Tag: copyright

Obama Administration Colludes With U.S. Entertainment Industry

Back in March, Declan McCullagh reported that the Obama Administration cloaked its draft section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under "national security" wrappers -- for the general public. At the same time, the document had supposedly already made the rounds of "corporate lobbyists in Europe, Japan, and the U.S." Today, someone has leaked information about the U.S.-authored draft chapter on internet "counterfeiting" -- a document scheduled for discussion among participating nations in South Korea on Wednesday. According to PC World, under the treaty Internet Service Providers would become liable for copyright infringement. This is like saying that the telephone company is liable if criminals (or terrorists!) use the company's assets to plot a crime. How absurd. But don't be lulled into thinking that absurd means "won't happen." …continue reading →

Lessig On KUOW Today

Lawrence Lessig will be a guest on KUOW's "The Conversation" with Ross Reynolds today (1-2pm, 6 February). He is the author of Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. Lessig, a law professor at Stanford, is known for his views on copyright and advocacy for Creative Common licensing. He has switched his focus to political corruption and is co-founder of Change-Congress.org. KUOW (Seattle) is an NPR station.continue reading →

Change.Gov Adds CC Licensing

The Creative Commons license announcement on Change.gov seems odd. Federal government materials are generally public domain upon creation, thus the CC license makes reuse of the content more restrictive. [See DOL statement, for example.]

It makes sense for Change.gov to spell out copyright for user-generated content, but it should not be a retroactive action. And any CC license should not include info created by Obama and his team. Finally, the CC license should prohibits commercial use of UGC material! But this one doesn’t.

Here’s what I wrote over at Lessig’s blog: …continue reading →