In a surprise ruling, a U.S. federal appeals court has told the recording industry in no uncertain terms that it does not have the right to demand the names and addresses of subscribers from the nation’s internet service providers (ISPs). A lower court had previously upheld the industry’s demand that Verizon and other ISPs release the names of their subscribers, and paved the way for nearly 400 lawsuits against users suspected of illegal file-trading. The ruling doesn’t mean that the industry must cease suing online pirates, but it will make such actions much more complicated.
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Am I My Users’ Keeper? Not In Holland.
“The makers of Kazaa, the world’s most popular computer file-sharing program, cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped on its free software, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled Friday. The decision upheld a 2002 appellate-court verdict… In the United States, a federal judge already has dismissed the entertainment industry’s lawsuits against two rival file-sharing services, Grokster and StreamCast Networks, saying they could not be held liable for what their users do with the software. That ruling has been appealed, with a decision expected in February.”
Reasonable Faith, Or Faith In Reason?
The 21st century’s great intellectual conflict seems to be coming into focus, and it is a battle between Reason, the logic-based truth of scientists and academics; and Faith, the popular notion that truth is as much what we believe as what we can prove. The battle could be seen as a conflict between East and West, but those lines are blurring daily. It could be perceived as a battle between Left and Right, with the American right now teeming with evangelical Christians, and the left with secular intellectuals, but that leaves out the complicating factors of what is shaping up to be a truly global debate. “It is a conflict between competing certainties: between followers of Faith, who know because they believe, and followers of Reason, who believe because they know.”
Final WTC Plans Unveiled
“After months of bitter disagreement, the master planner and lead architect for the World Trade Center site yesterday unveiled the design of an iconic new tower that will rise 1,776 feet above Ground Zero to become the world’s tallest building… The structure would be torqued in shape, giving it an asymmetrical look. And though its grand spire would pierce the sky, the building would house 2.6 million square feet of office space only up to the 60th floor… At the 66th floor, a public observation deck will be built. And at the 67th, the famed Windows on the World restaurant will return when the building is completed in early 2009.”
Seeting Aside Ego For The Sake of Art
With all the public feuding between architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs, the public had good reason to fear that the eventual design of New York’s newest skyscraper would turn out to be a monument to ego and greed. Instead, says Herbert Muschamp, maturity seems to have prevailed, and New Yorkers ought to be thankful that it did. “The architects have come close to transcending what’s left of their battered selves. With some shrewd editing, the design could become one of the noblest skyscrapers ever realized in New York.”
Kamin: What Happened To Libeskind?
The problem with the new Libeskind/Childs design, says Blair Kamin, is that it’s pretty good. In fact, it’s probably just good enough that no one will seriously object to its being built, thus depriving New Yorkers of a truly great addition to their skyline. “As the banality of the twin towers made clear when they were completed in the early 1970s, there is a critical difference between technical achievement and aesthetic quality.” Chief among Kamin’s complaints about the new design is that master architect Daniel Libeskind’s grand vision seems to have been relegated to the sidelines, and David Childs’ glittery clichès have taken over.
Now, About That “World’s Tallest” Thing…
New Yorkers are fond of leading the world in one thing or another. So it’s no surprise that the new Freedom Tower is being pumped as ‘the world’s tallest building.’ But is it, really? “It will certainly be the world’s tallest cable-framed, open-air, windmill-filled, spire-studded superstructure, rising atop 70 stories of offices, restaurants, a broadcast center and an observation deck,” says David Dunlap, but uninhabitable spires such as the one that will stretch some 625 feet above the tower’s occupied space may not count towards the ‘world’s tallest’ designation. The final decision on such things is left to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which we swear we are not making up.
On Writing Words For Opera
Poet Lavinia Greenlaw recently found herself writing an opera libretto. “Singing is not a casual act. Opera (again, like poetry) works best when it refuses to be embarrassed about its artifice. Libretti work best when the lines are fluent and convincing, but also emphatically styled. As I have begun to learn in my own libretto-writing, it’s a question of texture rather than vocabulary. Rossini once said: “Give me a laundry list, and I will set it.” WH Auden points out that this is not so great a claim, since lists lend themselves to music particularly well. Any words can be used if they contain a space for the music and action and are strong enough to change shape without losing meaning. It’s like making the skin for some fantastical beast based on what it is going to do rather than what it might look like.”
What The Barnes Can Teach Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario is expanding, and simultaneously undergoing a bit of an inner identity crisis, with the recent controversial closing of its Canadian wing, and the announcement that it will begin to integrate such decorative arts as pistols and fountain pens into its collection. “Through the history of museums… idiosyncratic tastes have driven great institutions forward — and hobbled smaller ones in perpetuity.” For a sense of what paths the AGO may wish to explore, and which ones it may need to avoid, Kate Taylor suggests a fresh look at the various melodramas surrounding Philadelphia’s embattled Barnes Collection.
Factory 798 – Turning China Upside Down
Beijing’s Factory 798 is home to an amazing collective of contemporary artists who are remaking modern art in China. “This giant Bauhaus-style collection of workshops somehow manages to confirm the old cultural stereotypes about this nominally communist country, while simultaneously turning them upside down. The setting is a plot of living history.”