Hey, everyone, I�m Molly Wood, and welcome to the Buzz Report, the show about the tech news that everyone is talking about.
This week, it�s the worst Internet copyright law in the history of the Internet and possibly all time, Google�s iTunes killer, and Facebook�s traumatizing news feed.
But first, it�s the Gadget of the Week.
The Gadget of the Week is the Kindle Fire.
Is it the iPad killer?
Will its 200 dollar price tag make it the darling of the holiday season?
We�ll see, but now that we�ve had a look at it, our official opinion is that it�s pretty dang good.
It launched with Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora, which was a pleasant surprise, and if you�re already an Amazon fan, it�s pretty much Amazon playland.
AND, thanks to the hot and heavy hacking community, it could be an Android playland, too -- the Fire has already been hacked, and instructions posted online to root it and potentially install whatever Android software or version you want.
SO rare that a gift is perfect for both grandma AND nerds.
Well done, Amazon.
And now for the news.
Actually, now, for a Molly Rant.
This week, the House Judiciary Hearing held a hearing to discuss the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, or as I call it, the demon copyright law straight from hell.
The act would allow a copyright holder with a beef accuse a Website of infringement, and then the government would force search engines and payment processors to block that site or the entire domain -- WITHIN FIVE DAYS.
There�s no due process, because the sites don�t have to be CONVICTED of wrongdoing, just accused, and there�s not much recourse for sites that ARE wrongly accused.
If you�re accused, you�re pretty much screwed.
Search engines and ISPs would live in constant fear, any site that aggregates user content should just shut down NOW, and don�t even get me started on free speech and the big government-maintained blacklist of banned domains.
The bill is insane.
Basically, everyone who knows anything about the Internet is like, �are you KIDDING me, this is the worst law EVER.� And the RIAA and the MPAA are like, �suck it, fools, we WROTE that ish.� And Congress is all, �I don�t really know that much about technology, but these guys at the RIAA and MPAA have a LOT of money, so let�s have this awesome hearing where four out of the five witnesses are FOR the bill, and then yell a lot at the one witness from Google who�s against it.
That�ll shut �em up.� And that is how a bill becomes a law, children!
Ok.
LOOK at this chart from Politico.
This is how much money the entertainment industry has spent lobbying Congress in the past two years, and THIS is how much Silicon Valley has spent.
So, that explains it � but dudes.
You know what Google has a lot of?
MONEY!
Come ON, Google, FIX THIS.
Start buying some Congress people!
The economy�s bad, I bet they�re going cheap.
BUY LOW, BUY LOW!
PS Please write or call your representatives and tell them you actually prefer America, due process, and the constitution, and to please not pass this thing.
Seriously.
Ok.
let�s lighten things up here, shall we?
Google today announced its new music service, called Google Music.
It�s free, it�s available now, it adds music purchases to the Android Market AND lets you store and stream up to 20,000 songs in the Google Cloud, for free.
PLUS, when you buy a song, you can share it on Google + and all of your friends can listen to it once, for free.
See, now, was that so hard?
Record labels?
This will be great.
If we like the song, we�ll buy it!
Sadly, Warner Music � not buying it.
They�re the only major label that�s not on board with the new Google Music service, so no Bruno Mars, Cee Lo Green, Death Cab for Cutie � Enya.
Yeah, that hurts.
And you know who�s gonna lose with this one?
Those artists, and Warner Music.
You know who�s gonna win?
NOBODY.
GET IN THE FUTURE, WARNER MUSIC GROUP.
AUGH.
Oops, I guess that was a rant after all.
And finally this week, a VERY bad spam attack on Facebook is filling people�s feeds with hard-core porn photos, plus really graphic and gory images of corpses and awful wounds and things.
The company finally admitted this week it�s been under attack and is investigating.
It�s unclear who�s behind the malware, but there are some clues: Anonymous had vowed to take Facebook off the Internet on November 5th, AND they�ve criticized Facebook for censoring people�s news feeds and removing supposedly offensive content, which they do.
So, it�s not hard to imagine that the funny guys in the masks might be the reason you barfed up your breakfast when you checked Aunt Margie�s feed earlier today.
Thanks for that, guys.
Yuck.
And that�s the Buzz Report for this week, everyone.
I�m Molly Wood and thanks for watching.
