Into The Mix

Buy.com's forthcoming digital music service wants "to become the iTunes for Windows." [Via c |net News.com, via ILN] More from the Merc: "Like the iTunes Music Store, Buy.com will sell individual music tracks without collecting an up-front monthly subscription fee; even though it has yet to secure licensed music from all five major record labels, knowledgeable sources say."

Making Lemonade, Or Something Less Palatable?

I must say, Global Removal has me stumped. So much so that this sounds like a job for Politech, to figure out whether this is 1) an out and out scam, 2) not a scam but a bad idea nevertheless because creating incentives not to spam is not enough to stem the tide, and not as effective as a system of legislated penalties (which Global Removal says it's lobbying for*), or 3) a surprisingly good idea. Even if this is completely on the up and up, the idea of paying to verify valid email addresses for spammers strikes me as, oh, perhaps doubly unwise. Global Removal's press release of today's date sheds further light on how this is supposed to work. Neither Google nor Technorati shows any incoming links to the site (which may just have launched); Snopes has nothing. I'm emailing Declan, and will follow up should this shed any light. Your thoughts, of course, are most welcome.

*"GlobalRemoval.com is also lobbying Congress to create a national 'Do Not Email' list that will be similar to the 'Do Not Call' legislation recently passed."

What Has It Gots In Its Pocketses?

Have you seen the Web site for Gnomedex 3.0 yet? "The Fellowship of the Geeks." (Wipe tears of laughter from eyes; go about business.)

A Clued Cabal

Search Google for "conspire" and find Conspire.com ("Wear Your Paranoia Like A Sweaty Undergarment!"), while "conspiracy" will serve up The Volokh Conspiracy at or close to the top. Enjoy Chris Lydon's interview with phenom Eugene Volokh himself, as well as Lydon's burgeoning aud-blog series, to date featuring Dave Winer and Jim Behrle. I particularly like Eugene's comments about the eclecticism of the "Conspirators" and their writing:

I suppose you're right that it's something like a coffeehouse, or something like a conversation around a dining room table, that people talk about the things that interest them. In a sense, that's actually more natural for humans I think. Very few of us decide, "Ok, over dinner, we're only going to talk about law." And when we do decide that then most people don't want to have dinner with us anymore.

Thanks to John Palfrey for pointing the way.

Look Ma, The Hummer's On The Plasma Screen!

The new Fox series "The O.C." premieres Tuesday, August 5:

The O.C., otherwise known as Orange County, California, is an idyllic paradise—a wealthy, harbor-front community where everything and everyone appears to be perfect. But beneath the surface is a world of shifting loyalties and identities, of kids living secret lives, hidden from their parents, and of parents living secret lives, hidden from their children.

Early returns look promising. I've always thought my adopted home town was emminently fictionalizable. It's a place where working without a net often amounts to more than just a state of mind.