Confessions of a Mad Librarian

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced a prelim settlement with Sony BMG:

"Sony agreed to stop production of these flawed and ineffective DRM technologies,” noted EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. “We hope that other record labels will learn from Sony’s hard experience and focus more on the carrot of quality music and less on the stick of copy protection.”

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) joined in this preliminary settlement agreement with Sony BMG this week to settle several class action lawsuits filed due to Sony's use of flawed and overreaching computer program in millions of music CDs sold to the public. The proposed terms of settlement have been presented to the court for preliminary approval and will likely be considered in a hearing set for January 6, 2005 in federal court in New York City.

The Beeb has more details about the settlement terms, including that Sony must discard the controversial DRM software and that any future software that the company wants to use must be independently audited.

Posted by Eli at 08:12 PM | Permalink

I had planned one or two posts about Libraryland, but they are unlikely to be posted before I get back to the Bay Area after this holiday weekend.

So,

Happy Holidays

and have a wonderful New Year!

Posted by Eli at 03:46 PM | Permalink

From Reuters (via Yahoo!):

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, demanding increased protection of civil liberties, defied President George W. Bush on Friday and blocked legislation to renew the USA Patriot Act, a centerpiece of his war on terrorism.

On a Senate vote of 52-47, mostly Republican backers of the measure fell eight short of the needed 60 to end debate and move to passage of it.

...

Senate Democratic and Republican foes of the proposed renewal said the law could be swiftly reauthorized if lawmakers agreed to better balance national security with civil liberties.

Posted by Eli at 11:07 AM | Permalink

Has this been everywhere yet? I don't care. I want it on a bumpersticker. And maybe a hoodie.

One internal F.B.I. message, sent in October 2003, criticized the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review at the Justice Department, which reviews and approves terrorist warrants, as regularly blocking requests from the F.B.I. to use a section of the antiterrorism law that gave the bureau broader authority to demand records from institutions like banks, Internet providers and libraries.

"While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us use the tools given to us," read the e-mail message, which was sent by an unidentified F.B.I. official. "This should be an OIPR priority!!!"

Posted by Eli at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The state of the crisis today ...

Posted by Eli at 12:01 AM | Permalink