Sanity for music downloads

First there was Napster, and boy did we play, then came AudioGalaxy, then Gnutella, then Bittorrent, and then suddenly the immensely evil iTunes. Why might you ask is iTunes evil? Well it's simple really, restrictions. Digital Rights Management (DRM) locks on downloaded tracks restricting users to the iweighatonPod. Arguably it saved Apple.

Apple, having royally screwed the pooch, by restricting sale of their hardware in the 1980s, had been totally done over by IBM and Intel who released free license for clone machines. The icosttoomuchPod stopped them diving into the abyss of obscurity. Then, in a truly ironic way they invented iTunes, the application and download center which, like the evil twin in Redmond, restricted consumer choice by bundling together software and functioning APIs with hardware. Then yesterday it all changed.

EMI shocked the industry by announcing it would be releasing downloadable tracks free of DRM, meaning that no longer were you restricted to using them on one particular player. Sanity has reigned free int he world of music and we are back to the way it should be, where we buy and are officially free to use the tunes on other listening devices that we own. No longer are we forced to use the ihaveacrapbatterylifePod with our downloaded music.

All that is left is to start offering music in the patent free, Ogg Vorbis format and the world will be truly normal again.

Update: It's been suggested in the comment that I have a thing against the isuckPod. It's not true, I have nothing against it, I just hate it because it sucks and I'm not alone. Let the war with Devils "I love Steve Jobs" Kitchen begin!

p.s. zeroconf/rendezvous sucks too!

Interesting minutiae if you own a home

In keeping with the "fine wine" blogger Paul Linford's description of me as doing "interesting minutiae" I just thought I'd blog about building regulations. Yes I know, it's very boring, but as a home owner who has done alterations I never realised quite how anal the rules were about making changes to your own property until I tried to.

Building Regulations change all the time, given that they are all about "minutiae" no one actually pays much attention to them accept perhaps the building industry and the town hall building control department who, so it seems, apply the rules in different ways.

The next set of change will be coming in in just three days time, and will have quite an impact on building cost for new builds and certainly impede the ability of some home owners to make improvements to their property. Specifically if you want to build a loft conversion, which is a very popular way of increasing the value of your property for less cost then buying a property with an extra room, the cost is about to sore by quite a bit.

The new regulation require that any new loft conversions require either a secondary stair well "means of escape" (difficult in a Victorian terrace) or the installation of sprinkler system. Adding a stair well is clearly going to be out of the question for most homes as it will simply cut into already existing living space, so most people will have to go for a sprinkler system.

Sprinkler systems are by no means cheap. They are essentially the addition of central heating piping, and will cost you at the minimum £3000 and if you live in an old property you're looking at a retro fit at which the cost could double.

Just to put that in perspective, a sprinkler system will increase the price of the average loft conversion by about 10%. Apologies for writing about a boring topic, but the way regulations dictate what you can do with your own property does irk me. It all comes down to personal responsibility and risk for me.

I'm amazed it took them so long

You've got to love the Indy for their trying. It's only taken them eleven days but they got there in the end. This morning they have exclusively revealed that the British servicemen being held hostage in Iran is all America's fault.

I'm amazed it took them this long to draw the conclusion, but never fear, Patrick Cockburn (what an unfortunate surname) was always going to save the day if Robert Fisk couldn't deliver.

Beckett apologises for the Falklands War?

What is it about those on the Left and their fluid attitudes against fascism? We always hear of campaigning group on the Left that are "anti-fascist" and yet, when it comes to fighting a fascist military junta that has invaded your sovereign territory it tears itself apart with many becoming apologists for facisim on the ground of imperialism.

Which leads me neatly on to the Foreign Secertary statement today about the Falklands which opens by saying,

"2nd April marks the 25th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falklands. The resulting loss of life on both sides is a source of continuing regret."

We have absolutely nothing to regret or apologise for about the Falklands conflict. The military Junta of Galtieri was a fasicist regime, and deserves no historical revisionism, especially from our Foreign Secretary.

Sion Simon talks one way and acts another

Back in March when the Climate Change Bill went through Parliament, the MP for Erdington, Sion Simon (he of webcameron spoof fame), made a statement on his website saying

"there may be as little as a decade to stop adding to the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere before its too late to prevent irreversible climate change.... as your MP it is my duty to help the Government succeed in tackling climate change."

Obviously when he says that it is his "duty to help the Government succeed in tackling climate change", what he actually means is that it is his duty to make all of us do what he says, and not watch what he does.

In November, he thought nothing of hopping on a plane for a two day freebie jolly to Spain for the launch of the Jaguar XKR. The Jaguar XKR is not exactly a car in line with Simon's proud boasts about tackling climate change, what with its 267g/km emission rate.

Irrespective of whether one believes or disbelieves the veracity of the "climate change", if you claim to be on the "we're doomed" side of the fence, then casually flying to Spain to support a car that doesn't fit with that position makes you look, well, a bit silly at best and a hypocrite at the worst.

Quote of the Day

"There's a lot to learn about how to walk. If you were going out for a Sunday afternoon stroll you might walk one way. If you're trying to catch a train you might walk in another way and if you are doing a cliff walk you might walk in another way."

Acting deputy general secretary of the Association of Teahers and Lecturers, Martin Johnson, on the introduction of lessons in walking on the National Curriculum.

Update Chris Paul has left a comment below suggesting that this was an April's Fools joke. It may well have been, but it was actually in the Guardian on Friday March 30th.

The Mili-spammer?

There's an interesting post over on Mike Rouse's blog which wonders whether the recent post by Guido about being emailed from the Hansard Society at the LSE because he registered his email address on the Mili-Blog constitutes a breach of the Data Protection regulations.

Even if it doesn't, as Mike points out, it does breach the privacy policy on Miliband's blog which states that, "Defra respects your email privacy and your address will not be stored, displayed or shared for any purpose."

The question about Data Protection depends essentially on what information it stores and has disclosed to the Hansard Society and the LSE. If it is just email addresses with no personal information that can cross reference them to real people it may be outside the DPA scope, however, there is another piece of legislative scope it may fall into, the anti-spam regulations. The implication, if it has breached the laws, is a £5000 fine for every email that has been sent.

According to anti-spam regulations, if an organisation mass emails individuals it must satisfy three conditions to qualify for "soft opt-in". The Mili-blog and Hansard Society together achieve the first two I think, but not the third requirement which states that,

"The individual is given a simple opportunity to refuse the marketing when their details are collected and is given another simple way to do so in every future message."

This does not, at any point, happen on the Mili-blog. So we have three cock-ups in total. First they may have breached the DPA by disclosing personal data to third parties; second they have actually done the exact opposite of their own privacy policy which states email addresses will not be stored; and third they offer no ability to opt-out of marketing and contact options, which is a requirement of the Government's own regulations.

Whoops!

Labour Deputy candidates fail to add donations to Register of Members' Interests

It looks like Iain Dale's little chipmunk, Hazel Blears, has been so busy running her campaign which has blanket targeted researchers from across the parties that she's forgotten to update the Register of Members' Interest with a £10,000 cash donation. The last time Blears updated her entries on the Register was the 6th Februrary. The register has been republished twice with updates from MP since then, the last time being the 13th March.

Blears made no updates in those two republications, yet she did receive a £10,000 cash donation at the beginning of March from a company in Manchester called Wilkinson Star Limited. Having said this, it's not just Blears that seems to be forgetting things.

Another deputy leadership candidate, Peter Hain, also received a cash donation of £10,000 from someone called Christopher Campbell at the beginning of March which he has failed to add to 13th March publication of the Register. I'm sure they'll appear in the next publication though.

In other news, Jon Cruddas appears to have secured another £15,000 donation from a major Union. Just before the New Year it was Unison, not it's the Transport and General Workers Union that have given him cash. He received the donation after the last publication of the register though.

The Sunday Times April Fools Joke

The Sunday Times have published their Aprils Fools Day joke this morning and I have to say it's quite good. Under the headline Clarke ready to run for leader it details the hilarious tale that Charles Clarke is to run against Gordon Brown if Miliband doesn't. They even have some anonymous quote from a source close to Clarke (who last week said he was actually a Billy No-Mates) saying he "intends to run a progressive campaign that will force a debate on the party’s future.”

Blunkett caught in vice shame

It's being reported that the former Home Secretary David Blunkett has been caught in yet another sex scandal. Reports suggest he's been arrested whilst kerb crawling in a Red Light district in Ipswich. According to the arresting officer "he totally ruined the rims on his alloys".