WebM (VP8) is dead: “licensing fees” from Google to Patent Trolls/MAFIAA

WebM (VP8): now with “fees” for the patent trolls, MAFIAA companies

Google and MPEG LA Reach VP8 Patent Agreement (Slashdot, 07.03.13)

VP8 and MPEG LA (WebMproject, 07.03.13)

Google and MPEG LA Announce Agreement Covering VP8 Video Format (07.03.13)

The only real open-source alternative to the Content Mafia’s h.264 video codec died earlier this months when Google payed off the patent trolls and thieves from the MPEG-LA with “licensing fees” for the – until then – “open-source” VP8 codec. The MPEG-LA is the organisation that steals video footage from every child, woman and man who pushes a record button on an h.264 camera (like on every “smart phone”).

You do not own your own work with h.264. Never. It belongs to a patent pool behind which stand companies like Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony and some others.

VP8 was a real alternative. It is interesting that the MPEG-LA never had a problem with the codec before it was open-sourced. It had been in use in Sykpe for years already – and still is…

This is why patents are so very wrong, this is how the late Thieve Jobs – excuse me Steve Jobs got rich (“All video codecs are covered by patents. A patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other “open source” codecs now.” – blogs.fsfe.org, 30.04.10)

This is where I stop entirely with publishing online video

I was so upset when the true story behind h.264 (osnews, 01.05.10) came out that I almost stopped publishing online video entirely. Then came an alternative. It did not work as well as the other codec, but it was there.

Now there is nothing. *)

I will now stop uploading any video to the web as long as there is no free and open-source video codec available. I do not support, work for – directly or indirectly – patent pools, their lawyers that steal my work, the companies hiding behind the patent pool that make money from stealing my work, the coders who develop anything related to h.264 and thereby steal my work. *)

I am deeply, deeply disgusted by all of you. Your business is based on stealing. Your business is based on stealing the moving image from society. History will judge you.

If you read this and care for the moving image, if you are film or videomaker: I urge you to consider boycotting 100% all companies on the list, as well as ending any collaboration with any of the “research institutes” on the list (like Frauenhofer).

Google you can keep VP8 (WebM) to yourself. I do not want it any more. It is MPEG-LA now. You are now paying off Content MAFIAA companies like Apple:

Apple › S. Jobs › Disney/Pixar › MPAA, MPEG-LA › ACTA › End of Democracy › Corporate Fascism

Oh, and Steve: FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU IN ALL ETERNITY FOR H.264!

*) Update 29.03.13: There is Theora of course, the only working choice left now as far as I know. Unfortunately (thanks to software patents) it can not compete with the others in terms of quality at this point. I may start a new video blog project one day with Theora downloads, but without embeds from YoutTube etc. my options for reaching an audience will be limited…!

“‘Fuck you, this is my culture’ and if copyright or telecommunications operators are standing in the way, I think they should go” & Updates…

‘Fuck you, this is my culture…’

Amelia Andersdotter’s (Pirate Party) speech at the Internet Governance Forum 2012

Transcript via her blog:

Thank you, Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, participants of the Internet Governance Forum 2012.

My name is Amelia Andersdotter. I am a member of the European Parliament on behalf of the Swedish Piratpartiet since December 2011. I am mindful of the fact that I am one of only two women speaking in the opening session. Also, I am probably the youngest person speaking. I am only 25 years old.

The Piratpartiet wants to change the legislative framework for communication, interaction, innovation and culture. We formed around the idea that communication technologies and culture present fantastic ways of building broad global communities.

We want interactions, social, cultural and economical to be determined by and under the control of the people interacting.

When information, communication and culture can be freely accessible and used, which on the internet is basically always the case, this should as a general principle always be allowed and any exceptions or deviations to that general rule must be kept exceptional.

Unfortunately, laws at both nation state level and the international level are very ill‑equipped to achieve these goals.

For instance, direct interventions by nation states into communication and cultural flows of their citizens are ubiquitous in the world. More insidious are the restrictions on communications imposed on users by private network operators or intellectual property rights holders.

We hear words like ”freedom of speech” and ”Human Rights must be respected online”, but so far very few top political figures in the world have acknowledged, or are willing to acknowledge, that this will require regulatory intervention on some private sectors. We may also have to let go of some regulatory protections for private sector actors that we’re currently putting in place to block communications between people.

It is clear to me both at the personal and at the political level that we need to fundamentally reconsider our approach to communication. We need communication to be open and accessible. This is how we make friendships, it is how we make societies, it is how we form worlds.

The control over communities and the ability to shape them must be with the communities themselves. Infrastructure must be regulated to enable that ability and such autonomy.

The raw material for cultural identities, the culture itself, must be made more accessible than is currently the case. Copyright is not only an untimely instrument for the 21st century, it is doing active harm to culture and to communities around the world.

During one of my travels this summer I met a young man who told me with a straight face that he liked open torrent trackers because he wants to be able to seed the unpopular files[1]. I want to seed the unpopular files. I want to see the unpopular torrents and I want to live in a world where a social network, a community on its own initiative preserves the cultural wealth through the spontaneous contribution of all its members. All of the changes that are needed in our laws to ensure that these communities can exist must be undertaken and now.

To all of you here and to all of the Governments and to the public officials and lobbyists that haven’t been able to bring themselves to support these actually very extensive reforms that are necessary for these places and creative communities to exist, I would like to paraphrase George Michael from I think 1992, ”fuck you, this is my culture”[2] and if copyright or telecommunications operators are standing in the way, I think they should go.

Thank you.

[1] In the conference transcription they have put ”see the unpopular files”.
[2] Cruising culture and George Michael, in the Guardian from 2006. And the real quote was ”Fuck off, this is my culture.”

Updates…

16mm short

In case you have been wondering about that 16mm short (4 min.) of mine: I had to figure out something and that’s done. The project is coming back from pause mode now…!

Blender 2.65

In other news: Blender 2.65 has been released last week, another wonderful update for this free and open-source 3d, compositing, video editing and much more package – available for all major platforms (and you can easily share e.g. your video projects/.blends between Linux, Windows and Mac – it really just works…!). Release notes. Download.

Pussy, Riot, Putin: “Virgin Mary, Put Putin Away”

Punk-Prayer “Virgin Mary, Put Putin Away”

(choir)

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Рut Putin away, put Putin away

(end chorus)

Black robe, golden epaulettes
All parishioners crawl to bow
The phantom of liberty is in heaven
Gay-pride sent to Siberia in chains

The head of the KGB, their chief saint,
Leads protesters to prison under escort
In order not to offend His Holiness
Women must give birth and love

Shit, shit, the Lord’s shit!
Shit, shit, the Lord’s shit!

(Chorus)

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist
Become a feminist, become a feminist

(end chorus)

The Church’s praise of rotten dictators
The cross-bearer procession of black limousines
A teacher-preacher will meet you at school
Go to class – bring him money!

Patriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin
Bitch, better believe in God instead
The belt of the Virgin can’t replace mass-meetings
Mary, Mother of God, is with us in protest!

(Chorus)

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Рut Putin away, put Putin away

(end chorus)

in German:

Punk-Bittgottesdienst “Mutter Gottes, Jungfrau, vertreibe Putin“

Mutter Gottes, Jungfrau, vertreibe Putin
Vertreibe Putin, vertreibe Putin.

Schwarzes Ornat, goldene Schulterklappen
Alle Bittsteller kriechen zur Verbeugung
Das Gespenst der Freiheit im Himmel
Gay-Pride ist in Ketten nach Sibirien geschickt worden

Der Chef des KGB ist ihr oberster Heiliger
Führt die Protestierer bewacht in Haft
Um den Heiligsten nicht zu betrüben
Müssen Frauen gebären und lieben

Göttlicher Dreck, Dreck, Dreck
Göttlicher Dreck, Dreck, Dreck

Mutter Gottes, Jungfrau, werde Feministin
Werde Feministin, werde Feministin

Kirchliches Lob für die verfaulten Führer
Prozession aus schwarzen Limousinen
In die Schule kommt der Pfarrer
Geh zum Unterricht – bring ihm Geld!

Der Patriarch Gundjaj glaubt an Putin
Besser würde der Hund an Gott glauben
Der Gürtel der Jungfrau ersetzt keine Demonstrationen
Die Jungfrau Maria ist bei den Protesten mit uns!

Mutter Gottes, Jungfrau, vertreibe Putin
Vertreibe Putin, vertreibe Putin.

Source: freepussyriot.org

Pussy Riot (en.wikipedia.org)

Pussy Riot found guilty of hooliganism by Moscow court (www.bbc.co.uk, 17.08.2012)

Beyond ACTA: en vogue – about a fashion victim (45 sec., b/w, silent, 16mm, 2012)

Change “Quality” to HD: via gears symbol (appears on playback, bottom right video)

What this is

This is a short clip originally made for an ongoing fashion event in Vienna. We (now former) Schule Friedl Kubelka students produced a series of shorts you currently still can see (until 29th August) on DVD in the Icon shop window at the MQ in Vienna. Topic: “fashion”…

While this week the European Parliament gloriously defeated ACTA (see discussion/articles on Slashdot, TorrentFreak and Netzpolitik 1, 2) the above clip en vogue – about a fashion victim features some more ACTA-like as well as other related acronyms:

ACTA, INDECT, IPRED, SOPA/PIPA, TRIPS, GATS – EC/ECB/IMF (EC, ECB, IMF), WTO, FRONTEX, ECOFIN

If you are from Europe make sure to check out INDECT…

4th of July 2012, European Independence Day: the European Parliament votes against ACTA by 478 to 39 votes

How it was made

We shot this in Vienna back in March using a Bolex (hand-cranked) and 16mm color negative film (that I got developed/printed at Synchro Film). Since we were supposed to have a first version for school in an analog film format I then cut the rushes on a Steenbeck.

Later I got my negatives transfered (2K) and re-cut the clip digitally in Blender (using single frames, 16-bit TIFFs – Ubuntu does not seem to be eable to handle 12-bit TIFFs (!!!))  – while having a cheap transfer/telecine from that 16mm cutting copy as reference).

Grading was also done in Blender.

For exporting/encoding to .webm (VP8) Kdenlive was used.

I have another 16mm short (4 min., experimental/minimal story telling) that I plan to post at some point this Summer (pictures is done, I’m still thinking about the rest) and I’ll be posting more details from that 16mm footage/Blender workflow together with that…

System Failure: Everything is a Remix (Part 4)

Everything is a Remix Part 4 (2012, Kirby Ferguson, 15:26; watch it on vimeo or on YouTube)

This is the final part of this wonderful series by Kirby Ferguson, a good summary of the key points.

This one also features some well known patent trolls…

From the V.O.:

Our system of law doesn’t acknowledge the derivative nature of creativity. Instead, ideas are regarded as property, as unique and original lots with distinct boundaries. But ideas aren’t so tidy. They’re layered, they’re interwoven, they’re tangled. And when the system conflicts with the reality… the system starts to fail.