Enter Google, the hip, incredibly profitable corporation whose motto is "Do No Evil." Google doesn't like the copyright laws as they have existed for centuries. Google wants the rights to store all the books in the world in its Google Library program, and the company doesn't want to pay for that right.

Copyright? No problem. Google cites "fair use," but it isn't using 400 words; it plans to digitize whole libraries and make them available piece by piece. Google is formidable. Google has brilliant public relations people and clever lawyers and connections in important places.

I'm not getting the controversy here, hasn't Amazon been doing this for awhile now?

Newsday.com: Just Google 'thou shalt not steal'

In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis.

The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden.

Lincoln says it planted more than 1,000 articles in the Iraqi and Arab press and placed editorials on an Iraqi Web site, Pentagon documents show. For an expanded stealth persuasion effort into neighboring countries, Lincoln presented plans, since rejected, for an underground newspaper, television news shows and an anti-terrorist comedy based on "The Three Stooges."

According to this NYT report, most of the planted articles are attributed to the "International Information Center", if attributed at all.

Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive - New York Times

Meanwhile, rap star Jay-Z is also being sued by a former WWE wrestler for stealing his trademark hand gesture.

Diamond Dallas Page had claimed that Jay-Z was guilty of "copyright infringement" and the "misappropriation of a hand signal" for using his "Diamond Cutter" gesture. (ANI)

The headline article isn't all that interesting, but the second one is pretty hilarious. How many possible two hand configurations are there? I hope Mr. Page is ready to sue thousands of 14 year-olds.

50 Cent, Dr Dre sued for copyright infringement

"This shows that the program has worked beyond our expectations," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.)

?? It appears they shot an innocent person. There are questions. Where the proceedures followed? Are the proceedures correct? Even if this is the best we can hope for it should not be trumpeted as a success. It is a failure and it deserves critical analysis.

Shooting Is Defended But Gets Mixed Reviews

Like all good web services, Delicious is elegantly simple, truly useful, and subtly powerful. It doesn't try to do too much, and it delivers its core service -- bookmarking -- reliably and well. The Delicious API has made possible dozens of tools for extending the service, adding even greater utility (here's a big list).

Why Del.icio.us matters.

In Négone, created by Differend Games, each player has a wrist console displaying your score, your character's health and tools obtained in the game. You select your mission (they range from "inoculate the virus" to "steal the secret weapon") and difficulty level. Security guards then escort you to your cell.

Each of the more than 20 rooms has its own theme, and the adrenaline pumps hard as you explore the space - shooting down slides, climbing ladders or diving into a pit of small plastic balls. Every time you see a screen, you place your wrist console beneath it. This activates your helper, one of four pre-recorded characters from a hackers' group. On the screen, they set you a challenge - a memory challenge or logic puzzle answered using the buttons on your wrist console, or something more physical. Correct answers mean a score boost, and a tool that will help you complete your mission; incorrect ones soon add up to you being condemned to a punishment cell - and expelled from the game.

Real life puzzle-based adventure games? Brilliant.

RFID turns you into a real-life action hero

Welcome to ORC!

Online Rights Canada (ORC) is a grassroots organization that promotes the public's interest in technology and information policy. We believe that Canadians should have a voice in copyright law, access to information, freedom from censorship, and other issues that we face in the digital world. Join us by using the form on your right to sign up for email updates.

Sponsored by CIPPIC and the EFF!

Online Rights Canada

The music industry is to extend its copyright war by taking legal action against websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics.

The Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies, will launch its first campaign against such sites in 2006.

Next up: Oral Tradition retroactively derided as theft, Talmud yanked from circulation.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Song sites face legal crackdown

After he discovered a false biography on Wikipedia that claims he was responsible for the death of JFK and his brother Bobby, John Seigenthaler wrote an op-ed piece in USA Today refuting those claims and rebuking Wiki admins and the ISPs that host them. Now, in light of Seigenthaler's outrage, the once open access Wikipedia now requires registration to submit new articles to the English language version of the site.

Seigenthaler spent a tonne of time and resources to track down the writer of the wikipedia article. He also considered filing a John Doe suit and kicked up a gigantic shitstorm with his Op-Ed.

Wikipedia is far from perfect, but instead of wasting what I assume to be days and weeks of his time, why didn't he just correct the entry?

Wikipedia: The Rules Have Changed | MetaFilter

The drawings, which depict children playing with giant PSP handhelds in various ways, were first sighted by the website on the streets of Philadelphia. Since then, further adverts on the streets of New York, and reports of sightings in San Francisco and Chicago have apparently confirmed a concerted multi-city campaign for the images, likely beyond the abilities of a single PSP-loving independent artist.

Sony astroturfing, how fun. If you can coopt everything countercultural, is it safe to say that nothign is profane?

Report: Sony Turns To Street Art To Market PSP