Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy Glare; New York Times, 4/5/15

Natasha Singer, New York Times; Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy Glare:

"In hopes of alleviating students’ concerns, Verificient recently posted a pledge on its blog saying that Proctortrack did not share students’ data with third parties; that it typically deleted students’ data after 30 to 60 days; and that students could remove the software from their computers once they had uploaded their test data.

But the company has not changed its privacy policy — which states that it may unilaterally amend its policies at any time and that it may disclose users’ personal information to third-party service providers or in the event of a company merger, sale or bankruptcy.

Students like Ms. Chao say they hope university administrators will consider the civil liberties implications of emergent tracking technologies, not just the expediency.

“They are trying to make recording students a regular part of online courses,” Ms. Chao said. “You don’t know what new norms are going to be established for what privacy is.”"

[Book Review of ‘Culture Crash,’ by Scott Timberg], New York Times, 3/17/15

[Book Review of ‘Culture Crash,’ by Scott Timberg] Ben Yagoda, New York Times:

CULTURE CRASH

The Killing of the Creative Class

By Scott Timberg 310 pp. Yale University Press. $26

"In 1999, recordings generated $14.6 billion in revenue to the music business; by 2012, the figure was down to $5.35 billion. Of course, owing to the change in the dominant distribution model from physical CDs to (first) downloading MP3 files and (now) streaming on services like Pandora and Spotify, performing artists get a thinner slice of the smaller pie. Timberg puts a human face on the statistics with portraits, scattered throughout the book, of poets, artists, moviemakers and reporters who had been doing good work and making not great but decent livings, when all of a sudden the rug was pulled out from under them..."

As Timberg himself acknowledges elsewhere, artistic expression is essential to human existence. Its forms are rapidly changing. Its economics are, too, and at this moment artists are finding it harder and harder to make a living from their work. But it will persevere. Who knows? Maybe the commenters were right, and an old-fashioned symphony orchestra isn’t sustainable any­more. Music will survive — including, for the time being, in Louisville, where, after the bankruptcy filing, the orchestra cut back on its schedule and staffing, and suffered a musicians’ strike as a consequence, but posted a $20,000 surplus last August."

Card expired: The head of the Library of Congress must go; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/3/15

Editorial Board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Card expired: The head of the Library of Congress must go:

"In a scathing report issued this week, the federal watchdog agency assigned much of the blame for the library’s inefficiency to director James H. Billington, an 85-year-old Ronald Reagan appointee who rarely uses a cell phone, does not use email and does not keep abreast of technological change. Mr. Billington’s annual salary is $179,700, so his reluctance to step down is partly understandable.

But the Library of Congress has a $630 million annual budget and 3,200 employees whose primary task is to run the Copyright Office and provide Congress with research and legal advice. Among the problems identified in the GAO report is the institution’s lack of a chief information officer.

Mr. Billington and his lieutenants have not moved to appoint anyone to this crucial role. They continue to run what is supposed to be one of the most important sources of information in the nation as if it were a neglected school library in rural America. The library doesn’t keep track of costs or log or respond to complaints...

Mr. Billington should retire honorably and make way, after three decades, for fresh, tech-savvy management."

IT troubles plague Federal Copyright Office; NetworkWorld.com, 3/31/15

Michael Cooney, NetworkWorld.com; IT troubles plague Federal Copyright Office:

"A report out this week from the watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office points out a number of different technical and management woes that see to start at the top – with the CIO (a position that has a number of problems in its own right) and flows down to the technology, or lack-thereof.

As the nation’s copyright center it is imperative that it operate efficiently to effectively protect all manner of written and recorded material but according to the GAO it doesn’t.

And it is a big job. For example, according to the Copyright Office, which falls organizationally under the Library of Congress, in fiscal year 2014 it registered about 476,000 creative works for copyright, including about 219,000 literary works and 65,000 sound recordings and recorded 7,600 copyright records. In addition in fiscal year 2014 the office collected approximately $315 million in royalties and made disbursements in accordance with the decisions of the Copyright Royalty Board."

Citing ‘Greatest American Hero’ Case, Judge Rules ‘Three’s Company’ Parody Doesn’t Violate Copyright: Media; Deadline.com, 3/31/15

Jeremy Gerard, Deadline.com; Citing ‘Greatest American Hero’ Case, Judge Rules ‘Three’s Company’ Parody Doesn’t Violate Copyright: Media:

"In a significant free-speech victory, Loretta A. Preska, Chief United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York, ruled Tuesday that 3C, a play that parodies the 1970s sitcom Three’s Company, does not infringe on that copyrighted program. The ruling ends nearly three years of court tennis during which playwright David Adjmi was prohibited from publishing the script of his black comedy and pursuing new productions. And in her ruling, Judge Preska cites the famous Superman v. Greatest American Hero case still discussed today."

Roger L. Mayer, Pioneer of Film Preservation, Dies at 88; New York Times, 3/29/15

Sam Roberts, New York Times; Roger L. Mayer, Pioneer of Film Preservation, Dies at 88:

"Roger L. Mayer, a film executive who was instrumental in preserving and restoring countless classic movies and who also courted controversy by coloring some black-and-white ones, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 88...

At the 2005 Oscar ceremonies in Hollywood, the director Martin Scorsese, a leading advocate of saving films, presented Mr. Mayer with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in recognition of his chairmanship of the National Film Preservation Foundation, which has rescued more than 2,100 “orphaned” movies that were abandoned by their copyright holders. He also served on the Library of Congress’s National Film Preservation Board, which each year chooses 25 of what it calls “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” worth safeguarding."

Access denied: Reporters say federal officials, data increasingly off limits; Washington Post, 3/30/15

Paul Farhi, Washington Post; Access denied: Reporters say federal officials, data increasingly off limits:

"Tensions between reporters and public information officers — “hacks and flacks” in the vernacular — aren’t new, of course. Reporters have always wanted more information than government officials have been willing or able to give.

But journalists say the lid has grown tighter under the Obama administration, whose chief executive promised in 2009 to bring “an unprecedented level of openness” to the federal government.

The frustrations boiled over last summer in a letter to President Obama signed by 38 organizations representing journalists and press-freedom advocates. The letter decried “politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies” by spokesmen. “We consider these restrictions a form of censorship — an attempt to control what the public is allowed to see and hear,” the groups wrote.

They asked for “a clear directive” from Obama “telling federal employees they’re not only free to answer questions from reporters and the public, but actually encouraged to do so.”

Obama hasn’t acted on the suggestion. But his press secretary, Josh Earnest, defended the president’s record, noting in a letter to the groups that, among other things, the administration has processed a record number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, established more protection for whistleblowers and posted White House visitor logs for the first time."