DigitalConsumer Newsnews about copyright and intellectual property"Transitional" fair use- November 30, 2004 Nice euphemism: The term being used by the executive is"transitional fair use,&8221; and the scenerio laid out goes roughly along these lines: Viewers would be able to record an episode with their DVR, but there would be a time limit on how long it would be available for viewing. The executive was pushing for an expiration date that coincided with the premiere of the next episode. The consensus of the cable executived was that it needed to be between 2-4 weeks.http://weblog.foopee.org/archives/2004/11/29/transitional-fair-use/ Testing assumptions- November 29, 2004 Great article in the Financial Times: Imagine a process of reviewing prescription drugs which goes like this: representatives from the drug company come to the regulators and argue that their drug works well and should be approved. They have no evidence of this beyond a few anecdotes about people who want to take it and perhaps some very simple models of how the drug might affect the human body. The drug is approved. No trials, no empirical evidence of any kind, no follow-up. Or imagine a...http://weblog.foopee.org/archives/2004/11/28/testing-assumptions/ Radiohead and copyright- November 29, 2004 Me &038; Radiohead &038; The (Necessary) Evils Of Copyright: I was not required to fork over a single dime to quote from The Simpsons itself, nor to quote at length from Tony Hendra&8217;s excellent book Going Too Far, nor to quote from Foucault or Mark Twain or David Foster Wallace. But to use 87 words from the collected lyrics of Radiohead Three hundred and fifty simoleons. Roughly $4.02 per word. (Which, incidentally, is more than double the highest amount I&8217;ve ever been paid per...http://weblog.foopee.org/archives/2004/11/28/radiohead-and-copyright/ Senate passes copyright bill- November 28, 2004 Happily, they cut out some of the bad stuff: Left out were several more controversial measures that would criminalize the actions of millions of Internet users who copy music and movies for free over &8220;peer to peer&8221; networks like Kazaa.http://weblog.foopee.org/archives/2004/11/27/senate-passes-copyright-bill/ More on TiVo- November 28, 2004 On banners and Macrovision: But the company&8217;s plans for pop-up ads and restrictions on copying have sparked worries that the service may be eroding consumer control in favor of Hollywood and advertiser interests.http://weblog.foopee.org/archives/2004/11/27/more-on-tivo/ Bad News- November 18, 2004 New ridiculous copyright bill: Several lobbying camps from different industries and ideologies are joining forces to fight an overhaul of copyright law, which they say would radically shift in favor of Hollywood and the record companies and which Congress might try to push through during a lame-duck session that begins this week. &8230; The bill would also permit people to use technology to skip objectionable content &8211; like a gory or sexually explicit scene &8211; in films, a right that.http://weblog.foopee.org/archives/2004/11/17/bad-news/ |