Web Snapshots Are Nabbed for Commercial Uses

"It's not like the picture was some golden chalice of Internet wonder. It's a picture of a stupid dog," says the Baltimore mom. "But it's my dog and it's my photo!"

Tracey Gaughran-Perez tells Monica Hesse of the Washington Post about discovering an unauthorized photo copied from her blog, Sweetney, in the Saints-Eagles football telecast on Fox.

Big media never tires of warning people not to make unauthorized use of their content, but somehow it's okay for them to do it themselves. Think this is an isolated incident? Read on.

But in an increasingly user-generated world where the public is the artist, sometimes it's the big boys who get grabby. And the questions that arise are about ownership, but they are also about fairness, and changing culture, and ultimately, the search for authenticity.

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The Ringtones Racket

The whole ringtones racket is predicated on the notion that ringtones are something different than songs. This notion is bullshit. You don’t turn songs into ringtones; you treat them as ringtones. They’re not even a different file format. It’s just a different context for playing the same song on the same device.

Gruber sounds off on ringtones. Or, perhaps, goes off on ringtones. For the most part, I agree with his stance. Apple's offering is weak (and strong) for all the reasons cited, but I think much more blame should be heaped on the music labels to whom Apple is beholdened and less on Apple for not taking them on more aggressively over this issue.

Further, I think Gruber underestimates the complexity of negotiating music rights -- there might be only 500,000 ringtones in the initial offering, not because the labels said no, but because there are so many parties involved who have to sign off on any changes in rights. You can't just "turn on" ringtones for each major label -- all the little guys downstream have to agree also.

Of course, Gruber's central tenet that additional rights aren't necessary removes those hurdles altogether. Unfortunately, the precedent is otherwise and we must suffer the consequences until someone breaks the model. I don't think Apple would mind that at all.

UPDATE: Fake Steve Jobs weighs in: I hate to say it, but Gruber is right about ringtones

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Fair Use Worth More to Economy Than Copyright, CCIA Says

"Much of the unprecedented economic growth of the past ten years can actually be credited to the doctrine of fair use, as the Internet itself depends on the ability to use content in a limited and nonlicensed manner," CCIA President and CEO Ed Black said in a statement. "To stay on the edge of innovation and productivity, we must keep fair use as one of the cornerstones for creativity, innovation and, as today's study indicates, an engine for growth for our country."

Here's a powerful new argument for protecting fair use rights -- economic prosperity. It's not just about consumers having flexibility in how they use licensed media (which is important enough in its own right), but also about driving economic growth. This is just the sort of argument (and big dollars) to attract the attention of federal legislators to the issue. Yeah, $4.5 trillion in annual revenue ought to do it.

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Allofmp3.com Owner Facing Jail Time Over Laws That Didn't Exist

The former head of the popular-yet-shady MP3 site Allofmp3.com is looking at some jail time and some hefty fines in his home country of Russia now that his site has been shut down. The authorities say he owes the RIAA a bunch of money and was violating all sorts of copyright laws. The only problem is, well, that he didn't actually break any Russian laws by running the site.

I imagine the Juice will be contributing to his defense fund. He was pretty distraught when they closed them down last year.

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Web radio says royalties could kill it

New royalty rate hikes could kill Internet radio, station managers, a country musician and head of an independent record label told lawmakers Thursday.... Though only a fraction of a penny, the new rates are a 300 percent cost increase for large webcasters and a 1,200 percent increase for small operations.

Don't let corporate greed kill a good thing: Save Net Radio.

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Internet radio webcasters plan silent protest

On Tuesday, thousands of U.S. webcasters are expected to go silent to protest the planned royalty rate increase by the Copyright Royalty Rate Board.

Support Internet radio while you still can. The new rates make no economic sense whatsoever. It represents the kind of stupid, corporate greed that drives things to extinction -- to the detriment of all, including the greedy bastards who are too myopic to see their own self-interest.

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