As technology makes copying easier and better, areas which once were set aside as copyright free zones are finding their way back to the courts. Databases: In the past, collections of facts or data have been left largely unprotected. Except for arrangement, which is protected, data has been free because of the desire to avoid …
A recent editorial on student’s legal rights and responsibilities in their MySpace and Facebook entries gives an excellent overview of how the courts have construed students’ speech rights when in the public classroom. However, a comment struck me as interesting from the perspective of applying mass communication law to all of society. Students need to …
I’m struck by the contrast in two stories appearing in today’s news NHK, Japan’s public broadcasting network, is coming under pressure to start putting video content online (albeit for a fee). While in my country, C-Span, the non-profit network “created by cable, offered as a public service,” asked that videos of Colbert’s White House Correspondents …
It recently occurred to me that Apple’s name was noticeably absent from the list of companies supporting Internet neutrality (or perhaps I’ve just missed it). As a provider of iTunes music and videos, as well as software updates, it seemed to me as though their bandwidth needs would be a prime candidate for higher tiered …
John is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He studies the social impact of media technology law and policy, with a special emphasis on copyright. He also is an instructional technology consultant for DoIT-Academic Technology.
John doesn't update his blog often, and many of the thoughts are probably half-baked. While the web has sort of an eternal memory, the current and future reader is urged not to take all of this too seriously.
Think of this blog as "John thinking out loud."
(For more on this idea and why I blog, please see this category.)