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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2005 HarperCollins to Digitize Books Appeals Court Rejects Sampling Defense Song Sites Under the Gun for Copyright Violations P2P Clogger to Close Letter Warns of Problems with Online Job Ads HARPERCOLLINS TO DIGITIZE BOOKS HarperCollins has announced plans to digitize its own books and make those files available through search services, marking the latest development in the rapidly changing landscape of electronic access to books. Google is working on its hotly contested service to scan vast numbers of texts and make them available online, while other companies have begun their own programs to digitize books. The move by HarperCollins is that company's attempt to be a part of new technologies while retaining control over its content. The company will pay to have an estimated 20,000 backlisted books digitized, as well as about 3,500 new titles each year. Those electronic files will be open to search engines to make indexes but not to download images of the pages. According to Brian Murray, group president of HarperCollins, "We'll own the file, and we'll control the terms of any sale." Jane Friedman, chief executive of the publisher, said, "We want to be the best collaborator, but we also want to take charge of our future." The company said the effort would also allow it to keep certain titles available long after they are out of print. Wall Street Journal, 12 December 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113435527609919890.html APPEALS COURT REJECTS SAMPLING DEFENSE An appeals court has upheld a federal court ruling against a woman who had been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for illegally trading music files. The RIAA initially offered Cecilia Gonzalez a settlement of about $3,500, which she rejected, and at her trial, a federal judge ruled in favor of the RIAA. In her appeal, Gonzalez argued that she had only downloaded songs with the intention of "sampling" them to decide if she wanted to purchase them and that this activity was protected under fair use. Gonzalez's computer contained at least 1,370 songs that she had downloaded. The three-judge appeals court rejected her argument and ordered Gonzalez to pay a fine of $22,500. In its opinion, the court compared her defense to a "thief's contention that he shoplifted 'only 30' compact discs, planning to listen to them at home and pay later for any he liked." The ruling gives the recording industry an appellate-court victory that--while only a formal precedent in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin--is likely to bolster its legal efforts to curb illegal file trading. CNET, 12 December 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5991531.html SONG SITES UNDER THE GUN FOR COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS An organization representing U.S. sheet music publishers has said that in 2006 it will begin an effort to rein in the illegal online distribution of music scores and lyrics. The Music Publishers' Association (MPA) said that such material is widely available on the Internet and suggested that, in addition to forcing sites to shut down and fining site operators, sentencing those responsible to jail time would be an effective deterrent. Lauren Keiser, president of the MPA, said the effort would initially focus on "very big sites that people would think are legitimate and very, very popular." David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association, echoed Keiser's comments, saying sites that publish guitar "tabs" and lyrics are stealing from songwriters and that "all tools under the law" will be used to curb the practice. Recently, music publishing company Warner Chappell forced PearLyrics to shut down its Internet site for unauthorized presentation of song lyrics. Walter Ritter, developer at PearLyrics, complained about the action from Warner Chappell, saying that his company provided a service that users want but that is otherwise unavailable. BBC, 12 December 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4508158.stm P2P CLOGGER TO CLOSE A company that tried to limit illegal file trading by flooding P2P networks with junk files is being shut down and put up for sale. Overpeer, which is owned by Loudeye, contracted with record companies and movie studios to place thousands of bogus versions of songs and movies on P2P services. When users searched for and downloaded those files, they would get garbage or advertisements rather than the desired files. Since late 2002, when Overpeer was at its height, a number of strategies have been developed to allow file traders and the services they use to make reasonably good guesses about files and to filter out the bogus ones. Officials from Loudeye said revenues had fallen significantly and that the division would cease operations immediately. Loudeye will attempt to sell Overpeer's assets. ZDNet, 9 December 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5989758.html LETTER WARNS OF PROBLEMS WITH ONLINE JOB ADS A nonbinding letter written by an associate legal counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) suggests that organizations using the Internet for job recruitment may be violating one of several federal laws. In the letter, Peggy R. Mastroianni was responding to an inquiry about online practices. Mastroianni made clear that the ideas presented are not the official position of the EEOC but noted that certain online practices may indeed violate federal law in two broad areas: equal access to resources, and collection of specific kinds of information. In the first case, if an organization placed job application information and materials online in a manner that did not accommodate assistive technologies, such as screen readers, the employer is arguably not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the second case, many employers solicit information through "Voluntary EEOC Questionnaires" about applicants. If such questionnaires are required, however, and if they collect information that could be used to discriminate, such as race or gender, those questionnaires could be illegal. Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 December 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/12/2005121201t.htm ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. 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