EFF, Movie Studios, FLASH, HTML5, and the fall of the rights of Man

EFF Makes Formal Objection to DRM in HTML5

I am no fan of FLASH, the backbone of sites like YOUTUBE, and virtually any video stream site on the web (I personally do not use YOUTUBE or stream movie trailers for this very reason, my dislike of Flash. I prefer downloading what I choose to watch, preferably in open-souce format, over streaming anything), however its replacement HTML5 is even worse.

HTML5 is designed to the specification and needs of an increasingly troubling lobbying block, the movie and entertainment studios.

Now more than ever the same industry that lobbied to get DVD infringement to carry a heavier penalty than battery or rape (those oh so unobtrusive FBI warnings :)), wants safeguards on what you watch and see and access.

In addition to the idiocy that is ‘Cloud’ computing, and DRM, they combine both concepts in HTML5.

HTML5 has its good points. It gives you ease of use in accessing media, without doubt, however you pay for ease of use in accessing media, in loss of privacy and erosion of the rights of self.

The price HTML5 wants for ease of use… is too high.

HTML5 makes your browser of choice, Firefox, Explorer, Chrome, Opera, etc in truly fundamental ways no longer an avenue for spy-ware, but rather spy-ware itself.

But spy-ware used by oligarchies with the money to make legal, what if an individual did it… we would call criminal.

If like me you don’t believe corporations should be above the law, or greater than an individuals right to privacy you may want to join the EFF in opposing the new HTML5.

Find out more here!

And if you want to surf with a bit of security and choice then

1/ disable javascript unless you specifically need it for a known and trusted site, bank, database, etc

and

2/ Disable HTML5 from auto-playing media in your browser. Here are the Firefox instructions.

Hope the above helps. And don’t forget join the EFF and help them… help you.

Tech Talk of the Day and…. Lizards?!!

“What good is wisdom, if it gives no solace to the wise?”
— Dark Side of the Moon

I do think, somewhere the military was fighting Godzilla, as we had helicopters in formation, and fighter planes roaring above our heads, in a hurry to get somewhere.

And it could have been my imagination, but in the distance I could just make out a sound that could have been the roar of a righteously pissed off, gigantic atomic lizard. 🙂 .

Well enough with my perhaps peyote inspired dinosaur diatribe, onto today’s tech tips:

If you use Firefox there’s a feature called Pipelining that’s turned off by default. Here’s an article about turning it on to offer a marginal increase in page load times/responsiveness:

Firefox and Pipelining!

A decent read. And so far I’m testing it out, with no issues.

A couple other tweaks…

A few items I had turned on in the Firefox browser by default, that I’m currently testing in disabled mode, as I don’t use fancy high-faluting graphics when I surf, Plus some of them have, like WebGL, known security issues:

webgl.disabled;true
media.webm.enabled;false
html5.parser.enable;false
html5.offmainthread;false
geo.enabled;false

browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash;false

And yes I know HTML5 is all the rage these days, but I’m not really a rage type guy. :). Still toying with it and seeing what it offers enabled as opposed to disabled. So I’ll report back on the effect of these tweaks after I’ve browsed with em for a bit.

Oh and here’s a pretty cool read if you are, like me, a newbie to the Opera browser:

Recent versions of Opera by default have a web server built-in, and TURNED ON. Who does that? The vast majority of people using a browser have no need for it to be broadcasting and requesting information like it is a web-server. So if you don’t need your computer/browser to be a web-server, you should consider disabling the Unite and Web Server functions of opera. Here’s more discussion on the pros and cons:

Webserver in your browser?
thoughts on opera browser

So if you read all that and decide you want to disable Unite/Webserver in Opera do the following:

• Enter opera:config in that browser.
• Expand the “User Prefs” section and turn OFF the checkbox for “Enable Unite”.
• Expand the “Web Server” section and turn OFF all those checkboxes, especially the 2 labled UPnP.

For more details go here!

Okay that’s all for this installment. Hope you’ve found some of that useful.

And goshdarn it… is that sound getting closer?!!! GOJIRA!!!! Ahhhh!! Ahhhh! (Yes I have watched too many Godzilla movies :))

DVD OF THE DAY : PASSING STRANGE Greatest Rock Opera EVER!?!

“I Wish we could talk about how the means will not prepare you for the ends.
how your epiphanies will become fair-weather friends.
how death will make you lower your defenses.
The only truth of youth is the grown up consequences”
—PASSING STRANGE

“I will see her again. Because life is a mistake, that only art can correct. I will see her again.”
—PASSING STRANGE

I just saw one of the most brilliant things ever.

Simply devastating.

PASSING STRANGE is a DVD that I picked up today. Directed by Spike Lee it’s a filmed play, that I had never heard of before, but has by all reports been a smash hit sensation on Broadway. I’ve passed on this DVD a couple times, mainly because 1/I’m not a fan of filmed plays and 2/Spike Lee has been on my bad side, ever since his awful mangling and failure that was MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA.

But today I decided to give the dvd PASSING STRANGE a try.

Man.

Man.

Stunning. Simply stunning.

Created by singer/songwriter Stew, PASSING STRANGE is a semi-autobiographical Rock Opera, that takes you on a journey of one man’s search… for the real; that becomes all our journeys and all our mistakes. Highlighted by a phenomenal cast, avant-garde and stunning script/design, and brilliant music and direction. It is the tale of coming of age, told unlike any I have seen before. A minimalist play/tale that spans LA to Amsterdam to Germany, and spans distances not measurable in miles, and times that can not be captured in years. PASSING STRANGE devastates With humor, hunger, poetry and pain. And Love. And Love.

And raw effing POWER and ENERGY.

“I’ll live in vans crammed with guitars.
I’ll sleep on floors and play in bars.
I’ll dance to my own Metronome
Till Chaos feels like Home!”

“You know what’s weird? When you wake up that morning and realize your entire adult life was based on a decision made by a teenager.”
—PASSING STRANGE

Words just do not do it justice.

I have got to see anything this playwright/troupe ends up doing in the future.

Brilliant.

Been a long time since I’ve been to a concert or a play, several months, long time since I’ve felt… moved. Art when it’s good, when it is really, really good; can change the contour of your soul and the breadth of your reality.

At 14 it would have changed my soul, and at 400 :), I find, much to my surprise, it still has the power… to change my soul. 🙂

It can make you reevaluate your status quo.

And make a change.

PASSING STRANGE is art.

And Spike Lee manages to capture, brilliantly, the last night, and by all reports one of the greatest nights of the play.

Highest Recommendation.