Well, it’s actually pulping them, but what’s the difference?

Cambridge University Press has agreed to destroy all unsold copies of a book linking Saudi charities with terrorism, after a Saudi businessman threatened a lawsuit. That businessman, Sheikh Khalid Mahfouz, has brought libel suits against multiple publishers for their books accusing the Saudis of supporting terrorism through various charities. The publishers often settle rather than going to trial, regardless of the validity of the claims, causing free speech advocates to fear a chilling effect.

More on:
Cambridge University Press decision here.
Blog commentary from author who won a British libel case here.

podcasts, media, terrorism | 1 Comment »

The CCIA - Computer and Communications Industry Assocation - filed a complaint this morning with the FTC, against the NFL, Major League Baseball, Dreamworks and other media companies, with regard to their copyright statements. While the Fair Use Doctrine allows for the use of copyrighted material in certain circumstances, these media companies tend to use overbearing and, as the CCIA argues, misleading copyright statements. Often times, websites receive takedown notices for materials that are not infringing on copyright laws.

All of this stems from the lack of a standard, clear copyright statement, which the CCIA hopes the FTC will create.

More on:
The CCIA’s complaint here.
Copyright and Fair Use here.
The NFL’s battle with Professor Wendy Seltzer here. Seltzer’s NFL post here.

(the opening clip in today’s audio is from a Michael Moore press conference)

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Imagine having your own collection of DVDs featuring newsreels of D-Day, or coverage of President Kennedy’s assasination, or even old government films teaching you to “Duck and Cover” in the event of a nuclear attack.

Now you can.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced yesterday a deal with Amazon.com to distribute DVD copies of The Archives’ public domain video footage.

The NARA has more than 200,000 motion picture titles (newsreels, documentaries, government films, etc.) that are available as part of the public domain. Now, for $19.99 each, you can order your own DVD copies of the Universal newsreels, from 1920 to 1967. According to the National Archives, other holdings will soon be available, as well.

More on:
NARA Press Release here.
Washington Post article here.
Titles currently available at Amazon here.

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Tomorrow, the Federal Communications Commission will decide on the rules governing a newly available portion of the radiowave spectrum, made available to the wireless industry. The airwaves will be auctioned off early next year, and will likely be the last of its kind for the next several decades.

What’s special about tomorrow is that the FCC is weighing a request from an unlikely telecom player: Google. The company would like to see a huge change in the way the FCC regulates wireless airwaves, and has promised a bid of at least $4.6 billion if its conditions are met.

Could this spell the end for frustrating cell phone limitations? Or will it just mean you’re going to get bombarded by Google advertising? Stay tuned.

More on:
Google’s plan and brief lobbying history here.
Live audio/video link to tomorrow’s FCC meeting here (begins 10am Eastern).

politics, podcasts, media | 1 Comment »

Ever read comments at the bottom of a youtube video or a popular blog post? Usually pretty lame, huh?

Since last week, there’s been lots of swirl in the political blogging world, over comments left by anonymous users. Are these website operators responsible for what random people say?

Bill O’Reilly’s rant here.
DailyKos’s response here.
More backlash here and here.

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CNN is hosting the upcoming “CNN/YouTube Debates,” starting Monday. But rather than selecting uploaded YouTube video questions at random for the candidates to answer, they are hand-picking them beforehand.

Doesn’t that make the whole YouTube thing irrelevant?

View questions and submit your own here.

(Entry numbers for the questions featured in today’s podcast are, in order: 776
921, 1078, 992, 1147, 113, 857, 995, 1076, 1157)

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In case you still read books, you’ll be excited about this.

Internet Archive, based in The Presidio in San Francisco (along with all the other non-profits in the universe), has just launched the demo version of an amazing project, called The Open Library.

You’ve probably heard a lot about how various organizations have been dreaming up this idea of putting all the world’s books together into one virtual library.

The Open Library is it. It’s just in the beginning stages, but it’s incredibly impressive and exciting. And free.

And, of course, open. So you can contribute your own scanned books, article critiques, and catalouging know-how.

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About 70 million people per month listen to Internet radio stations on their computers. That includes everything from paid subsciption services to your nextdoor neighbor who streams nothing but Christmas music 24/7 for free (there’s actually someone who does that).

But a recent court ruling upheld changes that were supposed to go into effect by today, dramatically increasing royalty rates for webcasting copyrighted music.

Could this spell the end for Internet radio?

News links for today’s audio:
new royalty rules announced in March
Congress refuses to get involved in dispute
new rules delayed by negotiations
Save Net Radio (advocacy group)

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Here’s your week in review. Only the important stuff, here.

Check out these links to items mentioned in the review:
Senator Stevens and his motorcycle
man-eating badgers
mp3 player in court
airport security bulletin

and, without further ado, enjoy:

Iraq, podcasts, media, week in review, terrorism | No Comments »

As of this morning, the top 10 searches listed on The New York Times website:

1. sex
2. immigration
3. harry potter
4. china
5. iraq
6. health
7. india
8. supreme court
9. education
10. iphone

podcasts, media | 1 Comment »