LibrarianActivist.org

This news from the MISt email list @ the FIS, UofT.

EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann is a key note speaker.
__________________________________________________

Join the Center for Intellectual Property, your peers and colleagues as
they convene for the Seventh Annual Symposium on copyright and
information use.

COPYRIGHT UTOPIA: Alternative Visions, Methods & Policies
May 21-23, 2007
Marriott Inn & Conference Center
www.umuc.edu/cip/symposium
Adelphi, Maryland

What would copyright utopia look like? Do you envision an island
paradise surrounded by oceans of free content lapping at your feet? Is
every piece of data or content freely and fully available–no
restrictions, no fees, and no questions asked? Or is everything under
lock and key with access granted only to a privileged membership? Or do
you wish to live somewhere in between? As colleges and universities
continue to make decisions managing third party copyrighted works, let’s
pause and ask difficult questions of our legal structure and human
needs. What methods and policies would best serve students, faculty,
publishers, and the academic enterprise?

Some confirmed speakers and panelists include:

*William Fisher, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law;

*Fred von Lohmann, Electronic Frontier Foundation;
*Donna Ferullo, Purdue University;
*Kenneth Crews, Indian University-Purdue University Indianapolis;
*Patricia Aufderheide, Center for Social Media;
**And many more…

Visit www.umuc.edu/cip/symposium for registration details and specials
from our travel partners. The CIP is one of the leading centers
providing training and solutions on the copyright issues that affect
scholars and industry.
===========
Marvin Stewart
Event Specialist
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Boulevard East
Adelphi,MD 20783
T: 240.582.2966
mdstewart@umuc.edu

-PC

I said last week that I love getting something in my in-box on Friday morning that I can turn around and use as a Friday Fun Link later that same day. (In fact, feel free to e-mail me if you know a site that is funny, unique or thought-provoking. I can’t guarantee I’ll use it but I’m always on the look out for potential FFL’s.)

My former classmate, Bruce F., comes through with today’s link - a parody of the “March of the Penguins” documentary using the ALA conference in Seattle as a backdrop.

They come to network, for free stuff and possibly, to mate. Hilarious!

Sometimes an idea for the day’s FFL pops right in your in-box on a Friday morning. Here’s something fellow Librarian Activist editor, David Jackson, sent me today.

“I Bless The Rains Down in Africa” is an article from music web site Pitchfork, comparing the presence of information about Africa with information about the Star Wars universe on the Internet. Perhaps not surprisingly, Africa doesn’t fare very well. As author Chris Dahlen points out, “This is partly because sci-fi nerds in the Western world have better net access than most Africans. People also seem more drawn to the relative simplicity of pop culture than to the complexities of real life. Pop culture gives us a world we can understand, and problems we can solve.”

If you don’t read the complete article, I’ll pull one thing that might be of interest. GlobalVoicesOnline.org is a blog aggregator that “gathers online news and opinion from the global blogosphere. With a staff of almost 20 editors and more than 100 contributors, it’s a major resource for world news at a time when fewer and fewer [North] American newspapers collect the stuff on their own. Global Voices collects “bridge bloggers,” or bloggers who can talk about their region to a worldwide audience…A great bridge blogger is hard to find, and the countries that need the most representation have the least access to the internet.”

- JH

Can documents in reference to an ongoing lawsuit be published and distributed online? Judge Cogan and subsequently Judge Weinstein of Brooklyn thought not, according to the injunctions they issued to lawyer Jim Gottstein for the recall of all Eli Lilly documents he had distributed related to the inappropriate usage and marketing of Zyprexa, documents that Gottstein reportedly obtained through a subpoena in support of another lawsuit.

Out in the blogosphere, this injunction has been coined ‘Judge Tries to Unring Bell Hanging Around Neck of Horse Already Out of Barn Being Carried on Ship That Has Sailed’ source: TortsProfBlog

Aside from the “this is absurd” interpretation so aptly described by the TortsProf, is it even legally tenable? The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has lent its support to the distribution of the documents, which according to the NYT contained evidence that Eli Lilly suppressed information about side effects and marketed the drug against FDA approval for ‘off label’ uses.

Mind Freedom also supports Gottstein’s position that the documents are not eligible to be sealed due to the public’s right to safety and the fact that the documents do not in fact contain proprietary or trade secret information. Mind Freedom and the Alliance for Human Research Protection have defended what they consider to be the right to free speech in court hearings on Jan 16 and 17, 2007 and now await Judge Weinstein’s decision, expected soon.

The website most implicated for the distribution of the documents was a wiki at zyprexa.pbwiki.com. At the moment, this and all other sites are complying with the injunction.

Can you say “[down with] censorship” and “public safety” and “whistleblower protection”?

Good, altogether now!

-PC

Feb. 18.07 update…
Evelyn Pringle reports in Counterpunch on Judge Weinstein’s Feb 13.07 decision to enforce a permanant injunction to prevent circulation of the documents.

Mar.1.07 update …
Mind Freedom reports a mixed decision - Judge Weinstein recognizes importance of upholding free speech, permitting websites to post the documents. But Weinstein enacts a permanent injunction against the original ‘conspirators’. Link.

“If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store…in a heartbeat.” — Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.

One other good point from the MetaFilter comments - the Big Four music companies already sell 90% of their music DRM-free (via unprotected CD’s) so why are they so set on having DRM on digital music? Ease-of-transfer? If I buy a CD it takes me about five minutes to burn it to MP3 and put it on a P2P program if I want. What’s the difference? Nadda.

(via MetaFilter)

- JH