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(A little outdated, 2012) This is an interesting article about possible international telecommunication regulations; and how countries have been preparing for The World Conference on International Telecommunications for months "behind closed doors". Although the idea seems easy enough, I do not believe that all the involved nations could reach a single standard when it comes to rights of speech and censorship. Even more so, if a treaty was made how would this effect the laws and citizens of the individual countries who already have laws in place?

Big news today: a ten-year-old lawsuit about Google Book Search has been resolved in Google's favor -- basically, the law has ruled that it was okay for Google to scan in-copyright books because it had no plans to publish the whole version of those in-copyright books online in http://books.google.com. Compare this to what we've heard about celebrity photographs and Pinterest. Here's a quotation from the story: "When Google started work on its book search engine a decade ago, the company realized that getting the approval of copyright holders would be a logistical nightmare. Not only would major publishers likely demand high fees for permission to scan their books, but for many older works, it would be difficult to even figure out who the appropriate copyright holder was. So Google took a gamble, scanning library books without seeking copyright holders' permission and relying on copyright's fair use doctrine as a justification."

This is just a Wikipedia article about the history of music publishing but I shared it because I remember my music prof. at Mason talking about Stephan Foster being the first songwriter who got copyright over his material and he is mentioned in this post. Its interesting to see how far back the laws go in different countries.

More on Robert Tappan Morris, plus a comparison to Aaron Swartz (whom a few of you know about). Swartz was charged in 2011 or 2012 (I forget which) under the same law Morris was, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and committed suicide in January.

This is a very informative web page that gives details about the copyright law when it comes to downloading music.

Fascinating article from the Wall Street Journal on Google and how they are handling China's censorship laws.

Just a news in how tumblr is being used to spread message about Russia's Anti-gay policies and how the company is being drawn into a fight. The company is trying to gain equal rights for everyone through tumblr, but it might causing more damage than it intends.

Here's a description of the "Safe Harbor" provision of the 1998 DMCA, which allows sites like YouTube and Pinterest to operate without (too much) fear of copyright lawsuits.

This is an article on the DMCA, so it may shine some light on my presentation yesterday on Pinterest and the copyright laws! It is also an interesting read and very informative!