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.

Why Juicycampus.com, Rottenneighbor.com, and gossip sites could be a good thing for free speech

Recently I got a call from a reporter at the local ABC affiliate in San Diego to interview for a story about juicycampus.com. The questions hinted that the story the reporter was looking for was one of how awful and hurtful some of the anonymous posts on the site are for students. I spent 30 minutes telling the reporter what I thought, particularly how similar, at least from a free speech perspective, gossip sites like juicycampus.com are to more widely accepted sites, such as wikipedia, craigslist, and wikilinks, which also allow anonymous posting, editing, or comments.

The resulting story was a disappointment, noticeably lacking any mention of free speech. While this was not unexpected, I figured I'd share my thoughts, and a bit of dismay for the old media, here in the new media world.

Nine Inch Nails chooses Creative Commons, but what does that really mean?

Sure, NIN has licensed their new album using Creative Commons , but what does it mean for grassroots creators who want to share, remix, or sample it? What are the practical impacts of NIN choosing Creative Commons on day to day use of their work? There's bound to be more artists adopting CC licenses, so let's see what's acceptable and what's not.

Pages