Copyright

Fair Use Bill Introduced In Congress

Posted by Kathy from lockergnome.com

A first-step counterpoint to the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998? U.S. Rep. Rich Boucher (D-VA.) and John Dolittle (R-CA) have introduced the "The FAIR USE Act" (long title: Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act -- don't ya love how bill names conveniently add up to a catchy acronym?).

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AOM Textbook Industry Threatened by Pirated DVD

Posted by Kaerast

To prevent the use of the illegal copies, some schools have come up with a novel copy-protection scheme: "Various options for schools have been suggested, from amnesty for students who turn in their copy of the disk, to requiring all students to bring their books to class in order to be counted as in attendance."

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Judge Rules Against Deep-Linking of Content

Posted by Jeff from Yro.slashdot

"What's unusual in the SFX case is that a copyright holder is trying to prohibit a direct link to its own Web site. (There is no evidence that SFX tried technical countermeasures, such as referrer logging and blocking anyone coming from Davis' site.)" - For example, Crooks and Liars uses this to prevent deep linking.

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Second Life struggles with copying

Posted by Jeff from BoingBoing

The net-economics of Second Life are coming under challenge by creative technologists. I'm hearing more interesting things about Second Life every day. Is it the next MySpace? Wouldn't it be great if we could fight virtual wars instead of wasting real lives in iraq?

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YouTube Takes Down Comedy Central Clips Based on DMCA Claims

Posted by Jeff

I received a couple of emails from YouTube this afternoon (see below) notifying me that a third party (probably attorneys for Comedy Central) had made a DMCA request to take down Colbert Report and Daily Show clips. If you visit YouTube, all Daily Show, Colbert Report and South Park clips now show “This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.”

For a long time, Comedy Central has passively allowed the sharing of online clips of its shows—because let’s face it, it’s helped them generate the kind of water cooler talk that has made them a ton of money. In this Wired Interview , Jon Stewart and Daily Show Executive Producer even encouraged viewers to watch the show on the Internet:

Karlin: If people want to take the show in various forms, I’d say go. But when you’re a part of something successful and meaningful, the rule book says don’t try to analyze it too much or dissect it. You shouldn’t say: “I really want to know what fans think. I really want to understand how people are digesting our show.” Because that is one of those things that you truly have no control over. The one thing that you have control over is the content of the show. But how people are reacting to it, how it’s being shared, how it’s being discussed, all that other stuff, is absolutely beyond your ability to control.

Stewart: I’m surprised people don’t have cables coming out of their asses, because that’s going to be a new thing. You’re just going to get it directly fed into you. I look at systems like the Internet as a convenience. I look at it as the same as cable or anything else. Everything is geared toward more individualized consumption. Getting it off the Internet is no different than getting it off TV.

But apparently, all good things come to an end when there is money and attorneys involved. I assume the only online clips that will remain will have to qualify under fair use – probably short clips, with social or political importance.

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The Pirate Bay: Here to Stay?

Posted by bugeats from Wired

"All of us who run the TPB are against the copyright laws and want them to change," said "Brokep," a Pirate Bay operator. "We see it as our duty to spread culture and media. Technology is just a means to doing that."

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Group: Online content cannot remain free

Posted by Jeff from Seattle Times

Interesting article about European groups criticizing Google's news site.

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