Thinking Out Loud, aka The Broad Gaze
Thoughts on the social impacts of communication policy and educational technology.
I’d be shocked if the music industry goes along with this and Apple can pull it off. There must be a down side to this–perhaps fishing for illegal downloads?
Apple will not offer a subscription option to the iTunes Store. Instead, it will complement the current model with cloud storage, giving iTunes users the ability to “to navigate and play their music, videos and playlists from their personal URL using a browser based iTunes experience.”
An ACTA negotiations agenda has been released by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The talks are to happen next week, and include an hour-long discussion of transparency, and a half hour dedicated to “press release”.
Mark your calendar: there may be new ACTA info the afternoon of Friday, January 29.
The ACLU has posted an analysis (and easier data access) to recent Customs and Border Protection data.
In a span of just nine months, CBP officials searched over 1,500 electronic devices belonging to travelers. Under the current policy, they were not required to justify a single one of these searches. …
Between July 2008 and June 2009, CBP transferred electronic files found on travelers’ devices to third-party agencies almost 300 times. Over half the time, these unknown agencies asserted independent bases for retaining or seizing the transferred files. More than 80 percent of the transfers involved the CBP making copies of travelers’ files.
It’s not clear whether the majority of these searches were done for reasons of security or copyright. In cases of the latter, the lack of a warrant for these searches seems oddly reminiscent of the power granted to England’s Stationers’ company (circa 16c!).
Thanks to the ACLU for giving this at least some transparency.
via Customs and Border Protection (CBP) First Production Documents | American Civil Liberties Union.
Marketplace featured a funny story about brands that parody trademarks. They feature names like “The North Butt” and “Lardashe.” It’s too bad that the companies can’t take a joke (or that the law won’t let them).
Winkelmann started The South Butt as a spoof of The North Face’s fleece jackets worn by so many kids at his private prep school. North Face however didn’t think the joke was that funny. They served Winkelmann with cease and desist papers as he left for the University of Missouri last fall. Ever since then, The South Butt has gotten the kind of publicity you just can’t buy.
via A knock-off takes on The North Face | Marketplace From American Public Media.
PS: Yes, I realize I tagged it “Copyright” and this pertains to trademark–at least they’re in the same family.