Music is in the air as (UK) schools join forces with (UK) record companies
Schools across the Amber Valley have been signed up to take part in My Music – a new music initiative from the record industry and government.
The initiative designed to improve teenagers’ music listening skills involves 1.3 million secondary school pupils, representing 2,000 schools across England, and 2500 record stores.
Belper, John Flamsteed, Mortimer Wilson, Swanwick Hall [...]
Who will lobby for our right to copy?
First, a disclosure, I recently committed a crime: I copied a CD I had bought on to my hard disk and this is illegal under section 16 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which prohibits any copying in relation to “a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work”, including storing it by “electronic means”. [...]
MPAA steals British sniffer dogs
THE MPAA KNOWS a good thing when it sees one. Stories of computerless single mums being dragged screaming and penniless to the courthouse for allowing their daughters to listen to music online are all grist to its mill.
Its campaign to make people pay for stuff they can get for nothing thrives on the oxygen [...]
NYT move to block Web to Britons raises questions
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York Times decision to block British online readers from seeing a story about London terrorism suspects raises new questions on restricting the flow of information in the Internet age, legal and media experts say.
The New York Times said on Tuesday it had blocked British Internet readers from seeing a [...]
British Schoolgirl and Artist Supports File Sharing, Gets Banned From UK Charts
The protest by a pubescent singer songwriter smacks of being a publicity stunt, which it is. But, Amy Thomas’ action staged on the front steps of the headquarters of the British music industry also demonstrates the different attitudes towards file sharing held by those yet to become teenagers.
According to the Inquirer, Amy was selected as [...]
eMusic intros UK MP3 download service
US digital music supplier eMusic has launched its MP3 DRM-free download subscription service in the UK, and its attempting to tempt would-be buyers with a free two-week trial and 25 free downloads.
Over here, eMusic currently has some 1m tracks on offer, most of them from independent music labels. Songs are not available as one-off downloads: [...]
Group battles for digital rights
An organisation committed to fighting for people’s digital rights in the UK is celebrating its first birthday.
The Open Rights Group (Org) was founded last year on the back of an online pledge from 1,000 people to fund the group with £5 a month each.
To date 650 people have honoured that promise, enough to create part-time [...]
Stolen mobiles ‘will be blocked’
Around 80% of mobile phones will be blocked on all five UK networks within 48 hours of being reported stolen in future, industry leaders have pledged.
That pledge is part of a charter to reduce phone crime launched by the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum.
It will take effect by the year’s end but will not apply [...]
NBC Universal Downloadable Content Hits UK
Many people don’t realise that the majority of traffic on illegal P2P networks comes not from those hunting big budget flicks but rather users in search of the latest transatlantic TV episodes. It isn’t about stealing, cost cutting or copyright violation but rather because in countries outside the US there hasn’t been a legal alternative. [...]
Crave Talk: Robberies rise, escape with your iPod
Just a week ago, Gamespot journalist Guy Cocker, who works in the same building as Crave, was mugged ten minutes away from the CNET offices here in central London. His assailants held what felt like a semi-automatic weapon to the back of Cocker’s head and told him, “we’re taking all your stuff”. They then took [...]
