| Wednesday, August 13, 2003 |  |
| The UN, Globalisation and the Battle for the Airwaves | 1 comment |
 13 Aug 2003 @ 21:14The UN, Globalisation and the Battle for the Airwaves by Simon Aronowitz simon at thoughtcrimenews dot com 12th August 2003 Many people are doubtful of the credibility of alternative news. Some say "You can't believe everything you read on the internet". Well what you are about to read you will not be able to compare with the mainstream corporate news, because they are not covering it. A week ago I received an email which appeared to be one big spoof. It was headed with the following comment: "THIS IS A GREAT STORY!! A UN ORGINAZTION VILOATING THE DECLARATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO TAKE THE PROPERTY OF RADIO FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL THAT BROADCASTS THE UN NEWS. THIS IS NOT JOKE." The rest of the email was a press release explaining how Radio For Peace International (RFPI), broadcasting from the University for Peace (UP) in Costa Rica was facing eviction from its own premises whilst armed guards maintained a very visible presence. I had not paid too much attention to the content of the email. After all, it was a joke, right? "UN denies us our human rights" was the spin so obviously it wasn't to be taken seriously. But to satisfy my curiosity, I dug into the story and found that not only was it true, but was probably the tip of a much bigger iceberg. In an interview with Jean Parker, a member of the Board of Directors for RFPI, it emerged that perhaps the main reason that RFPI was facing eviction was because its programming was at odds with the direction that the new administration wished to go with the University, a UN-mandated organisation. RFPI was established on the University for Peace's campus in the 1980's. Since its inception the station has worked well with successive administrations of the University, broadcasting UP and UN programming. However since billionaire mover and shaker Maurice Strong took over the Presidency of the University Council, it was decided that the relationship between UP and RFPI "should be terminated". This decision was made following informal discussions between the Rector of UP and RFPI. Parker stated that "the new administration headed by Maurice Strong seems to be very oriented to the corporate sector as opposed to the NGO sector. Many of the Council members who were formerly on the Council of the University have been replaced by business people, not NGO or public sector people." She further alleged that Council members were unaware of decisions taken in their name. It appears that the content of RFPI's broadcasts are a key reason for UP to sever relations as Parker explained: "Radio for Peace is broadcasting programmes that are questioning and criticising things like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other aspects of so-called `free-trade' - free for some people and costly for most." Only as I sat down to write this article was I provided with a comment from the University for Peace via the UN office in London. To the untrained eye it might appear to be a litany of transgressions on the part of RFPI. Having understood who the players are in the affair and where the battle-lines have been drawn, it reads more like another one of Tony Blair's `dodgy dossiers'. Central to this issue is the ideology of people like Maurice Strong, a billionaire with oddly uncharacteristic involvement in the apparent future welfare of the planet. The UP statement mentions one of the primary audiences of RFPI is north America. Some, including the author, would argue that radio broadcasts into the USA promoting ideas of peace and freedom should be encouraged, not stamped out. As the world's self appointed beacon of democracy, the US would gain more kudos by publicly supporting the station. The fact that the station is instead facing a possible crushing under the foot of global interests which see the broadcasts as "not appropriate to the new programme of the University" must prompt the question "What do the UN and the University for Peace stand for then?" In any case, the north American audience issue is a red herring since by broadcasting from Costa Rica the station would reach central and southern America too, and those regions equally would benefit from such radio programming devoid of corporate influence. That even according to the University's own statement they seek to shut down the broadcasts to north America is indicative of the whole situation. RFPI would cut a fresh valley though the output of the likes of ClearChannel and the other corporate behemoths that control mainstream news output and who dominate their coverage of globalisation and economic development issues with a `pro-business' agenda. The battle to save RFPI is symbolic of the struggle that many feel they are facing to have their views heard in the face of growing corporate influence around the world. More > |
| Stopping the pop-swappers | 0 comments |
 13 Aug 2003 @ 21:08Stopping the pop-swappers DOT.LIFE - the weekly guide to changing technology By Mark Ward BBC News Online technology correspondent Stopping the pop-swappers internet downloaders. But the real pirates these days are crime bosses - and the rewards are plentiful. In America and the rest of the world the biggest culprit in falling music sales is large-scale CD piracy by organized crime. In just three years, sales of pirate CDs have more than doubled, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Every third CD sold is a pirate copy, says the federation. They used to say "home taping" was killing music, now it's meant to be internet downloaders. But the real pirates these days are crime bosses - and the rewards are plentiful. The net has given rise to many novel ways of doing business but the methods of the Recording Industry Association of America has got every twisted e-commerce scheme beaten. Last month, the association began suing hundreds of its customers. For the RIAA - which represents the major US recording companies - this makes perfect sense. The people being sued are sharing music with millions of others via peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus. This tidal wave of subpoenas is the latest in a series of steps the RIAA has taken to stop "file-sharing" which, it believes, is causing CD sales to fall through the floor. According to the RIAA, CD sales dropped by 10% in 2001 and a further 6.8% last year, largely because of file sharing. But the figures tell a different story. In America and the rest of the world the biggest culprit in falling music sales is large-scale CD piracy by organised crime. In just three years, sales of pirate CDs have more than doubled, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Every third CD sold is a pirate copy, says the federation. The IFPI's Commercial Music Piracy 2003 report, produced in early July, reveals pirate CD sales rose 14% in 2002 and exceeded one billion units for the first time. Not least in the East The pirate CD market is now so big, $4.6bn (£2.86bn), it is "of greater value than the legitimate music market of every country in the world, except the USA and Japan". In some countries it is hard to find legitimately produced CDs. Ninety percent of CDs in China, for instance, are pirate copies. Counterfeiters have forced the price of a fake CD down to about $4, which only makes CDs in the music shops look even pricier. Embarrassingly major record labels and distributors have been fined twice by the US Federal Trade Commission for price fixing their products. However, pirates are not solely responsible for the crisis in the music industry. After all, it is actually producing CD titles. Replacing vinyl According to the RIAA's own figures, over the last two years the US music industry has produced 25% fewer CDs. The peak of production was in 1999 when 38,900 individual titles were released. But by 2001 this was down to 27,000. Releases grew again in 2002 but were still below the previous high. Musician George Ziemann says if only 3,000 copies of each of the "missing" CDs were sold, the fall in sales would be wiped out. For Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Jupiter Research, the music is weathering a hangover after the 80s and 90s boom, when everyone was buying CD versions of their old vinyl records. "Now the CD replacement cycle has drawn to a close," he says. Also the global decline in CD sales is taking place against the background of a general economic recession that is depressing sales of almost everything. After piracy and the production of fewer CDs comes the changing dynamics of the music industry. Many of the people using file-sharing systems are looking for singles. By contrast the music industry is focussed on shifting albums. This is reflected in sales figures. In the US sales of CD singles generate only a few percent of the total market. In the UK, it's 10% of all revenues. Typically, singles are used to drum up support for an album, being hyped weeks in advance and played heavily on radio and TV long before they go on sale. With nowhere to get these singles and no desire to buy an expensive CD album just for one song, it is no wonder many fans turn to file-sharing systems. Finally, music just isn't as important to young people as it used to be. There is more competition than ever for the cash in a teenager's pocket. "Youths are no longer defining themselves by music in the same way they used to," says Mr Mulligan. New markets springing up Now, he says, brands, clothing and lifestyle are as important as music. Added to this is the rise of the mobile phone, the increasing popularity of computer games and DVDs. In the past the music industry had young fans almost to itself. Now it has to compete for the limited cash in a young person's pocket like never before. The music industry cannot hope to sue everyone using file sharing to find music as that would take hundreds of years and already the US legal system is complaining about the work the RIAA is heaping upon it. There is no doubt that some piracy is going on via peer-to-peer systems but maybe not to the extent the RIAA fears. Perhaps it is about time they sang a different song. |
| Postal ID plan creates privacy fears | 0 comments |
 13 Aug 2003 @ 21:01Postal ID plan creates privacy fears By Alorie Gilbert Staff Writer, CNET News.com August 12, 2003, 8:09 AM PT A government report that urges the U.S. Postal Service to create "smart stamps" to track the identity of people who send mail is eliciting concern from privacy advocates. The report, released last month by the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, issued numerous recommendations aimed at reforming the debt-laden agency. One recommendation is that the USPS "aggressively pursue" the development of a so-called intelligent mail system. Though details remain sketchy, an intelligent mail system would involve using barcodes or special stamps, identifying, at a minimum, the sender, the destination and the class of mail. USPS already offers mail-tracking services to corporate customers. The report proposes a broad expansion of the concept to all mail for national security purposes. It also suggests USPS work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop the system. Such a system would not only allow the postal service to provide better mail-tracking information to consumers, the report said; it could give law enforcement authorities new investigative tools in the event of a mail-related terrorist attack such as the anthrax-tainted letters that killed five people and sickened more than a dozen others in 2001. The authorities have yet to solve that case. "Intelligent mail has the potential to improve significantly the security of the nation's mail stream, particularly if the postal service fully explores whether it is feasible to require every piece of mail to include sender identification, in order to better assure its traceability in the event of foul play," the report said. Privacy watchdogs worry, however, that requiring sender identification for all mail presents serious risks to civil liberties. "We have a long history in this country of anonymous political speech," said Ari Schwartz, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Any change that removes anonymity from the public mail system is "making a major change to political discourse in this country," he said. Such a system could also facilitate expanded government surveillance powers, said Chris Hoofnagle, deputy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. For instance, the FBI is already allowed to photocopy the outside of unopened letters and packages sent and received by suspected criminals in order to monitor their communications, Hoofnagle said. An intelligent mail system could make conducting such "mail cover" activity easier, enabling the FBI to build databases tracking communication among people on a broader scale, he noted. Hoofnagle and Schwartz also questioned the cost and effectiveness of a system that hinges on proving the identity of millions of individual mail senders. Even an overhaul of the entire postal system may not thwart stamp-swipers and identity thieves, they said. "In order to close those holes, you have to move toward a police state," Hoofnagle said. The commission's report notes briefly that "issues of privacy should, of course, be noted and balanced with the value of enhanced safety." A representative of the commission wasn't immediately available to explain how the postal service might actually strike such a balance. A USPS representative said the agency is still reviewing the report and declined to comment on its recommendations. However, the USPS already has been investigating intelligent mail technology for at least two years. It made development of the system part of a "transformation plan" it issued last year. USPS has also assigned its chief privacy officer, Zoe Strickland, to set up a working group to examine and incorporate privacy considerations into intelligent mail programs, according to a document on the agency's Web site. The commission that released the report is overseen by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and was established by an executive order from President Bush last year. It’s led by Harry Pearce, chairman of Hughes Electronics, a subsidiary of General Motors, and James Johnson, vice chairman of Perseus, an investment banking firm. Major high-tech companies, including Canon, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Pitney Bowes, Symbol Technologies and Stamps.com, are pushing the Postal Service to adopt intelligent mail systems. Each participates in a special committee on intelligent mail run by the Mailing Industry Task Force, a cross-industry group formed in 2001 with the support of Postmaster General John Potter. |