CCCC-IP Caucus & Committee files public comments on The Joint Strategic Plan, and with support of CCCC

Last week, we sent out the following email to various listserves and facebook for people to "sign" on in support of public comments crafted by the CCCC-IP Caucus and Committee - here's the email which supplies background information:

Dear Everyone:


We are inviting you to offer your “signature” in support of the CCCC-IP Caucus (endorsed by the CCCC-IP Committee and CCCC) with respect to the letter linked below, on or before Tuesday, midnight EST, March 23, 2010 (send your name and institutional affiliation c/o martinerife@gmail.com). Offering your support to the IP Caucus does not preclude you from additionally composing your own public comments (details below), and we encourage you to do so.


Each year since 1994 the Intellectual Property Caucus of the Conference on College Communication and Composition (CCCC-IP Caucus) meets for an hours long discussion/workshop on issues surrounding teachers and researchers of writing/composing as those issues intersect intellectual property law and policy.


This year, on Weds. March 17, the caucus crafted a letter to Victoria A. Espinel, United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in response to a formal request for public comments (due on or before March 24 at 5pm EST-but to be submitted by us well in
advance of the deadline) on the topic of increasing IP enforcement (see link to “short explanation” below).


CCCC-IP CAUCUS LETTER
http://www.martinecourantrife.com/IP-CAUCUS/CCCC-ip_caucus-committee-ltr-3-22-2010.pdf

Short Explanation
http://www.martinecourantrife.com/IP-CAUCUS/Short-Explanation.pdf

Call for public comments:

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-3539.htm

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-3539.pdf

Some sample letters/public comments on somewhat related issues, for further ideas:

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/answers/7_10_responses/decherney-reply-to-post-hearing-questions_1.pdf

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/answers/9_21_responses/otw.pdf

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/answers/9_21_responses/joint-supporters.pdf

http://www.ce.org/PDF/obamaIPcoalitionletter.pdf

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/answers/7_10_responses/final-rife_response-to-questions-july-10-2009.pdf

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/answers/9_21_responses/rife.pdf

http://www.martinecourantrife.com/IP-CAUCUS/sample-public-advocacy-letters/0Arife_request_FINAL_4-1-09.pdf

If you would like to offer your support of the CCCC-IP Caucus, please send your name and institutional affiliation to martinerife@gmail.com on or before Tuesday, midnight EST, March 23, 2010 and it will be included in the designated space on the CCCC-IP Caucus letter (see
letter linked above).


Thank you much for your time!


Martine & Traci


Traci Zimmerman, Associate Professor

The School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication

James Madison University

Senior Chair; CCCC-IP Caucus


Martine Courant Rife, Professor

Writing Program, Communication Department

Lansing Community College

Junior Chair; CCCC-IP Caucus

High court approves injunction via Twitter

In the guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/01/twitter-injunction

Additional DMCA Rulemaking Questions Received

I have, along with other DMCA rulemaking-hearing participants, received a second question set from the U.S. Copyright Office. The questions are premised by: "For purposes of the question below, please assume that the Register has decided to recommend an exemption to the prohibition for proposed classes 4A through 4H, 11A and 11B, or some portion thereof, relating to motion pictures on CSS-protected DVDs" and ask:

“From your unique perspectives, is there a limitation, either in terms of duration or percentage (or both), which could be incorporated into the definition of an exempted class of works?”

Specifically, the copyright office suggests the following language could possibly be used in the context of finished products (remixes) for crafting the new exemption:

“… the portions of any single work used shall be, collectively, no greater than x minutes in duration and represent no greater than y percent of the duration of that work….”

The questions also acknowledge how creating a quantity limitation might be objectionable to some, but since this is not a redrafting of section 107, but is instead an administrative rulemaking proceeding, they are asking for suggestions from hearing participants nonetheless. They state:

“Again, we recognize that for purposes of fair use, what may be a reasonable duration in one case will not necessarily be a reasonable duration in another case, we are not proposing to codify the fair use doctrine in this rulemaking proceeding. However, this is a regulatory proceeding and for the purposes of promulgating a regulation governing exemptions from the prohibition on circumvention, we are inclined to believe that more specific limitations are advisable so that, at least for purposes of predicting liability under section 1201(a)(1), users will find sufficient guidance in the regulatory text.”

The questions were emailed to hearing participants Friday August 21, 2009 at 5:38 pm, EST. Responses are due September 8, 2009 by 5 pm.

RealNetwork loses ruling in DMCA related case

"The decision represents a major victory for the film studios, which had accused Real of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and breach of contract in a lawsuit filed last fall."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10307921-93.html

EFF Launches Free, Creative Commons-licensed "Teaching Copyright" Curriculum and Website

According to an announcement from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), "last week, the Copyright Alliance Education Foundation (a nonprofit mouth piece for the entertainment and software industries) unveiled plans to spread its protectionist ideas to the nation's schools and libraries through the distribution of a curriculum titled 'Think First,Copy Later.'"

The EFF states that the "Think First, Copy Later" curriculum is similar in nature to other intimidating educational materials produced by corporate interests such as the MPAA, RIAA, Business Software Alliance -- these types of educational materials are created, according to the EFF, to "scare students into believing that making copies is wrong."

But what students and teachers don't need, is more intimidation. Instead, the EFF recognizes that what is needed is "solid, accurate information that will help them make smart choices about how to use new technologies." In response to this, EFF has just launched a free, Creative Commons-licensed "Teaching Copyright" curriculum and website "to help educators explore copyright issues in their classrooms."

The materials appear to be very easy to navigate and understand, and will "encourage students to discover their legal rights and responsibilities — including how to make full and fair use of technology that is revolutionizing learning and the exchange of information."

The EFF teaching materials and curriculum can be accessed here:

http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

Study of Blogger's Ethical Beliefs and Practices Published in New Media & Society

A study of 1224 bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices was just published in New Media & Society. This incredibly insightful and well written piece clearly lays out the methodology and findings. The study found that "personal bloggers valued attribution most, followed by minimizing harm, truth-telling and accountability respectively. Non-personal bloggers valued both attribution and truth-telling most, followed by minimizing harm, then accountability. For both groups, attribution was most valued, and accountability least valued." (p. 586). Attribution mattered most for the bloggers. (Supporting my study findings as well). Based on their research, the authors crafted ethical guidelines for bloggers, based on what the 1224 bloggers thought was important. In their piece, they also site Clancy Ratliff's "Attracting Readers: Sex and Audience in the Blogosphere."

http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/blogs/ratliff_01.htm

Quote: "Obama Administration Lock(e)s And Loads Against Movie Piracy"

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/04/22/obama-administration-lockes-and-loads-against-movie-piracy/

From the Intellectual Property Watch:By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch @ 12:41 am

[being quote]WASHINGTON, DC - The Obama administration will fight for the movie industry and work to aggressively enforce its intellectual property protections both at home and abroad, United States Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said here Tuesday.

Locke offered almost unabashed support for the industry, which, according to a report released Tuesday [pdf] by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), created 2.5 million American jobs in 2007, paid an average production worker US$74,700 a year in salary, paid out $41.1 billion in salaries to American workers, paid $13 billion in income and sales tax and was responsible for $13.6 billion in trade surplus.[end quote]

I am really concerned about the one-sidedness of Locke's perspective. Where are the voices of the NCTE lobbyists? Do they even know what is at stake here?

Smart People Really Do Think Faster: I Don't Think So!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102169531

Well this is an interesting story that just aired on NPR. It contains some beautiful visualizations of the brain. But, I have to say that my initial reaction is that speed alone is not what makes people smart, although I'm sure smart people do think faster.

Think about it. If you have just the tiniest bit of craziness in your brain, and you think faster, that has to exponentially increase your chances of being totally crazy. It cannot be speed that makes one intelligent, because speed would just create a mass of chaos in your head.

Instead, it has to be the right kind of speed with the right kind of information. There has to be the ability to sort information, slow some of it down, and stop some of it completely.

So now I'm wondering if, like, bi-polar individuals and/or schizophrenics are people whose brains have great speed without the ability to slow or stop or erase the information we need to in order to not have hallucinations and/or paranoia. I've read lots of stuff that says artistic and/or creative people have been known to also be a little bit crazy. (I mean crazy in a loving way, not a derogatory way).

Probably, the creative crazies are just really smart people, with fast brain speeds, who don't enjoin certain kinds of information from traveling throughout their heads.

It reminds me a lot of the Internet, because the Internet lets good stuff proliferate, but it also lets crazy, bad, insane, wrong, and illegal stuff proliferate too.

JK Rowling leads fight against free books site Scribd

From guaridian.co.uk, "The publishers of bestselling authors JK Rowling, Aravind Adiga and Ken Follett have been shocked by the news that their authors' latest books are available to read for free on a US website. Internet users can not only read free copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, The White Tiger and World Without End at Scribd.com, but also download the text onto their computers to edit as they see fit."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/30/scribd-rowling-free-book-outrage

Library Organizations To File Amicus Brief in Google Book Search Settlement

"The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) said this week they will file an amicus brief pertaining to the pending Google Book Search settlement. ARL associate executive director Prue Adler told the LJ Academic Newswire the brief would be written by attorney Jonathan Band, author of the Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries and the Google Library Project Settlement, and would amplify for the court concerns library leaders voiced at recent meeting in Washington, DC."

The full story: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6640461.html

[Today] The Wikipedia Revolution

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/webofideas/2009/03/wikipediarevolution

From the Berkman Center: "The Wikipedia Revolution is the first narrative account of the remarkable success story of the "encyclopedia anyone can edit." Andrew Lih, a Wikipedia editor/administrator, academic and journalist, tells how the Internet's free culture community inspired its creation in 2001, and how legions of volunteers have emerged to create over 10 million articles in over 50 languages. The book recounts colorful behind-the-scenes stories of how obsessive map editors, automated software robots and warring factions have come to shape a complex online community of knowledge gatherers. Learn about the historical underpinnings of Wikipedia, of how a Hawaiian vacation and a fringe piece software from Apple Computer inspired the wiki concept, and realized the original read-and-write capabilities of the Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web. While Wikipedia has become firmly planted at the top of Google's search results, what are the challenges as sum of all human knowledge becomes more complete, and its problem is not growth, but reliability? Should we be putting so much trust in a resource created by anonymous nobodies?"

Recovery Act - Tribal Crime Data Collection, Analysis and Estimation Project

From grants.gov - and I can't help reading this rhetorically. Considering the various data mining and data recovery RFPs I've seen recently, I don't know if this particular one is a good thing or a bad thing:

"On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the landmark American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Recovery Act”). As one of its many elements, the Recovery Act provides the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with funding for grants to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement (including support for hiring), to combat violence against women, to fight internet crimes against children, to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, to assist victims of crime, and to support youth mentoring. DOJ is committed to working with our national, state, local, and tribal partnerships to ensure this funding invests in the American workforce."

http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&flag2006=false&oppId=46159

Internet filter list of porn exposed

In Austrailia: "THE Rudd Government's plans for a nationwide internet filter are in jeopardy after its top-secret blacklist of banned web pages was leaked."

The comments attached to this article are spectacular.

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25214571-15306,00.html

U.K. to monitor, store all social-network traffic?

"The U.K. government is considering the mass surveillance and retention of all user communications on social-networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10199107-83.html

Orphan Works Act

http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/

Legislation is pending in Congress that would ease the “orphan works” problem - this is a nice summary.

China’s complicated internet culture

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/03/03/chinas-complicated-internet-culture/

Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) unveils new website

Earlier this year, Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) unveiled its new website

http://www.nativetelecom.org/index.php

Berkman Center for Internet & Society Launches Herdict

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NggzBHSXdCo

Quoting from an email received from The Berkman Center:
Today, a special announcement from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. We are pleased to announce the official launch of Herdict Web --

http://www.herdict.org

-- a tool that employs the distributed power of the Internet community to provide insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility.

We invite everyone to explore http://www.herdict.org and participate by reporting websites that they cannot access, testing sites that others have reported, or downloading the browser add-on for reporting sites on the fly.

Herdict is a portmanteau of ‘herd’ and ‘verdict.’ Using Herdict Web, anyone anywhere can report websites as accessible or inaccessible. Herdict Web aggregates reports in real time, permitting participants to see if inaccessibility is a shared problem, giving them a better sense of potential reasons for why a site is inaccessible. Trends can be viewed over time, by site and by country.

The project’s mascot -- a sheep -- demonstrates “the verdict of the herd” in a short video at http://www.herdict.org (or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NggzBHSXdCo).

The brainchild of Professor Jonathan Zittrain (The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It ), Herdict Web builds out from the OpenNet Initiative's research on global Internet filtering. The OpenNet Initiative tests Internet filtering through an academic methodology. Herdict Web takes a different approach, crowdsourcing reports to learn about and display a real-time picture of user experiences around the globe. For more information about the OpenNet Initiative and the book Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering, visit http://opennet.net.

Bloggers can be nailed for views

NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old blogger's case could forever change the ground rules of blogging. Bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for the Supreme Court said they may face libel and even prosecution for the blog content.

For the full story, see The Time of India: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Bloggers-can-be-nailed-for-views/articleshow/4178823.cms

Chris Salzburg on Global Voices, and the challenges and potential of community translation

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/12/18/chris-salzburg-on-global-voices-and-the-challenges-and-potential-of-community-translation/