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Government By GetUp!

By Chris Gilbey

It seems that the election yesterday has resulted in close to a dead heat between the major parties – a hung parliament. This can be seen as a major problem in that it can stop legislation going through, or, as I like to think, a huge opportunity for good sense. And this is why: When [...]

Things Are Moving Fast…

By Chris Gilbey

Amazing isn't it. We are a week in to a new Prime Minister. We are perhaps only days away from a Federal Election being announced. The probability is that there will be a deal done with the miners over the super profits tax before an election is announced… Why else would you announce an election, [...]

Copyright Theft – What Mick Jagger Had To Say

By Chris Gilbey

You may have seen reference in the media to a new Rolling Stones documentary “Stones In Exile” shot during the year long orgy that the band conducted during the recording of Exile On Main Street – which is about to be re-released. As you would expect the Stones have been doing some PR to support [...]

Statistical Anomalies in Reports Originating in the EU

By Tom Koltai

Introduction Over the last several months a number of reports have been published on the impact of file sharing of popular music on Europe's macro economy. The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of arguments that have been made that are provably false or present data that is contrary to other so-called [...]

Canada Upsets the American Music Industry for the second time in 110 Years

By Tom Koltai

(Our previous article was the first upset.)   This time, Canadians have made the top ten list of countries that are “out to get” the content industries.   They share this dubious honour with the following countries. Priority Watch List (Links retrieve country specific pdf reports.)         Argentina         Canada         Chile         Costa Rica [...]

Australia is at War with Anonymous.

By Tom Koltai

Early last year we blogged about Anonymous and his speech posted on Youtube.   We described and quoted a US website as to what constitutes an act of war.   DECLARATION OF WAR – An act of the national legislature, in which a state of war is declared to exist between a nation and some [...]

Ho-hum, iiNet Wins Court Case against Industry Heavyweights.

By Tom Koltai

Late last year I was speaking to industry representatives about the outcome for the iiNet court case. They all believed that it was a lay down misère, (in favour of themselves).   After all, there was little old iiNet, a small (by world standards) ISP and there were thirty-four financially well heeled complainants. (Just on [...]

SMS Power beats Hollywood, Radio, Videogames & the Music Industry.

By Tom Koltai

Or – The Havenots become the Haves.   Preamble It’s a well known fact that when placed under restricting circumstances, all animals will look for an escape or release from the restriction.   “The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.” – John Perry Barlow. ——————————————————————————————————————————–   The Article IRC stands for [...]

Clue >< Hollywood Executives

By Tom Koltai

In the computer industry, there two types of people. Engineers (these are the people with clue) and salesman, (usually the ones with no clue).   Hollywood wonder why people download from file-sharing networks to fulfill their entertainment requirements.   “I have no idea Mr. President. That is why we need stronger legislation and higher penalties. [...]

The Future of Australian Television – Taxation, Licensing, Advertising or Criminalization?

By Tom Koltai

Given the attention of Governments to file sharing, it would appear that the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was obviously caused by you sharing a copy of Lily Allens “Fuck you very much”.   We have Ministers flying all over the world to discuss how to criminalize 15 year old kids who can’t yet vote. These [...]