Draft of King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ found at Virginia seminary archives; Episcopal News Service, June 5, 2026

Adelle M. Banks , Episcopal News Service; Draft of King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ found at Virginia seminary archives

[Kip Currier: The recent finding of a draft of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail", within a collection of archived papers at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), is a persuasive and tangible reminder of the importance of preserving and providing access to historical and archival records. It's also a compelling example of the need for dedicated stewards of information with expertise and a commitment to fiduciary shepherding of the world's knowledge and human culture.

As both a long-time space exploration aficionado and author of the 2025 Bloomsbury book Ethics, Information, and Technology -- which examines issues like supporting access to information and preserving historical records -- I can't help but recall the Trump 2.0 administration's decision to close NASA's research library at the Goddard Space Flight Center in January 2026. As reported in a New York Times article (December 31, 2025):

The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else.

Jacob Richmond, a NASA spokesman, said the agency would review the library holdings over the next 60 days and some material would be stored in a government warehouse while the rest would be tossed away.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/climate/nasa-goddard-library-closing.html

What items were "tossed away" that might someday have yielded new insights and discoveries? What library holdings were/are "stored in a government warehouse" that might one day reveal as-yet-unknown knowledge and enable new inventions and innovations?

Libraries, archives, and museums are vital societal organizations for advancing and safeguarding knowledge, promoting informed citizenries, and providing access to information -- now and for generations to come.

Works of fiction, too, have long recognized the critical need and value of libraries, archives, and museums. As just one example, watch/rewatch Rogue One (2016) -- perhaps the best Star Wars movie ever (and my own favorite) -- to see [spoiler alert] how libraries/archives set the stage for eventually defeating Darth Vader and the evil Empire in later films.]

[Excerpt from Draft of King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ found at Virginia seminary archives. (June 5, 2026). Episcopal News Service.]

"Within a red binder, each of its typewritten pages encased in plastic sleeves, sits an early draft of the famous letter written by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he was held in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama.

Ten pages that once were considered for the 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” were discovered in March by a graduate student concluding an internship by examining papers donated to the African American Episcopal Historical Collection, a joint venture of the Virginia Theological Seminary and the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.

The draft was found in the papers of Bishop John M. Burgess, the first African American to serve as an Episcopal diocesan bishop, and his wife, Esther. The papers, donated by the daughters of the couple that was active in the Civil Rights Movement, are housed at the seminary near Washington, D.C.

“I screamed, but I also wept,” said Riley Temple, the collection’s growth specialist, of seeing the letter, with its yellowed pages, for the first time.

He views it as a part of the “big year” of 1963 that featured a list of changes and challenges, including the desegregation of the University of Alabama, the March on Washington and the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham."

A BILL MOVING THROUGH CONGRESS COULD CHANGE WHO CONTROLS THE US COPYRIGHT OFFICE. HERE’S WHY IT MATTERS FOR THE MUSIC BUSINESS.; Music Business Worldwide, June 4, 2026

 MURRAY STASSEN , Music Business Worldwide; A BILL MOVING THROUGH CONGRESS COULD CHANGE WHO CONTROLS THE US COPYRIGHT OFFICE. HERE’S WHY IT MATTERS FOR THE MUSIC BUSINESS.

"The bill arrives in the middle of an ongoing fight over the US Copyright Office and the firing of its director.

In May 2025, the Trump administration fired top copyright official Shira Perlmutter, a day after her office released a report concluding that training AI on copyrighted works qualifies as fair use in some circumstances but not others.

The administration had first removed Carla D. Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, and installed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting Librarian, who then moved to replace Perlmutter with Department of Justice official Paul Perkins.

Perlmutter sued the administration, arguing that only the Librarian of Congress, not the President, has the power to appoint or remove the Register of Copyrights.

A federal appeals court reinstated Perlmutter in September 2025, and she remains in the role while the legal battle continues.

That fight turns on the same question Griffith‘s bill addresses: whether the Register of Copyrights is an executive or a legislative officer...

Running alongside the legislation is the unresolved Perlmutter case.

The Supreme Court declined to act on her firing in late 2025, leaving Perlmutter in place while it weighs related disputes over the President’s power to remove officials.

Both the bill and the lawsuit circle the same question – whether the Register answers to the President or to Congress.

Griffith says a Senate-confirmed Register with a fixed term would give the office steadier leadership and clearer oversight.

Critics counter that a presidential appointee would politicize copyright and AI policy, and could disrupt the registration and deposit systems the Library of Congress depends on."

Park Service orders removal of ‘woke’ quotes at Boston’s Bunker Hill monument; The Washington Post, June 4, 2026

Jake Spring , The Washington Post; Park Service orders removal of ‘woke’ quotes at Boston’s Bunker Hill monument

A visitor complaint prompted a review of quotes that are anti-war, pro-immigrant or highlight American hypocrisy on slavery ahead of the monument’s 251st anniversary celebration.

"The National Park Service has ordered the removal of three quotes at the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston commemorating a Revolutionary War battle because they have run afoul of President Donald Trump’s policy seeking to scrub “corrosive ideology” from federal institutions, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The site includes panels with quotes from historic figures or writings that reflect on the 200-year-old monument. A visitor at the site complained to park staff about a quote related to women’s suffrage as being “woke” feminist ideology, the people familiar said, and the visitor later sent an email complaint.

That prompted a wider review of material at the site that ultimately led the agency to order the removal of the three quotes in time for the 251st anniversary of the monument on June 17, two of the people said. The panel quotes have not yet been removed...

The quotes ordered to be removed include one from a 1971 anti-war editorial by Vietnam War veterans Arthur Johnson and Bestor Cram, the people familiar said.

“We find, upon reflection, that our duty to our country has not ended ... We as Vietnam Veterans, strongly feel that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life,” the quote reads.

Cram told The Washington Post in an interview on Thursday that he opposed Trump’s policymaking changes across the park system, including the order to remove his quote.

“I‘m completely outraged with the administration wanting to essentially reinterpret history or erase history,” Cram said. 

Trump issued an executive order last year directing the Interior Department to eliminate information that reflects a “corrosive ideology” that is critical of historic Americans or events. National Park Service officials have broadly interpreted that directive to apply to information on racism, sexism, slavery, gay rights or the persecution of Indigenous people...

Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said it’s unprecedented that one visitor’s opinion would result in changes to exhibits that are carefully planned and researched by experts.

“It’s scary that we aren’t trusting the experts and academics who have put together this material and instead we are censoring history and science that is not incorrect and it’s not inaccurate,” Thompson said. “It’s just information that makes people uncomfortable and it’s politically motivated.”

NPCA, the Coalition and other groups are suing the Trump administration over the policy, with a judge dismissing the administration’s motion to dismiss earlier on Thursday."

Oregon prison library worker charged after massive data breach; The Oregonian/OregonLive, June 5, 2026

Noelle Crombie | The Oregonian/OregonLive ; Oregon prison library worker charged after massive data breach

"A former library worker at Snake River Correctional Institution has been indicted on felony computer crime charges after state corrections officials accused her of downloading tens of thousands of internal files.

Demetre Gennette, 37, of Caldwell, Idaho, faces charges of aggravated first-degree theft, first-degree official misconduct, second-degree custodial sexual misconduct and supplying contraband...

Gennette worked as a library coordinator at the prison law library and was fired earlier this year. Snake River in Ontario, the state’s largest prison, has about 2,700 prisoners.

In an interview Friday with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Gennette acknowledged she accessed a large number of files.

She said she turned them over to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of people in prison. She said she also sent it to two attorneys who work on cases involving prisoner welfare."

Nashville Zoo tries to halt proposed data center over animal safety concerns; NBC News, June 5, 2026

David Ingram , NBC News; Nashville Zoo tries to halt proposed data center over animal safety concerns

"A nationwide backlash against artificial intelligence data centers has a new ally: the leopards of the Nashville Zoo.

The zoo, a popular destination in Tennessee’s capital city, is trying to block a proposed 69,000-square-foot data center from being built next door. The zoo says that the facility would be about 50 yards from some of its animals and that the noise could disturb its residents, including a leap of leopards that hail originally from Southeast Asia...

The zoo this week launched an online petition against the data center that, as of Friday, had more than 180,000 signatures and 25,000 shares on Facebook. The petition asks city leaders to intervene to protect “one of the most fragile and rare collections of animals in the country.”

Schwartz said he’s especially worried about noise from the data center affecting the breeding of clouded leopards, a vulnerable species that the zoo is working to conserve.

Courtney Johnston, a member of the metropolitan council whose district includes the zoo, said she was being inundated by messages from concerned residents. She said she had filed a zoning appeal and would ask the council to vote Tuesday on a data center moratorium.

“I’m getting phone calls. I’m getting emails. All of my social media. Text messages. The community is speaking,” she said.

It’s the latest example of data centers getting pushback in communities nationwide, as neighbors say they don’t want to live near them or object more broadly to the direction of the tech and AI industries. There’s been a bipartisan push for regulation, as well as lawsuits and opposition to tax breaks."

Star Trek's Most Rewatchable Episode Is Still Trek's Greatest Kirk Story; CBR, June 6, 2026

Joshua M. Patton, CBR; Star Trek's Most Rewatchable Episode Is Still Trek's Greatest Kirk Story

"What makes Star Trek: The Original Series endure 60 years after its debut is that its "best" episodes are a moving target that varies for individual fans. Still, Season 1's "The City on the Edge of Forever" is arguably one of its greatest stories, especially for how it defines the character of Captain James T. Kirk...

Yet, this episode exemplifies a line from The Wrath of Khan that became a central ethos for Starfleet. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one...

A recurring motif in the series is that Starfleet captains must bear the burden of hard choices to serve the truly greater good. Kirk faces many such choices, but this one stands apart."

The ethical dilemmas of AI; Financial Times, June 5, 2026

THE EDITORIAL BOARD, Financial Times; The ethical dilemmas of AI

"Leo reminds us while AI may surpass human intelligence, they are not the same thing. AIs “do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean”. Machine learning “does not imply inner growth”. He warns in particular against so-called post- or transhumanist views, because these attempts to improve humanity see human limitations as flaws to get rid of.

The pope’s counterpoint that humanity flourishes “not despite limitations but often through them” is one that many people are becoming more aware of in the case of “cognitive surrender”: the realisation that making things easier through AI can diminish rather than enhance our abilities. It is in a similar vein that the FT commits to always keeping human judgment at the centre of our journalism."

The AI vibe shift is real: Why the backlash is growing; Mashable, June 6, 2026

Chris Taylor, Mashaable; The AI vibe shift is real: Why the backlash is growing

"But outside the AI bubble, a backlash is brewing, and not only among students booing pro-AI commencement speakers. 

Just 10 percent of Americans say they're thrilled about the future of AI, a Pew poll found in March; that same month, some 80 percent of registered U.S. voters in an NBC poll said neither Democrats nor Republicans are doing a good job on the AI front. That number also appears in an April survey of white-collar workers: 80 percent are straight-up refusing to use AI even when it's mandated. In the last 30 days, 54 percent of workers reported bypassing company AI tools and completing jobs themselves.

Those numbers suggest general strike-levels of discontent with AI across every industry, out there in the real America beyond Silicon Valley and Wall Street, if not an outright revolutionary mood. 

Data center protests, fueled by the 70 percent of Americans who say they don't want data centers near them, are only likely to grow going forward — especially now that they are producing tangible results. At least 48 data center projects were blocked or delayed in 2025, according to Data Center Watch, and the fight is only getting more fierce."

A uni professor admitted using AI to write an opinion piece. Here’s what it revealed about trust in the technology; The Guardian, June 5, 2026

Josh Taylor, The Guardian ; A uni professor admitted using AI to write an opinion piece. Here’s what it revealed about trust in the technology

"When a pro vice-chancellor at a university this week admitted to using AI in writing an opinion piece for a major Australian masthead, but did not disclose that use prior to publication, it highlighted the growing gap between people’s use of AI and trust in the technology."

How a Throwaway Line Turned Writers Against a Cheerleader for Children’s Books; The New York Times, May 22, 2026

 Elisabeth Egan , The New York Times; How a Throwaway Line Turned Writers Against a Cheerleader for Children’s Books

"Barnett was thrilled when he got word in the summer of 2024 that Carla Hayden, then the librarian of Congress, had named him national ambassador for young people’s literature...

He is the ninth author in the role. The program is a partnership between the Library of Congress and the literary nonprofit Every Child a Reader; previous honorees include Jon Scieszka, Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds and Meg Medina...

“Make Believe” sparked a firestorm with a single line.

On Page 22 of the 102-page book, Barnett explains Sturgeon’s Law, in which the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon stated that “90 percent of everything is crud.”

Building on this idea, Barnett writes: “I have a nagging fear that children’s literature suffers from a slightly higher crud percentage than literature as a whole. So I now offer Barnett’s Addendum to Sturgeon’s Law: Maybe more like 94.7 percent of kids’ books are crud.”

Fellow children’s authors were aghast: How could their national ambassador say such a thing?...

Later I texted one final question: “Do you think you were wrong to say 94.7 percent of kids’ books are crud?”

Barnett responded, simply, “Yes, I should have used a different argument.”"

PHILLY COPS ADMIT THAT THEY’RE TRACKING “FIRST AMENDMENT ACTIVITY” CRITICAL OF AI; The Intercept, June 1, 2026

Matt Sledge,  Sam Biddle , The Intercept; PHILLY COPS ADMIT THAT THEY’RE TRACKING “FIRST AMENDMENT ACTIVITY” CRITICAL OF AI

"AMERICANS SPEAKING OUT against artificial intelligence data centers on social media are falling under police surveillance, a confidential law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Intercept reveals.

A fusion center in Philadelphia combed through spicy internet comments from AI critics and concluded there is a growing risk of physical violence against data centers from “domestic violent extremists,” ranging from white supremacists to anarchists.

“Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) are likely interested in targeting artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, posing a physical and cyber threat to infrastructure in the Philadelphia regional area,” the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center wrote in a December alert.

The fusion center distributed its warning, marked “for official use only,” through the national fusion center network of state, local, and federal police agencies.

Like many of the reports produced by fusion centers, the bulletin points to news reports and social media posts, but cites little in the way of tangible threats. It acknowledges “a lack of specific information on plans to target AI data centers in the Philadelphia area,” but warns law enforcement that three planned data center facilities in the region could become targets of future protests."

Who Took This JFK Photo? Museum and Collector Clash in Copyright Case; PetaPixel, June 4, 2026

 Pesala Bandara, PetaPixel; Who Took This JFK Photo? Museum and Collector Clash in Copyright Case

"The photograph in question shows a smiling President Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in their motorcade on the day of his assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963. In the case, which was first reported by Plagiarism Today, private collector Cade Campbell filed a claim with the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), alleging that the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas was unlawfully displaying this photograph...

In the end, the CCB found in favor of the museum. It concluded that, based on the greater weight of evidence, the photograph Campbell owned was a later copy of the Titus image, not the original. As such, the board dismissed the claim with prejudice."

How to share the AI windfall. Are taxes enough?; The Economist, May 14, 2026

The Economist; How to share the AI windfall. Are taxes enough?

"Should artificial intelligence cause mass unemployment, workers will not be thrilled. But neither will the taxman, even if he hasn’t been automated. For most of the past century, rich countries have had simple rules for sharing prosperity: raise money mostly by taxing work and consumption, sprinkle in some borrowing and hand out the proceeds. That model may collapse if ai advances as quickly as its boosters suggest. Hence, many say, a new approach is needed, in which government makes its money primarily from the new technology."

Why Protestants should read the pope’s encyclical; Religion News Service (RNS), May 28, 2026

Michael DeLashmutt , Religion News Service (RNS); Why Protestants should read the pope’s encyclical

"Bookending the text is a striking biblical contrast between Babel and Jerusalem. The question, the encyclical insists, is not whether humanity should embrace or reject technology altogether. The deeper question concerns what kind of technological civilization we are constructing. Are we building systems ordered toward domination, uniformity, surveillance and self-magnification, like in Babel? Or are we building systems that strengthen communities, preserve human dignity and serve the common good, like in the Bible’s Jerusalem? 

The fight, in other words, is not really against the algorithms. It is against the oligarchs.

I have been studying theology and technology for more than 20 years, often using science fiction as a dialogue partner for questions that can otherwise feel abstract or distant from ordinary life. Reading “Magnifica Humanitas,” I repeatedly found myself thinking of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson: posthumanism, autonomous warfare, transnational corporate sovereignty and technologically mediated forms of salvation and domination. 

There is something genuinely surreal about reading a papal encyclical over morning coffee and encountering discussions of autonomous weapons systems and posthumanism on the Vatican website. Twenty years ago, this would have sounded absurd. Today, it sounds descriptive. 

And perhaps that is what struck me most while reading the document. The questions of speculative fiction have become the questions of our lived political reality. 

But rather than leaving us trapped inside a techno-dystopia, the encyclical concludes on a note of solidarity and hope that refuses the fantasy that history is ultimately decided only by those behind the code. 

Near the end of the document, Leo XIV quotes J.R.R. Tolkien: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set.” 

Cyberpunk fiction often imagines salvation or damnation arriving through systems so large that ordinary people become irrelevant. Tolkien’s moral imagination works in almost exactly the opposite direction. The real work of preserving the world happens locally, concretely and relationally — not by mastering history, but by tending the fields nearest to us. And not by escaping creaturely limits, but by inhabiting them faithfully.

That may be the deepest challenge “Magnifica Humanitas” poses both to Silicon Valley triumphalism and to AI apocalypse rhetoric alike. The problem is not simply the machine. It is the temptation toward Babel: the concentration of language, power, capital and imagination into systems that no longer recognize human beings except as inputs, outputs, consumers or data points. 

Against that temptation, the encyclical proposes something almost stubbornly unfashionable: subsidiarity, solidarity, shared discernment, limits, community and the common good. 

In other words, the answer to AI is neither anti-technology retreat nor surrender to technological inevitability. It is the recovery of politics, moral responsibility and theological imagination at a human scale. 

And perhaps that is why Tolkien appears at the end of the document. The Shire is not important because it is powerful. It matters because it is worth protecting from those who believe that power itself is greatness. 

In the end, the encyclical circles back to one of the oldest theological questions imaginable: What kind of world are we building, and who is it for? That question cannot be answered by engineers alone, markets alone or even states alone. And Leo XIV’s deepest warning may simply be this: Christians are not free to leave the answer to the oligarchs. 

(The Rev. Michael W. DeLashmutt is dean of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd and senior vice president at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, where he also serves as associate professor of theology. His most recent book is “A Lived Theology of Everyday Life.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)"

Who Is a Library Leader? | Editorial; Library Journal, May 4, 2026

 Hallie Rich, Library Journal; Who Is a Library Leader? | Editorial

"Lessons from 25 years of Movers & Shakers

In Library Journal’s 150th year, I find myself stepping back in time to reflect on the wisdom of many “library greats” who advanced the profession to where it stands today. Sometimes their work was highly visible, other times it was a quieter continuation of learning, iteration, and innovation.

In Library Journal’s 150th year, I find myself stepping back in time to reflect on the wisdom of many “library greats” who advanced the profession to where it stands today. Sometimes their work was highly visible, other times it was a quieter continuation of learning, iteration, and innovation.

I’m inspired both by lessons from past library leaders and those who excel at different levels today. This month we celebrate LJ’s 2026 Movers & Shakers, our 25th class. Many who were previously recognized have gone on to lead in the traditional sense of the word. Among our cohorts, we have Movers who became major library system directors, state librarians, school library district administrators, respected academics, ALA presidents, and a few SLJ and LJ Librarians of the Year.

Others have delivered excellent work, charting a path within librarianship that aligns with their individual interests and local, sometimes urgent, needs. Their efforts reflect a form of leadership that emerges while performing their duties with passion.

In his editorial announcing the first class of Movers & Shakers, the late John N. Berry III celebrated the librarians who lead through practical action and a dedication to professional values. He believed that leadership isn’t a skill to be taught nor guaranteed by fancy accolades. Rather, he wrote, “the best of us achieve leadership or have it thrust upon us.” I share his words from March, 2002:

Currently the library field is afflicted with yet another rash of initiatives devised to discover, identify, educate, and/or train leaders. When self-anointed leaders design such efforts, they usually mean ‘we need more librarians like us.’ When those who are not leaders do it, they usually mean ‘more people like us should be leaders.’ That’s why I’m suspicious when some library organization or group sets out, again, to identify ‘up-and-coming leaders,’ or claims it will train or educate the next generation of library leaders. My suspicions deepen when any group refers to itself as ‘the leadership.’

The activities and exercises they invent for developing leaders make me suspicious, too. They have all the earmarks of elites aborning or being strengthened. When they set up ‘retreats’ in the desert of Arizona, or climb to a leadership ‘institute’ on some mountainside in Utah, or gather for a ‘leadership weekend’ at some prestigious campus, I watch the results and wonder where the ‘leaders’ they found went afterwards. I notice that too often what is taught at these gatherings frequently mistakes management and/or administration for leadership. That is probably the most common mistake in leadership education, and it leaves me questioning if it is really possible to ‘educate’ or ‘train’ people to be leaders....

Of course, you can identify the smart, the just, and the articulate. Sure, you can teach the techniques of public speaking. You can explain the fundaments of fairness and justice. You can run courses and offer degrees in management and administration. None of these guarantees leadership or greatness. Indeed, if recent events are any indication, going to the best schools, earning the most money, and holding the top jobs don’t ensure legitimate or legal leadership....

So, when you receive the Movers & Shakers supplement with the March 15 [2002] issue of LJ, look only for ‘potential’ leaders and possible greatness. We have profiled more than 50 library staffers and library-industry workers who surely possess that potential. We’ve noticed them in action, heard about them from colleagues, or seen the results of their efforts. We think many of them are already library leaders, and more will become leaders....

What distinguishes them and what distinguishes leaders from the rest of us is that not only do they have strong convictions, they pursue them on the job. They have the potential for library greatness because they hold passionately strong beliefs about libraries and library service. They are driven by their professional concern that no one should be denied information because of his or her point of view, age, or the nature of the information. In short, their work is defined by our professional core values and our ideology. That is what will make them leaders and great librarians."

The Scenario I Imagined for This Year’s Ethics Class Final; Christianity Today, June 3, 2026

RUSSELL MOORE, Christianity Today; The Scenario I Imagined for This Year’s Ethics Class Final

"Since the early aughts, I’ve ended every Christian ethics class I’ve taught with a scenario I’ve asked my students to solve. I imagine a situation and keep complicating and complicating until I’m not sure I know the answers.

That’s because what I want is not for students to pull the “right” answers from a list of predigested talking points. Instead, I want to see how they think through Scripture, Christian tradition, conscience, and prudence, as well as how they explore possible unintended consequences and what their process is for navigating an unfamiliar moral question.

I taught an ethics class at Lipscomb University here in Nashville this semester, and here is the scenario I posed to my students:

You are several decades in the future. Whatever your specific calling, you are a spiritual leader whom your community trusts with hard questions. Here is your situation."

Factors that may support a finding of "willful copyright infringement"; JD Supra, June 3, 2026

 Steve Vondran , JD Supra; Factors that may support a finding of "willful copyright infringement"

"In copyright litigation, identifying the facts that may support a finding of willful infringement can be critical in any case, whether you are on the plaintiff or defense side. A willfulness finding may significantly increase the defendant's financial exposure, including the potential for enhanced statutory damages damages ($30,000-150,000), attorneys' fees, and injunctive relief. Just as important, where the infringement is carried out through a corporation, courts may examine whether company officers, directors, owners, or managers personally participated in, directed, authorized, or financially benefited from the infringing activity. For this reason, copyright plaintiffs should carefully evaluate evidence such as prior notice, cease-and-desist letters, continued use after warning, concealment, removal of copyright management information (17 U.S.C. 1202 claims), repeated infringement, and decision-maker involvement. These facts can help establish not only infringement but also whether the conduct was knowing, reckless, or intentional, which could lead to broader liability against the individuals behind the business. This is what we refer to as "officer and director copyright liability," which allows plaintiffs to name both individuals and their corporations notwithstanding the corporate veil!

Federal courts do not apply a single universal test for "willful infringement" in copyright cases. However, courts repeatedly identify certain facts and circumstances that support a finding that infringement was knowing, intentional, reckless, or undertaken with willful blindness. This blog provides some general concepts to consider in your next infringement matter."

Pentagon is censoring military newspaper Stars and Stripes, lawsuit alleges; The Washington Post, June 3, 3026

Scott Nover

 and 

Liam Scott

, The Washington Post; Pentagon is censoring military newspaper Stars and Stripes, lawsuit alleges

"Two advisory board members of Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has long enjoyed editorial independence from the government, sued the Defense Department on Wednesday, alleging that an effort to impose new restrictions on the paper was an act of illegal censorship.

The complaint, filed in federal district court in Washington, comes from Susan “Suki” Dardarian and William “Bill” Church, two Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalists on the Stripes advisory board. Dardarian is a former editor and senior vice president of the Minnesota Star Tribune, and Church is the executive editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper...

Stars and Stripes said in a statement that it has a “long-standing mission to provide independent journalism to the military community, and that independence is fundamental to our credibility and our purpose.”"

Libraries’ summer 2026 webinars teach copyright, fair use basics in an hour; Penn State University Libraries, June 3, 2026

 Penn State University Libraries; Libraries’ summer 2026 webinars teach copyright, fair use basics in an hour

"Penn State University Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright will offer two online workshops on copyright and fair use topics in summer 2026 for Penn State students, faculty and staff and the public.

Danielle Steinhart, interim copyright officer and head of the Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright, will teach both workshops online via Zoom. Attendees are asked to please register in advance. Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) program credit, formerly known as Scholarship and Research Integrity credit, will be available for both courses."

Firings at CBS' '60 Minutes' reflect the fight for media control in the age of Trump; NPR, June 3, 2026

David Folkenflik, NPR; Firings at CBS' '60 Minutes' reflect the fight for media control in the age of Trump

"The battle royale over the network's most prestigious and profitable news program is part of a broader fight over the direction of CBS News.

And given CBS's acquisition by a billionaire family whose business interests have become intertwined with the political interests of President Trump, it reflects a larger war over control of the media in the current moment.

That father and son, Larry and David Ellison, bought CBS' parent company, Paramount, last summer. In January, they became co-owners of TikTok's U.S. operations. Now they're seeking approval from Trump's regulators to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN."