“Sponsored†by my husband: Why it’s a problem that writers never talk about where their money comes from — Few authors would admit to creating solely for the money, but many would agree that getting money does enable further creativity. Here, writer Ann Bauer says, “I do have a huge advantage over the writer who is living paycheck to paycheck, or lonely and isolated, or dealing with a medical condition, or working a full-time job. How can I be so sure? Because I used to be poor, overworked and overwhelmed. And I produced zero books during that time.”
Anti-Piracy Group Sides With Miss AG Against Google — “The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition this week asked a federal judge to deny Google’s request for an injunction that would prohibit Hood from enforcing a subpoena for documents from the company. ‘There is no reason why the Mississippi Attorney General should not be able to investigate reasonable concerns that unlawful conduct is occurring in connection with Google’s (or any other online company’s) services, advertisements, and statements,’ the organization argues in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief filed on Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate in Jackson.” A hearing is set for February 13th.
Zoe Keating’s Experience Shows Us Why YouTube’ Attitudes To Its Creators Must Change — Mark Mulligan makes a number of good points here regarding this week’s back and forth between musician Keating and YouTube. Among them: “Content ID is not an added value service YouTube provides to content owners, it is the obligation of a responsible partner designed to help content creators protect their intellectual property. YouTube implemented Content ID in response to rights owners, labels in particular, who were unhappy about their content being uploaded by users without their permission. YouTube’s willingness to use Content ID as a contractual lever betrays a blatant disregard for copyright.”