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I’ve always been a cricket fan. Last week I attended a T20 Big Bash league match at the Sydney Cricket Ground and found that the Cricket Australia terms and conditions of spectator entry regarding photography inside the venue were seemingly arbitrarily enforced.

When entering private land you consent to rules that land owners impose on you including re: photography. Unfortunately rights to take photos in public areas are becoming equally restricted and often mistakenly overpoliced by security guards (see http://photorights.4020.net)

This prompted me to write an article about the matter for Technology Specator:

If you take a photo at an Australian cricket match this summer and publish it to Twitter or Facebook you could be slapped with a ban from Cricket Australia thanks to draconian rules in place to protect media broadcast partners.

Amatuer photographers theoretically risk being “prohibited and disqualified from purchasing tickets for or entering into” any Cricket Australia match or event ever again, but cricket venue entry rules regarding photography are honoured more in the breach than in the observance.
- read more at http://technologyspectator.com.au/emerging-tech/social-media/cricket-australias-poor-twitter-form

That evening I got invited to discuss the issue on ABC Radio NSW and ACT Evenings. Click on the link below to listen to the 10 minute discussion about the democratisation of photography and how corporate rules and the law are lagging behind the reality of cheap omni-present digital cameras.

Listen to my 20/01/2012 discussion on ABC Radio NSW and ACT Evenings with Dominic Knight re Cricket Australia photography rules. MP3 recording courtesy of ABC Radio.

Several days later Cricket Australia’s CEO commented on the issue so I wrote a followup story highlighting that:

In the meantime, the official Cricket Australia Twitter account and least two Big Bash T20 teams are openly encouraging fans to take match photos and share them online, muddying the legal waters around Cricket Australia’s terms of venue entry for spectators.
read more at http://technologyspectator.com.au/emerging-tech/social-media/cricket-australias-twitter-reality-check

Hopefully by the time the 2012-2013 Cricket season starts Cricket Australia will officially allow photos to be taken at venues for non-commercial personal uses such as publishing to personal blogs or social media accounts like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or Flickr.

Otherwise fans will not be able to capture photo memories of the atmosphere and famous players at matches as I did during the 2005 Super Test series (Flintoff, Mcgrath and Lara pictured below).

Visit the Rambling Thoughts Blog regularly to read articles about Technology, Personal Finance, TV Shows, Politics, Environment, Books and more

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What happens to the concept of ownership of books, music, DVD Movie & TV series collections etc in the shift from Analog to Digital?

As a journalist and keen observer of how technology affects society I see many upsides to digital content such as ease of use and the ability to carry around massive collections of books, music etc stored in small, light electronic devices.

However while we rush headlong into a digital content future there are several downsides that are not getting the attention they deserve.

EDITOR: This article was syndicated/re-published at the ABC Online – The Drum Unleashed opinion columns website under the title Digital purchases: nothing to hold, nothing to keep.

When I “buy” an eBook from Amazon.com or you “buy” a song from iTunes we aren’t actually buying anything at all. What we’re doing is paying for the legal licensing right to read/listen to some bits of digital information on a limited number of compatible devices.

CNET reported last week that EMI, one of the 4 largest recording industry companies in the world is suing MP3 reseller ReDigi because:

“Music buyers may be able to sell their used CDs and vinyl albums, but they’re not allowed to sell or distribute used digital tracks and albums in the same way.”

Within the next decade users of sites like Bookcrossing may only be able to swap older books that have been printed in paper versions as new books will likely be eBook only. The same will apply to 2nd hand book charity fundraisers like Lifeline Bookfest and charities like Room to Read which collects books and creates libraries in the 3rd world.

Restrictive Terms of Use

According to consumer rights organisation Choice:

“Under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty of 1996, it is illegal in most countries (including Australia since 2007) to attempt to circumvent the copyright protections built into DRM [digital rights management], even when these measures go beyond the protection of legal rights. If you wish to have true ownership over the products you buy, and use them how and when you want to, ideally you would buy products that have no DRM at all”.

As an example this is a portion of the copyright warning included in The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien eBook which I purchased to read on my Kindle:

“By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable, right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen.”

Similar terms and conditions apply to content purchased from Apple’s iTunes store. Jonathan Handel, a Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney told CNN that:

‘When we buy something from iTunes, we are paying for the license to listen to music or watch a movie on our iPhone or other Apple device. But we are not buying the product itself and so we can’t actually own it’.

Corporate censorship and remote removal of digital content that you’ve purchased are also valid issues to consider such as Amazon remotely deleting purchased copies of George Orwell’s 1984 from Kindle devices in 2009 and Apple censoring an iPad version of a web comic based on James Joyce’s famous book Ulysses.

Losing Digital Content or Access To It

New York technology attorney Mark Grossman told CNN last year that:

‘Anyone who tried to take Apple to court over a lost digital file would lose very quickly. “The argument is, you could have backed it up,” he said. “The contract clearly says ‘we are not responsible,’ and it’s firmly established in the law.”’

There is no guarantee that 50 years in the future, or even 10 years in the future that the companies which we “bought” these books, music etc from will still exist.

Consumer electronics gadgets have a short lifespan due to planned obsolescence. Ebook readers, mobile phones and tablet devices can only be expected to last a few years before the battery or other parts of the hardware fails.

So if Amazon went out of business in 2020 and my Kindle’s storage got corrupted I wouldn’t be able to re-download the Kindle ebooks I’d purchased from their servers onto a new device.

Lending and Gifts

Analog printed books, music CD’s/LP’s are easy to lend, sell second hand or give away as gifts.

I have several books on my shelf that were given to me as presents by friends and teachers in primary and high school 15-20 years ago. If I wanted to I could give these books to future generations of my family with no legal issues at all.

Reading those paper books is easy but trying to open a digital file from that era is hard, especially if it’s stored in an obsolete computer document format on an obsolete storage format like 5.25″/3.5″ floppy disks.

This assumes that the storage hardware would work after such a length of time and the data had been backed up in the first place, which are topics I explored in a previous ABC The Drum Unleashed story “Digital Dark Ages?”.

If I really like an ebook I can’t move it from my computer backups folder to give it to a friend unless it is out of copyright and therefore public domain.

Unfortunately the Howard government’s 2004 Australia/USA Free Trade Agreement came at a price. A lengthy increase in the term of copyright meant that the potential benefit of many free public domain ebooks becoming available to Australians in the early 21st century was blocked.

Very limited lending of Kindle ebooks is available for US buyers but not to Australians. Even that restricted lending ability has been shown to be at the whim of Amazon who briefly blocked functionality for the 3rd party site Lendle last year.

Judging a Bookshelf

Judging a new friend’s bookshelf on your first visit to their place is human nature, don’t pretend you haven’t done it.

I’ve certainly done it because the books people read and keep as their favourites are often a strong predictor of their personality and interests in life, or at least how they want to be perceived.

One glance at a bookshelf that contains a battered Lonely Planet guide to Europe on Shoestring, glossy wilderness themed coffee table photobook and paperbacks of Robinson Crusoe reveals a lot.

The owner of those books is a traveller. They probably started when they were young and had a small budget. The glossy photobook could indicate that they’re a photographer who appreciates natural beauty and the Robinson Crusoe book that they’re more likely to go on a holiday to an isolated location than a bustling metropolis.

However within the next 5-10 years we may not be able to judge new friends by their bookshelves because it’s likely that their book collection won’t have any physical manifestation, instead living inside electronic devices like the Amazon Kindle or Apple iPad.

You may scoff but think about what’s happened to the music industry in the last 10 years. An 18 year old isn’t likely to buy a pile of CD’s and display them in their room. They’ll pirate the songs via Bit torrent or buy the song from iTunes and play it on their Apple device.

Unless you scroll through the contents of their phone when they leave it unlocked near you, the breadth and depth of their music collection will be uncertain.

With Eyes Wide Open

The shift from analog to digital for books, music, movies, DVD Movie & TV series collections etc etc is well underway and unstoppable.

However it is important that we understand the full implications of this shift, fight against onerous terms and conditions of use and question techno-utopian statements by cyberculture commentators like Kevin Kelly that “the trend is clear: access trumps possession. Access is better than ownership”.

Visit the Rambling Thoughts Blog regularly to read articles about Technology, Personal Finance, TV Shows, Politics, Environment, Books and more

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If sharks could write they would have complained long ago to the Press Council about having their reputation maligned by sensational, unbalanced, media over-coverage of a tiny number of human deaths caused by sharks each year compared to the mass slaughter of sharks by humans worldwide.

Photo Credit: WWF

According to the Taronga Zoo Shark Attack File: “in the last 50 years, there have been only 53 human fatalities (1.06 per year) in Australian waters from shark attacks”

Every year sharks kill about 4 humans worldwide but humans kill an estimated 70 million sharks – which group should be more afraid of the other?

Agence France Press (AFP) reported recently that “the insatiable Asian appetite for shark fins, which make their way onto ostentatious dinner tables in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan [could have] dire results for a marine ecosystem regulated by the predator for some 400 million years”.

According to the National Museum of Natural History the risk of being killed by a shark attack is a tiny fraction of the risk that a defective toaster will kill you.

According to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) despite their scary reputation, sharks rarely ever attack humans and would much rather feed on fish and marine mammals.

Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks primarily feed on smaller fish but some species prey upon seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

Sharks have been known to attack humans when they are confused or curious. If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack. Still, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do of them. Humans hunt sharks for their meat, internal organs, and skin in order to make products such as shark fin soup, lubricants, and leather.
- NOAA

Visit the Rambling Thoughts Blog regularly to read articles about Technology, Personal Finance, TV Shows, Politics, Environment, Books and more

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2011 was a momentous year. I created opportunities to cover a wide variety of topics for an increasing number of media outlets as a freelance journalist/photojournalist, quit watching free to air TV (turned off my TiVo) and switched my reading habits almost exclusively from print books to Kindle/Kobo ebooks.

During the year I travelled for photography/journalism work to many places. You can view 2011 The Year In Photos: Frequent Travelling, Street Art and Photojournalism at my Road Less Travelled website

Throughout the year I was a guest/commentator on ABC Radio quite a few times as well as once each on ABC TV, Sky TV and BBC World Service Radio.

I was a part-time NSW Greens campaign staffer for 6 months until the NSW State election in late March 2011, in charge of the Balmain electorate Greens website, social media, photography and video. The Greens won Balmain by a narrow margin and Jamie Parker became the first Greens candidate ever to get elected to the NSW lower house of parliament.

After the election I returned to my usual work as a Freelance Journalist, Travel/Events Photographer, Professional Blogger and Research Helpdesk Librarian at UTS.

In April I represented GEARE magazine (which I write a lot of articles for) at the 2011 Lizzies IT Journalist Awards and also went on road trip through the Canterbury and Wanaka regions of New Zealand’s South Island to report on progress for plans to rebuild and repair Christchurch after the late 2010/2011 earthquakes.

In May I was asked by Adventure Wild – Kimberleys, Western Australia outback tour operators and Tourism WA to take photos and videos for them of the Northern remote Kimberleys area. I also wrote articles for YHA Backpacker Essentials magazine, GEARE magazine and ABC Technology website.

In June I attended XMediaLab Sydney: Global Media Ideas 2011 where I listened to many insightful talks by local and international speakers.

In August I visited the Rockdale Hacker/Maker space and saw a Makerbot in action as part of my research into 3D Printers – this will be a big area in 2012/2013.

In September I visited Osaka and Tokyo in Japan for a tour of Panasonic Toughbook factories and the Eastern Cape region of South Africa to write an article for GEARE magazine and take photos for South African Tourism.

In October I travelled to Darwin, Northern Territory and Bali, Indonesia to take photos and write for GEARE magazine and Technology Spectator.

In November I travelled to Canberra to report on President Obama’s trip, review Telstra 4G for Technology Spectator as well as visiting visit to the NASA Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex for a 2012 issue of GEARE magazine.

My Favourite Freelance Stories/Work

These are my favourite stories for each publication I wrote for this year:

Chief Security Officer (CSO) – By far the toughest story to plan and execute in 2011 involved jumping through countless security clearance hoops to get accreditation as a photojournalist 5 metres away from Barack Obama at the US Embassy event during his visit to Canberra. From this I wrote Barack Obama’s security circus arrives in Oz: In Pictures.

GEARE Magazine – 5 indepth feature articles Augmented Humanity (cover story), Space: The Final Frontier?, Deep Sea Submersibles (cover story), National Broadband Network and High Speed Trains.

YHA Backpacker Essentials magazine – 10 photos and article New Zealand South Island – Beyond Christchurch.

Technology Spectator – Exclusive: Photo Finish explores the ongoing ignorance of copyright laws for photos used by the media.

iTnews – Exclusive: Why mobile phones can’t fly: Qantas, Australia Post explain explosion risks from lithium-ion batteries.

ABC Drum Unleashed – I only had spare time to write a few stories for them this year: Oceans are the key to avoiding a Soylent Green future, A low rate world is not in everyone’s interest and Busting interest rates myths. However I don’t get to cover topics like banking, finance and the environment elsewhere so these were great opportunities.

ABC Technology – TV is changing – can Australian free-to-air networks keep up and The NBN and making movies in Australia.

Favourite Technology/Gadgets

The OLYMPUS XZ-1 gets my vote for best digital camera released in 2011. The F1.8 lens combined with a great imaging sensor make it by far the best compact camera for enthusiast/professional photographers who want a backup for their larger SLR digital camera.

My prize for best eink ebook reader released in 2011 goes to the Kobo Touch which I reviewed for Technology Spectator. The ideal eReader does its job so well that the device becomes invisible to your mind, which can then concentrate purely on reading. In my opinion the Kobo Touch is the closest device to achieving this to date. Amazon could have competed for this but they chose not to release the Kindle Touch in Australia until 2012.

It’s not a new product launched in 2011 but the Epoz Aktimate Mini Active Stereo HiFi iPod/MP3 Player Speaker set I purchased this year was a favourite because I listen to a lot of radio news, podcasts and music while working. The Aktimate Mini’s provide marvellous quality audio with a compact good looking design.

Similarly the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7b QuietPoint Active Noise-cancelling Headphones were launched 2 years ago but I first used them in 2011 during flights to and from Japan and reviewed them for Technology Spectator. They are the best choice for frequent travellers who want to listen to audio while travelling to block a lot of the noise around you.

Visit the Rambling Thoughts Blog regularly to read articles about Technology, Personal Finance, TV Shows, Politics, Environment, Books and more