12 important blog laws.

Posted a few days back, this blog on blogger law, provides 12 laws that bloggers should follow for their own protection. The blog covers all points such as using images, or directly linking to an article or file. This list is a valuable resource for the serious blogger.

CNN to release presidential debates under Creative Commons.

CNN announced this weekend that they will release presidential debates filmed by their channel under the Creative Commons (CC) license. “Due to the historical nature of presidential debates and the significance of these forums to the American public, CNN debate coverage will be made available without restrictions at the conclusion of each live debate.” CNN stated Saturday.

This is a great thing, this means that presidential debate footage will be available and free to use for all. Meaning it would be legal to upload on YouTube, or also on your own website. Releasing under a CC type license will allow for the free distribution of the debates, instead of the commercial ridden forms that MSNBC has released from the last debates.

Prosecutor Announces Charges Against Pirate Bay

A news article in Sweden's English edition of The Local, states that the people responsible for running a popular file sharing website thePirateBay.org may be facing charges. A case like this could mean something, because the site does not contain any illegal material but it does link to it. Sweden used to be a safe haven for file sharing websites, however with the raid on thepiratebay servers last year that changed. It will be interesting to see whether or not this makes it to trial, and whether under Swedish law they will be found guilty.

AACS: "Bloggers crossed the line"

Last week the encryption key for HD-DVD's was leaked on many tech blogs, and quickly spread all across the web. The encryption key would allow for software or hardware decryptors to playback or copy the new form of DVD media.

An AACS executive commented that just because the key was leaked does not mean that copy protection was broken, instead he suggests that with the key HDDVD's can only be played in a couple software players, and they cannot be copied.

Executives are going after bloggers who posted the key. In particular the site Digg.com which recieved thousands of posts containing the key eventually gave in and stopped removing it. The AACS served them a legal "cease and desist" and now they are taking care of it.

Congress taking an active role in campus piracy

Congress has been putting pressure on universities to better protect copyright laws. Lawmakers have sent out surveys to 19 universities in order to find out what is being done about the issue and how they are suited to prevent it in the future. Congress states that universities have an obligation to ensure that students do not use campus connections for illegal purposes.

The surveys are expected to aid congress in drafting new laws to protect copyrights on campuses. It is unclear whether universities will reply at all however.

Ohio State bans all Peer-to-Peer applications: other universities to follow?

Ohio State, which was recently named one of the top 25 colleges with the most cases of copyright infringement, has decided to take action by banning all forms of Peer-To-Peer file sharing software. While this will prevent most people from pirating media on their campus it also prevents the legitimate uses of P2P software, a risk that none of the other universities on the top 25 list have yet to take. Other schools are watching though to see what effect it has on its students. A positive result could lead more schools into making a ban on their campuses as well. A lot of people cite the defense that legitimate P2P must be protected, but how many people actually use this software for legal purposes? Not many. There are sites like LegalTorrents or many Linux distributions that use bit torrent as a means of distributing their install discs. That being said I think that more universities will follow suit in the near future with a blanket ban.

Music industry to cave in on downloads?

Ty Roberts, who is the CTO of Gracenote, said recently that the music industry "was about to cave in" soon in the near future to DRM music. DRM or Digital Rights Mangement Software prevents users from copying songs or whole cd's. This practice is not standard, and even DRM is not standard as there are many ways of doing it.