Archive for February, 2012

We, the Web kids

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

One of the greatest pieces of writing I have seen recently is by a Polish writer, Piotr Czerski, and translated by Marta Szreder.  The piece is like a manifesto for the Internet age.  It targets three key areas of thought:

  1. How the Internet is not something separate but something integral.  How this fact makes attitudes of the “Web kids” different.
  2. How culture is viewed in an age when digital copying and distribution have become commonplace.
  3. How governments and traditional institutions force outmoded paradigms onto a citizenry who increasingly feels contempt for them — not because the Web kids are such rebels but because they are growing accustomed to working with institutions who are in line with the way the “kids” live and work.

By the way, as old as I am, I feel very much in line with the sentiments expressed in this article and thus consider myself a Web kid too.

Please read the piece called “My, dzieci sieci” or “We, the Web kids”.

Really Big Screen for the Super Bowl Party? Lawbreaker!

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

If you’re in the United States and you’re thinking about getting a big screen for the Super Bowl, be careful.  On any screen larger than 55 inches, if you invite someone over to watch the game, you’re committing copyright infringement.  That’s because the way the law is written, your friends comprise “the public” and that makes it a public performance.

(II) if the performance or display is by audiovisual means, any visual
portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total
of not more than 4 audiovisual devices, of which not more than 1
audiovisual device is located in any 1 room, and no such audiovisual
device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio
portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total
of not more than 6 loudspeakers, of which not more than 4 loudspeakers
are located in any 1 room or adjoining outdoor space;