Back In The Day

Posted on 25th December 2008

Last weekend I was sitting watching cartoons with Dan and an episode of Duck Dodgers came on. I wasn't paying attention until they mentioned Dave Mustaine being the saviour of the universe of something!. I'd not been aware of it before, but in the episode "In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Rock", first broadcast back in 2005, Dave and Megadeth are depicted in cartoon form as themselves. The best bit was them playing a live concert featuring the song "Back In The Day" from the "The System Has Failed" album.

After a brief search of the net, I came across this posting from Roadrunner Records, which announces that the full episode is available here. So if you're a Megadeth fan and haven't seen it, now you can :) Although really I should add it's only for hardcore fans and kids only ;)

File Under: music
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Pictured Life

Posted on 24th December 2008

Earlier this month there was a rather confusing and worrying blanket "Moral Majority" ban of a page on Wikipedia. The page in question has now been unblocked and the actual image that started it all has also been unblocked, with the Internet Watch Foundation that instigating the block now backing down in the face of overwhelming resistance to their actions.

The image in question is from the original front cover of the 1976 album release "Virgin Killer" by The Scorpions. At the time of its release in 1976, it courted controvesy and although widely available to all in numerous retail outlets across the world, some outlets did insist on selling it only over the counter in a sealed paper bag, and only a few refused to stock it at all. Following feedback from the retail outlets, the band reissued the album with a cover featuring a group shot of the band. However, the original album cover is still widely available in second record stores and on eBay. Following remastered reissues and boxset packages, the CD is once again available with the original artwork. It has also appeared in many books over the years, often cited amongst a list of worst album covers, some of which can found in public libraries.

I don't know the retail figures, but I can imagine that several thousand heavy metal fans in the UK alone have a copy of the original album, or a reissued remastered CD featuring the image in their collections.

So the decision to ban the image ONLY on wikipedia now (some 32 years after the original image was widely available) seems absolutely idiotic. At first the main page regarding the album was blocked, and appartently it is the first time the IWF has banned a complete work of text. Wikipedia volunteer David Gerard and Sarah Robertson from the IWF were interviewed on BBC Radio 4 as I was driving into work on the day the block was instigated and it was very evident that the woman representing the IWF was rather ignorant of the situation, trying to focus on the fact that they had shown it to the police who had said it was "potentially illegal". Blaming the police, who are NOT judge and jury regarding obscene material is rather irresponsible at best, and only serves to highlight their lack of process in ensuring that if an image is considered illegal, a botched attempt at banning is the best of their abilities.

Wikipedia themselves issued a statement that reads "Due to censorship by the UK self-regulatory agency the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), most UK residents can no longer edit the volunteer-written encyclopedia, nor can they access an article in it describing a 32-year-old album by German rock group the Scorpions." In addition Wikimedia Foundation's General Counsel, Mike Godwin, is also quoted as saying "We have no reason to believe the article, or the image contained in the article, has been held to be illegal in any jurisdiction anywhere in the world."

So although the image was deemed "potentially illegal" by the UK police the IWF spoke to, for the past 32 years no country has ever passed a judgement and condemed the image as illegal. It might be inappropriate, but not illegal.

And so to a bigger question. Why Wikipedia? In fact why ONLY Wikipedia? The image was wide spread across the internet, in places such as Google's image cache, on various retail sites, including Amazon, The Scorpions own website and countless others. Could it be that Wikipedia is unlikely to be in a position to sue them for blocking their site? I can well imagine that Amazon and any other major retailer would have drafted in lawyers within seconds and be issuing writs for comercial damages. Not something the IWF would be equipped to deal with, particularly since they are an independent self-appointed body, without official government backing.

Following on from that last point, the perhaps more important question is if this body is self-appointed, without government backing, who is reviewing the practices of the Internet Watch Foundation? While in many instances they may well be protecting us from illegal images, without proper regulation and governance, instances like the blocking of Wikipedia will happen again.

The scary thing in all of this is that possessing the album has never been considered illegal, and indeed would have been very difficult to prosecute now 32 years later, but the IWF seem to believe that that doesn't matter and effectively attempted to criminalise a potentially significant portion of the UK population. Should they have that power? In my opinion no, as it should be the police and the courts who govern what is actually illegal.

Because of the fact that most ISPs in the UK currently sign up to the IWF block lists, this incident was felt instantly across the UK for anyone contributing to Wikipedia. Having now blown such a big hole in their metaphorical foot, I suspect the IWF may well be a little more careful about what they block and maybe, just maybe, they might even provide better justification for blocking images and pages in the future. However, it still worries me that they can potentially criminalise a publicly available image by dubious means and make criminals out of the population, without having any jurisdiction to do so. It's not big brother we have to worry about any more it's the nanny state. Tipper Gore still has a lot to answer for.

File Under: government / internet / law / music / rant / security
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Four Sticks

Posted on 25th September 2008

As with most people of my generation, my first exposure to Led Zeppelin was via C.C.S.'s cover of Whole Lotta Love. It was the theme tune for Top Of The Pops throughout most the 70s, and identified the TV show for many years. It was only when I started listening to the evening radio shows on BBC Radio One, that I discovered that the song was originally by Led Zeppelin. It did seem a bit odd to me at the time, as to why the theme tune was a cover and not the original. As I also discovered much later, Led Zeppelin never got to perform on the show due to their rigid stance of refusing to release a single in the UK. They felt that their albums didn't need the promotion that singles would have given them and considering how many number ones and multi-platinum discs they got, I think they were right.

It wasn't really until around 1977 that I started to discover more of Led Zeppelin. Listening to John Peel and Tommy Vance, they both played a variety of tracks that I perhaps wouldn't otherwise have heard on daytime radio, Babe I'm Ganna Leave You and No Quarter being among them. On hearing Rock And Roll, Kashmir, the magestic Immigrant Song and of course Stairway To Heaven, I was quickly taken by the power of the music. It was around 1977/1978 that I started to buy records for myself, perviously they were bought for me as birthday or Christmas presents. I do remember walking into Crewe town centre one day and taking my saved up pocket money and buying Presence. It wasn't the first Led Zeppelin album I owned, as my record buying had started in second hand shops, but this was the first I bought brand new. I'd heard a couple of the tracks already, but it was the amazing Achilles Last Stand that I had bought the album for. To this day it is still my favourite Led Zeppelin track, and one my favourite songs of all time.

In 1979 a friend of mine went with his older brother to see them play at Knebworth. I was quite jealous at the time and wished I was old enough, or had an older brother too, so I could have gone as well. His report the following week, only made me yearn to be old enough to see them in a few years time. On 25th September 1980, John Bonham was found dead. After several weeks of uncertainty, the remaining band members made an official announcement that they were to disband. I was never going to be fortunate enough to see a Led Zeppelin live gig, at least not with the original members.

With Ian Curtis committing suicide in May and John Lennon being shot in December, 1980 was a rather troubled year for music fans of several generations.

The bizarre part of this story is that John Bonham is the only member of Led Zeppelin that I've met. Well perhaps met is too strong, but I did say hello. He had brought his son Jason up to race at North-West Scamble Bike meeting in Cheshire. It just so happened that it was the same club that my next door neighbours also used to race at. He was the first really famous person I'd ever met in real life, so it made quite an impression on this young music fan.

Last weekend I took DanDan to the parish church in Rushock where John is buried. We live only a few minutes drive away from the village, and the farm where his family still live, and I have been meaning to visit the grave for some time. Last Sunday was a nice a day for a change, and DanDan and I had spent a great day out visiting castles. Seeing as we were on the way home, it seemed an ideal time to pay my respects. The village is quite small and the cemetary is really peaceful, looking out on the fields and hills of Worcestershire. DanDan was quite taken by all the drumsticks, and took several photographs. I might get around to putting some of them online at some point, but for now you can see mine here.

Today is the 28th annivesary of John's death. He would have been celebrating his 60th birthday on 31st May 2008. Rock And Roll.

File Under: ledzeppelin / music
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I Dream Of Wires

Posted on 16th September 2008

The following has recently entered my inbox; body copied verbatim:

"Your internet access is going to get suspended

The Internet Service Provider Consorcium was made to protect the rights of software authors, artists. We conduct regular wiretapping on our networks, to monitor criminal acts.

We are aware of your illegal activities on the internet wich were originating from

You can check the report of your activities in the past 6 month that we have attached. We strongly advise you to stop your activities regarding the illegal downloading of copyrighted material of your internet access will be suspended.

Sincerely
ICS Monitoring Team"

Those who receive this, and the attached file, may well be duped into believing that they have been caught out and consequently open the attachement to discover they have now install a dubious artifact on their machine. The Winlogon trojan, which is then installed, may not be want you want hanging around on your system.

I did find it amusing that the creators, working with the scare tactics of the major music industry companies I've previously spoken of, have crafted this social engineering attack to dupe unsuspecting recipients. It effectively means, once people do educate their spam filters, that any future emails from music industry henchmen threatening fines, court appearances and cutting your internet will most likely end up being deleted :) 

As a result it may just mean the dubious threats might finally go away. Mind you with the stocks and share around the world looking rather shaky, I can imagine the media moguls have better things to worry about than those downloading dubious files over BitTorrent.

File Under: humour / internet / music / spam
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Great Gig In The Sky

Posted on 15th September 2008

As heard on the radio driving home tonight, Rick Wright has died of cancer. I was quite fortunate to have seen him play with Pink Floyd several times, and only wish I had been old enough to have seen them back in the 70s. Having been a key member of the band it'll be strange to have them bring in anyone else to carry on the keyboard parts. With Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason having had their own projects away from the band for several years, I suspect this will be the end of the band. Rick has left quite a legacy and will be missed by many fans.

File Under: music
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