COPYCENSE

                        "Within one month Google announced two projects that will have profound implications for the future of librarianship.

"First up in November 2004 was Google Scholar, which aims to provide access to scholarly materials via the crisp and familiar Google search box. Soon the Scholar buzz was overshadowed by the December announcement that Google has entered into a partnership to digitize the materials of five leading research libraries: Harvard, Oxford, Michigan, Stanford, and the New York Public Library. The principal rationale for this project is that it will democratize access to the intellectual resources of elite institutions.

"The library material represents a radical expansion of the Google Print program. Google Print continues to generate significant discussion. One recent example is the March 2005 issue of American Libraries, which features a colloquium entitled, "Google at the Gate." Because of this, it is essential that we critically examine both the benefits and shortcomings of Google Scholar and Google Print."

Marcus A. Banks. The Excitement of Google Scholar, The Worry of Google Print. Biomedical Digital Libraries. March 22, 2005.

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"Canada is in the midst of a contentious copyright reform with advocates for stronger copyright protection maintaining that the Internet has led to widespread infringement that has harmed the economic interests of Canadian artists. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) has emerged as the leading proponent of copyright reform, claiming that peer-to-peer file sharing has led to billions in lost sales in Canada.

"This article examines CRIA’s claims by conducting an analysis of industry figures. It concludes that loss claims have been greatly exaggerated and challenges the contention that recent sales declines are primarily attributable to file-sharing activities."

Michael Geist. Piercing the P2P Myths: An Examination of the  Canadian Experience. First Monday. April 2005.

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"DJs Paul Gambaccini and Tony Blackburn are backing a new website offering radio shows for digital audio players.

"Podshows will offer shows to download to iPods and other players for between 49p and 99p each.

"The BBC and Virgin Radio already offer shows via ‘podcasting’, but only using shows which have already been broadcast on radio."

BBC News. UK DJs Backing Podcasting Outfit. April 11, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Publishers are objecting to an electronic reserve system at the University of California in which libraries scan portions of books and journals and make them available free online to students.

"In recent months, lawyers for the Association of American Publishers have sent letters to the university that object to the use of electronic reserves on the San Diego campus. The publishers say that the use of electronic reserves is too extensive, violating the "fair use" doctrine of copyright law and depriving them of sales.

"University officials counter that the electronic reserves at San Diego are well within the bounds of fair use. They worry that the letters portend a lawsuit."

Scott Carlson. Legal Battle Brews Over Texts on Electronic Reserve at U. of California Libraries. The Chronicle of Higher Education. April 7, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"As millions of pilgrims streamed into Rome this past week, Internet listeners accompanied a Dutch priest on an intimate audio tour to pay one last visit to Pope John Paul II before he was laid to rest.

"Father Roderick Vonhogen brought the Catholic Church’s ancient rites to life through a cutting-edge format: the podcast, a radio-style show that is distributed over the Internet.

"Podcasts have caught on like wildfire since they first emerged nine months ago. Listeners can pick from roughly 10,000 shows on topics ranging from religion to wine to technology, and media companies and advertisers are taking note."

Andy Sullivan. Homespun ‘Podcasts’ Explore Universe of Topics. Reuters. April 9, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Search-engine wiz and dot-com multimillionaire Brewster Kahle founded the Internet Archive in 1996 with a dream as big as the bridge: He wanted to back up the Internet. There were only 50 million or so URLs back then, so the idea only seemed half-crazy. As the Web ballooned to more than 10 billion pages, the archive’s main server farm — hidden across town in a data center beneath San Francisco’s other big bridge — grew to hold a half-million gigabytes of compressed and indexed pages.

"Kahle is less the Internet’s crazy aunt than its evangelical librarian. Like it or not, the Web is the world’s library now, and Kahle doesn’t trust the guys who shelve the books. They’re obsessed with posting new pages, not preserving old ones. Every day, Kahle laments, mounds of data get purged from the Web: government documents, personal sites, corporate communications, message boards, news reports that weren’t printed on paper. For most surfers, once a page disappears from Google’s cache it no longer exists."

Paul Boutin. The Archivist. Slate. April 7, 2005.

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"Copyright reformer Lawrence Lessig gave Flash developers an earful Wednesday about how their platform of choice is perceived in the free-software world.

"Flash is the enemy," said Lessig, a Stanford University professor and board member of the Free Software Foundation, as he described the opinions of leading free- and open-source-software advocates.

"Lessig, addressing attendees of the Flashforward2005 conference here Wednesday, sounded familiar themes in his talk, titled ‘The Costs of Copyright.’
He argued that the digital age has created new demands for the sharing of content that old-media copyright law cannot meet. As a result, he said, outdated copyright law is casting a pall over creative expression and education."

Paul Festa. Lessig Preaches Openness to Flash Faithful. News.com. April 6, 2005.

See also:
Paul Festa. Fighting for a New Net Copyright Deal. News.com. June 6, 2003.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.