"Excited by the connectivity revolution, governments all over the world are trying to find clever uses for the enormous amounts of digital information they now possess. One of the Big Data movements with the most momentum is Open Data — making this information available to the public. But what good does this actually do? Apolitical spoke to three pioneers in the field in Burkina Faso, Brazil and India, who told us about fighting corruption, ensuring free elections and preventing crime. These real, substantive issues go beyond the inevitably vague buzzwords of transparency and accountability. Here we discover what Open Data can really do about them."
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Open Data: Why We Should Care; Huffington Post, 3/17/16
Apolitical, Huffington Post; Open Data: Why We Should Care:
9th Circuit revisits Dancing Baby copyright case: No fair use via algorithm; Ars Technica, 3/18/16
Joe Mullin, Ars Technica; 9th Circuit revisits Dancing Baby copyright case: No fair use via algorithm:
"In September, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued its ruling in the "Dancing Baby" copyright takedown case, initiated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation more than eight years ago. It was a victory for the EFF, but a very mixed one. Today, the court issued an amended opinion that makes the EFF's win stronger."
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
The latest news on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' shows how big corporations control copyright law; Los Angeles Times, 3/14/16
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times; The latest news on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' shows how big corporations control copyright law:
"According to a March 4 notice issued by Hachette to booksellers and reported by the New Republic, permission for the mass-market edition has been withdrawn by the novel's publisher, HarperCollins. (HarperCollins also brought out "Go Set a Watchman.") Hachette can sell off its remaining copies, which it's doing at a further discount, but henceforth "Mockingbird" will be available chiefly in a HarperCollins trade paperback edition, which lists for $14.99. The burden will fall on school districts that traditionally laid in a large volume of mass-market books for their pupils. Hachette says that more than two-thirds of the 30 million copies sold worldwide since publication have been its low-priced edition. Hachette told bookstores, according to the New Republic: "The disappearance of the iconic mass-market edition is very disappointing to us, especially as we understand this could force a difficult situation for schools and teachers with tight budgets who cannot afford the larger, higher priced paperback edition that will remain in the market." The real problem this development points to is with copyright law, which has been getting consistently rewritten in the United States and other countries to extend the length of authors' rights to the point where their heirs, and heirs of heirs, are the chief beneficiaries of the copyright. But that's only superficially. The real beneficiaries are corporations, which continue to profit from successful works of art for decades after their creators have passed on. Corporations such as HarperCollins... Yet as we can see from the extinction of the mass-market paperback of "Mockingbird," such extensions stifle the dissemination of creative works rather than encourage it. The squabble over the copyright to Anne Frank's diaries, which we reported on here, also illustrates how the grip of copyright law leaves the control of creative works in the hands of people who may not share the desires of the works' creators. Harper Lee has passed on, Anne Frank is long gone, and Walt Disney is represented in the marketplace by a corporation that is hopelessly far removed from his artistic and even his business creation."
Photo Copyright: Oscar Wilde, Richard Prince, and Your Instagram Content; Huffington Post, 3/15/16
Kim Farbota, Huffington Post; Photo Copyright: Oscar Wilde, Richard Prince, and Your Instagram Content:
"Richard Prince, an "appropriation artist" well-known in creative spheres, is showing blown-up screen shots from his Instagram feed in renowned Manhattan galleries. The contemporary counterparts of Wilde's Gilded Age fan base buy the inkjet-on-canvas prints for upwards of $100,000. The original snappers hear through the proverbial grapevine that their filtered selfies are featured in high-end art shows. Copyright law has evolved markedly in the century separating Richard Prince from Napoleon Sarony. On the shoulders of Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, Prince has made a decades-long career selling slightly altered versions of other people's images. He evades copyright infringement liability through legal principles that allow certain "transformative works" to make use of copyright-protected materials without the owner's consent. Broadly, a transformative "fair use" alters or recontextualizes the original work for the purpose of commentary, criticism, or parody. All of the pieces in the Instagram-based New Portraits series include Prince's own original "comment" within the captured frame, submitted via his Instagram handle, "richardprince1234". He also enlarges the images and moves them from digital to print media. The original photos, which cover most of the space on the printed canvases, remain otherwise untouched. Donald Graham, a career photographer whose portrait of a Rastafarian man was involuntarily featured in New Portraits, is not impressed. In a complaint filed in federal court this January, Graham calls Prince's work a "blatant disregard of copyright law". Graham's suit challenges whether Prince's transformations are sufficient to trigger "fair use" protection... At the intersection of copyright and social media, balancing the benefits of exposure with the risks of theft and appropriation is an evolving challenge."
4/28/16 Intellectual Property Workshop : Trademark Seminar; Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Intellectual Property Workshop : Trademark Seminar:
Thursday, April 28, 2016 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM Join us for this workshop that will help you navigate the sometimes confusing world of trademarks. Presenters from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will help you understand the basics of trademark law and what you need to do in order to protect your business name or logo. A limited number of one-on-one appointments with an intellectual property attorney are available from 2:30-4:30; please call 412-622-3133 to secure a spot. Presented by: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Event fee: Free Location: International Poetry Room - 2nd Floor Main Library 4400 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Contact: Irene Yelovich 412-622-3133 yelovichi@carnegielibrary.org
4/14/16 Intellectual Property Workshop : Patent Seminar; Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Intellectual Property Workshop : Patent Seminar:
Thursday, April 14, 2016 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM Join us for this workshop that will help you navigate the often complicated world of patents. Presenters from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will help you understand the basics of patent law and how the patent application process works. A limited number of one-on-one appointments with an intellectual property attorney are available from 2:30-4:30; please call 412-622-3133 to secure a spot. Presented by: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Event fee: Free Location: International Poetry Room - 2nd Floor Main Library 4400 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Contact: Irene Yelovich 412-622-3133 yelovichi@carnegielibrary.org
4/7/16 Intellectual Property Workshop: Copyright Seminar; Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Intellectual Property Workshop: Copyright Seminar:
Thursday, April 7, 2016
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Have you ever wondered how to best protect your artistic or literary works or struggled to determine if you're able to use someone else's content? Learn the basics of copyright law and how to go about applying for copyright protection. A limited number of one-on-one appointments with an intellectual property attorney are available from 2:30-4:30 before the presentation; sign up early to secure a spot.
Presented by: US Patent and Trademark Office
Event fee: Free
Location: International Poetry Room - 2nd Floor Main Library
4400 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Contact: Irene Yelovich
412-622-3133
yelovichi@carnegielibrary.org
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