5.  HCG Diet (Human chorionic gonadotropin) How to Mix Your HCG 5000 (Intramuscular)

Mayo Clinic: Does the HCG diet work — and is it safe?

Answer from Jennifer K. Nelson, R.D., L.D.

No on both counts. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised consumers to steer clear of over-the-counter weight-loss products that contain HCG.

THIS IS A SPOOF! THE VIDEOS ARE REAL BUT WE DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO ANYTHING OR BUY ANYTHING PORTRAYED IN THE VIDEOS.  THESE DRUGS ARE SUBJECT TO FDA WARNINGS (NOT TO MENTION THE GOOGLE NONPROSECUTION AGREEMENT AND $500,000,000 FINE)

FDA Consumer Alert

by thetrichordist

If YouTube is the New College Radio, Can YouTube Keep the Hate Group Playlists?

Music Technology Policy

Google is making a big push to get colleges and universities to take their various Google Apps for Education

For “free”, of course.  And we all know who the product is on a “free” Google app, right?

The product is you.

These education apps appear to link the user to Google’s entire suite of products, including YouTube.  And of course as soon as you leave the education environment and go to say YouTube, what happens to the privacy policy and terms of use?  It grows up to the same privacy policy that applies to everyone inside or outside of the Education environment.  And in the case of Google’s case study clients, the New York State K-12 Schools, the Maine Township High School District and the Edmonton Public Schools (in Edmonton, Canada), that includes grades K-12, not just college-age adults.

 

And there’s the real story behind the “free” education…

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by thetrichordist

Five Things Congress Could Do for Music Creators That Wouldn’t Cost the Taxpayer a Dime Part 3: Create an Audit Right for Songwriters

Music Technology Policy

[This post originally appeared in the Huffington Post]

Once a song is distributed to the public with the permission of the owner of the copyright in the song, the U.S. Copyright Act requires songwriters to license songs for reproduction and distribution under a “compulsory license.” This license is typically called a “mechanical license” because it only covers the “mechanical reproduction” of the song and does not, for example, include the right to use the song in a YouTube video or a motion picture, create a mashup or reprint the lyrics of the song.

When the Congress first developed the compulsory mechanical license in 1909, the concern was that “the right to make mechanical reproductions of musical works might become a monopoly controlled by a single company.” This monopoly never came to pass, and given the fragmentation in music licensing in the current environment, is unlikely to ever come about.

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by thetrichordist

Rick Carnes, Eddie Schwartz and Fair Trade Music Project Speaks Out for Silenced Songwriters–Please sign the petition!

Music Technology Policy

The Music Creators North America (spearheading the Fair Trade Music Project) took another step toward defending the rights of creators.

In comments this week Eddie Schwartz of the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) and Rick Carnes of the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) discussed the alarming trend of the recent imprisonment of songwriters throughout the world.

“Freedom of expression is the life blood of all creators. There is a disturbing trend in many parts of the world to snuff out political opposition by denying songwriters the ability
to express themselves through their songs. This is why the Fair Trade Music Project adopted protection of free speech as one of its five principles. Without basic freedom of
expression it’s not just music that suffers… people suffer as well,” said Carnes.

The group’s fifth guiding principle reads, “Music creators must be free to speak, write and communicate without fear of censorship, retaliation…

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by thetrichordist