Michael Crook issues apology

A colleague writes that if the world of copyright and intellectual property could be captured in the pages of a comic book, Michael Crook would be “the villain fighting Free Culture.”

Crook sent a fabricated DMCA takedown notice to the website 10 Zen Monkeys for posting a photo of him from a segment on Fox’s “Hannity & Colmes. He claimed that he held the copyright on the image (which he didn’t, it was held by Fox News).

The EFF & Jeff Diehl (owner of 10zenmonkeys.com) filed a lawsuit against Crook, leading to Crook’s withdrawl of the complaints.

EFF’s press release.

Apology on Blip.tv

Give the public what the public pays for

This petition pushes for free and open access to research paid for by the U.S. Federal government.

Gilberto Gil and The New York Times

Photo by Yaniv Shneck, by-nc-sa/2.0

Gilberto Gil, Creative Commons, and Free Culture discussion in today’s NYTimes.

RIAA and P2P lawsuit information site

Check out this disturbing/frightening/hilarious propaganda from the RIAA concerning P2P file-sharing. The FAQ section is especially engaging…

A few short samples:
Why are the record companies filing these lawsuits?

“The unauthorized uploading or downloading of music is illegal. It is just as wrong as shoplifting from a local record store – and the impact on those who create music and bring it to fans is equally devastating.”

If I promise never to do this again, do I still have to pay?

“Yes. The settlements are designed to recoup a very small piece of the massive damage inflicted on the music community as a result of piracy.”

What payment methods [for lawsuit settlements] can I use?

“Payments can be made by check or credit card (MasterCard, Visa and Discover).”

RIAA strong-arms gigantic public university