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BoingBoing.net, despite having some of the most diatribe-prone personalities on the net (see XeniSucks.com and CorySucks.com), is usually a pretty good read. It’s a self-proclaimed directory of ‘wonderful things’ - things that are apparently too wonderful for the city of Boston.

After being brutally attacked by LightBrite-like advertising the town known for Beans isn’t taking any chances. As users of the city’s freely available wifi are finding out their government provided Internet doesn’t come without a side of irrational censorship. Seen first on Gizmodo:

Net neutrality is one of those flash points of modern culture. Despite the mind numbingly dull nature at its core (routing packets isn’t sexy, IMHO) the money thrown to fight the war of words would easily fill an Eastern European war chest. Neither side is innocent of projecting reality as most know it. Joe from TechDirt has the latest in the propaganda:

Sonia Arrison Hates Pirates. Loves DRM. Lukewarm on the truth.

The latest absurd argument comes from Sonia Arrison, who works for a telco-funded think tank, who claims that supporters of net neutrality are really just supporters of piracy because of their opposition to blocking P2P networks. This ignores the fact that blocking or slowing down these networks doesn’t stop piracy. It also buys into the myth that there’s a serious bandwidth crunch that can only be solved by things like traffic shaping, which net neutrality supporters tend to be opposed to. Still, Arrison saves up her ultimate canard for the end of the column when she says that supporters of “net neutrality theory” should be opposed to Apple’s plan to sell DRM-free MP3s from EMI because Apple’s use of price differentiation (unprotected tracks will sell at $1.29 as opposed to the normal $.99) is non-neutral. Of course, nothing at all about net neutrality would imply that different prices for different products should be illegal. All this example proves is that Arrison either doesn’t understand net neutrality or is willfully trying to distort the concept.

For more on the shill-factory that Sonia works for check out Joe’s other excellent piece that does the dot connecting.

The royalty fees paid by Internet radio broadcasters has always been a little eye raising considering the small audiences and predominance of lesser known artists. Things really became out of whack when the Copyright Royalty Board voted to uphold its most recent decision - a decision that would triple the current rate and be retroactive to January 1st, 2006. Some broadcasters simply turned features off overnight (like Last.fm’s neighbor streaming radio). Others, like Pandora’s founder Tim Westergren, have spoken out about the ruling. From his interview with Gizmodo:

For most (including Pandora), it’s still a money-loser at the old rates that we are working as hard as we can (15 full time sales people are on the job) to turn profitable in a year or two. The growth figures put out by JP Morgan (recently revised downward from $500M to $150M) don’t mean profitability—they mean more revenue which comes with greater costs. It’s a thin margin business at best. No one’s profiteering here.

Some extremely sobering information. Not only are investors in new streaming music startups likely to head for the hills but existing contributors have to be concerned with those statements.

If you interested in helping SaveNetRadio.org is doing the ubiquitous petition thing. But beyond wagging our fingers and shaking our heads what can be done? And if the online radio was a crap business to be in anyway is it worth saving?

All the news outlets were buzzing about how Microsoft was in the bidding to acquire DoubleClick, a banner serving company. However, before the weekend rolled around Google’s checkbook had swooped in and bought the ‘Punch the Monkey’ specialist for a whopping $3.1 billion. The steal put Microsoft in a difficult position - it’s ad network was considered sub par, it wasn’t getting traction in the marketplace, and having DoubleClick in Google’s stable provided some impressive benefits for advertisers. What is bygone behemoth to do?

Take a page from its mid-90’s competitor’s playbook and whine to the Department of Justice about monopoly violations. Because if you can’t beat ‘em, fuss about it. While Robert Scoble might have recently been named ‘King of the Shills‘ he does have a good point regarding Microsoft’s irony:

Isn’t it funny how there’s been a total turnaround at Microsoft in just six years? Instead of asking us to help poor old persecuted Microsoft out now we’re being asked to have the government look into the business of Google.

Now, you might not agree with me about either case, but I’ll be consistent at least. I was in Microsoft’s side against the government last time (they asked nicely). But I’m in Google’s side this time. Sounds a lot like Microsoft is now the company who had its ass kicked in the marketplace and is running to government regulators to get some relief.

Poor Digg. One minute the social news website that sprung forth in a beer tinged moment of indiscretion from Kevin Rose is being gamed. The comes word from Muhammad Saleem on the Pronet Advertising blog that the site is completely haxxored:

As a result of a mistake made by developers at Digg, not only did the site inadvertently create a flaw in their newly added friend referral feature, but they made its user-base vulnerable to a potential privacy disaster.

The referral feature works through a URL-based friend adding mechanism, which means that if you’re logged into your Digg profile and you visit a link of the form http://digg.com/invitefrom/username, ‘username’ is automatically added as a friend of yours.

Oh my! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together… mass hysteria! Now even the most unpopular Diggers can be buried under all the friends of their choosing. Now if they just had something other than juvenile barbs to share with each other.

Ever wonder how the RIAA decides to sue grandmas on fixed incomes and seven-year-olds? The people over at BBSpot have put together a handy chart showing how that intricate magic, heavily tempered with reason and logic, happens:

Circuit City has always had a difficult time. It doesn’t have the everyman-machismo of Best Buy or the upscale electronics of a Fry’s. What it does have, however is a whole round of publicity due to layoffs - layoffs to the tune of 3,400 people, or 8 percent of the company’s workforce. But before you start feeling sorry for those pour souls who slog it day in and day out in the thankless retail industry check out this sweet deal Circuit City is offering them:

The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company’s total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said.

The news of the layoffs came as a surprise to Rachelle Gouled, who earned about $7.75 an hour working on the sales floor at a Circuit City in Roseville, Minn. She said 10 people were laid off Wednesday at her store.
…
“This strategy strikes me as being quite cold,” said Bernard Baumohl, executive director of The Economic Outlook Group. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of Circuit City as a whole.”

While other companies, such as Caterpillar Inc., have introduced two-tiered wage systems, where newer workers make less, firing workers and offering to rehire them at a lower wage is very rare.

Awesome - it’s a little early but I’m thinking employer of the year kudos may just be in order.

Awesome. Hat tip: TechDirt

the University of Nebraska has told the RIAA that it can’t help them identify many of the students accused of file trading. The school’s system changes a computer’s IP address each time its turned on, and it only keeps this information for month. After that month, the school has no way of associating an IP address with a computer or its user. The RIAA is angry about this, and a spokesman for the group criticized the university for not understanding “the need to retain these records”. This is a ridiculous complaint. The university doesn’t have a need to retain these records, and there’s no reason it should do so out of some obligation to the RIAA. If there were any doubt that the university is really irritated by the RIAA’s requests, it has requested that the RIAA pay the university to reimburse its expenses from dealing with this (good luck with that).

Go Huskers!

Just when I think there is some hope for geek culture to rise above the shallowness of lesser castes I come across a crapstorm of embedded video proportions:

Apparently, in this day and age all a dateless geek needs to do to woo the women is hook up their wireless routers… rrrrrrrriiiiiiiiggghhhhhttttt… and every spring break party is a camera away from a Girl’s Gone Wild set.

Like the term Metrosexual (*shudder) this is just another buzzword used by commercial interests to get us to buy more crap. Whereas metrosexuals are urged to buy hair goop and natty clothing geeks are beer-bombed more of the kool-aide they’ve always fallen for: smaller, shinier, better, more. It’s time to break the cycle of addiction. You are not the gadgets that you use. You are a PERSON first and foremost, a consumer demographic second, third, or perhaps even twenty-seventh.

Besides, the terms Gear-Whore or Electro-Slut are so much more accurate.

There are the poor saps who toil from day to day like you and me. And then there are those like Oracle’s Larry Ellison: a reincarnated Caligula trapped in the modern age. In this ongoing series we’re going to do a public service of pointing out what a cruel, cruel place the world can be when you really are better than everyone else.

So lets say that, yet again, you’ve failed to crack the top ten of Forbe’s richest men in the world. You know that your extreme intellect is unjustly being buried beneath a bushel of plebeian ignorance. But where can you go? What can you do? If you’re Larry Ellison the solution is simple: buy a Malibu fiefdom to cater to your every whim. According to the Los Angeles Times:

By some accounts, he has shelled out as much as $200 million for more than a dozen properties, including five adjacent residential parcels on Carbon Beach, two nearby restaurants, the Casa Malibu Inn and a vacant gas station or two that he apparently intends to use for customer parking.
…
So far, Ellison, 62, has submitted plans to the city of Malibu for two new restaurants, including one expected to feature ultra-high-end Japanese cuisine. That would be in keeping with his affinity for the finer things in life and for all things Japanese.

Ah, yes. There’s nothing like local serfs toiling to make Japanese cuisine to take the sting out of only being the 11th richest person in the world. But when making sushi for the ultra-rich what other issues are there?

Mayor Ken Kearsley, who voted against the amendment, said he fears that the restaurants will cause a traffic backup on the highway. He also said Ellison should honor a development agreement between the city and the previous owner, who had promised to donate $400,000 to local schools and include a community room in his proposed beach club and spa.

They want a $400,000 from a man worth only $20 billion? For kids?! That aren’t even illegitimate Japanese heirs!!! It’s as if people think just because he’s rich he has the capacity to help them. Another gross misunderstanding by the world at large.

POOR ELLISON!