In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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LSU Starts Fining Students for File Sharing; But Seems Quite Confused About
it.
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, July 20, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090719/0129295589.shtml

"P2P Blog points us to the news that Louisiana State University (LSU) is
starting a program whereby it will fine students $50 for unauthorized file
sharing. However, the quotes from the university representative seem quite
confusing and oftentimes flat out incorrect. The reporter who wrote the
article seems equally confused. Nowhere is it explained exactly how it will be
determined that someone is actually sharing an unauthorized piece of work, or
if there is any sort of actual due process involved at all. Instead, the
school seems to think that any accusation means guilt automatically. They also
claim, oddly, that the fines are "in accordance with the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act."
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Pirate Sites Return in Legal Form.
BBC News, July 20, 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8159560.stm

Kazaa, shut down by a $150m (#91m) lawsuit in 2006, will be reincarnated as an
unlimited download service with a fixed monthly subscription rate. The Pirate
Bay has outlined a "give and take" model which pays users for sharing their
resources."
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Is it Cheating or is it Collaboration?
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, July 21, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090719/0323525592.shtml

"A few years back, we had an interesting discussion around the idea that many
students might not view using modern technology to share answers as "cheating"
so much as they would view it as wikipedia-like collaboration. I thought this
was an interesting observation, since I'd never really thought of it that
way."
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How Copyright Can Be Viewed as Anti-Property.
By Masnick, Techdirt, July 21, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090719/0108125588.shtml

"One of the regular discussions we get into around here is over the question
of whether or not things like copyright and patents are really property. The
IP lawyers who insist that it's just like property focus on a rather
simplistic (and wholly inaccurate) explanation of why it is property: which is
that if it's a bundle of rights that can be transferred, then it is property.
But that's misleading. Because it mixes up a couple of key elements that make
this definition quite inconvenient."
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Press Release: Public Knowledge Study Finds Internet Content Filtering
Ineffective, Harmful.
Public Knowledge, July 22, 2009.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2557

"Public Knowledge today released a landmark analysis showing that filtering of
Internet content as advocated by big media companies will not work and will be
harmful to the Internet. The full paper is here."
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Culture Clash on the Internet.
By Jonathan Handel, The Huffington Post, July 22, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/my6jnz

"The Internet has devalued content to the point where it is often offered at
no charge -- newspapers, for instance -- or widely misappropriated, as with
music and movies. Either way, many people expect much of their content to be
free. Why is this, how did it happen, and, focusing on music and movies, what
can be done about it?"
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Alice in Wonderland Trailer Hits YouTube, Disney Deletes It.
By Ben Parr, Mashable, July 22, 2009.
http://mashable.com/2009/07/22/alice-in-wonderland-trailer/

"Well, of course it is their content, they have the copyrights. It is not
about "do they have the right to take it down" but rather "is it wise to do
so?"
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Author Appeals Injunction against Salinger Sequel.
By David Itzkoff, The New York Times, July 24, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/n8klxt

"The Swedish author of a novel that was ruled to be an illegal sequel to J. D.
Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" has appealed the injunction against his
book. On July 1, a federal judge indefinitely banned publication in the United
States of "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye," a novel written by Fredrik
Colting under the pen name J.D. California."
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Apple Drops Legal Threat against BluWiki.
By Nathan Eddy, eWeek.com, July 24, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/m4jbdx

"Apple formally drops its legal complaint against OdioWorks, which runs
BluWiki, a site Apple charged violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) by posting a discussion on how to make iPhones and iPods run using a
digital media application other than iTunes."
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What is a Copyright? Who Needs it? Who Honors it?
By Patricia Walston, The Examiner, July 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/kubhda

"Have you written a poem - a song - an essay - a book or any other form of
intellectual work? If so, you may wish to have it copyrighted to protect your
rights to that which you have created. Many people enjoy writing just for
themselves and the occasional times when they wish to share it with family and
friends and have no reason or desire to go through the formal process of
protecting their "masterpieces." But it might be wise to look into it for the
future."
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Should Copyright of Academic Works be Abolished? & ASCAP Gone Wild.
Posted by Joe Windish, The Moderate Voice, July 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/lg3lgo

"Harvard Law Professor Steven Shavell has a new paper that "explains why
abolishing copyright for academic publications is a good idea - and why the
open access movement that seeks a similar goal is unlikely to succeed."
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AP to Digitally Monitor Copyright.
By David Weinberger, Web 2.0 Journal, July 25, 2009.
http://web2.sys-con.com/node/1048081

"The AP has announced it is going to use an automated system to monitor the
use of AP content on the Web, looking for copyright violations. The empire is
fighting back."
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Blog: Ireland's Largest ISP Starts Throttling and Disconnections.
Posted by Enigmax, TorrentFreak, July 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/n7vwmz

"Next month Ireland's largest ISP will begin an anti-piracy campaign against
its own customers. After caving in entirely to the orders of the music
industry, Eircom will first warn alleged copyright infringers, then slow their
connection "to a snail's pace", all followed up by disconnection from the
Internet."
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Iran: Iranian Institutes Participate at Hong Kong Publishing Copyright Fair.
Tehran Times Culture Desk, Tehran Times, July 26, 2009.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=199621

"Iranian institutes took part for the first time at the Hong Kong Publishing
Copyright Fair which was held from July 22 to 24."
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Canada: Copyright Rules Must Protect Innovation, Groups Say.
By Emily Chung, cbc.ca, July 26, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/mwn6wz

"Technology that brings music, movies and other content to a range of new
devices improves Canadians' lives, and copyright laws must protect that kind
of innovation and growth, say those speaking out on changes to Canada's
copyright laws."
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Korea: New Copyright Law Alerts Bloggers.
By Kim Tong-hyung, Korea Times, July 26, 2009.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2009/07/129_49084.html

"With the country enforcing a new anti-file sharing provision last week, which
gives authorities more power to prevent Internet users from illegally
accessing copyrighted material, violators could face the suspension of Web
accounts."
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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College

amata@xxxxxxxx
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