Need To Know 2002-04-19

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"Europe's music companies need to do more to wean music-lovers away from a 'free-music mindset', according to an Internet research company." http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108751,00.html - of course, if only oxygen breathers could be weaned away from their "free air mindset", we could charge them for that as well... >> HARD NEWS << pay per views Nice to see the Inland Revenue getting into this whole "open government" policy. But really, there's no need to be so subtle. If you truly want everyone to see the edits to your Budget press releases, there's no need to hide it by uploading Word files with the previous deleted revisions casually left in. After all, if you wanted everyone to know that the suspiciously Old Labour phrase "ensure the nation receives a fair share of the profits from the exploitation of the North Sea" was edited out by a Treasury civil servant at the last minute, and replaced with "the North Sea fiscal regime does not strike the right balance between promoting investment and taking an adequate share of revenue derived from a national resource", tell us outright! It's no fun ploughing through all the Treasury word files you left on the site, turning on the "Confirm Revisions" option, and spotting the Sir Humphrey fixes for ourselves, is it? http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/budget2002/index.htm - well, perhaps it is for some http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/budget2002/releases_doc.zip - check out revce1.doc and revce2.doc for such non-"fun" http://www.ntk.net/2002/04/19/treasurydoh.png - or just check it out here It's only when you see all the main combatants piled into the same room at the COMPUTERS FREEDOM AND PRIVACY CONFERENCE that you realise just how dirty the copyright wars have become. Itinerant EFF reps, ricocheting from LA's Copy Protection Technology Working Group, struggling with the culture-shock: blank-faced Hollywood apparatchiks plotting the downfall of open computing there, geeks open-mouthed with horror here. Pro-DMCAer Allan Adler of the Association of American Publishers inadvertedly spurring everyone on by declaiming that the audience had "no right to access copyrighted material" - even copyrighted material in their own homes. Some other IP stooge backtracking from the mob by stating that the US just *had* to introduce the DMCA because of "international treaties". (Well, that's odd: they tell us the neoDMCA proposals in the EC is there because the US did it first.) Phil Zimmermann, patient as ever, trying to break it to the media barons that the software industry *tried* this copy protection lark back in the Eighties and if it didn't work for Leisure Suit Larry, it won't work for "Blade II". John Perry Barlow, so shocked and upset he starts talking sense. And the more the CFPers confer, the more they seemed to realise that Hollywood is going for the hat-trick: taking away freedom, privacy *and* computers. Pretty impressive. But only if they manage it. http://www.cfp2002.org/ - spot the Brits http://www.eff.org/blogs/bpdg/ - deep, deep, blogging Forced to relocate to a pub after an administrative mixup over the bank offices they'd been hoping to use, last Saturday's first public meeting of the UK's ASSOCIATION FOR FREE SOFTWARE offered something for everyone: beer, pizza, and an expertly crafted mix of practical decision-making and drunken shouting. As the name suggests, the group plan to support and promote Free Software (ie, GNU *and* Linux) to the likes of schools, voluntary organisations, business federations, local government and the media - but that's "free" as in "freedom", not "free" as in "we currently think the membership fee will be UKP10 annually". And, just to liven things up at the end, the shouting came courtesy of a heated debate over software patents - not over whether they're a bad thing (they are, apparently), but over exactly how stringently the AFFS - and bemused pub locals - should oppose them, with (as ever) those who'd had the most recent contact with Richard Stallman feeling the uncontrollable urge to prove themselves more ideologically uncompromising than everyone else. http://www.affs.org.uk/ - no, it's not supposed to stand for "Ah, for fuck's sake" http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/fsfe-uk/2002-April/000916.html - vs http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/fsfe-uk/2002-April/001013.html >> ANTI-NEWS << berating the obvious INTERNET WORKS still getting most of its referrals from other Future mags: http://212.113.202.21/statsreports/iwks/all/ ... you say "nachos", but MS microwave oven prefers "nauseous": http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q161129 ... not the only thing that's been "borrowed wholesale": http://www.google.com/search?q=%22bridge+designs%22+%22borrowed+wholesale%22 ... students' weekend runs from Fri-Thu, offer implies: http://www.thefilmworks.co.uk/tfw38/studentsfw/ ... recovering job market offers UKP25000-30000K (25m-30m) for engineer: http://www.gojobsite.co.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.pl?selection=910404048 ... BBC stuntman bravely defies even Pythagoras' Theorem: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2002/04/19/nspider19big.jpg ... Ally McBeal or, to use her full name, the "Victoria and Albert Museum": http://www.ntk.net/2002/04/19/dohally.gif ... join the Royal Horticultural Society, get great discounts on live gig tickets: http://www.ntk.net/2002/04/19/dohrhs.gif ... alarmingly big condoms they're selling in Nigeria nowadays: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1925000/1925464.stm >> EVENT QUEUE << goto's considered non-harmful It's all happening next Wednesday, with a three-way clash between this month's Silicon Beach Forum WIRELESS NETWORKS: A REVOLUTION ABOUT TO BEGIN? (Sussex Arts Club, Brighton, free), INFOSECURITY EUROPE (from Tue 2002-04-23, London Olympia, also free), and New Media Age's NEW MEDIA SHOW 2002 (Business Design Centre, London, no obvious pricing information visible on the website). But if you're not too exhausted after all that, NTK reader and Britain's most theoretically rigorous stand-up comedian STEWART LEE is holding a fundraising spectacular to save the Vortex Jazz Foundation (from 8pm, the Union Chapel, London N1, UKP12.50), with an all-star bill featuring Harry Hill, Johnny Vegas, John Hegley, Kevin "Simon Quinlank" Eldon and Jenny Eclair - though please note that Omid "The Mummy" Djalili appears on the leaflet but has had to pull out, hopefully not because of publicity commitments for "The Scorpion King". http://www.zoonies.com/cait/ohgoonthen/flyer.gif - not a penny wasted on fancy flyer design, you'll note http://www.silicon-beach.com/events.html - war-driving workshops in pub next door http://www.infosec.co.uk/ - ah, those reassuringly unfashionable .cfm files http://www.newmediashow.co.uk/ - "Paid-for content is a reality. (finally!)". Twats. >> TRACKING << sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering One day, some public-domain pauper publisher will release the edition of Nietsche's "Beyond Good And Evil", and on the cover will be a single, black fringed screenshot of W3M-IMG. This eldritch patch to the strange and powerful Japanese text-only browser W3M does a - thing - which, if God were alive, would strike him dead and all his morality. It is a text-only Web browser. It runs in an Xterm. It displays inline graphics. On an Xterm! In a text browser! JPEGs and GIFs and PNGs! So wrong! So beautiful! So ugly! So useful as a mutt mailcap setting! So *dirty*! http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/w3m-img.html - use alien or look for "w3m-img" in ports, Miss I'm-So-BSD-I-Compile-My-Socks http://www.ntk.net/2002/04/19/w3mbbc.png - submit wacky BBC images from the comfort of your term session >> MEMEPOOL << ceci n'est pas une http://www.gagpipe.com/ the new 6 Degrees Of Kevin Bacon: http://covers.wiw.org/ ... the new "reviewing 9V batteries by tasting them with your tongue": http://www.eet.com/sys/uth/OEG20020326S0045 ... off the map this week - Aldermaston atomic weapons establishment: www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?x=460000&y=164000&scale=50000&rt=overlay.htm ... now BOFH-free SALMON DAYS somewhat influenced by TVGoHome: http://www.salmondays.tv/column_2_jdl.html .... former Serb leader Radovan Karadzic threatens "Akts of mercy - SOON...": http://www.karadzic.org/rat/rat_akti_e.html ... who's scarier - the EDMONDS cult: http://rs.snoochdesigns.com/noel/ , the HONG KONG BIN LADEN and his "Brain voice read write machine" http://enaaaaa.cjb.net/ , or the FEDERAL FRAUD CONSPIRACY to sabotage the Matrix sequels?: http://qwer.org/fedfraud.html ... at 150p/min, let's hope they get the message pretty fast: http://www.lazystudent.co.uk/rejectline.html ... photos that didn't make the school prospectus this year for some reason: http://sova.lulea.org/ ... >> GEEK MEDIA << get out less TV>> we think that tonight is the Dorkbot episode of GAME-PAD (7.30pm, weekdays, Bravo) - another top co-production from Violet Berlin/Gareth Jones: http://www.whizzbang.tv/ ... in accordance with our suggestion of 2001-07-06, ALISTAIR MCGOWAN'S BIG IMPRESSION (8.30pm, Fri, BBC1) features "When Ruby Wax Met Louis Theroux" - but no Jon Ronson?... and Sarah Michelle Gellar is stranded on a desert island in BEVERLY HILLS FAMILY ROBINSON (5.15pm, Sat, C5), then the inevitable "The Matrix"-style episode of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (8pm, Thu, Sky1)... Al "Pub Landlord" Murray introduces TOP TEN TV BASTARDS (10.20pm, Sat, C4)... BBC2 continues trying to up the viewing figures with 3 more back-to-back repeats of 24 (11pm, Sat, BBC2) - can't wait till the series is over, then they can show them all "in real time" one day... and Charlton Heston once again finds it difficult to make friends of similar age- group and interests in post-biowar shootout THE OMEGA MAN (12.45am, Sat, C5) - customers who bought this video also bought "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" on DVD: www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/similarities/-/video/B00004CNHQ/ ... hopefully reprising that really good "Decisive Weapons" docu about the Falklands, ULTIMATE JUMP JETS (8pm, Sun, C5) profiles the Hawker Harrier... if C5's LIFE DOCTOR (8pm, Thu, C5) is such a frickin' expert, why doesn't she help people with real problems, like the Mad-Max-esque car-dwelling petrol scavengers of WASTED? (8.05pm, Sun, C4)... while Alicia "Cybill's daughter" Witt discovers you just can't trust a "friend of a friend" in URBAN LEGEND (10pm, Sun, C4)... Ricky "The Office" Gervais may win one of THE BAFTAS (8.30pm, Mon, ITV) at the same time as slagging off other comedians in ROOM 101 (10pm, Mon, BBC2)... pedestrian Brit horror AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (9pm, Mon, C5) segues handily into THE TRUTH ABOUT GAY ANIMALS (10.35pm, Mon, C4), followed by considerable Deborah Kara Unger nudity and disturbing subject matter in David Cronenberg's censorship cause celebre CRASH (11.35pm, Mon, C4)... join us, please, to say farewell to surely the last ever episode of ATTACHMENTS (10pm, Wed, BBC2): http://www.everyonehatesattachments.com/ ... and Jeffrey "Hank from The Larry Sanders Show" Tambor offers an alternative to Victor Lewis-Smith's jabbering commentary in the hilariously titled THE ANNUAL BARFTA AWARDS (11.05pm, Thu, C4)... FILM>> for the benefit of anyone who's ever wondered how it would look, Richard Linklater remakes the stoner conversations of "Slacker" as hi-res Flash animations in WAKING LIFE (imdb: independent-film/ dream/ surreal/ conversation/ philosophy)... equally authentic-looking CGIs paper over the acting cracks in The Rock/ Kelly "Martial Law" Hu grudge-match THE SCORPION KING ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : The distributor sought and was given advice during post-production which resulted in the removal, prior to formal submission, of a headbutt delivered by the hero to the villain in a climactic fight sequence)... and it looks like Guy Pearce really has suffered a knock to the head as he follows top-notch noirs like "Memento" and "LA Confidential" with Kevin "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" Reynolds' historic revenge nonsense THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Distributor chose to remove two shots of a man hanging to avoid giving children the impression that a person can hang for some time with no ill effects and in order to achieve a PG classification)... >> SMALL PRINT << Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent. Registered at the Post Office as "still backing OS/2" http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/020405/040325.html NEED TO KNOW THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ Unsubscribe? Mail ntknow-unsubscribe@lists.ntk.net Subscribe? Mail ntknow-subscribe@lists.ntk.net NTK now is supported by UNFORTU.NET, and by you: http://www.geekstyle.co.uk/ (K) 2002 Special Projects. Copying is fine, but include URL: http://www.ntk.net/ Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com All communication is for publication, unless you beg. Press releases from naive PR people to pr@spesh.com Remember: Your work email may be monitored if sending sensitive material. Sending >500KB attachments is forbidden by the Geneva Convention. Your country may be at risk if you fail to comply.