New Librarian of Congress Offers a History Lesson in Her Own Right — This week saw Dr. Carla Hayden sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress. The New York Times profiles Hayden and this historic occasion.
Amazon joins set-top box licensing critics — Amazon, which has not only created a successful OTT video service, but has also invested in the production of its own film and TV programs (programs which this year received 16 Emmy nominations), joins the chorus of other creative professionals, producers, and distributors telling the FCC thanks, but no thanks, to its proposed set-top box rules.
Nobody Is Watching Kim Dotcom’s Livestreamed Extradition Hearing — Gizmodo’s William Turton reports, “Considering extradition hearings are only a notch above watching paint dry, it’s pretty understandable nobody is bothering to tune in. It’s also hard to feel any sympathy for a guy who’s been accused of paying people to upload pirated content and makes these embarrassing god awful music videos about how rich he is.”
Kochan on Sharing & Ownership — Interesting paper examining the link between sharing and property ownership through the lens of psychology, economics, and the law. Those links are strong; as the abstract notes, “When we have a well-developed ownership regime—with a high reliability of enforcing ownership norms—we create the confidence in ownership that ‘ownership understanding’ reveals is necessary for individuals to feel secure in sharing.”
Tech firms urge Congress to pass Pacific trade deal this year — Tech groups, including BSA, CCIA, the Internet Association, and SIIA, are urging lawmakers to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership before the end of the year. Among other things, the groups say the TPP “promotes U.S. values of a free and open Internet.”