shouting loudly

As commentator Roy Mark argues, Congress is totally clueless in its attempts to deal with internet-based infringement.
Mark notes the quixotically conceived attempts to bribe and/or threaten colleges into magically preventing all on-campus infringement. Representatives such as Howard Berman (D-CA) are foolishly listening to copyright industry lobbyists as they blame colleges for continued infringement, but (here’s [...]

In response to a sternly worded letter threatening a costly countersuit, the RIAA’s attorney dropped a peer-to-peer suit against a mourning family.
The letter, sent yesterday via email, got the RIAA to drop the suit on the same day.
The letter’s author, Attorney Merl Ledford III, has created a veritable treasure-trove of the kinds of things many [...]

The company holding the copyright for George Orwell’s 1984 has begun legal saber rattling over the pro-Obama “Hillary 1984” ad that was created by Phil de Vellis and posted on YouTube earlier this month.
Rosenblum Productions, who purchased the rights to Orwell’s book in 1981, have already established themselves as over-zealous copyright owners who pursue bogus [...]

At a conference over the weekend, former Clinton Administration IP chief Bruce Lehman admitted that his brainchild of a law banning the circumvention of digital rights management technologies hasn’t worked out as well as he had hoped.
The conference, Musical Myopia, Digital Dystopia: New Media and Copyright Reform (pdf), was at McGill University in Montreal on [...]

Thinner is a German electronic music label that has been distributing MP3 files since 2001, with all tracks licensed under Creative Commons (Attrib-NoDerivs-NonCommercial).
It’s nice to find labels like these that seek to distribute good music around the world. More labels that distribute music online can be found on their links page. (dibs to Christoph for [...]

On tonight’s Colbert Report, EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow let Colbert brow-beat him on the topic of intellectual property.
Late last week, EFF sued Viacom for allegedly filing an unfounded DMCA takedown notice, demanding that YouTube remove a MoveOn parody of the Colbert Report. The video, “Stop the Falsiness,” was taken down as of last Thursday [...]

The FCC is again going to consider the possibility of imposing network neutrality regulations.
For more on the “Inquiry into Broadband Market Practices”, here (all in PDF format) are the FCC press release and statements by the Commissioners: Chairman Martin, Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell. Here’s the opening paragraph from Copps’ statement:
We live in a world [...]

In a video premiering last night, the Daily Show’s Demetri Martin discusses the Viacom v. YouTube suit.

This is especially great as Comedy Central is a Viacom channel, but Jon Stewart pretty much comes out and says that everyone wins when YouTube clips are uploaded.
BTW, I’m happy to link to the video on the official Comedy [...]

I finally read the blog teaser for my friend Jason Clarke’s book, Letter from Tomorrow, and it’s damned good. Of course, I’m biased; I urge you to see for yourself.
I’m going to buy the book because I’ve gotten a taste and want more. Jason has shown me just enough to get me salivating, and I’ll [...]

Creative Commons has launched a new initiative, CCLearn, designed “”to break down the barriers – whether legal, technical or cultural – between different collections of open educational content.”
They’re also seeking an executive director, if you’re interested in such work.