How incredibly infruriating....

(Image Source: Modernhumorist.com)

If you haven't heard, a 32 year old woman from Minnesota was found guilty of illegally file-sharing 24 songs. The jury decided that each song was worth $9,250! So, she must pay $222,000. I think that her lawyer sucked! He took the stance that she did not do it, which was proven by her MAC and IP addresses, password protected PC, and email addresses over the years using the nickname that she used on KaZaA. One side note, I hate KaZaA, but I digress.

What really pisses me off about this is the music industry once again bullying people of who OWN songs and how we take away money from the artists when we copy and share. Um no, not so. It seems that they must forget that the industry usually gets anywhere from 70-90% of the profits...are we still bitching about the artist not getting any money. Also, how can you own the bits in my computer and then charge me over $9000 per song.

Richard Gabriel, a lawyer and spokesperson for the recording industry, was quoted as saying ""This does send a message, I hope, that downloading and distributing our recordings is not okay." Nice gloating on his part. Way to take down a 32 year-old-woman downloading 24 songs, boss! You sure did show her!

Hmmm....that is an interesting thought. This is totally the appropriate time to protest this kind of litigation. Other than not buying from the big record labels what should we do??

[Matt: I thought I'd throw this link into the discussion: A very in depth collection of Wired articles expanding on the trail Mandy is ranting about (not unreasonably, I must add) and all of the details that went into it. My stance on large corporations suing their customers over downloading music that helps them makes money is well documented in the annals (or is it anals?) of DropMyStraw. It really does suck that people like the defendant have to take the wrap (sp?) for the rest of us to wake up and realize how utterly and truly fucked up our copyright, patent, and, for that matter, legal system has become--how desperately we need to take action to reform the creative substructure of our culture. For a totally non-jaded, unbiased, totally objective blog that delves into the very real and troublesome issues of copyright reform, I can't offer a better link than TechDirt.com. Sorry for the interruption.]

Blasphemous Balls

According to a BBC article, US forces have dropped soccer balls from helicopters in south-east Afghanistan for children to play with. These are World Cup league soccer balls, used around the world. This, of course, sparked riots. Why? Because everything we do sparks riots, that's why! Everything! We should stop doing things, damn it. My hatred for the war is well documented, but come on. After reading this article, is there any conclusion to reach other than our cultures do not understand each other?

(Balls of Blasphemy)

The BBC cites the reason people are rioting is because the Saudia Arabian flag, along with the flags of many other members of the World Cup, is depicted on the soccer ball and the Saudi Arabian flag contains the Islamic symbol of Allah. This is bad, according to rioters.

Does anyone think we can do any good over there when we so fundamentally misunderstand each other as cultures? When dropping toys, in an effort to build good will, sparks riots, I think even the most die-hard Blind Bush Follower has to give some credence to the fact that we shouldn't be there. I think it's time we wrap up what we're doing (what we're doing, I have no idea, and never did) and take our blasphemous balls back with us.

I also really like the headline, "Blasphemous balls anger Afghans."