Rob Reid’s Year Zero

16 responses to “Rob Reid’s Year Zero”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Mar 16, 2012 at 2:23 am

   Rob’s funny TED Talk on the subject of the absurdity of MPAA Math just went live. He was formerly the founder of Listen.com / Rhapsody. We first worked together at Bain.

   Here’s the view from the stage:
   

   and a shot of me talking the shot of Rob:
   

   (And some more background on the self-preservational insanity of the MPAA)

   Reply
2. 

   scleroplex

   Mar 16, 2012 at 4:22 am

   fun :-))

   yes, this copyright stuff is against all of human history.
   as is protection for 70 years after death.

   Reply
3. 

   rocketmavericks

   Mar 16, 2012 at 5:35 am

   Copyright Math seems ubsurd, but for some strange reason, every ISP that makes up the backbone of the internet and is the gateway of information for all of us seems to feel it justifies violating our civil rights.

   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/15/american-isps-to-launch-ma...

   Big Brother seems a lot closer than we think, based upon our ISP’s suspicion of our violating bogus numbers and concerns, courtesy of Copyright Math. Its time to break up the telecommunication companies, and once again unleash the internet to its users, rather than monetizing it to the last penny.

   Don’t get me started on my AT&T "unlimited" iphone data plan, that tells me that I can not download something because its bigger than 20 mBytes or that my bandwidth has been throttled because I am an above average data user.

   Reply
4. 

   seatonsnet

   Mar 16, 2012 at 6:58 am

   These people are micturating windward, ultimately their cause is hopeless.

   If you think about it, turning a song into an object is absurd. However, many rice bowls are at stake and they will fight on…

   The United States will lead the fight, since digitalizable intellectual property is about all America has left, with digitalizable entertainment being much more important than manufacturing impossible to download from Internet, cars and TV sets, etc.

   We will leave manufacturing computers, telephones, washing machines and other non-digitizable doodads such as capital goods to the Chinese and the Germans, while we sell ideas… But hey, didn’t Jefferson say that ideas are like the flame of a candle, whose flame can light other candles without being itself diminished? Shows you how much old Tom knew about stuff, doesn’t it?

   Reply
5. 

   Ramones Karaoke

   Mar 16, 2012 at 8:58 am

   Hmmm – this will be debated by guitar-loving nerds forever, but when it comes to cottoning on to musical movements we were always a year ahead over here – the 4th of July 1976 was New Year’s Day, Year Zero over here. The day the aliens landed at the Roundhouse and nothing was ever the same again.

   Now technology trends are very different, we are way slower at picking up on those.

   Reply
6. 

   solerena

   Mar 16, 2012 at 2:29 pm

   Interesting book, problem and approach…fantastic about ideas and flame…

   Reply
7. 

   jurvetson

   Mar 16, 2012 at 3:28 pm

   [http://www.flickr.com/photos/philatkin] – the birth of U.K. punk I presume… (backstory) Maybe there was a relativistic frame shift of a few months in wormhole transit. =)

   [http://www.flickr.com/photos/48331433@N05] – ultimately that is good for a developed economy as all manufactured products migrate to $1/pound and the economy shifts to software and services. Bundled products, like the iPhone, become vessels for code.

   Back to the book, I was thinking that the premise of Aliens vs. Lawyers is surreal and sublime, like Plants vs. Zombies.

   The sad part is how the MPAA and RIAA can so easily buy Congress…

   … more

   [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketmavericks] – scary stuff. And the book comes out two days before that turn-on date… from your article:

   "Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12.

   That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.

   Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration."

   Reply
8. 

   seatonsnet

   Mar 16, 2012 at 5:22 pm

   [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson]
   The thing about code is that the Chinese have gotten organized to steal it on a massive scale. The danger is that "Silicon valley" may be finally, (to express it in Ebonics), be "fattening frogs for snakes" or "buying a book, for another man to read". This may be what the Chinese mean by "socialism with Chinese characteristics.

   The Germans, on the other hand, by investing seriously, generation after generation, in training their workers so, that although they are some of the world’s highest paid, they are still "competitive" because of the value they add to what they produce.

   Intelligence is very democratic and spread worldwide and the tools for creating code are very cheap… however the fit and finish of a Porsche is not very democratic and the people who do it don’t live in barracks and do 12 hour shifts, six days a week. They have unions and health care and their kids go to good schools.

   Reply
9. 

   solerena

   Mar 17, 2012 at 2:16 am

   Governments and politicians are the obstacles of progress… Small groups of people with the largest negative impact indeed. They tend to destroy the tree at times…it is bad for everyone including the ones with power…kids with matches.

   Reply
10. 

    jgury

    Mar 17, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    The stealing has to follow the traditional gangster order of things is one moral conclusion.

    Reply
11. 

    Ramones Karaoke

    Mar 17, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] the first Ramones gig in the UK. It set everything in motion, galvanized and annealed simultaneously. Not sure where all the metal references just came from. Maybe because I’m melting alloys as I type.

    Reply
12. 

    jgury

    Mar 19, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    Here is an example of how stupid this music copyright is:

    Dear xxxx,

    Your video "morcegos Internet.wmv", may have content that is owned or licensed by INgrooves, but it’s still available on YouTube! In some cases, ads may appear next to it.

    This claim is not penalizing your account status. Visit your Copyright Notices page for more details on the policy applied to your video.

    Sincerely,
    – The YouTube Team

    For some e compu synth track in the public domain that they put their copyright on and are searching all youtube for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WWqO7...!

    Reply
13. 

    JJ San

    Mar 25, 2012 at 10:43 am

    Napster is totally going to sue him for trademark confusion… (joke!)

    Reply
14. 

    jgury

    Mar 25, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    Finally got some airport dead time to read this BB magazine article about what went on with AMSC in China. A real eye opener. This is sure not music piracy. I watched that big earnings surprise news event hit and that alone was a jaw dropper but now the details are even more so. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-15/china-corporate-espi...

    Reply
15. 

    jurvetson

    Jul 14, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    Ok, back to the original topic, I just stumbled across a photo of Rob Reid in the alien’s archives; they are really good at storing this stuff…

    

    This is proof of first contact, and likely probe…

    Did it leave a mark, you ask? Well, then Rob goes off and infiltrates SETI to who knows what nefarious end…

    Reply
16. 

    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Jul 17, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    The book just came out today, will get a copy in Paris this week =)

    From what I could read about it , something waved through my mind :
    "So Long and Thanks for all the Music" O=)

    Reply