feed.angeli.ca

vicemag: The Company Helping Movie Studios Sue You for Illegal...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:30:01 -0400

The Company Helping Movie Studios Sue You for Illegal Downloading Has Been Using Images Without Permission

As you may already know, Voltage Pictures, the company responsible for the movie The Hurt Locker, (as well as a million movies you’ve never heard of) is currently in court, attempting to get an Ontario-based internet service provider to release the names associated with over 1000 IP addresses that they claim belong to people who illegally downloaded their copyrighted material.

These IP addresses were gathered by an extraordinarily douchey company called Canipre, the only antipiracy enforcement firm currently offering services in Canada.

Canipre, as a company, offers to track down people who are illegally downloading copyrighted material from record companies and film studios. According to their website, they have issued more than 3,500,000 takedown notices, and their work has led to multimillion dollar damages awards, injunctions, seizure of assets, and even incarceration.

But it’s not like Canipre is doing this just to get rich. In a recent interview, Canipre’s managing director Barry Logan explained that it’s about much more than just money—he’s hoping to teach the Canadian public a moral lesson:

”[We want to] change social attitudes toward downloading. Many people know it is illegal but they continue to do it… Our collective goal is not to sue everybody… but to change the sense of entitlement that people have, regarding Internet-based theft of property.”

Here is a screenshot of the front page of the Canipre website as it appeared when I visited it this morning.

The image you see in the background is this self portrait, by Steve Houk.

I contacted Steve and asked if they had sought permission to use the picture. Steve said, “No. In no way have I authorized or licensed this image to anyone in any way.”

Oh, dear.

So, just to be clear: Canipre has written “they all know it’s wrong and they’re still doing it.” Referring to copyright theft. On top of an image that they are using without the permission of the copyright holder. On their official website.

Continue

A few months back, after reading another article about Canipre (the first linked in this article as “may already know”), I did a Google search for the letters “VPN” and have never looked back.

"Music is Life, and like Life, Inextinguishable"

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:32:43 -0400

"Music is Life, and like Life, Inextinguishable":

Here’s a weird way to start your Monday morning… by reading an article about your great grandfather that uses his death as a thesis statement.

This just made my least favorite Kiss song a little bit better.

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:26:45 -0400

This just made my least favorite Kiss song a little bit better.

Tonight is the first night in the Montréal series of the Wacken...

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:56:00 -0400

Tonight is the first night in the Montréal series of the Wacken Metal Band Battle competition. CJLO DJs will be guest judging throughout the series, with Andrew from Grade A Explosives on the panel this evening. Tonight’s event is at Katacombes and starts at 8:30, and features Dissension, Bookakee, Warcall, and Virulys. More info is here and here.

tyrockasaurus: Why am I only just discovering that this...

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:09:00 -0400

tyrockasaurus:

Why am I only just discovering that this exists?

Another item for rock’n’roll booze watch.

As I Lay Dying's Tim Lambesis Arrested In Murder-For-Hire Plot

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:13:00 -0400

As I Lay Dying's Tim Lambesis Arrested In Murder-For-Hire Plot:

Metal singer taken into custody Tuesday after allegedly soliciting an undercover cop to have his estranged wife killed.

Is it terrible that I’m not at all surprised that this would be coming from someone so intent on their Jesus-yness? I was really into Frail Words Collapse at the time, despite the fact that I do not approve of bands using music as a way to preach. To be fair, if this is true, he was still following the Ten Commandments, since by hiring someone, he wouldn’t really be the one doing the murdering. Thankfully, the legal system has a different opinion on this point.

GPOYW.

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:00:19 -0400

GPOYW.

Today in "No Shit" News: Study Finds Bearded Men Are More Attractive

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:32:00 -0400

Today in "No Shit" News: Study Finds Bearded Men Are More Attractive:

A newly published study out of the University of New South Wales concludes that men and women find bearded faces more attractive than shaven ones.

I’ve been prosletyzing on this point for years. Also, click here for more beard related content.

“Our drummer Kjetil has been having trouble with his arm...

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:18:00 -0400

“Our drummer Kjetil has been having trouble with his arm and was unfortunately unable to continue our ongoing North America tour. He left home for Norway yesterday to get treatment so that he doesn’t permanently damage his hand, which would suck so much balls.

But, we were lucky to get an awesome replacement in Jay Weinberg (Against Me, Madball, E-street Band) who learned all the songs and played an amazing set yesterday in Seattle. Kjetil is a hard drummer to replace, but Jay might just be the best replacement imaginable. Thanks Jay!!”

Bummer.

Photo

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:00:27 -0400

INFINITY BONERS.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:58:00 -0400

INFINITY BONERS.

things that are on my mind:

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:36:11 -0400

the decision not to buy kiss tickets this time around still weighs on me.

i heard a wan, whiny voice coming from the teevee in some simulacra of a rap song. i went downstairs, and saw it was a drake video. THIS is what everyone was freaking out about last year?

i always assume the worst about myself, so i’m always pleasantly surprised.

regarding this last point, see: organizing all my tax documents carefully, but then thinking i lost some of them while in actuality they were all tidily pulled together, waiting.

new low achieved this morning, when i was catcalled by firefighters while on the arm of a man. fuck you, heroes.

five to one, baby, one in five, no one here knows how to drive.

Photo

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:11:33 -0400

Through wit and wile, I managed to con my way to double...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:37:48 -0400

Through wit and wile, I managed to con my way to double breakfast through a significant chunk of my preschool career. Needless to say, as embodied by this exchange, it’s all been downhill from there.

Facebook Home and the Silicon Social Experience

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:13:00 -0400

Periodically, I like to grind my anti-Facebook axe, but the two new ads for Facebook’s smartphone for dummies practically skewer themselves.

The first, called “Launch Day”, stars Zuckerberg himself, as well as a rogue “employee” who’d rather surf his new Facebook phone than pay attention to the meeting. Hilarity ensues, I guess, as the employee’s friends’ updates materialize in the office.

The second is “Dinner”, which, while similar in concept to “Launch Day”, egregiously embodies the irony of the contemporary social experience as championed by Facebook. Why participate at the dinner table with your boring family, a situation you are physically living, right there, in the moment, when you can surf photos of your friend’s snowball fight, to which you were not invited?

The marketing for Home underlines the phone’s focus on relationships and the social experience, but nowhere is Facebook’s stilted understanding of sociability more on display than here. The social experience, as defined by Zuckerberg & co., is a mediatized one. If it doesn’t happen through the site, and through a screen, it’s probably not interesting, and engagement needs only to be as permanent as the scroll of a mouse wheel or the flick of a finger. When you’re done chatting with a friend on Facebook Home, you literally throw their face away, as Zuckerberg demonstrated at the Facebook Home launch event.

It’s not an unfair statement to say that the denizens of Silicon Valley are not among the world’s most socially sensitive or adept. Zuckerberg’s own social awkwardness has been well documented, in print and in film. In fact, over the last few decades, the mating habits of computer science’s best and brightest has led to an explosion of children with autism and Asperger’s born within driving distance of some of the world’s most famous tech companies. In other words, this group’s understanding of the ideal social experience may not be the most empathetic or socially sensitive, as these ads seem to underline. In fact, study after study shows that the form of social interaction espoused by Facebook regularly results in increased unhappiness.

All this to say that maybe, as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs recently requested, it’s time to put the phone down and experience the world directly, with the full HDR and estimated 576 megapixels of the human eye. Who knows? Maybe if you actually listen to crazy cat lady Aunt Clara at the dinner table, you might end up with something funny to post to Facebook… later.

tyrockasaurus: Theo Hugstable is pulling a George Costanza

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:49:12 -0400

tyrockasaurus:

Theo Hugstable is pulling a George Costanza

funnyyoushouldsaythat: The Beards: You Should Consider Having...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:00:22 -0400

funnyyoushouldsaythat:

The Beards: You Should Consider Having Sex With a Bearded Man.

If you’re going to let one Australian novelty band change your life today, let it be this one.

Joke’s on you, I’m the wolf. [This is the 5th...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:58:22 -0400

Joke’s on you, I’m the wolf.

[This is the 5th picture I’ve posted of myself this year. Given that prior to 2013 I had posted a grand total of 25 photos of myself, and that we are coming up on the 4 year anniversary of this endeavor, that means that I’ve already almost arrived at the 6.25 selfies / year average and this probably does not bode well.]

RBC declares war against Canadian workers

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:34:00 -0400

RBC declares war against Canadian workers:

For what it’s worth, I just sent my letter of complaint to Raymond Chouinard (raymond.chouinard@rbc.com), the Quebec media relations rep, as well as to Janice Fukakusa, and Zabeen Hirji. Unsurprisingly, my email to CEO Gordon Nixon failed.

Won’t you join me? Contact info is below.

rantingcanadian:

RBC contacts

RBC complaint form: http://www.rbc.com/customercare

RBC form to contact the board of directors: https://www.rbc.com/governance/contactus.html

Key figures who are responsible include:

Gordon M. Nixon, RBC president and chief executive officer

Janice R. Fukakusa, RBC chief administrative officer and chief financial officer

Zabeen Hirji, RBC chief human resources officer

Their personal email addresses are not listed on the RBC website, but the RBC email address pattern is firstname.lastname@rbc.com

RBC public affairs manager: mark.hamill@rbc.com

RBC media relations contacts: http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/contact.html#regional

Click here for The Ranting Canadian’s full blog post which includes information on RBC’s record breaking profits:

http://rantingcanadian.tumblr.com/post/47390607762/rbc-declares-war-against-canadian-workers

Here’s Andrew & me during the second leg of...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:47:00 -0400

Here’s Andrew & me during the second leg of CJLO’s 24hr radio marathon during BVSTNT, manning the phones and making sweet, sweet radio. We were there with a big gang of CJLOixcans until 9am this morning, and if you missed the last four hours, you missed easily some of Montréal’s best/worst radio ever.

You can still donate to CJLO, and come out to our upcoming events. All the info you need is right here.

[Thanks to thesoundofmylens for the photo!]