By , January 17, 2014.

The Jenna Marbles Paradox: Why are YouTube Videos so Terrible? — “When content is 100 percent advertising supported and there is no paid subscription component, the quality of the content never rises above mediocre. The content may be cute, it may be controversial, it may generate lots of clicks but it will rarely, if ever, be good… In other words, Generation C and the rest of the watching public are being shortchanged because their entertainers are motivated by bad incentives.”

How Technology Killed the Future — Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff discusses “present shock,” where the exponential amplification of the now by digital technology has drowned out context and progress. “Terror and rage replace our ideological goals; we end up reacting only to the latest crisis. And, because of what we can find (and what we can say) on the Internet, we react with a false confidence in our command of the facts. Just because we can all blog in the same size font doesn’t mean all of our opinions are equally valid or informed.”

Chaos and Growing Expense… all for a $13 Refund — After the school cancelled its relationship with educational licensor Access Canada, students at the University of Toronto got access to a lot less materials, with far more headaches, and Canadian authors and publishers lose the ability to be compensated for their work. But, according to the U of T’s student newspaper, at least students save $13 a year.

Design Pirate Cody Foster Threatens Whistleblower — Talk about pushing your luck. The admin of a Flickr account who posts catalog photos of Cody Foster products alongside pictures of the original designs that Cody Foster allegedly copied, without permission, received a cease and desist from Cody Foster for posting the catalog photos without permission.

The Siren Song of Efficiency in Music Licensing — Bartlett Cleland on the danger of letting “efficiency” override the fundamental economic principles of copyright. “Think of it this way: Property development could be more efficient if they did not need to worry about whose property they wanted to build on. They could identify the very best place for their development and break ground. But most of us understand how damaging such an approach would be to property rights, and hence to the economy. Intellectual property is no different.”

1 Comment

  1. In response to the Google/YouTube article…..Am I the only one that complains with proof, statutes, case-law, and two (2) Google/YouTube contraditcory oaths in two (2) US Federal cases et al that Google/YouTube enables all files downloads like a Grokster, HotFile, Fung/IsoHunt, MegaUpload, etc., but no one else is?

    How are those downloads then? Can someone list their favorite Google/YouTube download? Please do, because everyone else is getting “publicity” on issues less severe.

    Thanks.