Copyhype

Why did we evolve to appreciate beauty? — An interesting contemplation of why we enjoy aesthetics. “It is not yet clear why adults should find perceptual play fun. Aren’t we done learning how to perceive? Everyone achieves a certain basic level of skill in characteristically human activities: walking, talking, looking, listening, and singing. We do this by pleasurable play when young, and we maintain these skills with practice well into adulthood. But with each of these activities, the human body affords us the capacity to improve – to become extraordinarily skilled.”

A ‘Crisis’ in Online Ads: One-Third of Traffic Is Bogus — This, and the fact that brands often unwittingly find themselves funding illicit filesharing sites, suggests that there is a need to improve the workings of the online advertising ecosystem.

File sharing study found invalid — Examining a study that claims filesharing actually benefited the music industry. “Dr. Ford opens with a general remark about arguments made in defense of file sharing and that “the empirical analysis in Dr. Lunney’s paper is some of the weakest in this area, and the defects in the analysis are many and varied. Indeed, Dr. Lunney’s analysis suffers from defects so severe as to render it useless for guiding public policy. Dr. Ford expresses his sentiment early on that there are too many things wrong with the study to go through them all.”

Doing nothing is not an option to stop on-line piracy — “Copyright is established in the U.S. Constitution on the theory that one obtains more goods and services when one pays for them.  Those opposed to copyright, on whatever grounds, surely bear a substantial burden in making their case.  That burden requires more than the bandying about of sweet words.  Indeed, the general principle that payment to producers encourages production, so far as I know, is not under attack in any venue except copyright.”