rudimyers

You have to fight for your rights

“Perhaps the most important piece of advice this column has offered in 15 years of prognosticating about IT, is something you can do in the next few weeks: overcome your natural apathy over participating in the so-called democratic process and have your say on the matter of fair use rights over copyright material. … We do not have those rights. Instead, Australian legislators have imposed what is arguably the most user-unfriendly copyright regime in the Western world …”

More at the The Edge.

Information Literacy Makes All the Wrong Assumptions

Academic librarians were quick to react to the threat posed by Internet competition. In 1989, half a dozen years before the first official release of Netscape, they recognized the explosion in networked information and proposed “information literacy,” a reinvention of the educational function of the academic library.



Stanley Wilder goes on to criticize academic libraries for their choice and suggests a different method for teaching students.

See the full story at The Chronicle.

A Kinder, Gentler Copyright Bill

The Senate passed a scaled-back version of a controversial copyright bill Saturday, keeping a provision that imposes severe penalties on people caught with camcorders in movie theaters but scrapping other provisions that copyright-reform activists had criticized.

…But the bill removed several provisions that had upset consumer advocates, like the Pirate Act (SB2237), which would have allowed the attorney general to file civil lawsuits against copyright infringers. Critics argued that this would use taxpayer money to fund the copyright battles of the movie and music industries.


Read all the information on Wired

Fight against bootlegging gets boost

Nashville’s Music Row, which has recently dispatched armies of industry litigators in its furious battle with computerized music and CD pirates, is expecting long-awaited help from specialized federal prosecutors.

If the strategy is successful, it could mean that prison time is far more likely for those involved in large-scale violations of U.S. copyright and trademark laws than previously.


Complete article at The Tennessean.

Sony drops copy-control CDs

Sony Corp’s music unit is abandoning its CDs that use built-in technology to limit copying them, after pushing the program for two years.

In general, they are abandoning this because the message against illegally copying CDs for uses such as in file-sharing over the internet has widely sunk in, and Sony Music has learned that only a small part of the population illegally copy CDs.


News24.com

Feingold, Michels take off gloves over Patriot Act

Republican Tim Michels accused U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold of repeatedly turning his back on homeland security Friday night in the first debate between the two, singling out the incumbent’s vote against the Patriot Act that expanded police powers to fight terrorism. … Feingold said he voted against the bill after looking at it closely and seeing that allowed the government to monitor computer use, look at library records and get into people’s homes without just cause.

The Capital Times

Disney responds to South African lawsuit

Disney Enterprises applied urgently on Tuesday for an order from the Pretoria High Court setting aside an attachment order granted against its trademarks registered in South Africa. The attachment order was obtained by lawyers acting for the family of the late Solomon Linda, the composer of ‘Mbube’, over alleged copyright infringements by Disney.


Read the details at IAfrica.com.

How can a Web browser become more like a bookshelf browser?

However convenient it may be to search the Web from home or a dormitory room, the Internet cannot replace many of the built-in benefits of the library, like browsing the stacks for related information that could add spark and depth to an essay or a report. But researchers are working on more flexible approaches to searching for digital information – not only on the Web but on one’s own hard drive, where elusive details may be scattered through photos, e-mail and other files.

See the full article at the International Herald Tribune.