LISNews: Librarian News

Jen Young passed over This One from the The Chronicle of Higher Education that says President Bush is expected to sign a bill, passed last week, that would open the door for professors to use some copyrighted works in online courses without having to seek permission.

There are 6 versions of Bill Number HR 2215 for the 107th Congress.

Dan Gillmor says We must engage in copyright debate. He says we must stop letting the entertainment companies set the terms of the legal discussions. We need to re-establish some balance, we need to re-educate ourselves, congress, and the public, and to learn the alternatives to the cartel\'s offerings.

\"Average people are not part of the conversation, not in any way that matters. To the cartel and its chattel in the halls of political power, we are nothing but ``consumers\'\' -- our sole function is to eat what the movie, music and publishing industries put in front of us, and then send money.\"

The Great and Powerful Joe writes \"Not that these stories are hard to come by these days, but Chronicle has a story on copyright and the DMCA among other things in this weeks Site Sampler.

If only Uncle Sam noticed the scarcity of articles talking about the wonderful cuddliness of 21st century copyright law.

Read The Full Story \"

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is pushing congress to rethink its approach to copyright legislation, stating that, \"The experience of consumers in the information age reaffirms our belief in the need to ensure consumer rights. Consumers and the economy are best served by open standards and networks that afford them maximum choice, encourage use and promote unfettered innovation by both consumers and producers.\" He also makes reference to the view by movie companies in the 80s, that VCR\'s should never hit the public market. Videos now account for 40% of the movie industry\'s revenue. Read more.