Quartz Composer Patch
Download the patch here: QuartzLinuz.qtz
Notes about the patch: The audio input patch gets disconnected (peak and spectrum outputs) from the rest of the project. Just reconnect them to the labeled input to get the project to work. Also, turn up your volume so the microphone can pick up the synthesized speech.
About:
In February 2002, Radio Free Linux was set up as an exhibition of FOSS. The Linux kernel source code was spoken by "speech.bot" a linux application. The encoder used to capture the audio was Ogg Vorbis, another free and open software. The internet radio station was also streamed freely using the open source IceCast2 radio server.
It was a demonstration of the ability of Linux to reach out, even over the radio, and doing so by freely available software. Eventually the radio free linux website disappeared from the net, so I have recreated the experience, plus with graphics, for my Quartz Composer project.
Why?:
Ironically I have recreated it using tools supplied by Apple and YouTube, and by no means is it FOSS. But the point is to highlight the importance of free and open source software when it comes to distributing media. Today YouTube and other video download sites are considering switching to h.264 video over a FOSS codec called Theora. The problem with h.264 video is that it requires a license to distribute video, thus making it impossible for people to share video without breaking the law or obtaining the costly license.
Replication != Theft
Theft vs. Copying
The RIAA, MPAA and copyright holders describe P2P users as "pirates" - invoking images of swashbuckling people stealing intellectual property. Ads announced by former MPAA President Jack Valente impress the idea that "copying is stealing" and that someone who burns MP3s is no different from those who slip a CD under their shirt at the local Tower Records.
But technically, file sharing is not theft.
A number of years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a man named Dowling, who sold "pirated" Elvis Presley recordings, and was prosecuted for the Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property. The Supremes did not condone his actions, but did make it clear that it was not "theft" -- but technically "infringement" of the copyright of the Presley estate, and therefore copyright law, and not anti-theft statutes, had to be invoked.
So "copying" is not "stealing" but can be "infringing." That doesn't have the same sound bite quality as Valente's position.
To present this idea, take a look at the below ImageJ processed video. The scene is of Captain Kirk replicating food. The Star Trek replicator creates things in very much like the way we replicate (share) music. (For fans of the show, that's actually a food slot, but lets pretend it's a replicator).
This video was processed in ImageJ, using edge detection and other filters. The clip is of people looting a music store, which interestingly points to itself saying "free downloads." I find this clip funny because of the way it portrays people "stealing" this information. I argue the case that it is literally impossible to prevent people from sharing information, no matter what copy protection is used; historically this has been the case for music, video, games, applications, and other DRM type media. There is no way companies in the future can control the copying of information (that is at its basic level just 1s and 0s). Modern p2p applications already use encryption to prevent your ISP from knowing what content you are sharing, however the other members of the p2p cloud (including the MPAA/RIAA) can see the p2p sharers and sue them under the DMCA. If they continue these tactics, eventually all p2p will be encrypted and anonymous to avoid any legal recourse.
The point being, we need to treat information as being open and free, that includes all types of digital media, and software. Sure this breaks the model of content producers charging whatever they want. They have to come to the realization that content producers now have to compete with free p2p downloads. Often the DRM free version (hacked version) work better than the DRM encumber media these companies would try to sell to you.
What's the new model? Perhaps it is something like that of Nine Inch Nails, where Trent Reznor allows people to freely download his content in exchange for whatever they think is a fair price (It was actually far more profitable for him that way). Perhaps musicians need to sell concerts rather than try to rely on CD sales (which is often the case today with the music industry taking the largest slice of the profit). Perhaps software too needs to free and open source to be really trusted, and revenue can be made with paying for support and development of the software, much like Red Hat does with GNU/linux software.
The above clip was transformed in ImageJ using a 3D projection. Because of the above clip's processing, we get to see interesting grid like volumes in the video below.
