3 Count: Stimulating Discussion

This is the first in a new daily column on Plagiarism Today where the site brings you three of the days biggest, most important copyright and plagiarism news links. If you want to offer your feedback on the column, use the contact form above or just follow me on Twitter at @plagiarismtoday.

1: Copyright Filtering in Stimulus Bill

In our first story today, it was discovered that language had been slipped into the U.S. economic stimulus package that could have required ISPs receiving billions in funds for broadband improvements could have been forced to implement “deep packed inspection” that would have required them to look at and filter Internet connections by content.

This had net neutrality and copyright activists alike very worried, especially since it was uncertain what much of the actual language said.

However, in the end, the language did not make it into either of the final House or Senate versions of the bill meaning that, as long as it is not slipped in at the last minute behind closed doors, the danger seems to have passed.

2: Google Book Settlement Site Is Up; Paying Authors $60 Per Scanned Book

In other news Google is making good on the terms of its settlement for scanning books as part of its book search project. On a new site that has been set up, authors and publishers can register, claim their books and receive a settlement check.

Having a book in Google Book Search, I went through the process and found that, since the whole of my text had not yet been scanned (only a few pages were available) it was not eligible. Just proof that even Google doesn’t want to pay me for my writing…

3: Does the Kindle 2’s text-to-speech feature violate copyright law?

Finally, Evan Brown from Internet Cases gives us a great overview of some of the legal issues involving the alleged infringement of Kindle’s 2 text-to-speech feature and how the technology behind the Kindle may be what determines whether or not it actually is an infringement.

Following Brown’s logic, I think it is unlikely that the feature would actually be an infringement, either direct or secondary, but, as usual, we will have to wait and see what, if any, court action is taken on the matter.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email using the contact form above. I hope to hear from you.

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