Social Music

EFF Launches TOSBack - A 'Terms of Service' Tracker for Facebook, Google, eBay, and More

San Francisco - "Terms of Service" policies on websites define how Internet businesses interact with you and use your personal information. But most web users don't read these policies -- or understand that the terms are constantly changing. To track these ever-evolving documents, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is launching "TOSBack": a "terms of service" tracker for Facebook, Google, eBay, and other major websites.

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The AP is going stop bloggers from pirating content (or quoting in fair use for legitimate reasons)

The AP says it is taking aim at "wholesale theft" with new technology that is aimed at targeting reposting of "entire articles." The new technology is supposed to simply flag questionable articles for lawyers and paralegals to then review.

The question is will the new technology be so limited, or will the AP use the technology to follow the same path it took filing DMCA takedown notices falsely characterizing the law regarding the Drudge retort's postings as follows:

"...the use is not fair use simply because the work copied happened to be a news article and that the use is of the headline and the first few sentences only ."

Essential Free and Open Source Software Toolkit

A tool kit full of Free or Open Source software
Open source software has gained popularity because of its effectiveness, flexibility, security, and low cost. By adopting an entirely new philosophical approach to software development and user freedom, open source software empowers you, the downstream user not just to use it to perform a task, but to build upon, adapt, and modify it to fit your needs. In this way thousands of developers and users around the world are able to work to improve the software's effectiveness, flexibility, and security. Join the many people around the world using open source software, a way of life that encourages openness, sharing, community, innovation, and discovery.

David Bollier

As promised in last week’s post on The Commons Video, here’s an interview with David Bollier, author of Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own, which we said in January “will likely establish itself as a definitive guide for those seeking to understand and discover the key players and concepts in the digital commons.

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New Media Rights to speak at California Western's Entertainment and Sports Law Society Spring Symposium

Spring Symposium Schedule Saturday, March 7, 2009 Purchase Tickets at http://www.ticketderby.com/innerindex.php?eventid=225 Students - $20 Attorneys - $25 (CLE Credits offered) 9:30-10:00 a.m. Registration 10:00-10:45 The San Diego Firm Setting: More Personal Representation Outside LA Rodney L. Donohoo, Law Offices of Rodney L. Donohoo Abbas Kazerooni, Esq., Partner @ Kazerouni Law Group 10:45-11:00 Networking Coffee Break 11:00-12:00 MySpace & You Tube are Forcing the Law to Catch Up with Technology Brooke Wentz, The Rights Workshop

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How to find free music, images, and video you can use or remix in your own creative works

Sometimes its hard to find music, images, and video that you can freely reuse in your own creative project without fear of attorneys or the FBI showing up at your door. This resource serves as a guide to find works by artists who WANT you to reuse and build upon their work. You can also check out our Creative Commons, Fair Use, and copyright guides to learn more about reusing and remixing content.

Join the world's first virtual online collaborative orchestra

 The folks from Youtube are asking for musicians to join the world's first "collaborative online orchestra" over at the Google Blog . Video entries will then be voted on by users worldwide and the favorite performers will get to perform in a concert at Carnegie hall. Excuse me while I go grab my trumpet.

 

Music Blogs, Sharing, and CC Licenses

A recent post on music blogs and MP3 distribution at UK webzine Drowned In Sound raised some interesting questions about the legality of sharing online and caught our attention as a result. The posting focused on the case of blog Berkeley Place Indie (now Berkeley Place) that, like many music blogs, posted free MP3s of artists and songs that they liked.

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New Media Rights files comments in Copyright Office music licensing rulemaking regarding Section 115 Compulsory Licenses

On July 16 the Copyright Office released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking soliciting commentary on various issues concerning the treatment of digital phonorecord deliveries with relation to compulsory copyright licenses. A major piece of the discussion was the characterization of buffer reproductions of digital sound recordings under copyright law, an issue which could have a profound effect on innovation in new media. We have issued our comments to the Copyright Office and have posted them here.

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