sabotabby | Linkdump

My LJ has been rather repetitive lately, all B5 and spinal tumours, so I thought I'd share some interesting, inspiring, and horrifying articles and posts that have caught my eye but that I've been too preoccupied to blog about.

Most of you have probably already read The White Saviour Industrial Complex, one of the many excellent critiques out there of Kony 2012.

In addition to the library workers out on strike (and inside city workers likely joining them soon), Air Canada workers staged a wildcat strike. For obvious reasons I can't join the solidarity actions, but if you can, you should. Also, this is one industry that I feel even the most right-wing, anti-union bigot ought to agree needs to be paid well. I mean, do you want the guy who helps land your plan to be overworked and underpaid?

The largest political protest in Canadian history happened yesterday, with 200,000 students, teachers, parents, union activists, and others striking against proposed tuition hikes. (That article's in French; the English-language press has been stupid about the whole thing. Here's an English article from the CBC, but it downplays the numbers and significance.

Via

symbioid, a heartbreaking article about the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Via

hano, Robert Bales is not the victim. (Robert Bales being the murderous scum who slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians, including children.)

Via

marlowe1: Hey, frum parents! Get your daughter a facelift or she'll never find a husband. I posted some pretty shocking links above but there's something about this one that is just a special kind of wrong.

Watch Bruce Schneier trounce the former head of the TSA in a debate about security.

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cucumberseed at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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lupagreenwolf at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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tristissima at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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blindwebster at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

Never have I found a more appropriate subject for this icon.

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unknownbinaries at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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gesundyke at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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rainflowermoon at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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miintikwa at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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heartbreakangel at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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atalantapendrag at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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ericadawn16 at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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hoperomantic at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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southrnbygrace at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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ultra_fic at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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jesco0307 at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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sheryden at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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meridian_rose at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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brontefanatic at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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philstar22 at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

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lk737 at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

Please repost this? I have never begged for one of my posts to be boosted. I am just so worried for my friends and want you to know.

According to this article, dated March 15, 2012:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/webnews/major-isps-turn-into-copyright-police-by-july-says-riaa/

"File-sharers, beware: By July 12, major US Internet service providers (ISPs) will voluntarily begin serving as copyright police for the entertainment industry, according to Cary Sherman, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The so-called “six-strikes” plan is said to be one of the most effective anti-piracy efforts ever established in the US."

The article goes on to give details. After six notices, internet providers will decide to throttle a person's internet speed, or cut it off altogether. I don't know if they will crack down on torrents only, or if it is up to the internet provider. I get the sense it is up to the internet provider. So some people could get away with downloading non torrents, while others might get their internet service cut off. I urge you to click it and read, as we all know people who download.

No more downloading eps of your favorite shows for vidding, gifs, or fanfiction art. No more downloading screencaps possibly. I'm so sorry my friends. I don't even know if BT Guard will work to protect you, but I would google it if I were you. It is a professional service that supposedly can protect you from the invasive eyes of your internet provider.

Just, my friends, please make each other aware. Please be aware of the date JULY 12TH. Mark your calendar and double check with your internet provider by then. If you start receiving notices of downloaded activity, this is why. And your internet service could be throttled or cut off.

Fox news confirms this:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/17/us-isps-become-copyright-cops-starting-july-12/

Youtube video explaining this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5OG0R-yS-c

SIGN THE PETITION!
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/backdoor_sopa/?source=fb

ETA: Because the above is pretty grim, watch this video about a blind stray dog living in a trash dump until she's rescued by nice people. It will make you cry but it has a happy ending, I promise.

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I'm of two minds about that downloading policing - one being that I really want to watch Mad Men and Game of Thrones even though I know that technically it's stealing. On the other hand, I really would like it if they could arrest the people who are downloading MY books since I don't make that much money off of them anyhow and besides I keep offering them for free on Kindle. There needs to be some control about illegal downloads. Most of it should come from the industry since it is offering these outdated ways of seeing their shows (no reason why AMC can't show Mad Men on their site with commercials to generate income)

Besides that it's the same feeling I got reading 1984 in which watching everyone just seems to be way too complicated and unworkable as a system. Of course, I was right since the USSR collapsed.

I feel like there has to be an honest way to make sure that creators get paid. In the same way, I feel that any system of controlling downloads is inevitably highly artificial. It's ridiculous that a library, for example, purchases X licenses of an e-book and when X+Y people place holds on it, Y people need to wait. That's not the way digital information works. When you copy something, the original still exists, unlike with tangible objects. DRM forces an outmoded model on a new system, and the result is that people illegally download things.

(And of course, it was difficult for most creators to make a living before digital piracy became a Thing. I imagine it's impossible now, or will be shortly.)

I think there are solutions, of course, but commie pinko that I am, most of these solutions involve the abolition of capitalism.

Some people can make money from tours, public appearances and the like. So instead of a concert being a way to advertise an album an album is a way to advertise a concert.

It kind of goes back and forth and right now there is an inflation in many artistic endeavors that is being trashed. Books don't have to be $35. CDs don't have to be $16.

I'm a diehard capitalist so I shudder at trying to make a living without capitalism (the CIA funding modern art kind of makes me like them - all the other crap they pulled aside - simply because it really does make a point to the artists about what they can do in a capitalist system vs. what they can do in a communist system - or at least a Soviet style system)

The issue is that the Movie/TV/Book(and music?) content industry hasn't grokked what works and why. Books are a bit different, I'll grant, due to the fact that the form factor is different (not everyone has en e-book reader, for example, and reading long prose on computer screen isn't that easy)...

Steam for video games seems to be what people LOVE. The game players LOVE the hell out of Steam (for the most part). Make offers (as you do: free on Kindle). I think a fragmentation of the market (Hulu, Netflix, etc...) hurts things in some ways. I don't think you are part of any big publishing cartel, and if so, then the solution has to come from that cartell. MPAA/RIAA (and book publishers) need to get their shit together instead of treating the consumers like villains. Read the successes of indie-game companies who go on Steam. The majority of that success comes from deep discounting. A single platform allows for a nice way to announce such discounts.

I make a variety of media products and hope someday to get paid for my own product. I imagine you're a bit further along on the professional bit, so I can understand why it's frustrating.

I think we agree that the industry is backwards.

I sadly don't have an answer for making an income off of art. I look at my moderately successful friends in music (they've played at SXSW, NXNE (in Canada), and done national tours, and are slowly moving up into bigger territory) and i see that they still have to hold down their dayjobs while continuing to bust their ass touring and creating).

The "luxury" of the cartels is that they give you money upfront but then you live in servitude. Kickstarter and other crowdsourced methods of funding are one potential avenue of growth, though I imagine it depends on what the product is.

Anyways. Hope you can achieve "success' in whatever manner that means for you. The life of an artist is a tough lot!

Oh. I have a small publishing company - Dybbuk Press - and currently I am looking for an investor after 6 years of doing it on my own using Lightning Source and Kindle. I don't get ripped off as much as the big guys but every so often I see a Web site solely devoted to putting up content and a lot of times that content includes my books. I don't make a lot of money off the books (although I do make a profit on most of them at this point) so 800 people downloading the thing illegally just bothers me.

I make about $100-$150/month on the 8 titles I have out.

Exclude the fact that on Kindle, I actually put up my books for free (This Other Eden and Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre are currently free on Kindle if you would like) because in that case, I am getting publicity for the books and when they are no longer free, people can pay the $3-$4 I charge for them.

I also write but I only sell 1-3 stories a year at this point.

Most of my money comes from writing term papers for college students.

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