Sunday, September 30, 2012

ALA President Talks to Publishers at AAP Event in NYC; Info Docket, 9/27/12

Matt Enis and Gary Price, Info Docket; ALA President Talks to Publishers at AAP Event in NYC: "American Library Association President Maureen Sullivan spoke to about 100 publishers this week during an Association of American Publishers event in New York. The presentation struck a more placatory tone than Sullivan’s open letter to publishers regarding the current state of ebook access in libraries. Sent just days earlier, it began by arguing that “it’s a rare thing in a free market when a customer is refused the ability to buy a company’s product and is told its money is ‘no good here.’ Surprisingly, after centuries of enthusiastically supporting publishers’ products, libraries find themselves in just that position with purchasing e-books from three of the largest publishers in the world.” Instead, Sullivan began the speech by emphasizing the history of cooperation between libraries and publishers, and noting that both fields are attempting to address “a time of extensive change in how content is created, distributed, read, and used.”"

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Maintaining relevance in a changing world: an interview with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry; WIPO Magazine, September 2012

WIPO Magazine; Maintaining relevance in a changing world: an interview with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry: "Ahead of WIPO's annual meeting of member states from October 1 to 9, 2012, Director General Francis Gurry shared his views with WIPO Magazine about some of the key challenges and opportunities that are likely to influence the future evolution of the international intellectual property (IP) system."

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Bruce Willis dilemma? In the digital era, we own nothing; Guardian, 9/3/12

Dan Gillmor, Guardian; The Bruce Willis dilemma? In the digital era, we own nothing: "The entertainment industry is rapidly steering us all toward a stream-from-the-cloud model, in which we buy the right to watch or listen or read, but where the rights are limited in time and device. This pay-per-view world would make even Willis's dilemma moot, because he'd never own anything – which makes it the most dangerous model of all for users of digital content. I use some cloud services, but I buy and back up (legally or not) the things I want to keep. Since the publishers, record labels and movie studios are unlikely to permit sanity in the digital marketplace, and given lawmakers' propensity for following the industry's dictates in passing increasingly draconian copyright laws, it's up to the rest of us to come up with solutions."

What's so funny about Gangnam Style?; Guardian, 9/24/12

Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian; What's so funny about Gangnam Style? : "Psy has produced a video that is born to spawn and has further facilitated this by waiving his copyright. This stands in high contrast to many western hip-hop stars who have been slow to relinquish control of their "intellectual" property in the same way (take Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind, for example, which quickly generated a host of YouTube tributes that were quickly removed by EMI). Psy's relaxed attitude to his tributes has meant that Gangnam Style has already enjoyed a prolific after-life. Everyone has made their own version, which only adds to the success of the original. Nevertheless, I can't help thinking that there is a slightly odd dynamic at work in this mimicry. For one thing, Gangnam Style is itself a parody. If a spoof spoofs a spoof then what's that spoof spoofing? What, exactly, is the source of all that hilarity?"

Sunday, September 23, 2012

All the TV News Since 2009, on One Web Site; New York Times, 9/17/12

Bill Carter, New York Times; All the TV News Since 2009, on One Web Site: "The latest ambitious effort by the archive, which has already digitized millions of books and tried to collect everything published on every Web page for the last 15 years (that adds up to more than 150 billion Web pages), is intended not only for researchers, Mr. Kahle said, but also for average citizens who make up some of the site’s estimated two million visitors each day... The act of copying all this news material is protected under a federal copyright agreement signed in 1976. That was in reaction to a challenge to a news assembly project started by Vanderbilt University in 1968."

Monday, September 3, 2012

Cambodia arrests Pirate Bay co-founder; Yahoo News, 9/3/12

Sopheng Cheang, Yahoo News; Cambodia arrests Pirate Bay co-founder:

"A co-founder of popular file sharing website The Pirate Bay was arrested in Cambodia at the request of Sweden, where he faces a one-year prison term for violating copyright laws, authorities said Monday.

Cambodian authorities arrested Gottfrid Svartholm Warg on Thursday at a home he had rented in the capital, Phnom Penh, said national police spokesman Kirth Chantharith."