In a previous post I addressed the tone of Mark Helprin’s Digital Barbarism: A Writer’s Manifesto, and acknowledged that it was vitriolic. But as the New York Times reviewer pointed out, there are some real gems hidden amongst his criticisms of copyright opponents. I’ve exercised my fair use rights of commentary to extract a few [...]

I’m finally ready to review Digital Barbarism: A Writer’s Manifesto by accomplished novelist Mark Helprin. The book has been out for a few weeks; if I were still a journalist I would have already been chewed out by my editor for ridiculously blowing a deadline. But I wanted to make sure I did the book [...]

Today a San Francisco-based advocacy group rolled out an educational program for our nation’s teachers on copyright and fair use. I welcome their contribution to our nation’s educational resources, even if I don’t welcome their apparent reason for doing so, namely to counter the efforts of the nonprofit charitable organization Copyright Alliance Education Foundation (CAEF).
It [...]

I don’t exactly think of The Huffington Post as a host of constructive dialogue, given their hosting of a recent attack on a revered civil rights leader and congressional stalwart. And I didn’t exactly welcome its founder’s recent testimony before Congress, in which she somewhat sanctimoniously dismissed a century’s worth of investigative, breaking-news and community [...]

It is an unfortunate fact of communications on the Internet that conversation often devolves to the lowest common denominator, with attacks wildly disproportionate to one’s person or argument. I can remember on an X-Files Usenet board in the early 1990s being called someone who likes to do inappropriate things with one’s mother because of a [...]

Today is a big day for those of us here at the Copyright Alliance. We formally announced the creation of the Copyright Alliance Education Foundation — you can learn more about it at its web site, copyrightfoundation.org. I also encourage you to read our press release as well as this fact sheet about our efforts [...]

Five countries are under not only the scrutiny of the Obama administration for copyright infringement but also the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus. Canada, China, Mexico, Russia and Spain stood out among many troublesome nations, according to today’s announcement by the bicameral, bipartisan caucus.
The announcement was held in the US Capitol and featured all four co-chairs [...]

There is a tragedy occurring for artists and creators across the U.S. It is the failure of the U.S. Copyright Office to process copyright applications in a timely and efficient manner. Today’s Washington Post reports that backlogs of copyright applications have stretched from an already bad six months to eighteen months, and the Office continues [...]

Could one of the worst enablers of digital infringement be turning a new leaf? I hope so, but the jury is out, and they’re still on my naughty list until further notice.
The New York Times is reporting that Scribd is enabling a payment feature for authors and publishers who opt in. This is of course [...]

After the January Inauguration of President Obama, I wrote a blog post building on Obama’s message of empathy, in particular how to attempt empathy when engaging in debate with those of differing opinions. Our entire populace is polarized on many issues — I feel we are self-segregating into digital hollows — and when we surround [...]