simply awesome

I was going to blockquote just a graph or two in a larger post about copyright in the digital age, but really, you just need to read through all of Gizmodo's Joel Johnson, in his parlance, "iPad snivelers": software developers who complain about Apple's closed ecosystem.

Now, yes, I'm a nerd -- even though I don't know thing out about coding -- but I think these issues are relevant to performing artists. As I've mentioned before, we need to be thinking proactively (and, er, creatively) about the nature of performance, recording of performance, and monetizing those recordings.

It's also hilarious:

Is the DMCA a travesty? Is it bullshit that someone should go to jail for cracking the firmware of a device they own? Of course. Only monsters would allow the curious to go to jail for exploring. Every song ever recorded, every movie ever filmed—they're all together less important than a person's freedom.

But you know what will fix those issues? It's not bitching about how those stupid customers may or may not buy an iPad. It's fixing the legal system. (Or for most of us, myself included, letting the EFF fight those battles for us.)

The number of engineers complaining about Apple's decisions who aren't using products of other capitalist corporations who thrive in the shadow of patent law and the DMCA approaches zero: Moan away in your Google browsers on Windows running on your copyrighted Intel processors. You're really fighting the good fight.

Now, I'm not buying an iPad because they're tethered to AT&T and AT&T is terrible. But that's another issue altogether...