Altanta rappers DJ Drama and Don Cannon, famous for their Gansta Grillz Mixtapes, were arrested last night in a big bust of their so-called "bootleg" CDs. These were not counterfeited CDs as the RIAA claims, but instead freestyle rap mixtapes that were often used to hype new releases.

In the video we see a representative of the RIAA, who appears to have initiated the whole operation in conjunction with law enforcement. These are not criminals-they're artists doing something that DJs have done for ages. Free the DJs!

(One thing I'm confused about, though, is the supposed release of a Gansta Grillz Mixtape on an RIAA label.. Are they arresting their own?)

Hey kids, guess what? AOL is entering a new market-that of movie downloads. (Oh wait, they already tried this over two years ago.) Priced at $10-$20 each, no capability to burn to DVD, and Windows Media DRM, it's sure to be a hit. (Oh wait, that won't even work on your iPod.)**

First, when will those who wish to sell downloads realize that the cost of digital distribution is virtually zero-that is, to copy an additional file. Sure, there is overhead involved in having a centralized distribution mechanism, but technologies like those of BitTorrent enable the bandwidth costs to be shared by the users. Plain and simply, digital downloads should cost less, because they're cheaper to produce.

Second, what about the long term viability of DRMed files? At least with an mp3, or even a physical DVD, you know that it will probably work in a few years. The restrictions that DRM impose mean that it's very likely that after you have a new computer or two, or portable video player, or even re-install your system software, you won't be able to access the file. And not to mention that the DRM AOL is using only works on Windows Media players, and will only work on Windows-based computers or portable players that don't use the standard. (No wonder even media industry DRM advocates are now saying DRM doesn't prevent piracy, but is instead key to consumer lock-in.)

In a recent Forbes article entitled "Don't Marry Career Women," you'd probably think it was more likely to come from The Onion:

Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.

Why? Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it. A recent study in Social Forces, a research journal, found that women-even those with a "feminist" outlook-are happier when their husband is the primary breadwinner.

So please, not like this social research is tarnished by the gender societal inequalities itself, so we'll all be happier if we preserve the status quo and ensure that the men have the power.

And attention all women marrying women: do not marry a career one!

Slashdot is running an article on the campaign to get rid of the caps lock key. Caps off, as the group is called, assures us that the world would be a far better place with a much more useful key in that position.

Hey, I'm all for it. When was the last time you purposefully used the caps lock key? When was the last time it was on by mistake and no wonder why all of your passwords didn't work? Enough said.

Okay, I know some of you love the Snakes on a Plane meme kind of thing, but do these cats really look like Hitler?! Or do I/they/we just have nothing better to do?!

Last week the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation made what was quite a startling announcement: it is donating $287 million to AIDS research, but only to those who leave their work open for sharing and collaboration. The Wall Street Journal reported that:

Frustrated that over two decades of research have failed to produce an AIDS vaccine, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is tying his foundation's latest, biggest AIDS-vaccine grants to a radical concept: Those who get the money must first agree to share the results of their work in short order.

Low and behold, Bill Gates has finally and wholly publicly acknowledged the benefits of open sharing and collaboration. Mr. oh-wait-but-watching-TV-snippets-uploaded-to-YouTube-isn't-quite-stealing (another shocking revelation!) has now finally realized the benefits of open sharing and collaboration. But what, Mr. Gates, what about software? Why does this apply to the development of AIDS vaccines, and not open access to and the collaborative building of technologies, and culture more generally? Doesn't it so happen that by propretization and the lack of sharing and collaborating, technological and cultural progress is similarly stifled?

Perhaps if he could just bring himself to answer that question, he wouldn't be the richest man in the world after all.

Apparently CBS is set to infiltrate American homes with advertising for their fall TV lineup. What's the strategy? Egg-vertising. You got it. Basically they'll use lasers to etch engravings into 35 million egg shells that consumers will view each time they open their egg carton-all the way until they actually crack that egg open.

The best thing about the egg concept was its intrusiveness. "You can't avoid it," [CBS Exec George Schweitzer] said.

It's a great thing I don't think I've ever bought eggs in my life (so yes, in fact, I can), but I'd like to know what benefits consumers get from such advertising invading their homes, their fridges, their breakfast for that matter. Do they get cheaper eggs? (The article does not seem to indicate so.) Apparently, we should all be happy that our lives will be further intruded upon by the wonders of corporate advertising. Now I just can't wait to buy my first carton...

Our good old friends at the RIAA are at it again-reports have come in that they've sent cease and desist letters to creators of videos that make use of music to which the RIAA holds the copyright (the artists sign it over in their contracts). So watch out, next time you're planning on lip synching to the Backstreet Boys or Xtina, you may have a lawsuit ahead of you if you decide to put it up on the Net.

What's further, the RIAA is also reportedly working with YouTube to identify "infringing videos" on their site utilizing music recognition technology. With such automated identification, songs owned by the RIAA can be identified from even very small clips.

When are the xxAAs (and the major media companies for that matter) going to wake up and realize that they're paying billions for advertising and marketing, and yet here are tons of people that are doing it for them for free. In fact, they should be thanking the kids that are lip synching and remixing their trailers as opposed to suing them. (This reminds me of the similarly ill-thought out policy by NBC ordering YouTube to take down the SNL Narnia Rap.) Instead of acknowledging that user-created videos actually serve as free marketing, the RIAA is now committed to taking "an agressive stance against amateur video using commerical songs." Not only is it futile for them to make this effort in the first place, but in the end, it is just going to HurtYou.