Author: john

Sen. Kerry: I Need Your Feedback on Net Neutrality

Sen. Kerry is looking for feedback (edit: he’s only reading comments over at Save the Internet, please!) on the issue of Internet Neutrality. Here’s the comment I left:

I think historical analogies might be the best way to understand why regulation is needed to keep what we understand to be the status quo. We have such a remarkable history of neutrality in our networks, and must continue to foster this blind freedom of communication.

– The early postal system was a large motivating factor in the creation of national roadways, created physical locations where people would meet and discuss issues of the day, and was a source of pride for early Americans.
– Libraries promote values of providing materials of all kinds to patrons, regardless of how the patron looks or what the content of the materials might be.
– The interstate system is open so that WalMart, Mom n’ Pop’s freight, and the public as a whole benefit from the system.
– Finally, in the early telephone monopoly, regulation drove network development and spread out the costs of doing so.

The questions to ask are: Why should the Internet be different? Why isn’t our Internet infrastructure something that we are proud of?

Before they grow too stale…

Three recent copyright stories of note:

Not Your Father’s Ph.D.

The Chronicle recently published a good column about blogging being “a hazard to a budding academic career.” The author agrees with me–blogging is an activity that helps you understand the new media landscape, as well as that of your students. He offers the following advice:

Be relevant. Rather than try to beat our brave new world, join it. … Embracing technology connects you not only to your students, but also to a world of better research through time-saving and exhaustive online databases.

He tempers this by offering more good advice to be honest, but never negative or slanderous.  I hope this is advice I’ve lived up to, but that if not somebody would call me on it!

It can be tough to hear that blogging might be a strike against a job candidate. I only hope that an active, reflective understanding of how blogging might fit in our media landscape will be seen as an advantage.

“Copyright Investigators”

Ars points out the increased scrutiny of “the role that MediaSentry plays in the RIAA’s legal campaign and whether the company should be licensed as a private investigator.” In one case, the RIAA argues that MediaSentury is actually a “copyright investigator,” and thus not subject to laws governing private investigators.

Private enforcement of copyright law has a history in the English Stationers’ Company.

During the Tudor and Stuart periods, the Stationers were legally empowered to seize “offending books” that violated the standards of content set by the Church and State; its officers could bring “offenders” before ecclesiastical authorities, including the Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury.

Wikipedia isn’t the best source for the story of the Stationers. I highly recommend Patterson’s Copyright in Historical Perspective for a convincing argument of the Stationers’ role in copyright history. Private enforcement of the law isn’t something we do much of in the U.S. (that I’m aware of), so we need to use history as a guide wherever appropriate.