“Science and culture are not only of great importance to the knowledge economy; they are also fundamental to human dignity and autonomy [this is the link to the report, Word doc.] In that area, two influential paradigms of international law — intellectual property and human rights — have evolved largely separately. Recent developments, however, have… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Digital Rights
Over 310,000 free photos, vectors and art illustrations
“Finding free images of high quality is a tedious task – due to copyright issues, attribution requirements, or simply the lack of quality. This inspired us to create Pixabay – a repository for stunning public domain pictures. Your source for free vectors, free drawings and free photos. You can use any Pixabay image without attribution… Continue Reading
Houston, We Have A Public Domain Problem – Commentary
Parker Higgins is an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation: “I received a bogus copyright takedown notice for using public domain audio on SoundCloud yesterday. The sound in question—the famous “Houston, we have a problem” snippet of the Apollo 13 mission—is incontrovertibly available to all, for any use, without copyright restrictions. The fact that it’s… Continue Reading
Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books
Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books, Jean-Baptiste Michel, et al. Science 331, 176 (2011); DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644 “We constructed a corpus of digitized texts containing about 4% of all books ever printed. Analysis of this corpus enables us to investigate cultural trends quantitatively. We survey the vast terrain of ‘culturomics,’ focusing on linguistic and cultural phenomena that were… Continue Reading
British Library releases over 1 million images using Flickr Commons
British Library Digital scholarship blog: “We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, allowing us to release them back into the Public Domain. The images themselves… Continue Reading
Pew – Tablet and E-reader Ownership Update
Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith -Oct 18, 2013 “The number of Americans ages 16 and older who own tablet computers has grown to 35%, and the share who have e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks has grown to 24%. Overall, the number of people who have a tablet or an e-book reader among those 16 and… Continue Reading
Contentious Google Book Scanning Case Approaches Fall Trial Date
Publishers Week news in following Google Book Scanning project postings: “After a round of key filings, two Authors Guild cases challenging Googles ambitious library book-scanning program are on schedule for early fall trial dates. Final reply briefs were filed July 27 for the Authors Guild v. HathiTrust, with that case now fully briefed and all… Continue Reading
EU Commission sets out "blueprint" for Intellectual Property Rights to boost creativity and innovation
EUROPA press release: “Intellectual property rights (IPR), which comprise patents, trademarks, designs and geographical indications, as well as copyright (authors’ rights) and rights related to copyright (for performers, producers and broadcasters), have been around for centuries. Often, without our even realising, they affect our daily lives: they protect the technology we use (cars, mobile phones,… Continue Reading
Comment: Why Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses Should Be Protected as Personally Identifiable Information
McIntyre, Joshua J., The Number is Me: Why Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses Should Be Protected as Personally Identifiable Information (August 15, 2010). DePaul Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 3, 2011. “Although computer logs typically correlate online activity only to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, those addresses can be used to expose the individuals behind the computers.… Continue Reading
BookServer is an open system to find, buy, or borrow e- books
Internet Archive BookServer: “The widespread success of digital reading devices has proven that the world is ready to read books on screens. As the audience for digital books grows, we can evolve from an environment of single devices connected to single sources into a distributed system where readers can find books from sources across the… Continue Reading
Cory Doctorow's Commentary on How DRM Becomes Law
A Behind-The-Scenes Look At How DRM Becomes Law: “Cory Doctorow looks at the back room dealing that allowed entertainment companies and electronics companies to craft public policy on digital rights management.” Continue Reading
Viacom Files Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against YouTube
FindLaw: Viacom Files Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against YouTube and Google Over Unauthorized Use Of The Company’s Shows: Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc., YouTube, LLC, and Google, Inc., March 13, 2007. Viacom statement: Suit Seeks Court Ruling To Require YouTube And Google To Comply With Copyright Laws And Pay $1 Billion In Damages Google statement:… Continue Reading
