From: IN%"educom@educom.unc.edu" 9-SEP-1996 11:29:04.71
************************************************************ Edupage, 8 September 1996. Edupage, a summary of news about information technology, is provided three times a week as a service by Educom, a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities seeking to transform education through the use of information technology. ************************************************************
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SCIENTOLOGISTS FIGHT FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ON NET Police investigators in Helsinki say the Internet "anonymous remailer" site anon.penet.fi was shut down partially because of a copyright dispute with the Church of Scientology (and not because the site was a primary conduit for child pornography, as was previously reported). The Church of Scientology, which has been successful in convincing the courts that its teachings are validly copyrighted material, was pursuing an individual who used the anonymous remailer site to post Scientology texts without the Church's permission. The operator of the site decided to close it down rather than reveal the individual's name to Helsinki police. The Church says it was not opposing the existence of the server: "We have no opposition to there being anonymity for private, consensual communications. What we oppose is using anonymous servers for the purpose of permitting criminal or other unlawful acts." (New York Times 6 Sep 96 C2)
Why don't I believe the first portion of that statement? [...]
COPYRIGHT LAW ARCHIVED ON THE NET The Stanford University library is working with the Council on Library Resources to compile an electronic archive of information on copyright law in an effort to keep educators and others aware of the ongoing debate over the "fair use" doctrine. The Stanford site < http://fairuse.stanford.edu > contains the full text of court decisions, legislation and international copyright agreements, as well as related articles on the topic. (Chronicle of Higher Education 6 Sep 96 A42)
NEW ANGLE ON WEB SURFING BroadVision's new Web site, called The Angle, features the company's One-To-One intelligent agent and WebPoint content management technologies. "What intranets are looking for are ways to help users of their site get information they need, and are entitled to, quickly and efficiently without too much surfing," says the company's CEO, who touts his service as an efficiency-booster for corporate technology managers. Unlike its rival, Firefly, which is used to direct music seekers to selections they might like based on similar buyers' tastes, the One-To-One agent software is built on rule-based reasoning. BroadVision is considering licensing Firefly's technology, which uses a personalization algorithm to identify trends among users and personal tastes, to expand its offerings. (Interactive Age Digital 4 Sep 96)
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CONGRESS, NOT THE COURTS, TO RESOLVE COPYRIGHT ISSUES The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is shifting gears in its drive to resolve electronic copyright issues, and is now working with members of Congress to develop a legislative solution to the issue of online service provider liability, which has been a sticking point in efforts to pass new copyright legislation. "We are looking for a way to define the nature of the provision of mere telecommunications services, for which telecommunications providers should bear no liability for copyright infringement. We are trying to define where the dividing line is between someone who actively engages in the provision of information versus someone who is a mere conduit," says a senior legal counselor for the PTO. The PTO originally believed these issues could be resolved through the court system, but now says it will work with Congress and industry to develop legislative solutions. (BNA Daily Report for Executives 4 Sep 96 A4)
Eeep... I trust the courts more than people selected by a popularity contest. Remember that various of the worse CDA-replacement bills had in them provisions for CDA-like filtering being protected from liability? To me, that's a pretty clear government sponsorship of such filtering, which makes it censorship. [...]
WHERE WIZARDS STAY UP LATE The NY Times Sunday Book Review says the Hafner/Lyon book on the origins of the Internet ("Where Wizards Stay Up Late") compiles a great deal of much-needed information and "shows just how striking an innovation and collaboration the Arpanet really was. One central focus of the book (excerpted in the Sep/Oct Educom Review) is the contribution of the brilliant psychologist and computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider, who predicted an era when "human brains and computing machines will be coupled .... tightly, and ... the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today." (New York Times Book Review 8 Sep 96 p19)
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