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Current fair use law is hazy by design; instead of laying out specific use cases, the law relies on the famous "four factors" about the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount borrowed, and the effect on the value of the original work. This can be maddening in many situations, because it is impossible to know in advance if a particular use qualifies. On the other hand, it gives a fair use incredible flexibility to adapt to new circumstances like the advent of the VCR. But in the paragraph that comes just before the four factors, Congress did see fit to lay down a nonexclusive list of fair uses: "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research." Is it time for more list items? The new Copyright Reform Act, proposed by Public Knowledge, would make a deceptively simple change to bring fair use into the 21st century-add seven words to this list. The CRA is a new project from Public Knowledge, with much of the heavy lifting being done by the Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford and the Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC-Berkeley. While Berkeley's noted copyright scholar Pam Samuelson works up a new "model statute" for copyright law in the digital age, Public Knowledge hopes to make smaller interim fixes to copyright law that won't require the same dramatic reworking.

Michael Roston think the New York Times is onto something with the new model they introduced yesterday, but believes that articles written to protect the public interest musn't charge if it to achieve it's goal. "Presumably, the New York Times still produces reported news that looks out to protect the public interest. If that news is being produced, it should be available to the public, regardless of whether or not they pay for it. It's difficult to educate members of the public about really important things they need to be aware of when you're hitting them up for a $3 day pass or something"

Public hearings about media consolidation nearing the end of the Bush Regime in Seattle, Washington. The public was given rather short notice before the hearing, effectively preventing them to be an effective force in the hearings.

A look at how lobbyists are beginning to leverage social media tools for grassroots lobbying and coordinated public comment campaigns.

"Topics under consideration for the report include the state of TV, radio, newspaper and Internet news and information services; the effectiveness and nature of public interest obligations in a digital era; and the role of public media and private sector foundations, among others. As part of the broad initiative, the FCC launched a Web site for public discussion."

David Moore discusses the issues concerning original premium content and the internet, and suggests a pay model as a means of solving the problem

"It may be a bitter pill for public critics to swallow, but media outlets have to operate in the black to continue operating. Antiquated media ownership rules are going to have to be revised to reflect reality."

"New technologies allow -- indeed, they require -- new strategic planning to ensure the most efficient use of spectrum, a vital public resource, especially given our broadband needs,"

But the last thing savvy tech companies want is for a product to end up as a frequent mention in #fail on Twitter. Yet that is exactly where Google Buzz was frequently mentioned, just hours after many consumers started to play with the new tool. One of the complaints was that Buzz seemed to have a mind of its own, picking names in your email inbox , and selecting them randomly for you to follow in your "Buzz" network. "Thanks Google Buzz, I'm automatically following 3 ex-girlfriends. #fail," wrote Tony Pitluga of Pittsburgh in a tweet that was widely re-tweeted last week. Another problem users discovered is that Google makes public everything you do in Buzz in its search engine, unless you set the privacy settings ahead of time.

The American Society of Business Publication Editors and the Medill School at Northwestern University did a study of B2B editors and found that most didn't have any sort of corporate digital training, but they have to figure it out on their own.

"A patent application by Google (GOOG), filed in August 2008 and only made public last week, shows that the company is working on an automated way to split printed magazines and newspapers into individual articles that it could then deliver separately. Although this could allow Google to convert stacks of periodicals into electronic archives, it potentially sends the company headlong into conflict with a famous Supreme Court ruling on media law."

The BBC is proposing large cuts of its online operations after critics from the Conservative Party and its commercial rivals have claimed that its public funding gives it an unfair advantage over other operations

NBC owns the U.S. rights to the Vancouver Olympics, and, for this Olympics, it has clamped down on online live streaming of events. Only hockey and curling will be shown live online, with all other events either shown live on television or held for tape-delay airing on prime time or late night television, says the industry publication Broadcasting & Cable in a story Monday. The Web site for CTV, the Canadian network with rights to the Olympics in that country, is live-streaming events, but NBC has made sure that computers with U.S. IP addresses can't log onto the CTV site.

"New fancy TV/video digital providers beware: Not all content providers are interested in your new platform -- especially if you can't verify your audience through research.\nA CBS technology executive says CBS won't deliver content to alternative distribution systems that have no reliable audience measurement -- and this includes mobile DTV."

Comcast is working diligently to make sure you see video advertisements when accessing copyrighted programs on the internet.

BBC fights pressures to privatize Worldwide; defends connection between domestic and international ventures