democracy

Guns N' Roses song leaker sentenced, probe continues

Kevin Cogill, the man who pleaded guilty to leaking nine tracks from the then unreleased Guns N' Roses album "Chine se Democracy," was sentenced on Tuesday in Los Angeles to a year's probation and two months of home confinement.

Cogill is lucky not to be headed to jail. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian recommended to the judge that Cogill spend some time behind bars, but the judge ignored it. "I wanted to send a strong message to people who might consider committing these kinds of crimes in the future," Missakian said.

Last August, Cogill … Read more

The 404 Extended Vacation Throwback: Episode 212, 10/23/08

Unfortunately, 2/3 hosts of The 404 aren't feeling well this morning, but you'll be psyched to hear this throwback episode, where we make Dan (the mantern) smell-lel-lel-lel what the 404 issss cookin. But don't stress out too much, we'll be back tomorrow for another live feed. Enjoy!

NY mayor: Info to the people will improve gov't

NEW YORK--The state senate in Albany was in a bit of a shambles Monday. So instead of speaking in-person at the Personal Democracy Forum as planned, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg used Skype to make his keynote address.

"Through the miracles of modern communication, we're essentially together," Bloomberg commented to the audience at the Frederick P. Rose auditorium here in midtown Manhattan. He then spoke about how New York is using the assets of the digital age to make more information available to the city's residents--something that Bloomberg can pitch well, considering he made a fortune as … Read more

China blocks sites prior to 20th anniversary of Tiananmen

Almost 20 years ago exactly, on June 4, 1989, the Chinese military opened fire on prodemocracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, resulting in the loss of hundreds--if not thousands--of innocent lives. Most of the slain were students. However, the Chinese government would like the younger generations in China and the rest of the world to know very little about that.

Many media reports say that in the recent days leading up to the anniversary, China has been blocking Web sites like Twitter, Yahoo's Flickr, YouTube, Microsoft Hotmail, Live.com, Wordpress, Blogger, and many other social-networking sites and news outlets in … Read more

Sampling 'Chinese Democracy'

Update, 5:00 p.m.: The GnR MySpace page now has full-length versions of 6 songs available. Earlier today, five of them were only 90 seconds long. The change, alas, makes at least part of my post irrelevant. Still, Imeem has songs available that the GnR MySpace page does not.

I never even considered buying this album. I never loved the band, and I've managed to ignore the hype completely until now. Then Chuck Klosterman's review made me curious. I like Klosterman's books. We're about the same age. His musical tastes in high school would have … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 857: Dumber than a robot donkey

In today's show, we find out that the demise of humanity is imminent (or that all of our robot mythology is fundamentally rooted in self-hatred), the RIM BlackBerry Storm takes the world by drizzle, and Microsoft hopes that actually giving you songs will convince you to buy a Zune. Oh, and we don't care about Yahoo Glue. In case you were wondering.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 857

RIM BlackBerry Storm arrives http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/rim-blackberry-storm-verizon/4505-6452_7-33311850.html

Meet the first multitouch consumer laptop: HP’s TouchSmart tx2 http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10102285-1.html… Read more

Report: Man who shared 'Chinese Democracy' to plead guilty

The man accused of copyright violations after posting tracks from Guns N' Roses upcoming album--Chinese Democracy--has agreed to plead guilty, according to a published report.

Dave Kravets over at Wired.com reports that Kevin Cogill, 27, confessed to uploading nine songs last summer to his site, Antiquiet and now faces a misdemeanor charge of copyright infringement.

Los Angeles federal prosecutor Craig Missakian told Kravets that Cogill's guilty plea was part of a plea deal that will be entered on December. 8. Last August, Cogill became the first Californian charged under a 3-year-old federal antipiracy law that makes it a … Read more

The 404 212: Where we make Dan smell-lel-lel-lel what the 404 is cooking

Are Justin and Wilson offended by the title of the new Guns 'N' Roses album? What kind of music does Wilson like? (HINT: It starts with "mmmm" and ends with "usical theater.") Can Chinese people really nap anywhere? How many poo-poo jokes can we make in one episode? Find the answers on today's show, and also learn how you can win a copy of Baja and Far Cry 2 for Xbox 360!

NOTICE: Tomorrow's live show will start early at 10:45 a.m. Eastern. Be there or Jeff will open the floodgates of haterade!

Dan the Mantern here, and it's contest time. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to Photoshop CNET's very own Internet celebrity Dan Ackerman into a completely inappropriate picture. Make Dan into the new Client Number 9, put his head on Princess Zelda's body or, even more ridiculous, give him his own network TV show! Make us laugh and you'll win a copy of Baja or Far Cry 2 for Xbox 360 and Tales Out of Night School, Ackerman's newest CD. We're even throwing in a few promotional jimmy hats from BeenVerified.com. Trust us, if you combine Dan's CD, alcohol and a significant other, you'll need em!

EPISODE 212 Download today's podcast … Read more

'Democracy Challenge' comes to YouTube

To mark the United Nations' first-ever International Day of Democracy, the U.S. State Department launched a YouTube-based video contest on Monday.

Called the Democracy Video Challenge, the contest encourages the submission of three-minute videos that define the concept of democracy.

"The Democracy Video Challenge asks budding filmmakers, democracy advocates, and the general public to create video shorts that complete the phrase, 'Democracy is...'," the contest's official Web site explains. While they don't require entrants to be professional filmmakers, it's pretty clear that they're looking for something more high-end than sitting in front of … Read more

A waste of taxpayers' money

I understand why record companies would spend money tracking down and taking legal action against people who leak albums before their official release date. But do the feds need to be involved? Apparently the FBI has been interviewing a blogger that goes by the name of Skwerl, trying to figure out where he got nine tracks from Guns 'n' Roses' long-awaited Chinese Democracy.

What a complete waste of time and taxplayer dollars. Who's the victim of this crime? A handful of musicians who haven't had a hit record in a generation, and their managers and assorted hangers-on who … Read more