Well has good information on proposed new copyright Legislation here in NZ.
The good thing is that there is a new format-shifting provision meaning that you can make a cd from music you have purchased legally. The bad thing is that it takes a page out of the DCMA and puts massive fines and/or imprisonment if you try to circumvent DRM on files.
The question Russell Brown asks is whether anti-circumvention clauses should be part of any copyright law, obviously i think not. Remember the only gains to be made from DRM are music labels/movie studios. The end user and the artist get no gain from this technology.
DRM creates major consumer confusion and it takes away a legal purchasers fair-use rights after they purchase the movie/music. Breaking News! Don Brash has RESIGNED!
as leader of the National Party
He had called a press conference at 1pm after mounting revelations about his leadership in a book by researcher Nicky Hager.
Dr Brash made his announcement to a press conference called at short notice.
Ongoing speculation about his leadership was damaging National Party and its election prospects, he said.
His resignation would take effect from a special caucus meeting on Monday, he said.
Don Brash told reporters: It has become increasingly clear in recent months that there s a growing expectation that I ll step down well ahead of the next election.
That ongoing speculation is damaging to the National Party, and to our future prospects.
I ve decided to resign as Leader with effect from a special caucus meeting which I ll call for early next week.
Wow, i cant wait to see who will be the new National leader. Just another pre-Christmas leadership blue for The National Party.
UPDATE! The story goes onto say that Nicky hagars book will be on sale probably by tomorrow.
(Not from family guy 
He also mentions that we have a new music store now - The which sells tracks at $1.99 for both PC s and mobiles, which undercuts telecom s $3.
50 for the same substantially.
However just like most other download services, they are infected with DRM meaning that you can only download them in .wma format (incompatible with the iPod) and you can only play each track on one PC or you must purchase it again.
You can also only burn each track to a CD no more then 3 times.
This is why DRM fails. Record Labels will say its really important to protect the songs from piracy, however songs which are infected with DRM are competing with pirated copies which have no restrictions.
Put it this way would you rather pay for a song which has massive restrictions on how you use it meaning that you may have to pay several times for the same thing or would you download a pirated version for free with no restrictions? The answer is clear, record labels need to recognise this because as long as DRM is infecting music, piracy will always looks like the better option.
I would have no hesitations with downloading a song from an online if songs were not infected with DRM, however until the record companies realise this i refuse to purchase music online.
There have been serious allegations made about Don Brash s famous leaked emails this morning by Investigative Researcher who was just about to realise a book based on the emails but was stopped short by last week.
The book is an extraordinary case study of unprincipled and anti-democratic politics, Hager says in his preface.
Waring, now professor of public policy at Massey University, described the book as an excellent systems analysis and so important .
This is a story about democracy, and the public of New Zealand deserve to know what they have when they speak of such an ideal, she writes. I would expect to see much of the evidence set out in the book reported to the Electoral Commission, Parliamentary Services, the police and the Auditor-General.
She adds: It is my hope that the ultimate effect of The Hollow Men will be the return of honour and honesty to our democracy.
I thank Nicky Hager for his courage and extraordinary hard work.
Hager says the leaked papers came from the highest levels of the National Party hierarchy. Six people in particular provided most of the information.
These allegations sound very serious. Don has handled this poorly by getting the injunction which blatently makes it look like he has something to hide. Now the public curiosity has been aroused, i wouldn t be surprised if the emails are leaked publicly within a week or so.
The SST has the preface to the book .
how Taser International Inc (The worldwide manufacturer of taser weapons) has been able to successfully get police forces around the world to use its taser guns despite being under review for causing over 200 deaths in the US in the last 5 years.
It describes how they have been able to obtain a monopoly in their field.
This is also why i do not want to see these thing introduced here in New Zealand. Especially seeing that police are the actual statistics in their trial. Well it looks like Auckland will be unlikely to agree on anything for building a Rugby World Cup stadium, which is a real shame.
Now that the National Party has put the boot in with supporting the Eden Park option (because of concerns of the cost blow-outs - which is somewhat hypocritical seeing as they are the party) I strongly doubt that Auckland or the government will be able to make a decision on where the stadium will be.
As i have stated earlier rugby stadiums in the Auckland area, a fourth will be very hard to justify. Whilst the economic advantages are strong i feel this stadium has got too little going for it to work.
Jordan Carter has a good post on why it would be whilst I agree with some of the benefits particularly economic and with transportation I just think that there is too little time between now and 2011 for the dream to be realised.
Anyway bring the final to Christchurch! We ll be ready and we will probably be the cheapest option too!
Apparently the Government is looking to split Telecom into 3 operational divisions. Consumer, Wholesale and Network.
Each division will need to have its own accounts.
It stops short of ownership seperation, however if the operational seperation does not work as it should then the government will have the ability to break the company into three separate listed companies. Telecom is lobbying hard for this not to occur.
Each division would have separate management, but the same CEO and Board of directors.
I d really cant see how different this will be, because even if it is split up into 3 separate companies each one of those companies will still have a monopoly in their respective division. Then again with local loop unbundling around the corner it might actually work out ok.
And by a big majority too 72-49.
Finally our elected officials have realised that raising the drinking age will have no effect on the current binge drinking culture in New Zealand.
So the drinking age stays at 18, which is still one of the highest in the world. Well despite the National Party rhetoric New Zealand has been rated least corrupt country in the world equal with Finland and Iceland.
The survey was taken out of 163 countries.
The annual survey by the Berlin-based organisation Transparency International draws on surveys from multiple independent institutions. It defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country s public officials and politicians.
Data is gathered from businesspeople and country analysts. Not every country is included in the survey because of an absence of reliable data from the remaining countries.
The scores range from 10 (squeaky clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).
New Zealand, Iceland and Finland rated 9.6 while Haiti scored just 1.8, marginally behind Myanmar, Iraq and Guinea with 1.
9.
New Zealand has achieved no easy task, to have a country which has the least corrupt government out of 163 is no easy task. Well done New Zealand.
Tony has got a about the possibility of fireworks being banned.
It is a case of a few idiots ruining it for everyone else, however a ban on fireworks will not stop the idiots and instead they will just do something else stupid.
I am for a more regulated approach to the sale of fireworks, much like Tony suggests:
* The 10 day sale period reduced to 5 days.
* The age at which you can purchase fireworks increased from 14 to 18.
* A larger tax which more accurately covers the cost (as mentioned above) of fireworks and this being set aside specifically for grants to the SPCA, Fire Service, Police Service, and A E.
I am with when it comes to keeping the drinking age at 18.
An increase to 20 will not solve the problem of New Zealand s drinking culture and, in fact will probably push it more underground.
By the way, spread this message on your blogs / websites.
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