Author Archives: Hamish MacEwan

More analysts weigh in on 4G claim

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Budde said he was in favour of charging a lower price for radio spectrum and imposing obligations on buyers to better serve rural communities, perhaps by creating the telecommunications’ equivalent of an “open commons”.

Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Paul Brislen said he would be happy to see the digital dividend spectrum sold at a discount if that ensured the rollout of 4G in rural areas was on a par with that in cities and towns. However, an industry source queried whether attaching conditions to the spectrum sale would be the most efficient way of supporting such a policy.

via stuff.co.nz

Time for Government to stop exploiting our shared spectrum resource as a form of indirect taxation which leads to poor competitive outcomes and fat margins to the winners who take all.

Women’s Life Expectancy Growth Is Lagging

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A new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says that while human life expectancy continues to grow, the growth rate for the life expectancy of women is slowing down and men might actually surpass us. Actually, our lifespans have been lagging for a while now, since 1999, and in some parts of the United States, it???s actually gotten lower.

via themarysue.com

Welcome to equality.

Megaupload Trial May Never Happen, Judge Says

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Megaupload???s lawyer adds that he doesn???t understand why the US authorities weren???t aware of this problem before. As a result Judge O???Grady noted that Megaupload is ???kind of hanging out there.???

If this issue indeed prevents Megaupload from being tried in the US, it would be a blunder of epic proportions. And it is not the first ???procedural??? mistake either.

via torrentfreak.com

Well, “hanging” was the goal. Mission accomplished.

Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Limited

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Firstly, in the law of authorisation, there is a distinction to be drawn between the provision of the ‘means’ of infringement compared to the provision of a precondition to infringement occurring. The decisions in Moorhouse, Jain, Metro, Cooper and Kazaa are each examples of cases in which the authorisers provided the ‘means’ of infringement. But, unlike those decisions, I find that the mere provision of access to the internet is not the ‘means’ of infringement. There does not appear to be any way to infringe the applicants’ copyright from the mere use of the internet. Rather, the ‘means’ by which the applicants’ copyright is infringed is an iiNet user’s use of the constituent parts of the BitTorrent system. iiNet has no control over the BitTorrent system and is not responsible for the operation of the BitTorrent system.

via austlii.edu.au

Quote from the initial case (appeal having just been “dismissed with costs.”)  Structural separation of the access and the application seems to have been part of the first decision.

It emphasises the importance to ISPs of *not* controlling (as common carriers should not) the activities of their users, to avoid the threat of “authorisation” and in Canada, the liability for broadcast regulations including associated levies (http://hamishmacewan.posterous.com/supreme-court-rules-isps-not-subject-to-br…

Just what is the Java API anyway? – JavaWorld

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The Java API is the set of classes included with the Java Development Environment. These classes are written using the Java language and run on the JVM. The Java API includes everything from collection classes to GUI classes. You can view a complete listing of the Java API at: “Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, v 1.3.1 API Specification.”

Tutorials are also available at: “Java Tutorial.”

via javaworld.com

Ah, like intrinsics or libraries?

Mobile Carriers Warn of ???Spectrum Crisis??? – Others See Hyperbole

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The reason spectrum is treated as though it were finite is because it is still divided by frequencies — an outdated understanding of how radio technology works, he said. “I hate to even use the word ‘spectrum,’ ” he said. “It’s a 1920s understanding of how radio communications work.

Why, then, wouldn’t carriers want to use these newer technologies that cause frequencies to not interfere? Because licensing spectrum is a zero-sum game. When a company gets the license for a band of radio waves, it has the exclusive rights to use it. Once a company owns it, competitors can’t have it.

Mr. Reed said the carriers haven’t advocated for the newer technologies because they want to retain their monopolies.

via nytimes.com

 

How’s that three strikes thing working out, anyway?

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So not one notice about TV or movies but also not a single notice has been sent relating to copying of New Zealand content. Not one.

The rights holders in New Zealand put together an ad campaign based on the destruction of value of New Zealand content, yet it hasn???t defended a single New Zealand artist. I find that very interesting ??? from a PR point of view it???s a massive cock-up because at the very least they could have found one to point to. Either they don???t care enough to pay $25 or there simply isn???t any piracy of New Zealand artists going on in New Zealand. Isn???t that an interesting thought?

The MED review allows for public submissions on its discussion document but comments must be received by 30 April. Have a look at the document and send any thoughts you may have to the MED here.  Because despite its obvious flaws, as far as I can tell the Copyright Act is working ??? it???s the US-based rights holders that aren???t.

via publicaddress.net

It appears the US industry is very willing to fund lobbying of NZ legislators, but not put much into making legitimate channels available to customers. At least we now know who the legislation serves, and it ain’t us, the ones paying for the enforcement.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram Lessons

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On a cost-per-existing-customer basis, Facebook stole Instagram.  And that’s before Facebook spreads out the solution to the rest of its 780million users!  Forget about how many employees Instagram has, or its historical revenues or its assets.  In an innovation economy, if you have a product that 35million people hear about and start using in less than a year, you have something very valuable!

Kudos go to Mark Zuckerberg as CEO, and his team, for making this acquisition so quickly. 

via thephoenixprinciple.com

Greed or fear.