piracy

Information technology, 'piracy' and DRM

The copyright war and its implications

Write a full post in response to this!

Over at Sphere of Networks, I published a text that tries to give a simple overview of the workings of information production in the age of the internet, covering everything from free software to free culture. This article is a slightly modified version of a chapter of this text. I will show how peer-to-peer file-sharing networks work and how Big Media tries to prevent this sharing by means of random lawsuits and by using DRM. What does this copyright war mean for consumers and for our culture as a whole?

MP3: What’s piracy, what's not (at least in Italy)

Write a full post in response to this!

This post is actually a continuation of the two I posted in December, which left a couple of open questions:

  1. Is it legal to create MP3 files out of music CDs you legally own, to take them away with you and listen to them more comfortably (e.g.: with an iPod, or an MP3-enabled car stereo)?
  2. Is it legal to create MP3 files out of music CDs you legally own and then lend the original CDs to someone else?

The answer, of course, depends on the laws of the country you live in.


From the FSM staff...

Odiogo