i finally got around to trolling my Mac sources, looking for some welcome good news. instead i found myself reading this story about yesterday's Senate Commerce Committee hearings:

While [Eisner] said some information technology companies believed in copyright protection, he singled out Apple's "Rip. Mix. Burn." ad campaign, saying the company was telling people "that they can create a theft if they buy this computer."

besides the amusing spectacle of Disney's CEO poking his finger in the eye of Pixar's CEO it's also a master-class in disingenuousness. of course Apple was saying nothing of the sort. in fact, Apple's digital audio marketing and packaging (for the iPod, for example) features the message "Don't Steal Music".

i hate it when people try to get their way by pretending we're too stupid to notice. (via MacMinute)

posted an angry little update to a story i blogged about the Senate Commerce Committee's hearings into how multinational media corporations need protection from you and me.

while posting this update update, i got angrier still. Disney and News Corp, who combined for $35 billion in revenue last year, flatly told a US Senator that they need protection from the citizens Fritz Hollings(D-South Carolina) represents. despite the fact that commercial intellectual property is already legally protected (ask Napster how much more protection the media pigopoly needs), Sen Hollings seems inclined to oblige Hollywood.

after its string of successes in the war on poverty and the war on drugs, i think the US federal government really is ready to take the lead in the War on Piracy.

i look forward to the Dateline and 20/20 stories about the new [k]rak epidemic. i look forward to government-funded studies that call MP3 a "gateway file format" ("i started with MP3, but then i really got going when i found DivX"). i look forward to the First Lady telling schoolkids to "Just Click 'Cancel Download'". i look forward to the summary siezures of property of suspected iPod owners. i look forward to new "Three-Rips-And-You're-Out" mandatory life sentences.

but mostly, i look forward to more (and higher-quality) piracy, at lower prices than ever. (via Reuters)

a few stories have cropped up about possible trouble at Steve Perlman's latest venture, Moxi Digital.

Steve himself has left his role as CEO and c|net News is reporting that two outside board members have resigned and employees have been asked to resubmit their resumes. BusinessWeek's saying that Moxi's burned through much of the $67 million it's raised and is on the hunt for more funding.

while Moxi burns, Steve's fiddling around with Rearden Steel Studios, his answer to Lucas Digital. (via TechDirt)

as restricted-use CDs (or, as Fat Chuck's calls them, "corrupt CDs") start hitting the shelves in greater numbers, the issue is beginning to attract more attention from the press, everyday consumers, and the government.

i think many more consumers would think twice about buying a restricted-use CD if they realized that, unless the artist had recouped* for the record label, the band that made the music on the CD wasn't going to make any money off their purchase, anyway. (via NY Times)

*don't know what that means? Steve Albini has done the math for you.