7972430
submission
langelgjm writes:
The Washington Post reports that during Saturday's record-breaking snowfall, hundreds of twenty- and thirty-somethings gathered in a mostly-empty area of the city and proceeded to have an enormous snowball fight. Things were all fun and games until a D.C. detective in plainclothes stopped in the middle of the fight, leaving his Hummer and confronting the crowd with his gun drawn. At first, D.C. police denied the claims, but the incident was caught on tape. The detective is currently on desk duty pending an investigation. The tech angle to all of this? 25-year-old Yousef Ali, a one-time Apple Genius, said he was inspired to start the snowball fight by a friend's Facebook status and used a dormant personal blog and extensive Twitter promotion to expand the participant list: "Basically, I used a lot of my social media promotions techniques... to really push this thing pretty big."
7826770
submission
langelgjm writes:
In an unexpected turn of events, Wired is reporting that the Obama administration has expressed support for a treaty that would permit cross-border sharing of copyrighted works accessible to blind and visually-impaired people. A few days ago, we discussed the nearly unanimous opposition from U.S. industries to any treaty expands copyright limitations and exceptions. A Department of Commerce advisor spoke before the World Intellectual Property Organization today, saying that "We recognize that some in the international copyright community believe that any international consensus on substantive limitations and exceptions to copyright law would weaken international copyright law. The United States does not share that point of view."According to the EFF's Eddan Katz, the move represents a "an historic paradigm shift in international technology policy." At the same time, however, the U.S. representative cautioned that the administration was willing to strengthen international copyright laws in other regards.
7748294
submission
langelgjm writes:
According to Wired, "A broad swath of American enterprise ranging from major software makers to motion picture and music companies are joining forces to oppose a new international treaty that would make books more accessible to the blind." With the exception of Google, almost every major industry player has expressed disapproval of the treaty, which would allow cross-border sharing of digitized books accessible to the blind and visually impaired. Google's chief copyright counsel believes the industry-wide opposition is mainly due to “opposition to a larger agenda of limitations and exceptions... We believe this is an unproductive approach to solving what is a discrete, long-standing problem that affects a group that needs and deserves the protections of the international community.”
6224711
submission
langelgjm writes:
An article from yesterday's New York Times asks the question, will books be Napsterized? So far, piracy of books has not reached the degree of music or movie piracy, in part due to the lack of good equipment on which to read and enjoy pirated books. The article points to the growing adoption of e-book readers as the publishing industry's newest nemesis. With ever-cheaper ways to conveniently use pirated books, authors and publishers may be facing serious changes ahead. Interestingly, this is something I wrote about three months ago in my journal, where I called the Kindle DX an "iPod for books."
5382695
submission
langelgjm writes:
The New York Times reports that Wikipedia is attracting criticism from many psychologists (registration possibly required) after having published images of the ten standard Rorschach inkblots, along with the most common responses given for each. Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach created the inkblot test in the 1920s, and the test is still widely used in the mental health field.
Several vocal psychologists have argued that posting the inkblots is potentially harming scientific research. Bruce L. Smith, president of the International Society of the Rorschach and Projective Methods, says "The more test materials are promulgated widely, the more possibility there is to game it." But James Heilman, an emergency room doctor who originally posted the inkblots on Wikipedia, counters by suggesting that "If someone had previous knowledge of the eye chart, you can go to the car people, and you could recount the chart from memory. You could get into an accident. Should we take it down from Wikipedia?"
Despite the fact that the images themselves are no longer under copyright, a German publishing company has stated that they are considering legal action against Wikimedia.
5365515
submission
langelgjm writes:
The New York Times reports that Wikipedia is attracting criticism from many psychologists after having published images of the ten standard Rorschach inkblots, along with the most common responses given for each. Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach created the inkblot test in the 1920s, and the test is still widely used in the mental health field.
Several vocal psychologists have argued that posting the inkblots is potentially harming scientific research. Bruce L. Smith, president of the International Society of the Rorschach and Projective Methods, says "The more test materials are promulgated widely, the more possibility there is to game it." But James Heilman, an emergency room doctor who originally posted the inkblots on Wikipedia, counters by suggesting that "If someone had previous knowledge of the eye chart, you can go to the car people, and you could recount the chart from memory. You could get into an accident. Should we take it down from Wikipedia?"
Despite the fact that the images themselves are no longer under copyright, a German publishing company has stated that they are considering legal action against Wikimedia.
4988143
submission
langelgjm writes:
In a case of interest to many readers, the Supreme Court ruled today in an 8 to 1 decision that the strip search of a 13 year old girl in an Arizona middle school violated the girl's 4th amendment rights. "The officials in Safford, Ariz., would have been justified in 2003 had they limited their search to the backpack and outer clothing of Savana Redding, who was in the eighth grade at the time, the court ruled. But in searching her undergarments, they went too far," the justices said. Slashdot last reported on this story when the Supreme Court first agreed to hear the case in March. According to the article, "Thursday's ruling sends the case back to the lower courts to assess what damages, if any, should be paid by the school district. But, by a vote of 7 to 2, the Supreme Court held that the individual officials in the case should not be held liable." Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter.
4915779
submission
langelgjm writes:
President Obama has announced his intent to nominate David Kappos, a VP and general counsel at IBM, to head the US Patent and Trademark Office. This move is particularly notable not only because of IBM's much friendlier attitudes towards open source compared with some of their rivals, but also because Kappos himself is open source-friendly: "We are now the biggest supporters of the open source development project," explains David. "Admittedly this policy is not easily reconcilable with our traditional IP strategy, but we are convinced that it is the way to go for the future."
Not just a lawyer, Kappos earned an engineering degree before working in the legal field. Kappos has been described as "critical of the American approach to patent policy." Given his background, could this mean a new era for US patent policy?
4904269
submission
langelgjm writes:
Duke Law School Professor James Boyle has a column in today's Financial Times discussing the Obama Administration's approach to copyright policy thus far. In his analysis, the question is not whether copyright policy will be approached in an evenhanded manner, but rather "precisely how dogmatic the representation of intellectual property holders should be. The idea that intellectual property policy might actually require a balance between multiple interests, including some who are not rights holders, has apparently been abandoned."
However, one of the most stunning positions taken by the administration is its opposition to a proposal by the World Blind Union on copyright exceptions for the visually impaired. The proposed treaty for the visually impaired on the harmonization of limitations and exceptions to copyright could vastly expand the amount of written material available to blind and partially sighted people. Boyle notes that the U.S. and EU's opposition to the treaty "puts one in the embarrassing position of — ever so pragmatically — sacrificing one's blind citizens to an industry agenda."
4897829
submission
langelgjm writes:
An interesting exercise in quantifying and visualizing ideological shifts, the website ScotusScores.com tracks changes in the ideological history of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 2007. Ideological positions are quantified using Martin-Quinn scores, and the chart highlights the often bumpy transitions (Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas), as well tendencies within each Justice's career.
4570687
submission
langelgjm writes:
Yesterday, the New York Times reported on the unveiling of a 47 million year-old fossil at the Museum of Natural History. Discovered two years ago, the exquisitely preserved specimen is not a direct ancestor of monkeys and humans, but hints at what such an ancestor might have looked like. According to researchers, "The specimen has an unusual history: it was privately collected and sold in two parts, with only the lesser part previously known. The second part, which has just come to light, shows the skeleton to be the most complete primate known in the fossil record."
The scientific article describing the find was published yesterday in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal PLOS One. Google's home page is also celebrating the find with a unique image.
4492893
submission
langelgjm writes:
Yesterday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the patenting of human genes, specifically the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 patents currently held by Myriad Genetics, which offers genetic testing for breast cancer. According to the ACLU, "about 20 percent of our genes are patented. A gene patent holder has the right to prevent anyone from studying, testing or even looking at a gene. As a result, scientific research and genetic testing has been delayed, limited or even shut down due to concerns about gene patents."
The New York Times reports that the lawsuit may be the first of its kind: "It blends patent law, medical science, breast cancer activism and an unusual civil liberties argument in ways that could make it a landmark case." While proponents claim that permitting patents on human genes creates an incentive for research, detractors argue that such patents actually inhibit research and the development of new treatments.
A detailed press release is available at the ACLU's website. The lawsuit is entitled "Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al."
4485529
submission
langelgjm writes:
An Argentinean philosophy professor is being sued for alleged copyright infringement for posting translated versions of French philosopher Jacques Derrida's works on a website. In an attempt to make foreign philosophers' work available to Spanish language readers and students, Prof. Horacio Potel has created several websites: one on Nietzsche, another on Heidegger, and one on Derrida (now deactivated), all in Spanish. Philosophy texts are expensive and not widely available in Argentina; most are imported from Spain, and sold only in Buenos Aires.
According to the authorized French publisher, "Horacio Potel has posted, over the course of several years, without authorisation, and free of charge, full versions of several of Jacques Derrida's works, which is harmful to the diffusion of his (Derrida)'s thought." But Potel believes that by removing the works, the publisher has "inflicted a new death on the philosopher by taking his work off the internet." This dispute serves to highlight the larger debate over how copyright affects access to knowledge and educational materials.
3878235
submission
langelgjm writes:
The Supreme Court has agreed to review a case involving the strip-searching of a 13 year-old girl who was accused of possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen on school grounds, in violation of the school's zero-tolerance drug policy. The case has gained national attention because of the defining role it will play in determining which, if any, parts of the Constitution apply on school grounds. In Morse v. Frederick, the Supreme Court has already upheld the right of school administrators to restrict students' free speech at school sponsored events that take place off school property. While the school described the strip-search as "not excessively intrusive in light of Redding's age and sex and the nature of her suspected infraction", the Supreme Court's last decision about searches on school property dealt only with searching a student's purse. Incidentally, the girl was not found in possession of any drugs, legal or otherwise.
3641641
submission
langelgjm writes:
For at least the second time this year, Dutch authorities have seized shipments of generic medicines passing through the country, citing accusations of counterfeiting. Today's Financial Times reports that "Dozens of HIV patients have been placed at risk after the Dutch authorities seized consignments of Indian-made medicines shipped via Schipol airport for distribution to clinics in Nigeria." IP Watch reported a similar seizure in January of blood pressure medication, en route from India to Brazil. Though WTO rules allow the manufacture and export of these generic medicines, the EU's rules on counterfeit medicines appear to be prompting these seizures. This is yet another reason to keep an eye on ACTA, the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which could potentially make seizures like this more commonplace.
