“Because the more people that touch a story, the more that story touches the world.” In conjunction with the launch of Wheretowatch.com, which provides a slick and easy way to find TV shows and movies online, the MPAA also posted this great look at the people working behind the scenes.
In Twist, Publishers Appeal Their ‘Win’ in GSU Copyright Case — The publishers primarily want review of the 11th Circuit’s view that fair use should not be media neutral, agreeing with Judge Vinson’s remarks in his concurrence that “The use of a copyright-protected work that had previously required the payments of a permissions fee does not all of a sudden become fair use just because the work is distributed via a hyperlink instead of a printing press.”
Mission Creep-y — Public Citizen this week issued a scathing report on Google’s practices, concluding the company “is so rapidly expanding both its information-collecting capabilities and its political clout that it could become too powerful to be held accountable.” The public interest group examines both Google’s increasingly pervasive surveillance of the world’s population along with its rapidly expanding hard and soft lobbying and PR.
Taylor Swift — There was a bit of discussion this week about Swift. Here are a few of my favorite takes on it. Robert Levine on why Swift’s decision makes sense for Swift and why it’s not the end of the world if we respect that. The consistently quotable Taylor Swift and the Myth of the Mean Greedy Artist (e.g., “You are not helping the underprivileged by making it impossible for anyone who isn’t already rich and privileged to take up artistic careers.”). Phillip, I disagree, which points out that “cutting out the middle man” should more accurately be described as “taking on the middle man’s responsibilities”; “So yeah, you can do a lot of things without needing a record company, but if you want to do music full time and make a living, maybe even put a couple bucks away for retirement or your kids college fund, then you are going to need help from a lot of people.” Or, finally, Blake Morgan on CNN, figuratively dropping the mic on the Swift discussion.