File Sharing Forfeits Right To Privacy
The argument accepted by the court is seductive: "If users of pirate peer-to-peer sites don't want to be identified, they should not break the law by illegally distributing music." That sounds fine, but in today's surround-sound world, everyone is a suspect, and so everyone has forfeit their right to privacy. More...

Hot, Sweaty and Scandalous
There were several stupid patent claims this week - including one on storing and downloading video - but the kicker is this one filed by Bikram Choudhury who wants royalties to be paid by anyone who uses his style of teaching yoga. More...

The Teachers Teach The Techies
An interesting discussion ensues as a forum on learning technologies is launched by CETIS. More...

Judge: File-swapping Tools Are Legal
Wow. "A federal judge in Los Angeles has handed a stunning court victory to file-swapping services Streamcast Networks and Grokster, dismissing much of the record industry and movie studios' lawsuit against the two companies." The judge ruled these are legal tools, even though they can sometimes be used for illegal purposes. More...

Scholarly Associations and the Economic Viability of Open Access Publishing
A nice analysis of the economics of open access publication for academic societies. As the author notes, the bulk of income for these societies is derived from journal subscriptions, so at first glance they would take a significant hit were fees to be waived. But for many societies (probably the majority), the cost of publishing the journal exceeds subscription revenues, and so the publication is in general a drain on revenue from mebers' fees. More...

CyberBullying
The creator of bullying.org, a website devoted to the issue of bullies in schools, has launched a new site devoted to the online variety of bullying. More...

Google Turns News 'Bug' Into Payola Feature
There has been a flurry of comments in the online news community as the popular Google News service has begun linking to press releases along with news articles. Some writers - such as this one from the Register - were harsh with their criticism. More...

Apple reportedly pursuing purchase of Universal Music
What would happen were the company that coined the slogan "Rip, Mix, Burn" to acquire the largest music distribution in the world? Perhaps, suggests this article, sanity, as a lone voice of reason joins the RIAA. More...

Seb's "Weblogs and Knowledge Sharing" Survey: Results
In a nutshell: those who use weblogs, use them a lot. Statistically this survey probably isn't especially relevant, since the respondants, self-selected, are almost all regular weblog users (which would be how they found out about the survey). More...

Higher Education, Upping the Ante
Review of Derek Bok's Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. The argument is familiar. Universities are in need of ever more money, and so the prospects offered by commercial enterprises are alluring. More...