Back in June of this year when I first learned that Lawrence Lessig had shifted gears I expressed some skepticism about the ultimate success of his decision to focus more on the underlying corrupting influences that are endemic to our legal and political processes.
All in Copyright
I'm listening to another one of Command Line's podcasts, this time Rant: Is Fair Use a Right? (Command Line produces one of my five favorite podcasts.)
Despite the logical nature of Command Line's thesis (he believes that copyright Fair Use is a "right," not just a legal defense) I'm still skeptical about being able to unambiguously explain to people what their "fair use" rights actually are.
The Computer and Communication Industry Association (CCIA) has published a research report titled Fair Use in the US Economy: Economic Contribution of Industries Relying on Fair Use. This is how Fair Use is described in relation to copyright law:
Apple, iPods, and Personal Data Portability
I've been busy lately. My blogging has suffered. I've tried to update my blog's "daily notes" (located on my home page and archived here) but that's about it. I'm working offline on some longer white papers, I'm starting a new client project next week, I've been involved in a non-stop series of proposals and statements of work, and I've had to keep my plants watered during the drought here on the U.S. East Coast.
Meanwhile, there are some really interesting "tech" things going on.
From Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University comes this review of copyright law, explained in super-clever terms using snippets of video and dialog from Disney and Pixar animated films.
We met again last night at a downtown DC bar, a group of policy analysts, bloggers, lawyers, activists, and geeks. I reported on last month's discussion here.
Last night's conversation covered several topics:
I’ve always been a frequent user of public libraries. In fact, I paid my high school and college tuition by working at the Bexley Public Library in Columbus, Ohio.
We have a great public library system here in Alexandria Virginia. I’ve been using it steadily ever since my kids were little and we took them to weekly story hours at the Queen Street Branch.
Last night I attended the monthly meeting of DC CopyNight at a bar within walking distance of the Gallery Place Chinatown Metro stop in Washington DC. Here’s the official description of the group:
Carey Lening (a fellow member of the group DC CopyNight) pointed out some news: Lawrence Lessig has announced he is “shifting gears” and moving on to devote his “next ten years” to a different set of issues from those that have consumed him for the past decade.
The OECD has published the Executive Summary of a major report on international trade involving counterfeited and pirated products. The report, The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and Piracy, estimates that international trade in 2005 involving counterfeit or pirated works totalled $200 billion US.
Followup to "Is DRM a 'Tax' on the Intellectual Property Supply Chain?"
On May 2, 2007 I published Is DRM a “Tax” on the Intellectual Property Supply Chain? where I compared DRM (Digital Rights Management) to a “tax.”
I’ve received several comments and emails with different perspectives and I wanted to follow up.
Is DRM a "Tax" on the Intellectual Property Supply Chain?
Like it or not, the current controversy over the publication by Digg of a decryption key for unlocking DRM-equipped high definition DVDs might give some companies pause about how to handle threatening "take-down notices" in the event an employee blog or wiki is used to publish a protected or controversial work.
Ed Felten, in Judge Geeks Out, Says Cablevision DVR Infringes, provides an overviw of how technology played into a recent court decision on a case where Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. was pitted against Cablevisions Systems Corp. (2007 WL 867093). The issue:
The Belgian court decision ruling that Google News violates copyright when it publishes information from contributing newspapers without first obtaining permission is a reminder of the precarious nature of much of the information flow we take for granted on the web.
If you have not been following this story, the BBC has a good overview: Microsoft's iPod killer, the soon to be released Zune, uses DRM (digital rights management) technology that is not compatible with Microsoft's own PlayForSure technology.
There's a great series of comments over on the Freedom To Tinker blog regarding Ed Felten's post DRM Wars: The Next Generation. The post and the comments provide good insight into where arguments and enforcement efforts are headed.
Blogger Joe Gratz on July 9 reported that United States District Court for the District of Colorado has found that a company called "CleanFlicks" infringes copyright.
CleanFlicks, without authorization of copyright owners, has been creating and renting censored DVD-R copies of movies that it created through modification (censoring) of the original audio and/or video.
Duke Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain has published a comic book titled Tales from the Public Domain: BOUND BY LAW? A cross between a superhero adventure and the Crypt Keeper, the comic tells the story behind the knotty copyright, public domain, and fair use issues associated with contemporary documentary production.
"Web 2.0 and Maintaining the Integrity of Online Intellectual Property - Is 'Meta-Information' the Answer?" is a Sys-Con "Web 2.0 Journal" article, published March 3, 2006, that addresses what happens when individual writings become modified and changed -- sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose -- through the collaborative and transformative functionality of content-oriented Web 2.0 applications.