As new technology continues to make the sharing of information ever simpler and ever faster, many countries around the world are actively seeking out the best ways to make use of the new tools, and the newly available information. But not in the U.S.: in fact, America is doing everything it can to stem the flow of information, putting in place dozens of new regulations designed to protect “intellectual property.” It’s a typically American idea to think that we can engage the world on our terms alone, bullying and regulating it into submission, says Thomas Goetz, and one that’s been tried before. The trouble is, it doesn’t work.
Tag: 01.28.04
Haddon Wins Whitbread
Mark Haddon has won the 2004 Whitbread Prize for his best-selling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which chronicles the life of an autistic teenager. Haddon had been considered the favorite among the authors on the shortlist, which also included DBC Pierre and Don Paterson.
Coliseum To Reopen, But Is It Enough?
The re-opening of the London Coliseum following a 4-year, £41 million renovation will take place at the end of February, and despite some last-minute technical glitches, “advance word is that the project will prove a big success, restoring the original kitschy splendours of Frank Matcham’s 1904 architecture.” But Rupert Christiansen writes that even the most successful renovation imaginable will not make the Coliseum a truly great opera house, and London has yet to make good on any of the plans devised over the years to erect one. Still, new opera houses are a tough sell with the public these days, so the Coliseum may be as good as Londoners are ever going to get.
Maybe It’s Time To Start Searching Toronto Frat Houses
The ivory miniatures stolen from the Art Gallery of Ontario ten days ago are now the subject of an international police alert, and the company which insures them is offering 10% of their considerable value in return for information leading to their recovery. The ivories were on loan to the AGO from UK publishing magnate Lord Thomson, who is one of the wealthiest private art collectors in the world. Investigators now believe that the theft may not have been a professional job, but “a student prank which went too far.”
It All Depends On How You Define ‘Bad’
“Exactly how bad a year did the music industry have in 2003? It depends who’s asking. According to Nielsen Soundscan, American labels sold 687 million units (including 19.2 million paid downloads) last year—a drop of less than 1 percent from 2002. A widely cited survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that file sharing has plummeted since the Recording Industry Association of America started threatening traders with lawsuits… Of course, it may be more correct to say that half as many Internet users are willing to tell a pollster that they download music—these days, the first rule of File Club is you do not talk about File Club.”