I’m seeing conflicting reports about the latest developments in the attempt to impose royalty payments on Internet radio stations. No less a mainstream media authority than the Washington Post makes it seem like the advocacy efforts failed and the new fee structure is a done deal:

“The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to […]

The author of the popular Freakonomics book looks at the question, “If public libraries didn’t exist, could you start one today?”

“But here’s the point I’m (finally) getting to: if there was no such thing today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to establish them in cities and towns across the […]

Anyone familiar with UofT’s flagship humanities and social sciences Robart’s library knows that it’s the target of a lot of well earned potshots. Here are a few of its better known claims to fame:

is it sinking?
‘Brutalist’ architecture
it’s a peacock … !?

The ‘prison’ analogy is another fave, what with the books cloistered into […]

Well it’s that time of the year again so get out and celebrate your rights.

The Internet Library of Early Journals is a digitized collection of journals from the 18th and 19th centuries.

(via MetaFilter)

- JH

(Thanks to Kerry M. for the tip!)

- JH

Here is a rad and inspiring interview with Hugh McGuire, founder and Head Rockstar of Librivox. What a good, good man.

At the end of the show, he talks about where the “Librivox model” can go, and brings up the need to make basic data available to the public for urban planning, environment, health, and […]

I don’t know if it is because Digital Rights Management is just such a non-issue (really: what CAN’T be cracked?!) or if I’m just so behind the curve it passed me by, but this news release sure seems under reported right now. Of course, Apple has been calling for an end to music DRM for […]

Some talented and tech savvy lawyers crafted a letter that led to theRecording Industry Association of America voluntarily withdrawing a malicious lawsuit .

Here’s a quote:

“Your client take the position that my middle-aged, conservative clients should speculate regarding the identity of persons your clients’ claim used their AOL account to download […]

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
[…]