This blog post
We Live in Public (and the end of empathy)
by Jason Calacanis is incredible.
::end transmission::
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My dad is Darrell Issa’s General Counsel. Just another reason he’s my hero.
i’m hoping this is the first press release of many. issues surrounding the convergence of technology and music have truly become the first issue of their kind: completely bipartisan. This is the legislation of art, and it’s needed to fix the problems of the legislation of the past. Yeah, there’s a lot of critique. It’s apparently the regurgitation of a previous act, but it introduces those who are poised to make a difference. to join forces on issues of technology. A new era; so say we all.
WASHINGTON. D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), and Darrell Issa (R-CA), introduced The Performance Rights Act, a bipartisan measure that takes a first step at ensuring that all radio platforms are treated in a similar manner and that those who perform music are paid for their work.
The legislation would amend an inequity in America’s copyright law that exempts over-the-air broadcasters from paying those who perform the music that we listen to on AM and FM radio. Webcasters, satellite radio providers and cable companies are presently required to pay for music they broadcast.
“Beyond the fairness that this bill provides for performers, we have an opportunity to show the rest of the world that the United States practices what it preaches in protecting intellectual property,” said Issa. “For the past 70 years Congress has ignored the constitutional mandate that we protect copyrights by completely exempting broadcasters from paying performers, while the vast majority of countries have no such exemption. Our ignorance of intellectual property rights on this issue is a worldwide embarrassment and it must end now.”
“All those in the creative chain of musical production – the artists, musicians, and others who enrich us culturally – deserve to be justly compensated for their work,” said Conyers. “We have introduced the Performance Rights Act to ensure fairness so that any service that plays music pays those who create and own the recordings – just as satellite, cable and internet radio stations currently do. Working with the Senate, I hope that Congress may act quickly to pass this important legislation to level the playing field between different technologies and ensure rightful compensation to performers.”
The Performance Rights Act is cosponsored by Reps. Issa, Berman, Waxman, Blackburn, Hodes, Wasserman Schultz, Weiner, Cohen, Nadler, Wexler, Peterson (MN), Johnson (GA), Schiff, Sherman, Shadegg, Jackson Lee, L. Sanchez, and Harman.
Companion legislation was introduced Wednesday in the Senate by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and former Chairman Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
“In introducing the Performance Rights Act, we are sensitive to the needs of broadcast radio stations,” said Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I want to ensure that the performing artist, the one whose sound recordings drive the success of broadcast radio, is compensated fairly. Our legislation, appropriately, permits noncommercial stations to take advantage of the statutory copyright license subject only to a nominal annual payment to the artists. Similarly, we intend to nurture, not threaten, small commercial broadcasters. Smaller music stations are working hard to serve their local communities while finding the right formula to increase their audience size. I will continue to work with the broadcasters – large and small, commercial and noncommercial – to strike the right balance.”
“This legislation would ensure that musical performers and songwriters receive fair compensation from all companies across the broadcast spectrum – not just from Web casters, satellite radio providers and cable companies,” said Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It is an attempt to strike a harmonious balance between fair compensation for artists and a vibrant radio industry in the U.S.”
No doubt about it, social networks are no longer just a nuance but a part of our communication system in american (and global) technology culture. Currently, the most famous of the lot is facebook. With millions of users around the world, Facebook has interconnected many of us beyond the 6th and onto the 3rd degree. Sure, facebook has accidentally recommended one of my ex boyfriends as a new friend, but there are problems with every algorithm, including the logic of a human mind. Cross out the error enough times and soon it is forgotten. The platform itself may have its problems but after much discussion and thought i’ve discovered the gray area. There’s more to enjoy about facebook than there is to dislike (imho). And considering it requires the act of loggin in, if Facebook bothers you, but you have a profile and somewhat like it, don’t log in every day. It’s your addiction and it’s nobody’s fault.
The scope of its value lies in the security of the beholder. Below is my list of reasons to embrace or shun facebook. Personally, I’ve decided there are more reasons to embrace the platform rather than reject. While we love to complain about platforms, especially in the tech bubble, the fact is we are building history and forging global relationships, affecting good cause and changing politics one facebook profile (or channel) at a time. Granted, knowing much of this information often keeps a consultancy in business but there’s no harm in sharing opinions. So here’s mine. I may be right, i may be wrong, but for now, facebooking is still a verb in my vocabulary.
disclaimer: I’m not a technologist or an engineer. I’m just some girl with a blog. Here goes, internet….
Reasons To Embrace
- Causes: Ranging from saving internet radio to raising money to help victims of breast cancer, the facebook “Causes” application has raised money for countless organizations which survive based on donation. Users can invite each other to various causes or create new causes.
- Politics: Let’s *face* it. Facebook had a direct effect on the 2008 election and most of us are happy about the outcome. If you became a fan of a candidate, donated to a campaign, attended a fundraiser, got together with friends for the debate, changed your status, joined a group, posted a political link to your page or a wall, you had a direct effect on the 2008 election (and thank you! thank you! thank you!)
- Applications & F8: Facebook applications forced many of us who did not already understand the diversity of every API to buckle down, figure it out, and make it work. iLike promoted purchasable music, fans of Pandora were able to share stations more easily, imeem users were able to post music to each others walls using fancy players, SonicLiving & Jambase help us share live music calendars with one another, startups were given a second third and fourth chance at re-establishing the value of their products, and myspace/ google were forced to compete. Open social was born. Not only is this healthy but there has been a major development growth spurt, very little about which is bad. Sure, there was (and is) spam and information poaching, but the preferences within facebook allow every user of the platform to delete, alter or reject applications. In addition, a new level of integration was reached and the average facebook user learned how to make that happen. Even my mom can integrate her twitter updates with her facebook status. Just as myspace taught a new generation of internet users how to write html, facebook taught a population how to integrate multiple applications across the internet into one protected platform. Maybe you use goodreads, and want to recommend a book, maybe you prefer flickr and want your friends on facebook to see your photos (without posting them to facebook), maybe you like movies, get a kick out of youtube or you like the evils of publicly comparing your friends to one another. Whatever floats your boat, there’s an application or someone with the freedom to build it. Growth and development are positive outcomes of any situation. And all applications can be deleted. In addition, every user can control the information available to the application itself or simply reject it’s access. Not bad. Believe it or not: I’ve made 3 facebook applications (music players) and am a little more savvy with programming language as a result. Even if i’m not actually any more intelligent than before, i feel that much more empowered to create. Apparently so do thousands of others who are regularly building applications and profiting as a result. Apps are also a great way to stream a new album (see: White Stripes App which streamed all of icky thump a week prior to release, thanks to Ethan Kaplan & Shaun Haber 2 yrs ago – thanks, guys, that rocked).
- Events: public or private, facebook has a very functional and successful calendar application. It exports beautifully and gives upcoming & eventful a run for their money. Lately i find myself logging in just to get my events in order.
- Preferences: Sure they are hard to find, but there are plenty of preferences….you can hide photos, untag yourself, and limit what your friends can say or do with your wall (to name a few.) Something you may not know: Once you untag yourself you cannot get tagged a second time. awesome.
- Friends: I can safely say i know every single one of my friends on facebook. There was a time when i blindly accepted all requests, but as the platform grew in size and popularity it became obvious that the “walled garden” exists for a reason and there is plenty of reason to embrace it. If you don’t want someone within your walls, just cancel their ability to see within your walls. If that does or does not mirror how you would behave in real life, you, the “user” are left with questions which are either therapeutic or at the very least introspective. Facebook differs from myspace in that you now have a choice. Thanks to facebook i am in touch with friends around the world, at one time, and the choice is mine. As much fun as it can be to complain about the platform, i am grateful for the opportunity to enjoy a global community all in one place.
- Old Friends: It’s been a blast! Reuniting with camp friends, friends from childhood, high school, college, grad school, funny pictures from youth, or whatever your history, Facebook gives you the option of catching up with people who you might never have otherwise known again in your life. At first i found this strange, but now i find it beautiful. I’ve lunched with people in my past thanks to Facebook and I’m a better person today for reuniting with people I’ve once cared for… And now, we have a chance to interact again. If i don’t like it, i can disengage. easy.
- Facebook Pages: You might be a fan of bacon or WIRED magazine, or maybe Arcade Fire. But once you become a fan you are immediately privy to new information and other fans of that same product. Community, community, community.
- New advertising models: target your ads to the nth degree based on the audience of your facebook page and see all the statistics without paying a dime. um, ok. yes you can. Reject or accept an advertisement based on creativity. yes you can. ignore the ad and poke a friend instead: yes you can.
- Fun: the internet is fun! deal with it bubblers! Most of us are just monkeys in a sandbox and we want to play! ::poke:: ::writes on marisol‘s wall::
- Relationships: there are negatives (see below) but there are positives, too. I’ve had more engaging flirtations on facebook than any other social network. In fact, some of my best dates have started with an innocent poke from a nice boy. pun NOT intended. but those little pokes have brought me more than a few smiles, and those smiles are worth every log in.
- Facebook Groups: in a word, community. for fun (“loving women who love zeppelin“) or to assist individuals with serious concerns to feel less alone (recently my mother fell ill and i was able to find a group for people with her rare illness), i’m a Big fan of facebook groups. big fan. Groups integrate message boards and multimedia and allow strangers with something in common to find each other and communicate across the globe.
- Just Say No: recently my mom joined facebook and requested my friendship. I felt weird about letting her into my bubble but didn’t want her to feel rejected. So i did it the proper way. I called her. I explained that i live in the SF bubble and i didn’t feel comfortable with the blurred boundaries that could occur. The result? she laughed, we laughed, and we are not “friends” on facebook. But because we have our own relationship in real life, it didn’t matter. Not one bit. Just say no if you need to. Set boundaries. untag yourself or better yet don’t post that photo if it’s going to hurt you or someone else. now that wasn’t so hard, was it?
- Facebook Connect: more opportunity to build upon the platform. Growth + development = goodness.
- iPhone app: believe it or not, some of my apps work better on my iPhone by way of the facebook application. Example: twitter. Free twitter apps have a limit on the number of tweets available to read. But when i access twitter via the facebook iPhone app, i can go as far back as i choose. nice.
Cause For Skepticism
- Terms of Service for Media: the terms for posting photos are questionable. once you upload a photo, facebook owns it. Ok, then don’t upload a photo or video. Use an application like youtube or flickr instead. problem solved.
- Spam: ok, there’s spam. but you can easily adjust preferences or cancel apps or better yet, grow up and ignore it.
- Inbox mayhem: my facebook inbox is currently at 402. if you are waiting for a reply from me on facebook, please, please, please just email me at my normal email address (which, if we are friends on facebook, is listed on my info page)
- Relationships: really, who gives a shit if anyone is dating. married/ single is one thing. the rest is all complicated. I’ve seen it from both angles and learned the hard way. Again, this is all controlled in preferences. Personally, i have my relationship status turned “off.” What this means is, even if i change my opinion about the value of my relationship status and decide to update it, my relationship status will never appear in your feed as a news item.
- Unwanted News in Your Feed: ok, scroll over it. see that edit button? you can teach facebook to refrain from providing certain information (from certain people or of a certain content). Problem solved
- information poaching: I’m not an engineer but it’s my understanding that if you don’t control your preferences and privacy appropriately, or limit the information available in your profile, your information may be available to other companies. yeah, this sucks. i get it
- Misconstrued Social Capital: who gives a shit how many friends you have on facebook. it’s not myspace. it’s a different kind of platform. (imho, of course)
- Immature behaviors are magnified: need i say more? i wrote a different blogpost about that. Again, it’s in the eyes of the beholder, and the way it is used. If you use this tool to hurt another person, that’s your karma, digital or otherwise.
- instant messaging feature: i keep it turned off at all times. i find it incredibly annoying. But i’m thankful to have the choice!
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