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Links for 2006-12-30

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Taking a little time off…

It may not surprise many of you to know that the last month or so has not been without its stresses. I’ve made, unmade and remade a number of significant decisions in a number of weird areas of significant impact to my lifemore of which in the new year. I’ve also been rather swamped in both my work and personal life. And finally I’ve found myself in the company of a great many people in lamenting the death of a friend and pioneer of the creative and expressive web. I’ve wanted to write a proper post about Leslie since the moment I heard the news, but I’ve not really known what to say. So I’ve been remembering her with friends off the web instead. The world is much the worse without her.

Anyway, during the last month or two, my site has suffered enormously. Many things I’ve wanted to write remain unwritten, many things I’ve wanted to take apart remain unscrutinised and I’ve made a conscious commitment not to take on any more commitments until such time that I get everything in order, which has meant missing out on a few really interesting opportunities. The truth of the matter is I’ve been in danger of burning out a bit and so I’ve decided to take the holiday that I’m due and take a little bit of a break from the web. So I’m planning for the next week or two to be barely online, to not be posting unless I just find myself doing it and to basicallywelllet my brain get its shape back.

I’ve still got a lot I want to get out, and I’m thinking the period after Christmas or in the early New Year might be a good time to do so, but for the moment I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone. Spend time with your loved ones, make something for fun and change your environment for a little while and I’m sure it’ll do you the same world of good that my two days in Norfolk so far is already doing for me. I’ll see you all soon! x Tom

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Links for 2006-12-17

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Links for 2006-12-08

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Law Politics

My first reactions to the Gowers Review…

So the Gower’s Review has been released and you can download it as a PDF. I’ve not read it in detail yet, although I hope to in the next couple of days, but the impression I get is that in general it’s pretty positive – if I’m reading it correctly, it contains recommendations that individuals should have the right to make private copies of their music, that copyright terms should not be extended and that there should be a general provision that any subsequent term extensions should not be retroactive – ie. that people with copyright get what they were entitled to when the work was created. It looks like he’s also recommended no changes to the EU’s patent law with regards to software patents or genes or business practices, and that there should be provisions which require media that contains DRM to be clearly labelled. That one alone is pretty bloody interesting. In addition orphaned worksstuff that no author can be found forwould be easier to reuse legally, and libraries and research institutions should be given special provisions to protect, preserve and utilise copyrighted information.

There’s some stuff I’m less sure about. It’s probably reasonable to make sure there are mechanisms in place to dissuade the illegal commercial distribution of copyrighted material and to protect legitimate IP. However I’m a bit confused about the specifics of how this might conceptually affect people whosaygive music to friends, as teenagers have been doing since the creation of the blank cassette tape decades back. And obviously, you have to think about loopholes and ways in which companies can find ways to circumvent the spirit of the law while remaining within the letter – for example, I’m not sure that the rights for Libraries to make copies for preservation counts for much if they don’t have the right to circumvent DRM restrictions to do so. I’ll look forward to reading more about that later when I’ve got more time.

Any reactions from anyone else? What do you think about Gowers?