Landmark study on the effects of copyright takedown abuse on online free expression; BoingBoing.net, 3/30/16

Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net; Landmark study on the effects of copyright takedown abuse on online free expression:

"Three of America's sharpest copyright scholars have released a landmark study of the impact of copyright takedowns on free expression in America: Notice and Takedown in Everyday Practice, by Jennifer Urban (UC Berkeley), Joe Karaganis (Columbia), and Brianna L. Schofiel (UC Berkeley) uses detailed surveys and interviews and a random sample from over 100,000,000 takedown notices to analyze the proportion of fraudulent, malformed or otherwise incorrect acts of censorship undertaken in copyright's name, using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's takedown procedure.

The DMCA is nearly 20 years old, and even before it was passed into law, virtually everyone who was paying attention said that creating a system that allows anything online to be censored through copyright infringement accusations, without due process or even penalties for getting it wrong, would get us into trouble. Now the evidence is in, and it couldn't be more damning."

Oracle will seek a staggering $9.3 billion in 2nd trial against Google; ArsTechnica.com, 3/29/16

Joe Mullin, ArsTechnica.com; Oracle will seek a staggering $9.3 billion in 2nd trial against Google:

"In a second go-round of its copyright lawsuit against Google, Oracle is hoping to land a knockout blow. A damages report filed last week in federal court reveals that the enterprise software giant will ask for $9.3 billion in damages.

In its lawsuit, Oracle argues that Google infringed copyrights related to Java when it used 37 Java API packages to create its Android mobile operating system.

The damages it's seeking aren't just more than the Java API packages are worth—it's far more than Oracle paid for the entirety of Sun Microsystems, which was purchased in 2009 for $5.6 billion. By way of comparison, Google parent company Alphabet earned $4.9 billion in profits last quarter, according to IDG News, which reported on the Oracle figures yesterday.

Such a result would be far and away the biggest copyright verdict ever."

31st Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference; American Bar Association (ABA), Bethesda, Maryland, April 6-8, 2016

American Bar Association (ABA); 31st Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference:

"The 31st Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference from the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law is recognized as the world's premier IP conference.

These three packed days of learning enable you to earn a year's worth of CLE credit from expert sessions presented by the leaders in every area of the profession. We offer what you need to know along with multiple opportunities to mingle with those who should be part of your network."

Open Data Roundtables: Using Government Data as a National Resource; Huffington Post, 3/24/16

Joel Gurin, Huffington Post; Open Data Roundtables: Using Government Data as a National Resource:

"Open government data - free, publicly available data that anyone can use, reuse, and republish - is being recognized as a resource with great social and economic value. But a number of challenges still need to be solved if this resource is to realize its full potential. Today, March 24, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Center for Open Data Enterprise are co-hosting the first of four Open Data Roundtables to make open government data more accessible and usable.

These Roundtables are being held at a time when new uses for government data are being developed almost daily. New and established businesses are finding novel ways to use data on weather, finance, demographics, energy, and more. The Obama Administration has launched programs using open data in education (the College Scorecard), criminal justice ( Police Data Initiative), urban neighborhoods (the Opportunity Project), health (Open FDA), and other areas that are critical to citizens.

The 2016 Open Data Roundtables will address four major issues that relate to federal data..."

This open-access picture book from the ‘70s shows how glorious the space race really was; Science Alert, 3/24/16

Jacinta Bowler, Science Alert; This open-access picture book from the ‘70s shows how glorious the space race really was:

"The ‘70s were an exciting time for space exploration. We landed on the Moon in 1969, the Russian Mars 2 probe explored the surface of the red planet in 1973, and things were looking bright for future of space travel.

These recently uploaded - and incredible to look at - illustrations tell the story of the space race, showing just how optimistic we all were back then, as well as some of the cutting edge research and technology from the time...

You can see more high quality images and excerpts all free on Flickr...

But if reading is more your thing, IF Magazine is another science blast from the past that we can’t get over. Launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, the science fiction magazine was only ever moderately successful during its relatively short run, but the amazing illustrations and stories inside are timeless, and give a great insight into what we thought the future would look like, from more than half a century ago.

Check out the whole collection here."