Erap pa rin, Erap na naman

Recently the MTRCB gave a triple X rating to the video entitled "To Live for the Masses" , a documentary about the life of former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada. Because of such rating, the material cannot be shown publicly. Now one would wonder why the MTRCB would give it a XXX rating. A common concept of an X rating is when a film contains sexually explicit material. If that documentary should Erap in trysts with one of his many girlfriends then maybe if would fall under this category.

But the actual reason given by the MTRCB to explain its decision to ban the Erap video was that the bio-pic had objectionable scenes that “discredit the political stability of the state” and “undermine the faith and confidence of the people in the government,” apart from stating that these scenes are “libelous and defamatory.” In other words, it was pro- Erap and anti-Gloria.

However the move by the MTRCB to give it a XXX rating to prevent its publication and exhibition may have backfired. Becuase of such rating, now many people want to watch the video just to see what the fuss is all about. It became the selling point of the video. And the producers and makers of the film have found a way to distribute it: through the internet.

One can now go to the website of Erap Estrada at erap.ph, and download the film. As one news article said, it has been difficult at times to access the site and download the video because of the demand for it consumes the bandwith of the site.

What would be the next move of the administration? Do they move to shut down the website through a court order? Do they resort to denial of service, making the website crash so nobody can download the video? We''ll have to wait and see, but as of now we can just watch the video and make our own judgements about it.

Piratpartiet's Richard Falkvinge

In connection with our last post, we'd just like to share this clip from YouTube: here, Piratpartiet's founder, Richard Falkvinge, explains the party's policies to Italian blogger Federico Mello, and talks about his expectations for the party, as the Swedish general elections loom closer.



(See also: Falkvinge's interview with LinuxP2P)
[via Wikipedia]

The Pirates Have Set Sail

While our government has been exerting efforts to curb "piracy" and to further strengthen copyrights/supplement our intellectual property laws, through (as we have discussed in our previous meeting) the regulation of optical media, another interesting development is taking place on another part of the globe... albeit towards the opposite direction.

On September 17th (Monday), Sweden will be holding the first ever election in which the Piratpartiet (literally, the "Pirate Party") will be a contender amongst other political parties (with fairly determinable/classifiable political leanings) for seats in the parliament. Though a newbie in Swedish politics, the party has seen its support base increase steadily since its establishment early this year, perhaps owing to its very "consumer-friendly" platform. Its agenda may be summed down to three key policies: the reform of copyright law, the abolition of the patent system, and the protection of the right to privacy.

In particular, as a response to what was viewed as the stifling effect of stringent copyright laws on the free flow of information, the Piratpartiet openly espouses (non-commercial) file-sharing, saying that "All non-commercial copying and use should be completely free. File sharing and p2p networking should be encouraged rather than criminalized. Culture and knowledge are good things, that increase in value the more they are shared. The Internet could become the greatest public library ever created." Only recently, the Piratpartiet also endorsed and launched the RELAKKS, the world's first ever commercial darknet, which allows users, for only 5 euro, to share files anonymously without ever being traced or personally identified.

Should the Pirate Party gain significant representation in the parliament, file-sharing would most likely be decriminalized in Sweden.

Here in the Philippines, the courts have not yet had the opportunity to clarify/make a definitive stand on the issue of non-commercial file-sharing, so that it remains to be contentious. However, Sec. 33(b) of the E-Commerce Act (2000), which makes

Piracy or the unauthorized copying, reproduction, dissemination, distribution, importation, use, removal, alteration, substitution, modification, storage, uploading, downloading, communication, making available to the public, or broadcasting of protected material, electronic signature or copyrighted works xxx

a punishable act, seem to be broad enough to allow for an interpretation rendering even individual, non-commercial file-sharers liable in case an interested copyright-owner decides to sue... which may only be a matter of time.** Should this happen (considering the number of Filipino file-sharers) perhaps the possibility of having of our own Pinoy version of a Pirate Party may not be too remote either.

[For more information on the Pirate Party initiative:

• The Piratpartiet's Declaration of Principles (This is pretty interesting.)
• At Torrent Freak: The election manifesto
• The Wikipedia article]

______________
*The online rights advocacy group Electronic Rights Foundation shares the same view, and stated that the outdated copyright laws (in the U.S), "make criminals out of music lovers."

**The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which have been cracking down on individual file-sharers in the U.S. (since the days of the first Napster) was said to have been the party responsible for (lobbying) the inclusion of Philippines in the priority watchlist for piracy.

Not a Novel Idea

We have to admit that the Optical Media Law is a good idea, regulate the content by regulating the container.

We present here another possible solution to our piracy problem. It is not novel. Which is why we are surprised that it has never been tried. Much less discussed by lawmaking bodies, as far as we know.

The Optical Media Act says regulate the content. We say — REGULATE THE PRICE!

The simplest and truest reason why pirated CDs are a big hit is the great disparity in the price. If the prices of the original copies were reasonable, we are sure that most people would prefer them over pirated ones. After all, who likes watching a movie with periodic sightings of some stranger’s posterior?

We do not see the reason why there has to be a very big disparity between the prices of original CDs and the pirated ones. Fine, we have to make allowances for taxes and royalties. But does the price have to be 500 % more? A handsome profit could probably be had without such a disparity in the price. The mere fact that the “pirates” can sell CDs at very low prices prove that the cost of production is very low. And in fact, original CDs of older movies are sometimes being sold at seventy-five bucks.

Let us look into the possible causes of the price difference.

Taxes. Well, this may cause a disparity in the price but this could not double, or triple and certainly not quintuple it.

So the culprit is most likely the gargantuan royalty that has to be paid for the copying of the movies in the CDs. And here we ask the question, why not regulate the amount of royalties? We are not being insensitive to the great artistic effort exerted to produce these creative masterpieces. We only think that maybe they can afford to charge less for the CDs. After all, they already receive some compensation when the movies are released in theaters.

This way, the cost of producing the CD will decrease, the price will decrease, and the number of people who can afford the originals can increase.

What if the copyright owners disagree? What can we say? Greed has its own price.

Storage devices

I remember when it came to storing data, one had to carry a container with floppy disks, those that were literally floppy and bendable and where at 5 1/2" size.

Then came the diskette, which was more durable, and smaller at 3 1/2". The 1.44 mb size was sufficient early on but when programs became more elaborate, the files became larger and one had to resort to converting it into a zip file or using splitters. Still, at times that would still be enough.

With the advent of cd's and cd writers, the storage capacity increased greatly, but one would be reluctant to burn a cd, specially if the data wasn't really that big, since the cd could only be used once. Rewritable cds came later, and solved that problem. Add to this the coming of DVD writers, increasing the storage capacity even greater.

But one doesn't really want to lug around diskettes and cds all the time. That's why for many flash disks are the chosen medium of storage. they're small, compact, easy to use and now have large storage capacities.

I was surprised one time when I went to an internet shop to find out that none of their computers had a disk drive. Unfortunatley at that time I didn't have a flash disk yet because the prices were still high. it's a good thing now that their prices are going down.

In my opinion, if one is looking for a good flash drive, one would almost always consider capacity and durability. Seldom would one think of the external appearance of the flash disk. That being the case, would you opt to buy the flash disks pictured here?

Ben: Off Line

I moved to my new home only last July. After the difficulty of moving all my things and rearranging the disaster which is my room, I have settled down in my new abode. But I am not yet finished, because I have yet to have a phoneline installed. Now one may ask why this is important, many homes don't have landlines and the need for it has been redueced because of the rise in cellphone use. I haven't had the time to apply for a phoneline or to get whatever requirements needed, but I plan to very soon.

However in my case it is important because without it, I don't have internet. I admit, I have become over reliant on the internet. My old connection was only dial up, because I could not afford a DSL connection, but that was enough for me. Imagine if I did have DSL. I'd have to say goodbye to the rest of the semester.

I didn't have any radio or TV in my room, so i relied on the internet for my daily news be it local news, foreign, sports etc. But most important was the weather reports. It would seem that the internet now is the most up-to-date news delivery system, because it's given on real time. At least I could know beforehand if there are classes, so as to spend a bit more time in bed sleeping.

Another thing which I lost was the daily email check. I hate it when my inbox has so many unread messages, so I check it almost everyday just to make sure I read my messages. Now I can't do it everyday so I spend a lot of time just reading old mail and erasing others when I do get to check my email.

Now I also have limited contact with my sister. She left last year to study abroad in Germany, this year she is in China. Before we would use Skype to talk to each other, aside from email and the chikkatext. But until I get my own line I'll just have to be content with the other 2.

The reason why I need my own line is because it is difficult to rely on internet cafes. Sometimes it's unsafe to use their computers because they don;t have adquate security against viruses and spyware. Sometimes they don't have usb portals and floppy drives for one to be able to save his data. There is also the convenience of having internet in your own home. You don't have to go out anymore, which can be a hassle if it's late at night of if there is a storm.

Hopefully I can get back on line within the month. That's assuming I can get around to actually working on it.

(For some strange reason, I feel for this guy)

News from technology.inq7.net (08/03/2006):

'First introduced in 2000 as being capable of simulating how humans walk, Asimo can amble on uneven slopes and surfaces, turn smoothly, climb stairs, reach for and grasp objects, switch lights on and off, and open and close doors.

At Glorietta, Asimo was supposed to do the opening number for the Honda exhibit when it froze in mid-sentence just as it was introducing itself barely a minute after appearing on stage.

“Hello, my name is Asimo. I can walk, I can dance...” was all it was able to say.

Organizers said a fluctuation in Asimo’s power source disrupted controls, disabling the robot.

An amused member of the audience pointed his cell phone at Asimo, pretending to be pushing buttons on a remote control to make the robot move.

But Asimo remained immobile until the program ended more than an hour later. He was carted away behind a wall of car covers.'

Tsk. Poor bot.

[Pic from news.bbc.co.uk]