Copyright Quickies

A busy day, already the ClearPlay countersuit is reported, the copy editors at Seattle Post-Intelligencer worry that European copyright expirations loom over the U.S. recording industry (gotta love "looms"), Ed Felten got the times to change its tune on the same issue, the Peter Pan suit gets more press (see also the summary from Stanford and Amy Harmon has an article on DRM. [some from Copyright Bibliography others from Felton: Freedom to Tinker].

In the January 10 Chronicle of Higher Education

Elsevier Science is deleting scientific articles from its online databases. The the Chronicle of Higher Education quotes Elsevier:

Only under extraordinary circumstances can an article be removed (e.g., plagiarism, scientific misconduct, gross error such that human safety is at risk) and then a statement is inserted to indicate the removal.

This highlights one of the unique difficulties true archives face in keeping their promise of perpetually preserving a work. [via FOS Blog].

Linking and Slashdotting: Ethics and Law

A plea for goliath-to-david linking ethics (big site to small site) on Kuro5hin has sparked some discussion about the ethics of knowingly bringing the Slashdot effect down on a little site (reminds me of the old Hacktivism trick of distributed denial of service attacks through javascript -- one instance was called "Floodnet"). Specifically, zonker argues that big sites aught not to link without permission (and offer to mirror with permission as well). bIPlog says that it is a sensible argument and the flipside of the many arguments against a "right to link." I disagree.

For starters, that analysis is too simplistic. Linking to publicly available sources ought to be allowed. Launching distributed denial of service attacks against them is not good manners, whether by linking or by javascript manic page reloading. But these two statements are not opposed. Whether distributed denial of service by high profile link should be illegal is another question. Section 502(c)(5) of the California Penal Code may already go that far.

Another problem with zonker's proscription is that it argues that mirroring/caching should require permission (be opt-in) but the web would be a much less beautiful place if that were the case (think of the problems Google or the Internet Archive would face -- or even IE or Netscape and caching).

Instead, I would argue that sites like Slashdot should:

• Provide caches of the first page or movie or image on which they are reporting for pages that do not have advertising (but leave direct links for very large sites and pages supported by advertising)
  
• Keep links off that page pointing to the real site; and
  
• Remove the caches after a limited (short) time.
  

That way advertising supported sites get the maximum amount of advertising, but sites not supported by advertising on the about to be slashdotted pages are not overwhelmed. I would not require permission for linking or caching. That permission is implicit in the posting of a publicly accessible web page. Prohibiting linking in order to deal with slashdotting is not a sensible argument.

New Way

Phish is trying a new way of distributing music for their most recent tour. At Live Phish you can buy MP3s and SHNs from the tour and receive them by download two days after each show. No DRM. Interesting experiment, especially since Phish allows taping of their shows. I just downloaded the New Year's Eve show.

From their FAQ:

Why should I pay for what I can get for free?

Primary advantages of Live Phish Downloads over audience recordings are: pristine soundboard quality, faster and more reliable downloading and quick turnaround. In most cases, shows will be available for download within forty-eight hours. Each show is carefully indexed and comes with printable booklets (containing liner notes), tray inlays and CD labels. The files are served by a robust delivery network capable of serving thousands of simultaneous downloads, ensuring the fastest and most reliable download experience for the user. We also offer quick response customer service to help sort out any problems that may arise. That being said, audience taping has always been and will continue to be a defining element of the Phish experience. Live Phish Downloads offers an alternative, convenient route to obtaining live recordings and is in no way intended to supplant or undermine the taping community.

Law.com's 2002 IP List

Law.com's survey of the The Biggest IP Cases of 2002 is up [from Slashdot - thread].

Other DMCA Exemption Comments

Seth Finkelstein reasserts the exemption for "Compilations consisting of lists of websites blocked by censorware ('filtering software') applications."

The EFF proposes exemptions for copy protected CDs that incidentally restrict access, region coded DVDs, DVDs with unskippable segments and public domain works available only on DVDs.

Ed Felton asks for an exemption for legitimate research

I will add more as they are put on the web.

Split infinitives

You should not hesitate to thoroughly read Stuart Buck's summary of the split infinitive controversy. Having been nit picked by editors over this many times, overzealous infinitive reunions are a pet peeve of mine.

DMCA Comment

The Internet Archive's comment in response to the Copyright Office's DMCA Section 1201(a)(1) Rulemaking Notice of Inquiry has been submitted.