Podcasting Pioneers

For those looking to devour your daily dose of Nancy Pelosi's manufactured alliteration, the House Democrats have announced the rollout of a new podcasting project. Podcasting, you'll remember, is like TiVo for your portable audio device. Democrats hope to use this technology to jump start a messaging machine that has difficulty getting out of the garage. The problem is, unlike rushing home to search the TiVo, it is doubtful that the American public is all that eager to sync up and hear the latest press conference from the House Democratic leadership. That goes for the RNC, too.

Podcasting has its place, and as it becomes more user-friendly and well known, it will be a neat opportunity to get news from primary resources. The circle of folks that is interested in hearing those messages, though, is limited. I'm not sure iPods are the jumper cables capable of getting the House Democrats' message machine humming, but kudos for trying.

Thought Police

It says a lot about a society when the release of a movie is threatened because a car drives through an area resembling a courtyard whose design has been copyrighted. I'm sure the lawyers love it, but for the rest of us it is an extraordinary hassle that drains creativity, pocket books and erodes the will of citizens to resist.

Prior to reading Lawrence Lessig's exerpt, I had no idea the extent to which our legal system supports such creative straightjackets. Not that I am surprised, considering how cottage industries have sprung up across all forms of commerce whenever legal minds spot an opportunity to ply their trade by throwing up barriers to the trade of others.

The internet, on the other hand, has transformed the way intellectual property is defined, copied, purchased, or transferred, and is the wild west of copyright infringement. Copyright protection has been a major focus of the entertainment industry, as the RIAA and MPAA have sought legal remedies to combat software that enables consumers to steal rather than spend for artists' work. While there have been notable legal victories for industry, the real challenge lies in coping with technologies that make violating copyrights a snap, and create a culture that doesn't see anything particularly wrong with these violations.

So while the movie industry has matured to the point where every aspect of creativity is run through the lawyers, the internet is still relatively unpoliced. You can imagine the dollar signs that must be flashing through the heads of lawyers who see a regulatory gold rush ahead. This includes those who pore through election law and FEC advisory opinions, and impact how political voices are heard.