Re: Interesting Twist to BANNER ADVERTISING

From: ken cooper <kcooper_at_redshift.bc.ca>
Date: Mon 17 Jan 2000 21:51:27 -0000

Saw this on the ICONOCLASH list:

> According to the New York Times, CBS used digital
> technology to insert a fake billboard into their live
> coverage of New Years eve in Times Square. They covered
> up real Budweiser and NBC billboards with a digitally
> created CBS billboard and inserted it into the live
> feed.

If I'm not mistaken there are a few people on this list
chewing on Fred's tail for his playing the devil's
advocate and suggesting that he might try a smaller
version of this at his ISP.

I know the media is different. Those who like to argue
will, no doubt, be able to see the differences in the
two scenarios more easily than any likenesses, but if
CBS can get away with falsifying actual events and
infringing on my rights to see EXACTLY what it looked
like in Time Square on that momentous occasion, then
why is Fred deserving of suffering the wrath of angry
capitalists world wide? (Well list wide anyway.)


It was good to read Walt Rines' take on the subject:

WALT RINES WROTE:
> Each ISP IS a private WAN, whether you like it or not.
> The few court cases which have addressed this issue
> have done so regarding Email SPAM, and have
> unequivocally ruled that an ISP/system has complete
> rights to filter the traffic on it's system any way it
> wants to. The subscribers can vote with their checkbook
> if they don't like it and change ISP's. As far as I can
> tell, there is no reason to regard banner ads any
> differently. I realize this brings up a number of
> thorny issues to settle, but that is the way the
> courts have ruled thus far.

Now I'll ad in international twist to this scenario. In
Canada, the Web comes under the jurisdiction of the
C.R.T.C. (Canadian Radio & Television Commission.)
They were the one who allowed Canadian cable vision
companies to block American ads since, well, for as
long as I can remember. If they suddenly had the whim
to allow banner bouncing to happen in Canada, then
they could up and just do it!

It would make small political sense for the Canadian
government to make a decision like that, as the States
and Canada are each other's largest trading partners,
but they could. Some Canadians are feeling a tad touchy
about sovereignty these days because of 'a little'
American pressure, (so what else is new. ; ) in the
magazine industry up here. The web is
questioning/allowing/encroaching on sovereignty. But I
shan't go into that. So, a change in Canadian
leadership could mean big change in Canada/U.S.
relations; now, that's more than a funny thought.

What happens if we go half way around the world to
China? Who's to stop either their government or some
greedy capitalist ISP in Nan King from banner bouncing
your copyrighted material and replacing it with a
flashy animated Gif of their own. Maybe something from
a little red book, or perhaps a little 'Rich Media'
campaign for the Chinese laundry down the road.
Even if there were laws, how ya gonna check? How's your
Mandarin these days? I know the only book with any
Chinese in it around my place is the I Ching. ; )

And that reminds me of a Chinese saying. At least I
think it's Chinese. Every journey of a thousand miles
begins with finding your car keys.

Grabbing mine, and heading out to plow another eight
inches of powder on my little piece of road, in the
backwoods of B.C.

Ken Cooper
kcooper_at_redshift.bc.ca





Received on Mon Jan 17 2000 - 15:51:27 CST