Year: 2008

Legal Victory for Open Licenses: Jacobsen v. Katzer and Kamind Associates

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld the validity of an open source license, the Artistic License, in Jacobsen v. Katzer and Kamind Associates.

Read more about it at "Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit Overturns Jacobsen v. Katzer—Ruling as Text," "Federal Circuit Says Open Source License Conditions Are Enforceable as Copyright Condition," "Huge and Important News: Free Licenses Upheld," and "The Model Train Patent Story—Jacobsen v. Katzer et al."

Memo to Campus CIOs about the Higher Education Opportunity Act's Illegal File Sharing Provisions

The American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, EDUCAUSE, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges have issued a memo to campus Chief Information Officers about the Higher Education Opportunity Act's provisions related to illegal file sharing.

Free Wireless U.S. Broadband, Censorship Included

Since it was announced, the FCC's proposal for a free national wireless broadband service has been controversial.

Free speech advocates don't like this provision of the proposal:

That filters or blocks images and text that constitute obscenity or pornography and, in context, as measured by contemporary community standards and existing law, any images or text that otherwise would be harmful to teens and adolescents. For purposes of this rule, teens and adolescents are children 5 through 17 years of age;

CTIA-The Wireless Association and individual wireless companies have voiced opposition to the plan as well, citing business and technical concerns.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) has introduced the Wireless Internet Nationwide for Families Act of 2008 (H.R. 5846) in the House, which is similar to the FCC proposal.

Read more about it at: "22 Public Interest Groups Roast FCC Smutless Broadband Plan"; "Congressional Dems Back Porn-Free Wireless Broadband Network"; "FCC Moves Ahead with Plan for Smut-Free Wireless Broadband"; "FCC Wants Free Broadband Service, Plus Content Filtering"; "FCC's Planned Free WiFi Is for Five Year Olds"; "GOP Pols Oppose Smut-Free Wireless Network Proposal"; and "Martin Defends Smut-Free, Wireless Network to Wary Congress."

Taking Forward the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property: Penalties for Copyright Infringement

The UK Intellectual Property Office has released Taking Forward the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property: Penalties for Copyright Infringement.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Currently the maximum fine that Magistrates' Courts can award for online copyright infringement is £5,000.

To reflect the commercial damage that large scale copyright infringement causes, the UK-IPO is consulting on increasing the level of fine handed down by a Magistrates’ Court to a maximum of £50,000. . . .

Scotland does not have Magistrates’ Courts; therefore the consultation considers introducing maximum levels of fines for Scottish summary courts that deal with equivalent cases in Scotland.

Free Press Releases Blocking or Metering: A False Choice

Free Press has released Blocking or Metering: A False Choice.

Here's an excerpt:

The bottom line is this: Making consumers choose between having applications blocked and limitation pricing is what economists call a Morton’s Fork. Neither path is desirable because they both have the same outcome: reducing the innovative power of the Internet. Such an outcome would do great damage to the major driving force behind much of the social and economic change that has occurred over the past 20 years—not to mention all the benefits the Internet promises for the foreseeable future.

Presentations/Reports from the JISC/CNI Meeting on Transforming the User Experience

Presentations are available from the JISC/CNI meeting on Transforming the User Experience.

Here's a selection:

Helen Aguera, Senior Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities, has also reported on the conference in a series of Weblog postings:

Information Technology and Libraries Launches ITALica Weblog

Information Technology and Libraries has launched the ITALica Weblog.

Here's the announcement:

Hello friends, Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL), LITA's peer-reviewed quarterly journal, is about to launch a new weblog called ITALica at http://ital-ica.blogspot.com/. ITALica addresses a need we on the ITAL Editorial Board have long sensed, that is, an area for "letters to the editor", updates to articles, supplementary materials we can't work into the journal,. . . you-name-it. One of the most important features of ITALica will be a forum for readers' conversations with our authors: we'll ask authors to host and monitor discussion for a period of time after publication of their articles, so that you'll then have a chance to interact with them.

ITALica is currently a pilot project. For our first author-hosted discussion, we are very pleased to have as host Jennifer Bowen of the University of Rochester.

Many of you will know—either because you attended, or because you've heard the buzz about it since—about the 'Creating the Future of the Catalog and Cataloging', program at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. This program, which was sponsored by ALCTS CCS, and co-sponsored by the LITA Next Generation Catalog Interest Group and the ALCTS Networked Resources and Metadata Interest Group, drew an overflow crowd of several hundred and featured as presenters—in addition to Jennifer—Diane Hillmann, Tim Spalding, Roy Tennant, and Martha Yee.

Jennifer's presentation was in large part based on her paper 'Metadata to Support Next-Generation Library Resource Discovery: Lessons from The eXtensible Catalog, Phase 1', just published in the June 2008 issue of ITAL. We on the ITAL Editorial Board believe that the eXtensible Catalog (XC) project at Rochester represents a significant contribution to the future development and directions of both library metadata and the library catalog as a discovery tool. Jennifer will host the first ITALica, contributing her thoughts about the ALA program, updating her ITAL paper with more recent developments in the XC initiative, and engaging in discussion with those of you who care to contribute. LITA members can access the full version of Jennifer's paper online, at the ITAL website . . . from where you can also then find a link to the ITALica discussion. You can also access ITALica directly (no membership in LITA required) at (http://ital-ica.blogspot.com/). Jennifer will be monitoring the discussion from 18 August to 15 September 2008.

Beginning with the September issue of ITAL, we plan to expand ITALica discussions to include all articles and other features in that and subsequent issues. We hope to see many of you online at ITALica for what promises to be the first in an ongoing series of very stimulating discussions!

cheers,
Marc Truitt, Editor, ITAL, for the Editorial Board

OpenCollection Version 0.54-3 Released

OpenCollection version 0.54-3 has been released.

Here's an excerpt from the Overview page:

OpenCollection is a full-featured collections management and online access application for museums, archives and digital collections. It is designed to handle large, heterogeneous collections that have complex cataloguing requirements and require support for a variety of metadata standards and media formats. Unlike most other collections management applications, OpenCollection is completely web-based. All cataloging, search and administrative functions are accessed using common web-browser software, untying users from specific operating systems and making cataloguing by distributed teams and online access to collections information simple, efficient and inexpensive.

See the Features page for more details about this open source software.

Fedora 2.2.3 Released: Important Security Fix

Fedora Commons has released version 2.2.3 of Fedora, which contains an important security fix.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Today Fedora Commons released version 2.2.3 of the popular Fedora software that includes the repair of a serious security defect and several bug fixes. Dan Davis, Chief Software Architect, Fedora Commons, explained, "Every installation of Fedora 2 should update to 2.2.3 due to the security update. There have been no exploits that have been discovered but it is important to maintain repositories at the latest security update level." Fedora 2.2.3 is strictly a maintenance update; new features may be found in Fedora 3.0 which was released for general availability on July 29th . Also, the license has been changed to the familiar Apache License 2.0 for Fedora 2.2.3. Fedora 2 will be maintained until August 2009 and thereafter be placed in an "end of life" status. At least one more release of Fedora 2 is planned though there may be additional releases to fix critical defects.

Sony Reader vs. Amazon Kindle: Can Sony Win?

An article in the Financial Times ("Why Sony Lost the Battle of the E-Book") suggests that, despite the Sony Reader's earlier market presence, the unique features of the Kindle (e.g., wireless access to e-books), its large e-book stock (145,000 titles), and its strong unit sales (240,000 units) and e-book sales (12% of Amazon book sales in both digital and print formats) bodes ill for the Reader's ability to attain marketplace dominance.

Read more about it at "Amazon May Have Actually Sold a Bunch Of Kindles (AMZN)" and "We Know How Many Kindles Amazon Has Sold: 240,000."

Resources at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office's Web Site

In January 2008, Kenneth Crews became the founding director of the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University. There are a variety of useful resources at the CAO's web site about U.S. copyright law, especially fair use.

Of particular interest, are:

Digital Curation Centre Releases "Creative Commons Licensing"

The Digital Curation Centre has released "Creative Commons Licensing" as part of its Legal Watch Papers series.

Here's an excerpt:

CC is of great relevance to digital curation in the way it simplifies and increases third party access to and usage of copyright works. Curation is dependant on a range of strategies that require the making of copies and modifications. Unhindered, copyright could impinge on digital curation considerably. However use of these licences may ameliorate the difficulties.

A Look at the Development and Future of Scholarly Communication in High Energy Physics

Robert Aymar, Director-General of CERN, has deposited a e-print of "Scholarly Communication in High-Energy Physics: Past, Present and Future Innovations" in the CERN Document Server.

Here's an excerpt from the abstract:

Unprecedented technological advancements have radically changed the way we communicate and, at the same time, are effectively transforming science into e-Science. In turn, this transformation calls for an evolution in scholarly communication. This review describes several innovations, spanning the last decades of scholarly communication in High Energy Physics: the first repositories, their interaction with peer-reviewed journals, a proposed model for Open Access publishing and a next-generation repository for the field.

Of particular interest is his description of the INSPIRE Project, "a fully integrated HEP information platform for the future," that will have "text- and data-mining applications, citation analysis and other tools, and Web 2.0 features."

For further information about INSPIRE, see "Information Systems in HEP get INSPIREd" and the INSPIRE Wiki.

Responses to Chris Rusbridge's Proposed Research Repository System

Chris Rusbridge, Director of the Digital Curation Centre, has summarized responses that he has received to his proposed Research Repository System.

Here's an excerpt from "Negative Click, Positive Value Research Repository Systems," where he outlined the key features of the system.

The main elements that I think the RRS should support are (not in any particular order):

The Impact of Digitizing Special Collections on Teaching and Scholarship: Reflections on a Symposium about Digitization and the Humanities

OCLC Programs & Research has released The Impact of Digitizing Special Collections on Teaching and Scholarship: Reflections on a Symposium about Digitization and the Humanities.

Here's an excerpt:

University faculty and scholars demonstrated their uses of rare books and archives—in both digital and physical forms—to an audience of RLG Programs partners at a symposium in Philadelphia on June 4, 2008. Tony Grafton's recent article in The New Yorker provoked the theme of the symposium: we'll be travelling both the wide smooth road through the screen and the narrow difficult road of books and archives for a long time to come.

The audience of librarians, archivists, museum professionals and senior managers discussed administrative issues and opportunities for the use of digitized special collections. The academic speakers, however, spoke to us directly about their expectations of special collections and proposals for collaboration with scholars. These scholars emphasized the critical roles rare books, archives and other materials play in both teaching and research, and called for specific directions for libraries and archives to take in the near future. The primary users of primary resources presented clear imperatives for collections and custodians: work with faculty to understand current research methods and materials; go outside the library or archive to build collections and work with faculty; and continue to build digital and material collections for both teaching and research.

Switzerland: Test Your ISP's Net Neutrality

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released Switzerland, an open source software tool for testing your ISP's net neutrality.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Part of EFF's "Test your ISP" project, Switzerland is an open source, command-line software tool designed to detect the modification or injection of packets of data by ISPs. Switzerland detects changes made by software tools believed to be in use by ISPs such as Sandvine and AudibleMagic, advertising systems like FairEagle, and various censorship systems. Although currently intended for use by technically sophisticated Internet users, development plans aim to make the tool increasingly easy to use.

National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies to Be Established

A National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies will be established as part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (see Sec. 802).

Here's an excerpt from the Digital Promise press release on its home page:

The new program is entitled the "National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies." It is a Congressionally originated 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation located within the Department of Education. It will have a nine-member independent Board of Directors appointed by the Secretary of Education from nominations by members of Congress. Grants and contracts will be awarded on merit, and policies will be developed following the tested procedures of NSF and NIH. Given its status as a non-profit, independent corporation, the Center will be able to receive grants, contracts, and philanthropic contributions, as well as federal appropriations. . . .

Our next challenge is to secure FY09 appropriations for the Center. Because of the delay in passing the Higher Education Act, it was not possible for appropriations of the, until now, unauthorized National Center to be included in the Labor, HHS or Education funding bills that were passed in Committee in June. It is widely expected that final appropriations for FY09 will not be enacted until early next year. We are working hard to have funding for the National Center included in final appropriations legislation. We are requesting $50 million for FY09.

According to the About Digital Promise page one of the functions of the center will be to "commission pre-competitive research and fund the development of prototypes to . . . Digitize America’s collected memory stored in our nation’s universities, libraries, museums and public television archives to make these materials available anytime and anywhere."

Copyright Alert: Senate Passes Higher Education Opportunity Act

The Senate passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which includes provisions that require higher education institutions to take steps to curb illegal file sharing. The bill now goes to President Bush for signature.

Read more about it at "College Funding Bill Passed with Anti-P2P Provisions Intact" and "Mixed Reviews for Illegal File-Sharing on Campus."

Copyright Alert: House Passes Higher Education Opportunity Act

The House passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which includes provisions that require higher education institutions to take steps to curb illegal file sharing.

On July 30, 2008, EDUCAUSE issued a letter about the revised copyright provisions of the bill.

Here's an excerpt from that letter:

Section 493 (also below) is the result of much tug-and-pull over the last few months. In the end, it will require every college and university to certify that it "(A) has developed plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including through the use of a variety of technology-based deterrents; and (B) will, to the extent practicable, offer alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property, as determined by the institution in consultation with the chief technology officer or other designated officer of the institution."

The language of (A) represents a weaker requirement on colleges than had been discussed in some previous proposals. In particular, the Report language makes clear (see below) that technological deterrents "include bandwidth shaping, traffic monitoring to identify the largest bandwidth users, a vigorous program of accepting and responding to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices, and a variety of commercial products designed to reduce or block illegal file sharing." Further, the Report states that the bill is to be considered technology neutral. It should be up to the institution to determine its policy and corresponding technology, which can include policies that prohibit the monitoring of content.

The language of (B) is stronger than in the previous version, in that it requires that institutions certify that they "will . . . offer alternatives" instead of simply requiring plans for them. There is considerable flexibility, however, in that the institutions must interpret the "to the extent practicable" qualifier in the context of their own situation. Moreover, access to legal alternative services may be accomplished in a growing number of ways, including institutionally provided on-campus services, providing links to a variety of commercial services, and other procedures, as indicated in the Report language. "The Conferees recognize that there is a broad range of possibilities that exist for institutions to consider in developing plans for purposes of complying with this Section."

Read more about it at "Congress Tackles the Higher Ed Act" and "EDUCAUSE Comments on the File Sharing Provisions in the HEA."