COPYCENSE

Per Open Access News, a college newspaper in Minnesota is reporting a publisher is offering free textbooks.

Free textbooks. No, it’s not too good to be true. Ever since a St. Paul-based internet company began offering downloadable textbooks that contain advertisements, the concept of kicking costly textbooks to the curb seems within reach.

Freeload Press offers about 20 accounting and finance textbooks, study guides and worksheets, which can be downloaded from the company’s Web site, freeloadpress.com, as free Adobe PDF files.

Somehow, the ad-supported model of scholarly textbook publishing does not sit well with me, but it likely is something I need to get past because virtually service or good that is provided for free makes its money through advertising.

This story resonates with me, particularly now, as I prepare for my classes at Syracuse. Textbook selection always is a chore, and given my general dissatisfaction with the texts in the areas in which I teach, I always am seeking alternatives. One of the alternatives I’ve investigated is writing my own book or aggregating and editing my writings into materials I can use in lieu of a textbook.

To that end, I believe O’Reilly’s SafariU. initiative holds enough promise that I will investigate it seriously for implementation for future classes. SafariU. allows teachers to mix their own content with content from established publishers, including O’Reilly, Wharton School Publishing, Addison-Wesley, and Peachpit Press. The service also lets teachers build and distribute their own custom online course syllabus.

O’Reilly handles printing and online sales. Teachers retain the copyright to their material, while respective participating publishers retain the copyright to their material. And SafariU. is ad-free.

More than anything, SafariU. seems to be just the kind of product that lets teachers break free of the academic publishing cartel. Further, it is another in several new initiatives (including Apple’s iTunesU.) that lets teachers directly control and profit from their own intellectual property.

Anne Culver. The Next Form of Text. MSU Mankato Reporter. April 27, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would require satellite radio companies to compensate the music industry for downloads, industry and congressional sources said.

“The PERFORM Act, or the Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2006, would require satellite, cable and Internet broadcasters to pay fair market value for the performance of digital music. The bill also would require the use of readily available and cost-effective technological means to prevent music theft.

“The legislation, by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN), is aimed at compensating copyright holders as satellite radio services become distribution services.”

Brooks Boliek. Hill Aims Bill at Sat Downloads. HollywoodReporter.com. April 26, 2006.

See also:

The Patry Copyright Blog. The PERFORM Act. April 26, 2006.

U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Parity, Platforms, and Protection: The Future of the Music Industry in the Digital Radio Revolution. April 26, 2006.

Freedom to Tinker. U.S. Copyright May Get Harsher and Broader. April 25, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“A French proposal to change the way DRM is protected under law has been hijacked by entertainment companies and DRM vendors, and now promises to be one of the worst DRM laws in the world.

“Previously, we wrote about the new French DRM law proposal, which held out the promise of being the first real attempt in the world to balance the legal protection of anti-user technology with the public interest. The activists of EUCD.info were concerned that the proposal was being hijacked by Universal/Vivendi, and this has come to pass.

Boing Boing. French DRM Law Gets Ugly. April 28, 2006.

See also:

Peter Sayer. French Could Outlaw Open Source DRM, Peer-to-Peer. InfoWorld. April 14, 2006.

CopyCense. French Seem Ready to Open iTunes DRM. March 21, 2006.

Boing Boing. English Info on France’s Terrible Proposed Copyright Law. Dec. 5, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the original digital rights group, is venturing inside the Beltway once again. EFF has hired two attorneys experienced in suing the federal government under the Freedom of Information Act and plans to open an office in downtown Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1.

“One of EFF’s new hires is expected to be Marcia Hofmann, staff counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, who has made headlines for suing the U.S. Justice Department and Homeland Security in an effort to document government wrongdoing and privacy invasions. A lawsuit currently in progress attempts to force the Bush administration to reveal documents about allegedly illegal surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency.

“The other new hire is expected to be David Sobel, EPIC’s general counsel and an FOIA litigator since 1982, who will work part-time.”

Declan McCullagh. EFF Reaches Out to D.C. With New Office. News.com. April 27, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.