Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Pirate Bay Case


今天,又有一家BT服务商受到了”正义的制裁“ 。

CNET, Wired,Lifehacker 这些主流的IT博客都报道了瑞典著名的BT下载网站 Pirate Bay (海盗湾)官司一审的结果 (终于有一件比Ashton Kutcher和CNN推特大战有意思的新闻了)。包括索尼音乐,华纳兄弟,EMI,哥伦比亚制片等主流媒体公司告这家Bittorrent服务商协同侵 权(Contributory Copyright Infringement),一审的结果是Pirate Bay的四位创办人被判各入狱一年,并且罚款360万美金(3.6 million)。据Wired介绍,此次协同罪成立的原因是原告律师提出1963年的一桩案例,当友人在打人的时候,帮友人举着外套的一名被告被判有 罪,同理,帮着万千网民下载的Pirate Bay也有罪。

这自然让我想到了当年的P2P音乐分享软件Napster 的案子。一样也是媒体公司告网络服务商,目前来看,结果一样,Napster输了,宣告关闭,现在被收购,转为所谓合法下载分享软件,但是声势不如从前了,也做不过收费的iTune和Amazon。

事实上,对于P2P服务而言,侵权的文件并非存储在服务商的服务器上,而是各个用户的本地盘,网站运营者很难被定为侵权。就美国的法律来说,根据1996 年通信法(Telecommunication Act of 1996)以及1998年的DMCA(Digital Millennium Copyright Act),网站可以通过safe harbor条例来免责,就算侵权的内容存在该网站的服务器上,如果是用户上传的,服务上也不用负权责。但是在Napster的案子就已经定下了先例,法 官认为,Napster这样P2P的服务,本身不符合Safe Harbor的条件,其次,Napster主页上提供了被侵权的歌曲的名字,显然Napster知道网友有侵权行为没有阻止,因而被判 Contributory Infringement(现在Viacom 和Youtube的案子,也是这个罪名)。
结果呢,一个Napster倒下了,P2P音乐分享却好好地活着。
一个Pirate Bay被袭击了,还有大把的BT下载的根据地可以燎原。网站创始人也很幽默,针对审判结果,他们在网站上说, 就像所有好莱坞电影演得一样,好人会是最后的赢家。所以他们会上诉。(”But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow. That's the only thing hollywood ever taught us.“)
这些IT 博客都很谨慎地报告了案情发展,没有多加评论,这个舆论可不能乱导,所以只见网友评论口水乱喷。

我可以认同媒体公司希望版权被承认的做法,毕竟知识产权保护法的初衷是鼓励创作,尊重版权是鼓励更多创作的基本原则。但是我不认同这个审判结果,好像是杀 鸡儆猴,抓不到P2P的下载的网友,只好抓服务商。就像Lawrence Lessig一直强调的,当这一代年轻人把P2P作为分享文化的时候,媒体和政府却把它作为犯罪,这两者之间的矛盾如何协调才是需要着重强调的。媒体公司 是不是应该开放更多的渠道提供内容,而不是一路追杀限制渠道呢?

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Thoughts on Twitter

photo courtesy to The Hollywood Reporter Website

I've been using Twitter since last spring though less than ten people follow me and only three friends actually interact with me. I still enjoy twitter with myself and use it keep news links when for my writing records. Since I follow Howard
Rheingold on Twitter, I've read some discussion on twitter, blog, the social media and the public media. Besides that, since Twitter is getting popular, the business value is getting more attention.

For online marketing, it seems new media companies, or any companies that intend to tap the young generation, the three must have are Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube, as The Hollywood Reporter exemplifies.

Streaming media has become an
essential part for online marketing, it looks good on your company's website and it also could be a hit on Youtube if it is interesting enough. Media company could put movie trailer, interview clips, music video on YouTube for promotion and branding. Even non-media companies, could put commercials, promotional materials or throw up a contest on Youtube. People used to say the young generation believe something if they can find it on the website, and now they will believe something until they see it in the video with user comment.

Facebook, has been another tool for marketing and branding, especially the becoming a fan function. If a brand gets endorsement from your best friend, the potential for you to like it probably will be higher. Also, I am wondering, this fan thing might allow the company to get access to users information and therefore mine the valuable data of their target consumers.

And finally, Twitter, it is a even more peer-to-peer and personal for online marketing. Take
Boxee as an example, their twitter guy is the founder of Boxee, which establishes its technological savvy brand image but also enables a small independent company to talk to its consumers with least cost. Some companies use twitter just for official announcement, which is not as effective as the interpersonal tweets, but at least, it shows the company's changing marketing strategy. And, in a business world that only rating and unique visit matter, I am curious that how companies will evaluate the effect of Twitter. (Do they use google analytics?)

Besides business, celebrities (or their agents) also embrace Twitter now. Celebrities rely on the press to spread the word and now they can do it on their cell phone. I guess Paris Hilton really need to have a twitter account for her exposure anxiety. Currently, Lance Armstrong and
O'neal are known as Twitter Pro, and Hugh Jack just launched his account.

Nancy
Baym, scholar on fandom and virtual community, also had a recent blog on Twitter, which she compared blog and twitter and summarized several points about the special twitter (http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/blogs-vs-twitter-its-the-interactivity/). I especially agree that Twitter fills our curiosity to watch someone's life and its a causal talk, banter, easier than IM or Email to follow.

Finally, I am using
Firefox adds-on power twitter for updates. It can automatically shorten the link and upload images. Pretty awesome.