BCLSB EXCLUSIVE: Taped Secret Convo of Evan Solomon With Art Client

The following is a transcript of secretly taped phone conversation between Ex-CBCer Evan Solomon and one of the art collecting guys he was doing deals with.   Gives an exclusive look at the whole "high-end" art community and the shit they get up to.

ES: This one here is a Jan Weenix, from the Dutch Golden Age.   "Still Life With Dead Parrot", they call it.  Note the bright colours. Almost to Group of 7 levels, and they claim the  bird stands for Jesus.  Whatcha say? Guy's contemporary with Rembrandt, but Rembrandt commands major scratch. This I can get you for 20 large, with a 5% off if you buy a second Weenix, maybe "Still Life With Dead Snake".

JB: It's a bit dark for my pool room; do you have something that will go with puce?

ES:  I can get a version of it where the parrot is yellow.

JB: Fair enough.  And...do I get points?

ES: Bring your card and we can swipe  it on delivery.

JB:  OK.  What else you got?

ES:  Looted Aztec death masque.  From wherever it was they were from.  $2,000 apiece, 6 for 10 cubed.  Hang 'em in places you don't want the wife to go.

JB: I need to look.  Send me a .jpg.

ES: See attachment.

JB:  Oh yuck.  Reminds me too much of The War Pig.

ES: Who?

JB: My sister-in-law.  No thanks.  Anything else?

ES: Folk crafts from the Ukraine.  A plinkerino.

JB: Of fuck one of their ancient 3 string guitars? Sounds like a busted Uke?  No chance.  

ES:  Well, I got nothing.  

JB: We're done then.

CBC Strikes Back: iCopyright = Status Quo

And even with iCopyright in place you’ll still be able to excerpt from stories originating from CBC.ca. If you’re writing a blog post and want to quote one of our stories, you can.

You’ll also still be able to post links to CBC.ca content on blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter or other online media at no charge and will continue to offer free RSS stories for websites (found here).

Although when you look at the permissions for quoting stories you see:

Under certain circumstances, it is permissible to quote or take an excerpt from a CBC.ca article; however, prior permission is required before using any CBC.ca text in this manner. Please submit a Permissions request for our consideration.

Whether that's a new requirement or not, its one I've been ignoring (and intend to continue to ignore).

h/t the kid.

The CBC MUST BE DESTROYED

...or at least annoyed.

Yesterday, it was revealed that CBC has recently adopted a highly Draconian approach to protecting the copyright on its on-line news stories. They have decided to employ iCopyright, the American copyright bounty hunters used by Associated Press. iCopyright demands a monthly/annual fee for each CBC piece you quote on your site; you have to host the entire piece, not bits and pieces of it; you can't criticize the story's author, or the CBC, and so on.

Ridiculous stuff.

By nightfall, Canadian bloggers had already begun to strike back. The inevitable Facebook group opposing the move had sprung up, and people were already considering means of punishing CBC for, essentially, attempting to sell you the right to fair comment that you already possess. Probably the most interesting idea for a punitive response comes from Devin Johnston at Law Is Cool:

There is one thing that I will change as a result of CBC’s new iCopyright policy. From now on, whenever I link to CBC, I will use the the rel=”nofollow” construct. This attribute instructs search engines like Google not to index the link as part of its PageRank algorithm. Essentially, the links don’t help their destination sites to achieve higher rankings in search engines. I already use this construct when linking to sources such as the Conservative and Liberal parties (being a New Demcorat, I want to ensure that I’m not giving any advantage, however trivial, to my political opponents). From now on, CBC will not get the trivial benefit they enjoy in terms of search engine ranking when I link to them. This practice will continue until CBC adopts a more balanced and realistic approach to copyright.

Other approaches under discussion are letters to MPs (CBC is after all taxpayer funded), letters to the CBC, or making a conscious effort to avoid CBC versions of whatever story you wish to right about.

If CBC wants to remove itself from the cultural conversation, let them.

PS. A very good walk-through of the new contract and its implications here.

PPS. Although iCopyright looks to be a bit of a toothless tiger. Look at the bottom of the G&M piece you've quoted. Hit the license button and see where it takes you. Has ANYONE ever been hassled by these guys...or for quoting AP, for that matter?