It’s the turn of British teenagers to be afraid, very afraid. The British Phonographic Industry, the trade body that represents record labels including EMI, Sony and Warner Music, says:

“Nobody should be in any doubt that such uses of file-sharing networks are illegal and are harming the health of British music. We will take legal action if we are forced to”

Don’t you just love the sweeping, unsubstantiated claim that it’s hurting British music. Says who?

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has called a snap state election for February. And has a web site which other politicians should see – http://www.teambeattie.com.

There was a minor hiccup this week when an enterprising activist registered peterbeattie.com and directed it to the rival Liberal web site, but this seems to have been altered and it now goes to the teambeattie, so someone has had a word to someone. Fascinating how the media blew it up as a hack attack. Nothing of the sort of course, just a piece of online activism, and serves Beattie for not spending the few extra bucks to register the domain in the first place.

Speaking of hiding technology, here’s an issue I’ve only just started to get my head around – radio-frequency identification chips (RFIDS). I know retailers are looking at embedding them in clothes, ostensibly to help with stocktaking and the like (akin to a bar code on each item I suppose), but privacy advocates are very worried.

And in a move which could get some people very worried, organisers of an internet and technology conference in Switzerland in December embedded RFIDS in the delegate badges:

“The badges were handed out to more than 50 prime ministers, presidents and other high-level officials from 174 countries, including the United States. “

One of the big conference agenda issues was, wait for it, privacy!

“The three-day WSIS forum focused on Internet governance and access, security, intellectual-property rights and privacy. The United States and other countries defeated an attempt to place the Internet under supervision of the United Nations. “

One of the key campaigners against RFIDS in the USA has a web site which explains these little critters, and what they could be used for: http://www.spychips.com/. According to reports today, she’s experiencing something of a possible smear campaign, after a company inadvertently sent her a copy of an email she wasn’t supposed to see.

Speaking of hiding technology, here’s an issue I’ve only just started to get my head around – radio-frequency identification chips (RFIDS). I know retailers are looking at embedding them in clothes, ostensibly to help with stocktaking and the like (akin to a bar code on each item I suppose), but privacy advocates are very worried.

And in a move which could get some people very worried, organisers of an internet and technology conference in Switzerland in December embedded RFIDS in the delegate badges:

“The badges were handed out to more than 50 prime ministers, presidents and other high-level officials from 174 countries, including the United States. “

One of the big conference agenda issues was, wait for it, privacy!

“The three-day WSIS forum focused on Internet governance and access, security, intellectual-property rights and privacy. The United States and other countries defeated an attempt to place the Internet under supervision of the United Nations. “

One of the key campaigners against RFIDS in the USA has a web site which explains these little critters, and what they could be used for: http://www.spychips.com/. According to reports today, she’s experiencing something of a possible smear campaign, after a company inadvertently sent her a copy of an email she wasn’t supposed to see.

Adobe, makers of the hugely popular Photoshop graphics software, in use by the majority of serious commercial grapic artists as well as amateurs, has come clean and admitted it has conspired with an international consortium of banks and governments to hide code in Photoshop to prevent copying of images of bank notes.

“Adobe, the world’s leading vendor for graphics software, said the secretive technology “would have minimal impact on honest customers”. It generates a warning message when someone tries to make digital copies of some currencies. “

This is an interesting one. On the one hand, it seems a reasonable move, given that in today’s computerised age, programs such as Photoshop are likely to be the tool of choice by naughty people wanting to produce their own currency without the inconvenience of earning the real folding stuff.

On the other hand, what Adobe has done is allow a bunch of interested parties to include code in a proprietory program. Adobe didn’t develop the code which stops the counterfeiting, it simply included it within the Adobe Photoshop code (as has at least a couple of other graphic software companies according to media reports).

So although the initial concept seems logical, it opens a tough can of worms to digest – the idea that self-interest parties, with sufficient clout, can strong arm commercial, independent companies to modify software – without those companies having access to the original code.

Adobe claims it only adds a fraction of a second to the execution time of the program, they are playing the whole thing down, saying it will not affect ‘honest’ users.

US Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell says it’s:

“the most dramatic and meaningful stimulation to our economic productivity and growth.”

Gee, wouldn’t it be nice if we head that type of talk from the Australian government – or even Telstra?

Powell went on:

“Everybody talks about it like we’re talking about phone service. Wake up! This is not about phone service,” he said. “It’s about our lives and our prosperity and the role of the U.S. in the 21st century, and will we be a nation of tech leadership.”

Well the new European anti-spam laws don’t seem to working too well:

“The European Privacy and Communications Directive came into effect on 11 December, but in the same month the UK became one of the worst offenders for sending unsolicited email, according to rankings compiled by anti-spam organisation Spamhaus. “

And the Can Spam Law in the USA has resulted in MORE spam!

“US email security company Postini saw the proportion of spam rise from 74 per cent in December to 84 per cent within the first couple of days of the new year.”

A triumph for the lawmakers clearly.

So why should the price of a song be fixed in cement? One company’s taking the opposite tack:

“A little known online music store is experimenting with a new pricing system in which most songs start out costing a dime, and their prices fluctuate from there based on customer demand.”

Rolling Stone is carrying a great article, reproaching the music industry for its anti-download tactics:

“The fact is, the music industry has long been out of whack. Artists have been getting shafted for years. Record companies were over-staffed. And CDs were over-priced. Maybe it’s taken the peer-to-peer “revolution” to put the business back in shape. Geeks term such developments “disruptive technology.” But it’s disruptive in a good way, forcing an old snake to shed its skin for something fresh.”

And reafirming the point that the music industry needs to ‘get hip’ to the brave new world in which we find ourselves, and develop new business cases, instead of viciously protecting its previous entrenched traditions.

Here’s a turn up for the books, consumers suing music companies:

“Belgium-based consumer watchdog Test Aankoop filed the suit against giants such as the Universal Music unit of Vivendi Universal, Sony’s, Sony Music and BMG, reproaching the record companies for selling copy-protected compact discs that don’t play in car stereos or on computers. The consumer group, which says it has received more than 200 complaints about top-selling albums that could not be played on some personal devices, wants the labels to stop copy-protecting the discs and to reimburse customers. “

The theme of the article is “CD sales may stagnate because consumers feel they offer low value”. And how the industry is only angering consumers by imposing copy protection on disks; suing kids and so on.