COPYCENSE

"While we tend to think of UCITA as being dead outside of a few jurisdictions, its evil spirit is still very much with us. It’s haunting us in the form of the spyware problem, as I think spyware researcher Ben Edelman’s latest piece on spyware installation methods amply illustrates.

"Edelman provides a step-by-step examination of all the deception that can lie behind one "I agree" click to an innocuous-looking license agreement. 3D Desktop’s Flying Icons screensaver is initially presented to the user as shareware available for a 15-day free trial. Only by scrolling down in the little text window to the end of the EULA does the user find a hint that there’s another component to the deal. If you install the software, you’re also agreeing to the terms of something called Blazefind. The only way to find out what that means is to follow a link to Blazefind’s EULA."

Ed Foster. Spyware and the Ghost of UCITA. InfoWorld. April 15, 2005.

See also:
Benedelman.org. 3D Desktop’s Misleading Installation Methods. April 12, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology in our New Afternoon Edition. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton has warned UK publishers to beware the blandishments of Internet search engine Google.

"Newton argued that the project to digitize books and allow the content to be searched on Google could lead to the ‘Napsterization’ of the publishing industry. The comment preceded a presentation of the Google Print project at the PA‘s annual general meeting, held today (April 19) in London."

Philip Jones. Bloomsbury Exec Warns Against Google Print. The Book Standard. April 20, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Family-friendly technology company ClearPlay on Wednesday gave the official thumbs-up to the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, which sped its way through the House of Representatives and is headed to the Senate.

"The Family Movie Act portion of the bill will allow users to alter movie content for private viewing, a service offered by several companies—ClearPlay the most well-known of the group. It could be a much-needed reprieve for the privately owned Utah company, which has been sued by eight Hollywood studios and the Director’s Guild of America for copyright infringement."

Libe Goad. Bill Could Let Parents Scrub Sex, Violence and More from DVDs. PCMag.com. April 21, 2005.

See also:
H.R.357. Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005.

S.167. Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005.

Ted Bridis. Congress OKs Bill to Strip DVD Movie Smut. USA Today. April 20, 2005.

ClearPlay. The Family Movie Act – Update. February 4, 2005.

The Hon. Orrin Hatch. Hatch Endorses Family Entertainment Act. Jan. 25, 2005.

Editor’s Note: Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah and the ranking Republican on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee (which passes intellectual property legislation), introduced The Family Entertainment Act in the Senate. (The Act will be codified into law as the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act.) Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas introduced the Act in the House.

ClearPlay is a Utah-based company that makes technology that censors sex, violence, and other "objectionable" material from DVDs. The company has been sued for copyright infringement by eight Hollywood studios and the Director’s Guild of America, which claimed that ClearPlay’s technology produced an illegal derivative work of their DVDs. This lawsuit likely would become moot when President Bush signs the bill into law, unless the entertainment industry amends the lawsuit (or files a new action) that seeks to invalidate the law.

SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology in our New Afternoon Edition. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"On Friday, April 15th, Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor gave his fans a free song, and made it a GarageBand file to boot. "The Hand That Feeds" is an advance single for Nine Inch Nails’ forthcoming album, With Teeth, which is due to be released on May 5th, 2005. The single is currently available from the iTunes Music Store for US$0.99, but the download makes the song free for Mac users who have GarageBand, a part of Apple’s iLife suite.

"Opening the download file requires agreeing to a license that, among other things, allows the user to use or modify any of the sounds in the song for noncommercial purposes. In addition, the license specifies that all of the sounds and recordings in the song belong to Interscope Records, the copyright holder, and are not being transferred."

Bryan Chaffin. Nine Inch Nails Releases Song as GarageBand File For Mac Users. The Mac Observer. April 19th, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology in our New Afternoon Edition. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"A new company officially joined the world of content providers when it chose to launch its premium newsfeed service at the recent Buying and Selling eContent conference.

"Newstex, founded in late 2004 by president Larry Schwartz and CEO Steve Ellis, has announced Content On Demand, which offers full-text newsfeeds to content redistributors and enterprise customers.

"Content sources include branded newswires, newspapers, magazines, financial and business sources, official government feeds, and Weblogs."

Paula J. Hane. Newstex Launches Content On Demand. Information Today. April 18, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Podscope, the new web engine that allows you to keyword search each and every word spoken in a podcast is now live in beta mode. We first reported that Podscope was coming about a week ago.

"At the moment Podscope is searching podcasts from a database of 1000 sites. The page to submit your url is now offline but look for it to return soon."

Gary Price. Podscope Beta Now Available, Keyword Search Podcasts. SearchEngineWatch. April 19, 2005.

See also:
Podcasting News. Podscope Beta Searches Podcast Audio Content. April 18, 2005.

Podscope Blog. Podscope Beta. April 17, 2005.

Gary Price. Podscope: New Search Engine Will Allow You to Keyword Search Every Word Spoken in a Podcast. SearchEngineWatch. April 11, 2005.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.