http://www.yourauthor.org The Author's Rights Awareness Campaign Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:14:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In an otherwise rather lengthy (but interesting and relevant) blog-entry (on statements of ASCAP about CC licensing) Lawrence Lessig makes a good and important point: "ASCAP historically has played a crucially important role in helping artists get paid for their work. Today, the nonexclusive ASCAP agreement is a model for ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/lessig-on-ascap/ Even the Register reports on the new Swiss copyright regulation.The wording of the regulation is ambiguous, argues petition author Florian Bösch. Switzerland's new copyright law has been described as "brutal" by BoingBoing.net and is hotly debated on Slashdot. The Swiss copyright collecting authority, SUISA, dismisses the claims as groundless and ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/switzerland-makes-it-into-international-copyright-headlines/ Dutch actors and musicians request that the introduction of a copying fee on mp3 players and DVD-recorders takes effect immediately. The Dutch government wants to postpone that extra fee until 2009. Copyright organisation Norma claims through its lawyer that the government's decision is illegal. Apart from Norma, the Dutch system ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/dutch-actors-and-musicians-copying-fee-now/ Striking screen writers turn to web outlets that, while paying less, give them total control over their content and share a substantial proportion of revenue, up to 50 %, much larger than conventional Hollywood companies; read "Striking Writers Gravitate to Web" by Gary Gentile, AP Business Writer, for Wired News. http://www.yourauthor.org/news/writing-for-the-web-retain-total-creative-control-and-collect-half-the-revenue/ Have a look at the two you-tube contributions: „Why We Fight“ and „Tim Kazurinsky riffs on Writers Strike on WGN”. http://www.yourauthor.org/news/why-do-the-writers-strike/ MacUpdate reports that a number of libraries, joined in the Boston Library Consortium (BLC), decided to actually pay for having their bookes scanned by the Open Content Alliance (OCA), rather than having Google or Microsoft scan them for free. The reason is, that the OCA keeps the content "search-engine neutral" as ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/libraries-scanning-books-ok-but-not-by-google-ms/ According to silicon.com University admissions body Ucas ran a trial of a CopyCatch software on 50,000 university applications last year because of rising numbers of students bootlegging material for the personal statement section of the form. Around five per cent - 2,500 - of applications were found to have used ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/anti-plagiarism-tech-traps-cheating-students/ An interesting discussion on librarything (click to see it) on the question if writers would rather prefer being paid or being read. It turns out that it's all about "I love it when people read my work" and "I don't want someone else making money from my writing while I ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/being-paid-or-being-read/ The WIPO has published a new booklet in their "Learn from the past, create for the future" series -- a school study and exercise book on The Arts and Copyright. Details of WIPO's announcement are here. The booklets should be ordered from the WIPO electronic bookshop at www.wipo.int/ebookshop. http://www.yourauthor.org/news/wipo-for-schools-the-arts-and-copyright/ Today we recieved a comment on this campaing website by some guy called directoryguru which I'd hesitate to hide from our readers (as I do on a regular basis with all the penis enlargement, naked girls and investment opportunities): Hi there! I was surfing the internet Wednesday afternoon during my break, ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/keep-up-the-good-work-for-trees/