Thinking Out Loud, aka The Broad Gaze
Thoughts on the social impacts of communication policy and educational technology.
Copyright Reform Act tries fixing fair use with seven words.
In addition to “criticism” and “news reporting” and the rest of the items in the fair use preamble, the CRA proposes the addition of three more: “incidental uses, non-consumptive uses, and personal, non-commercial uses.”
This would be huge.
Apple Banning iPhone Hackers from iTunes? | TiPb.
It appears as though Apple may be blocking known jailbreakers from iTunes. Considering the potential for piracy, this makes a bit of sense on Apple’s part, but seems a little heavy handed. I suppose if you want to tinker with a device, you should be ready for services to break.
Google shuts down music blogs without warning | Music | guardian.co.uk
This article shows how haphazard the notice/takedown process can be. Often nobody knows who has cleared permission, and bloggers cannot tell which posts are said to be offending.
I guess Google is only interested in hosting your speech if it’s in text?
In Secret, Nations Work Toward Crackdown on Piracy – NYTimes.com.
The Times has finally gotten around to covering the ACTA process (though, interestingly, not while the meetings were in session). It’s a largely balanced piece, though one might argue that the business interests’ positions are better explained than those of consumer groups.