Intellectual Freedom in the Information Society; Libraries and the Internet.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) announces it is releasing The IFLA/FAIFE World Report 2003: Intellectual Freedom in the Information Society; Libraries and the Internet. According to the IFLA announcement, the report,

"focuses on libraries and the Internet. It discusses the digital divide, filtering and blocking of information, user privacy, financial barriers, intellectual freedom, and codes of ethics. It also considers the adoption and implementation of the IFLA Internet Manifesto and the Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services and Intellectual Freedom, which express vital principles for a free Internet supported by strong library and information services."

There does not appear to be a link to the report itself available yet at the IFLA site, but we'll check back to see later. Thanks to the Benton Foundation Communication Policy Headlines for the link.

[commons-blog]

6:33:41 PM    

Bravo!

MIT kids gaming copyright monster. Corporate heavyweights like Disney and RIAA have been gaming copyright law for years. Congress played along, giving the big guys one "feature" after another. Now the whole system is an ugly mess.

Two MIT students, Keith Winstein and Josh Mandel, just set up a music-sharing network that deftly dodges every copyright bullet, or do I mean bully?

---

"The students say the system, which they plan to officially announce today, falls within the time-honored licensing and royalty system under which the music industry allows broadcasters and others to play recordings for a public audience. Major music industry groups are reserving comment, while some legal experts say the M.I.T. system mainly demonstrates how unwieldy copyright laws have become."

NYTimes, October 27, 2003

---

"It's almost an act of performance art," said Jonathan Zittrain, one of the Berkman Center's gurus of Internet law.

Sensible rules--like "Thou shalt not kill" or Sergey Brin's "Don't be evil"--are simple. Simple rules are easy to obey and hard to dodge.

"More isn't always better, Linus. Sometimes it's just more."

---

[Betsy Devine: Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar?]

6:33:20 PM