De-Geekify Tech and Law

One of the largest problems we face is a lack of organized lobbying on behalf of the everyday tech industry. The amount of ignorance–and not malicious intent–is stunning and contributing to dangerous trends. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the most recent mind-blowing examples of what I mean:

  • The US Air Force issues DMCA take down notices for a promotional video: Um, it’s a promo video guys. And don’t forget the government can’t copyright anything.
  • The FBI has unlimited access to cell phone data: There is an assumption underlying the debate about US wiretapping authority that the US government can either have unfettered access (That’s why the telecoms need immunity!) or none (Those who want to limit government wiretapping abilities are terrorists!). Have that many people forgotten we have process in place that allow the government access when established criteria are met and that both companies and the government should be punished when they do not operate within those processes and meet those criteria?)
  • TSA Specs for a Safe Bag for Bringing Laptops on Planes: Here are some terror-fying Soviet-like design specs for a bag the TSA would approve so you don’t have to drag your laptop out of its case upon search.

What the Kids are up to on MySpace

From the always excellent This Month In Grime by Martin Clark/Blackdown:

Flow Dan’s also been in the wars this month, in an exchange with former Roll Deep MC, Trim. The source of the beef isn’t clear, but how it’s being played out is more notable. Obviously there’s been some amiable clashing on pirate radio (, naturally) but the majority of the exchanges have been via MySpace-posted “talking dubs.”

Talking dubs are a phenomenon where MCing is abandoned for straight conversation. While these can be useful for crew members who don’t MC, ie DJs and producers, to defend themselves, it’s a little odd for people as lyrically skilled as Trim and Flow Dan to be abandoning bars, but it serves a purpose. When he appeared on Kiss, Logan reminded listeners that Flow Dan had been using the ‘talking’ approach as far back as 2003, when doing his version of Wiley’s seminal “Ice Rink” riddim. Sometimes it seems, the urge to merk a rival overrides everything, even the will to MC.

Unrelated to this, but related to the constant Jason-target MySpace, I was at a Velvet Lounge hip hop show many months ago (20070225) and heard some great MySpace-related quotes by the various MCs:

They phishing my shit yesterday on MySpace!

MySpace is about to crash!