As Intellectual Property Law Develops…

…things like this are going to backfire.

Without a special license, owners of bars, clubs and restaurants could be sued for playing any one of 8 million recorded songs, even from their own CDs.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) says that equates to performing copyrighted music without permission, and the group is going after local businesses that haven’t paid them for the privilege.

On Monday, ASCAP said it had filed 26 separate infringement actions against nightclubs, bars and restaurants in 17 states. Among them is a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle against the Ibiza Dinner Club downtown.

The group sued to spread the word that performing such music without permission is a federal offense, said Vincent Candilora, ASCAP senior vice president for licensing.

A few years ago, a priest convinced me I needed to stop downloading and burning music and software CDs and DVDs. He said that the Vatican has issued directives indicating that Catholics must adhere to copyright law. I’ve never found the directives, but I wouldn’t doubt that they exist.

That said, some of copyright law is ludicrous. Did you know that music CDs, for example, are supposed to be restricted such that you can only play one copy at a time? So, if I’ve downloaded a CD I purchased onto my iPod and I’m listening to it on the bus on the way to work and my wife happens to be listening to it in the car, we’re breaking the law.

Now that groups like ASCAP have gotten wind of the fact that there’s money to be made chasing down people who are using music they’ve purchased in what seems like a reasonable way, the lawsuits start. But the backlash is going to be stronger. There’s not a DRM technology in the world that can stop someone with reasonable technical proficiency from ripping music, downloading music, sharing music, etc. The same applies to software and DVDs. There is always a workaround.

Much of the willingness of the general public to adhere to IP law has to do with an atmosphere of good will and a reasonable approach to fair use. It’s just so easy to break IP law and get away with it, that people who have ethical qualms about doing so (but no moral reason not to, like I do) can be easily pushed to the point where they simply don’t care.

As the saying goes, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? The answer is that there must be some reason to buy the cow, some tangible benefit or some absolute necessity.

The fear that groups like the RIAA and ASCAP are trying to instill in people by suing downloaders may work on some groups, but for the truly tech savvy it’s not much of a concern. Tracks can easily be covered. Music libraries can be hidden from P2P programs so that trackers can’t find them. IRC channels were, up until a couple years ago at least (when I stopped doing it) a hassle-free zone where IP could be downloaded for free from bots set up in a chat server. With a simple audio mixing cable, even the most heavily encrypted CD can be sourced through the output of a computer soundcard and fed back in through the input, where a perfect copy can be recorded straight to the hard drive. Defeating DRM is not rocket science, it just takes a willingness to make the effort.

My advice to the music companies (and video, and software) is twofold – show the people who are demonstrating so much interest in your products some respect (even though they are technically stealing from you, most of them don’t think of it in those terms) and give them something when they buy the product that they can’t get through a download.

Video Game manufacturers figured this out a long time ago when they couldn’t keep up with encryption cracking. The simple solution was to make multiplayer – a huge part of the gaming experience for many gamers – impossible without a unique CD-key. Gamers were stuck with the choice of downloading a game and being restricted to single player campaigns, or buying the software and having not only the single player but the multiplayer online experience. I haven’t seen the stats on this, but my guess is that legitimate software sales increased.

A final word of advice to groups like ASCAP – for heaven’s sake, don’t penalize restaurant owners for playing your music to their customers. Do you know how many times people are sitting in a cafe or bookstore, hear a song, and ask the staff what’s playing so they can go out and buy it? You’re getting free exposure to an audience that is likely attuned to whatever music the proprieter decides fits the ambience of the venue. Stop biting the hands that feed you. We’ll all be better off in the long run.

Now There’s a Shocker

In a story in CNS today, it is being reported that retired Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini will NOT be celebrating the extraordinary rite of Mass.

I’ll give you a moment to stop reeling. You OK? Good. Let’s move on. Here’s what his Eminence had to say:

Although he loves the Latin language and would have no technical difficulty even preaching in Latin, retired Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan, Italy, said he would not celebrate the Tridentine Mass.

Allow me to translate: “Just so you all know, I’m pretty awesome with Latin. I can speak it, read it, preach it - I can even compose limmericks in Latin. You with me? I’ve got the chops when it comes to Latin. Credibility has been established here. Cicero had nothin’ on me. I’m not going to celebrate the extraordinary rite because I DON’T WANT TO, capiche?” 

The 80-year-old cardinal, writing in an Italian newspaper July 29, said he admired Pope Benedict XVI’s “benevolence” in allowing Catholics “to praise God with ancient and new forms” by permitting wider use of the 1962 form of the Mass.

Ahh, yes.  The “benevolence” line is starting to surface again, which is already more tiring than 24-hour Paris Hilton coverage. Let’s revisit what the Holy Father had to say about the “Tridentine” rite:

It is, therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church.

It was never abrogated. That means that the Holy Father wasn’t simply being “benevolent” – he was cleaning up a juridical mess regarding the state of the liturgy of the Roman Rite that had existed for four decades. He was operating within the paramaters of his office to right a wrong. He was simply safeguarding the liturgy of the Church.

Just because we’re happy he did it, doesn’t mean that it was “benevolence”, any more than it’s benevolence that I go to work to put food on the table for my family. He certainly gets credit for doing the job that his three immediate predecessors failed to do, but let’s be clear about the nature of his action. He was establishing the fact that no priest ever technically needed to be “permitted” to say the older form of Mass. It is the right of every priest, and has been all along.

However, he wrote in the July 29 edition of Il Sole 24 Ore, his experience as a bishop convinced him of the importance of a common liturgical prayer to express Catholics’ unity of belief.

Non-sequiter, anyone? Liturgical prayer doesn’t get any more “common” or express greater “unity” than a prayer that has ironclad rubrics, no room for ”Sunday morning at the improv” antics and a single, unifying language of prayer the world over.

Pope Benedict allowed for wider use of the Tridentine Mass in a July 7 document. The Tridentine Mass is the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council; it was last revised in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal.

Ok, several ducks in a row here need knocking down.

1.) We should try to get in the habit of calling it “the classical form” or the “extraordinary rite” or “the Missal of 1962″ or some other more appropriate term. “Tridentine” has pre-motu proprio connotations.

2.) The pope did not allow for “wider use”. He simply removed the false obstacles restricting it. He made it clear that it is acceptable for “universal use”, should the desire arise.

3.) Either Missal – 1962 or 1970, can be Latin-language. 1962 must be, 1970 should be.

4.) The extraordinary rite does not simply “pre-date” the Second Vatican Council. It is the Mass OF the Council! The Council ended in 1965, the new Missal came out in 1970. Do the Math.

The cardinal, a widely respected biblical scholar…

Editor’s Note: “Just in case we didn’t make it clear in our opening paragraph, Cardinal Martini is REALLY SMART, so listen to what he has to say about crazy Pope Benedict’s completely superfluous Motu Proprio.”

…said the first reason he would not use the old Mass is because “with the Second Vatican Council there was a real step forward in understanding the liturgy and its ability to nourish us with the word of God, offered in a much more abundant way than before.“

Oddly, the Mass used to demonstrate a more profound understanding of the liturgy’s ability to nourish us with the Flesh and Blood of God, offered in a much more abundant way than now. While the emphasis on scripture in the new Mass is laudable, it has often taken the shape of a distraction from the Real Presence and a focus on teaching rather than Sacrament and Sacrifice.

Cardinal Martini said his second reason for not going back to the old Mass was that it would be symptomatic of “that sense of closure that emanated from the entire kind of Christian life that people lived then.”

Huh? 

The cardinal wrote, “I am very grateful to the Second Vatican Council because it opened doors and windows for a Christian life that was happier and more humanly livable.”

Obviously, he said, it was possible to live a holy and happy Christian life before the council, but “Christian existence lacked that little grain of mustard that gives added flavor to daily life.”

I left my secret USCCB decoder ring at home. Anyone know what this means? I think he’s talking about how the Council got rid of all of those silly rules, but he lost me with the mustard thing.

Cardinal Martini’s third reason was the need for unity in prayer within each diocese and a practical concern for bishops already struggling to find and assign priests in a way that makes the Eucharist available to as many people as possible.

“Here I trust in the traditional good sense of our people, who will understand how the bishop already struggles to provide the Eucharist to everyone and that it would not be easy to multiply the celebrations or pull out of thin air ordained ministers capable of meeting all the needs of individuals,” he said.

I’m sure if there were a group of Kalahari Bushmen who converted and moved to Milan, the good Cardinal would have set up a clothing-optional Mass in the appropriate Khoisan click languages, in accordance with Sacrosanctum Concilium #37-40.

Cardinal Martini said the first 35 years of his life — his first Communion, theology studies and ordination — were marked by the old Mass.

“It was in the framework of this rite that there began and developed that contact with the divine” and with the mysteries of God who “surrounds us, penetrates us, gives us live and makes us sense a holy presence,” he said.

So…it didn’t take? 

While he would not use the permission granted by the pope in early July, Cardinal Martini said the pope’s willingness to satisfy those Catholics attached to the old rite could signal an “openness to reaching out to everyone, which gives hope for a future of dialogue among all who seek God with a sincere heart.”

Because, in the end, it’s all about diversity. Group hug, anyone?

A Reader Chimes In

On Harry Potter:

We have had reservations with these series because we know the dangers and evils behind witchcraft. It isn’t funny. It isn’t cute.

It surely isn’t funny when 8 year olds “pretend” to be witches especially, when you say on the side, “But you do know that witchcraft is a serious sin” (these are Catholic children). And they have NO idea what you are talking about because it is OK to be like Harry.

And then you are assulted with, well the parents HAVE to do their job in what kids CAN watch and read when the whole theme is problematic to begin with. This given during a time when MOST catholics DO NOT KNOW THEIR FAITH!

It is further frustrating, when well meaning Catholics who do like the books, call you Kooks and Kristians and you are aligned with the crazy church women group.

This is a great illustration of my concern about the books. What’s the low bar for formation before it’s just a fun read? Are they really appropriate for children at all, despite the fact that that is their intended audience?

The reader goes on to say:

My sister was into witchcraft for a while and thank God she is no longer.

Our neice became a “good witch” not long ago and since then this has happened; She has been diagnosed as bipolar and other disorders; her sister has some sort of problem too and has been in and out of mental institutions. Now, there may not be anything associated with the mental illness and the witchcraft; but you can not positively rule it out either. Especially when the one sister is “doing” spells to help the other.

So those who have an aversion to the series, I say good.

Witchcraft is not a joke. I’ve known enough people involved in it to say that when a person practicing witchcraft is doing more than just deluding themself. They are imperiling their soul, and potentially fostering demonic parasites who will follow them for years to come. While great care and discernment must be undertaken by exorcists to be sure that souls are being tormented by a supernatural foe rather than a mental illness, demonic manifestations can and do mimic the symptoms of mental illness.

People MUST exercise caution in these matters. The failure to do so can be disastrous.

Harry Potter is, again, probably not designed to lead people into the occult. It’s fantasy. But insofar as people go looking to the occult for the answers to the questions that arise in this fantasy, we must be vigilant. Children have a hard time making these distinctions, and I wonder about the wisdom of putting them into that situation unnecessarily.

Yeah, Yeah – I’m a Geek

But truck-mounted military laser systems…that’s cool.

Rhymes With “Dairy Otter”

Nah, you won’t get any milk from a cute aquatic mammal, but I just posted a lil’ somethin-somethin’ at CR about the boy from Hogwart’s.

It’s a direct response to something written by Mark Shea.

As an aside, while it’s true that I find myself disagreeing rather strongly with Mr. Shea, he has earned a lot of points with me by posting multiple prayer requests for my family and the soul of my mother-in-law, which resulted in quite possibly hundreds of extra prayers for us from his many readers in a time where we most certainly needed them.

For that, I am in his debt, and tremendously thankful.

If You’re Still Reading

I know I’ve been sparse with the posting, but if you’re still checking in, I’d like to ask for some help. A story was sent to us today indicating that police are looking for a man in connection to Mamie’s death.

He is not a suspect, but came into contact with some of her missing posessions, including her purse, and for some reason turned them in to a Catholic priest. We don’t know why he chose a priest to turn these items in to, but I rarely believe things like this to be coincidental.

I’m asking anyone who is willing to pray for the intercession of St. Anthony of Padua in finding this man. He is the only lead, it seems, that the police have been able to find.

Thank you.

Note to Chavez

Shut your damn flan-hole. 

The rest of the civilized world has known for some time that power-hungry egomaniacs with wannabe communist pinko bastard tendencies don’t realize that there’s an “off” position on the stupid incendiary comments switch, but you don’t need to go reminding us every five minutes.

I can’t wait until alternative fuel technologies cut our petroleum umbilical cord to unstable regimes, and Venezuela can get back to being a rainforest tourism destination instead of a government-sponsored Fidel Castro impersonation contest.

Update on Raphael

Good news. It sounds like Raphael is doing better. I received this e-mail from Lorraine this morning:

Hi everyone,

Good news this morning!  They monitored his brain waves all night and found everything normal.  No brain damage.   The internal bleeding has stopped for sure too.  We are hoping it will drain naturally without medical intervention.  He is still on a feeding tube, but they are going to start giving him milk through it in place of the fluids he’s been on the past few days.   Now, they need to figure out what caused the bleeding and try to prevent any recurrence in the future.  Please keep up the prayers!  We appreciate them so much.

Pax Christi,
Rainie

Family Time

With all the busy families in the world, it’s nice to know that some moms still find time to spend bonding with their teenage sons:

 LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) – Mothers have lied, spun elaborate alibis and hidden evidence for their gang-member sons. But investigators say Eva Daley went to murderous lengths. Daley, 30, drove her 14-year-old son and six other members of the Latin Marijuana Smokers gang to a skate park to kill a 13-year-old boy they had a grudge against, police say. The boy, Jose “Bobby” Cano, was stabbed to death.

[snip]

Similar cases have surfaced in recent months. In a community outside Los Angeles, a 37-year-old mother drove her son’s friends to a rival gang member’s home for a drive-by shooting, police said. The mother was charged with assault.

In October, police arrested a 42-year-old woman suspected of driving her two sons and three others in an SUV to a Los Angeles neighborhood to scrawl it with graffiti. The charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

Prosecutors in Long Beach said Daley drove the teenagers to the scene “in furtherance of the gang” – an allegation that could add 10 years to her 25-years-to-life sentence if she is convicted.

Police said Daley knew her son and the others planned to kill Cano.

“She wasn’t taking them there to play in the park,” Officer Jackie Bezart said.

Touching, isn’t it?

Please Pray for Little Raphael

As I said in my duplicate of this post at CR this morning, it seems like prayer requests start coming non-stop over certain periods of time, but blogs, I’ve found, are one of the best ways to distribute them. When my wife and I went to Arizona following her mother’s murder, we knew that we had literally hundreds of people praying for us, and it was a great consolation.Last night, I received word that the newborn nephew of one of the Catholic Restorationists, Lorraine, was very sick, and that they believed he had bleeding in the brain. They were going to airlift him from Front Royal to D.C., but weather would not permit it.

Today I received an update:

It turned out they couldn’t airlift Raphael last night because of bad weather so they took him by ambulance (1 1/2 hour ride) with a special crew. He had severe bleeding in the brain but at the moment, they’ve got him stabilized which is good news. They also said it was good that he’s so young because his skull is so soft so when he bled, his skull was more flexible. At this point, they don’t know if there’s brain damage on not.

Thanks so much for the prayers for little Raphael and please pray for the family to feel God’s peace.

This is obviously a tremendously difficult time for little Raphael’s parents, who also have three small ones to take care of in addition to this terrifying situation. Please pray for their strength and consolation, and for the return to health of their youngest son. The family is asking for the intercession of St. Raphael the Archangel, who is a fortunate patron for their son – patron of doctors, nurses, the sick and the young.