Why Everyone Hates the PRS

Another classic post from Mike Masnick about the absurdities our current copyright regime visits upon us:

PRS has now threatened a woman who plays classical music to her horses in her stable to keep them calm. She had been turning on the local classical music station, saying that it helped keep the horse calm -- but PRS is demanding £99 if she wants to keep providing such a "public performance." And it's not just a one-off. Apparently a bunch of stables have been receiving such calls.

That's pathetic enough, but it's Masnick's parting shot that really struck me:

The group seems to believe that playing music in almost any situation now constitutes a public performance and requires a licensing fee. You just know they're salivating over the opportunity to go after people playing music in their cars with the windows down.

Because you know what? I bet the PRS is really considering how to do this.

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Opening Up the Euro-Augean Farms

Openness and governments go together like horses and horseless carriages, so I was heartened to come across what sounds like a major victory for open access to key information in the shape of FarmSubsidy.org:

Farmsubsidy.org uses freedom of information laws to force European governments to release detailed data on who gets what from Europe's €48.5 billion annual farm subsidy payments. We then make this data available online.

There's a good history of how this happened, which also provides something of a blueprint for further openness. (Via WorldChanging.)