This week’s 4cast:
1. Don’t Even Think About Making a Copy
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing Congress to pass stricter copyright laws that would increase the scope of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is already plenty unpopular in the library world. Needless to say, the new proposals have not been well-received, nor have recent calls for eternal copyright.
- Proposed Crime of the Century: Attempted Copyright Infringement (Wired)
- Attorney General’s copyright plan draws criticism (CNET)
- Mark Helprin’s copyright tale in the New York Times (TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home)
- Till Death Do Us Part – And Then Some (ACRLog)
2. We’ll Get You Next Time, Google
Google continues to roll out new services (like Universal Search) and features (like the new “Find this book in a library” option in Google Book Search) at a mind-numbing pace. But as their list of users continues to expand, so does their list of rivals and naysayers.
- Google 2.0: Google Universal Search (Search Engine Land)
- Who’s Afraid of Google? (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Google Adds Library Search to Book Search: Thoughts, Issues, Questions… (ResourceShelf)
- Three Google Soundbites (Stephen’s Lighthouse)
3. NPR’s Keeping Tabs on Libraries
In February and again last week, NPR aired programs discussing the evolving role of libraries in the age of digitization, and what the future may hold. You can listen to both programs at the NPR links listed below.
- If a Library Is Bookless, What’s In It? (NPR)
- NPR: If a Library Is Bookless, What’s In It? (Superpatron)
- Libraries Enter the Digital Age (NPR)
- NPR Science Friday segment on digital libraries (Boing Boing)
4. The Joost is Nearly Loose
In January it was called the Venice Project, but now it’s called Joost – a new P2PTV service aiming to freely stream television programs online with fewer commercials than regular TV. An impressive list of content partners (CBS, Viacom, CNN, the NHL, etc.) have already signed on, and beta testers are pounding away at it as it prepares to formally launch sometime before the end of the month.
- Joost coverage at TechCrunch
- Joost signs on CNN, other programming in advance of official launch (Ars Technica)
- A little Joost boost (LibrarianInBlack)
- Joost Struggling Under the Load of New Beta Users (Gizmodo)
