April 2006

The “Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancements Act of 2006” is sponsored by Representative and House Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), Representative and Chairman of Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Representative Charles Pickering (R-Miss.), and Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). The bill is focused on video-franchise reform and was first introduced to Congress in late March 2006.

It would, among other things, grant telcos and cable operators automatically renewing national franchises to deliver video services over the Internet, and would grant the FCC authority over Net neutrality-related issues. The CEA and US Telecom are among a number of groups showing public support for the bill.

Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass) is now rallying colleagues on the left and the right to support the introduction of his Network Neutrality Amendment onto the full floor next week. But it’s an uphill battle. In order for the amendment to be voted upon by all members, it has to first get approval from the House’s Rules Committee. You can contact your Rep. via the House.gov Site or use the Form Here. Save The Internet has oodles more info.

A teen novel containing admittedly borrowed material has been pulled from the market. Author Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard University sophomore, had acknowledged that numerous passages in “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life” were lifted from another writer.

Publisher Little, Brown and Company, which had signed Viswanathan to a reported six-figure deal, said in a statement Thursday that it had notified retail and wholesale outlets to stop selling copies of the book, and to return unsold copies to the publisher.
Story continued here.

Anonymous Patron writes “Libraries and other services are having a hard time keeping up their service levels. The BiblioServiceBus is a Dutch initiative whereby a number of organisations and services joined forces to offer the inhabitants a much wider service than just borrowing books. From banking services to health information to reporting small crimes to the police. It’s all part of the
BiblioServiceBus“.

Since the collapse last week of the South Avenue garage ramp, the doors to Rochester NY’s Bausch & Lomb Public Library across the street are open one hour earlier at 8 a.m. to allow pedestrians to walk through and ease the inconvenience caused by the closure of Broad Street from Stone Street to South Avenue.

“I think it’s turning lemons into lemonade, said Carolyn Schuler, communications director for the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County; it’s given thelibrary an opportunity for some good exposure, she said. People passing through may come back.” Story from the Democrat and Chronicle.

Article in New York Times about portable USB drive that is used to anonymize your surfing when using your computer or a public computer.

Article starts:In today’s terrorism-conscious world, personal privacy seems to be diminishing. But a specialized flash drive from Stealth Ideas can ensure that your Web travels, at least, remain secret.

Anonymous Patron writes “British Library secures integrity of digital archive: The British Library is to secure the integrity of its National Digital Library by authenticating electronic documents and other materials.

A document sealing engine from vendor nCipher is being used to timestamp and digitally sign every item stored in the library to prove they have not been modified from the original.”

Report from the Chicago Tribune about the success of the new book downloading program. A month ago, the Chicago Public Library quietly added a link to its Web site and waited for the tech savvy bibliophiles.

“New! Download Audio Books,” the link promised since March 15.

That first day, 72 titles were downloaded to home computers and MP3 players from Chicago Public Library website download page.

Anonymous Patron writes “From The Chronicle of Higher Education: Last week the National Archives acknowledged that, soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it struck a secret, classified agreement with the Central Intelligence Agency spelling out how the two federal agencies would work together to remove documents from the archives’ shelves for the purpose of reclassification. Since the deal became public, the archives has moved quickly to denounce it and to push to declassify the agreement, which is now available online.”

If you’re a kid at the Sacred Heart School in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and you promise not to watch TV this week, you get to see a very cool and amazing demonstration next week…click here to find out more…

Anonymous Patron writes “Playaway’s MP3 players, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, each contain one audio book.
The New York Times reports In a world filled with complicated MP3 players and online audio stores, it’s a wonder that anyone gets any listening done at all. Playaway hopes to change all that by making an audio book purchase as easy as plopping down a credit card at the airport gift shop.”