A Sun editorial has a follow-up to the new psuedo-trademark rights I wrote about earlier this month:

“Counterfeit rockers,” editorial, Gainesville Sun, April 29, 2007.

The Legislature has passed a bill to make it illegal for a band to bill itself as a well known oldie group unless at least one current member actually did play in the original group.

“It’s really a consumer rip-off protection,” Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, chair of the Truth in Music Committee of The Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation, and a one-time member of the 1970s group Sha Na Na told reporters. Apparently, aging boomers with failing eyesight and tin ears are being duped by rockers who claim to be who they are not. Clearly this is a case for the rock police (not to be confused, of course, with the original rock band The Police).

Just how dire is this threat to rock integrity?

Comments(1)

From the Florida Voter Coalition at CountAllVotes.com

Comments(1)

On Monday, April 30, the FCC will be in Tampa to conduct a public hearing on media ownership. (Here’s the FCC announcement, or see this page for more information.) This is a rare opportunity when the FCC will be in our backyard, asking for input from the people who own the airwaves (that’s us, the American people!)

I’m organizing a carpool from Gainesville for people who would like to attend the hearing. We’ll leave from Gainesville on Monday around noon, and return that evening. If you’d like to come, email me with your name, phone number, and whether you can drive in the carpool. Since the date is rapidly approaching, please contact me ASAP if you’re interested.

Billy Manes, “Why the Media Sucks,” Orlando Weekly, April 26, 2007.

What may seem like a cerebral affair is actually right there in your face every day, says Gavin Baker, a political science major at the University of Florida who has put together a campus workshop to draw students to the Tampa event.

“I think it connects with people, because people intuitively understand that the media sucks,” he says. “They see what’s on TV, they hear what’s on the radio, and it sucks. That’s why people are fleeing the mainstream media in record numbers, going and taking their eyeballs somewhere else.”

For more information on media ownership, visit StopBigMedia.com.

Comments(0)

Please try to come out to our very last CopyNight Gainesville for the semester!

• What: CopyNight Gainesville: “Encouraging Creativity: Are We?”
• When: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 7 pm
• Where: Tim and Terry's (1417 NW 1st Ave.)

Comments(0)

Update 04-17: This story is on Linux.com! Microsoft’s ‘Men in Black’ kill Florida open standards legislation. It was linked to on Slashdot as well.

Update 2: Front page of Digg, too (891 diggs at the moment).

Background: Gavin and Eldo did a lot of investigative work to find out about SB1974 and HB1557 which aim to recreate a permanent Agency for Enterprise Information Technology within the Governor’s office. For a short while, the Senate bill contained language introduced by Rep. Ed Homan (R-60) which would have mandated state agencies to create and exchange documents using open formats. It was summarily removed by a subsequent amendment. We’ve created a comprehensive wiki page about the issue if you want to know more.

Microsoft lobbyists: We’ve since learned that after Rep. Ed Homan introduced the open standards language, Microsoft lobbyists showed up at his office the very next day. We also obtained the anti-ODF document (PDF) that the lobbyists left for Rep. Homan.

The document contains many interesting points. To quote a mailing list post by Gavin,

The text of the amendment did not propose to standardize on ODF (as the document claims). In fact, the document claims we should not mandate a standard on any file format — but no one is trying to do that. The goal is require that the state’s data is not locked up in proprietary formats. If the data is stored in non-proprietary formats, then anyone will be able to implement it, INCREASING choice (contrary to the claim of the document).

The document notes that OpenXML is likely to get ISO certified, but we don’t know whether that will happen or not. As expected, the document does not detail Microsoft’s absolutely awful record with interoperability — and how they have, as a documented business strategy, specifically pursued the DEMOLITION of interoperability (embrace and extend).

If OpenXML meets the requirements in the amendment, then I have no problem whatever with the state using OpenXML. But the document distracts us from the debate about whether those requirements are good (they are). The real question is: why shouldn’t OpenXML agree to meet these basic standards that will ensure long-term interoperability? Why is Microsoft attacking these basic standards rather than promising that its software will meet them?

It’s too late to get open standards language back into this bill for this legislative session, but we’ll be working hard next time for open standards in Florida.

Comments(3)

Just a reminder: On Monday, April 16, I’m hosting a workshop on media ownership at 6 pm at the Civic Media Center (1021 W. University Ave.). The workshop is in preparation for the upcoming FCC hearing on the subject in Tampa. The goal is to get lots of thoughtful and passionate citizens down to Tampa for the hearing to have their say.

The workshop will be led by Brad Ashwell of Florida PIRG. Brad knows a lot about media ownership: his job is in Tallahassee, fighting the good fight in the legislature. I’m sure the workshop will be very informative and entertaining, and hopefully most of all, inspiring — because I want to inspire everyone to get to Tampa for the hearing.

If you think that big media doesn’t represent you…
That we need more community broadcasting, so average citizens can actually use the airwaves they own…
That local communities deserve broadcasters who actually live there, and care about the community as more than just a source of revenue…
That quality journalism shouldn’t be whittled away so the CEO’s stock can rise a quarter of a point, regardless of the cost to the community…
That “diversity” in radio means more than the difference between country and classic rock…
If you care about the future of our media and democracy… be there!

The Tampa hearing is on April 30 at 4 pm at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (here’s the announcement). There will be a carpool from Gainesville for those interested in attending the hearing. For more information, come to the meeting at the CMC, or email me.

For more information on media ownership, visit StopBigMedia.com.

Please spread the word widely about this meeting.

Comments(0)

To commemorate World IP Day, the theme of which for 2007 is “Encouraging Creativity,” this month’s CopyNight meeting will convene to discuss the subject: “Encouraging Creativity: Are We?”.

Since IP Day is “celebrated” on April 26, and CopyNight falls on April 25, it seemed an apt topic for the evening. And since April 25 is also the last day of classes for the semester, I look forward to a rollicking discussion. Pull up a chair, grab a beverage, and cut loose with a critical look at our modern intellectual property regime.

Save the date:

• What: CopyNight Gainesville: “Encouraging Creativity: Are We?”
• When: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 7 pm
• Where: Tim and Terry's (1417 NW 1st Ave.)

Comments(1)