Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.; Gallup, January 22, 2024

 MEGAN BRENAN AND JEFFREY M. JONES, Gallup; Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.

"Americans’ ratings of nearly all 23 professions measured in Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll are lower than they have been in recent years. Only one profession -- labor union leaders -- has not declined since 2019, yet a relatively low 25% rate their honesty and ethics as “very high” or “high.”

Nurses remain the most trusted profession, with 78% of U.S. adults currently believing nurses have high honesty and ethical standards. However, that is down seven percentage points from 2019 and 11 points from its peak in 2020.

At the other end of the spectrum, members of Congress, senators, car salespeople and advertising practitioners are viewed as the least ethical, with ratings in the single digits that have worsened or remained flat."

Is A.I. the Death of I.P.?; The New Yorker, January 15, 2024

 Louis Menand, The New Yorker ; Is A.I. the Death of I.P.?

"Intellectual property accounts for some or all of the wealth of at least half of the world’s fifty richest people, and it has been estimated to account for fifty-two per cent of the value of U.S. merchandise exports. I.P. is the new oil. Nations sitting on a lot of it are making money selling it to nations that have relatively little. It’s therefore in a country’s interest to protect the intellectual property of its businesses.

But every right is also a prohibition. My right of ownership of some piece of intellectual property bars everyone else from using that property without my consent. I.P. rights have an economic value but a social cost. Is that cost too high?

I.P. ownership comes in several legal varieties: copyrights, patents, design rights, publicity rights, and trademarks."

Addressing equity and ethics in artificial intelligence; American Psychological Association, January 8, 2024

 Zara Abrams, American Psychological Association; Addressing equity and ethics in artificial intelligence

"As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly permeates our world, researchers and policymakers are scrambling to stay one step ahead. What are the potential harms of these new tools—and how can they be avoided?

“With any new technology, we always need to be thinking about what’s coming next. But AI is moving so fast that it’s difficult to grasp how significantly it’s going to change things,” said David Luxton, PhD, a clinical psychologist and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine who is part of a session at the upcoming 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Harnessing the Power of AI Ethically.

Luxton and his colleagues dubbed recent AI advances “super-disruptive technology” because of their potential to profoundly alter society in unexpected ways. In addition to concerns about job displacement and manipulation, AI tools can cause unintended harm to individuals, relationships, and groups. Biased algorithms can promote discrimination or other forms of inaccurate decision-making that can cause systematic and potentially harmful errors; unequal access to AI can exacerbate inequality (Proceedings of the Stanford Existential Risk Conference 2023, 60–74). On the flip side, AI may also hold the potential to reduce unfairness in today’s world—if people can agree on what “fairness” means.

“There’s a lot of pushback against AI because it can promote bias, but humans have been promoting biases for a really long time,” said psychologist Rhoda Au, PhD, a professor of anatomy and neurobiology at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine who is also speaking at CES on harnessing AI ethically. “We can’t just be dismissive and say: ‘AI is good’ or ‘AI is bad.’ We need to embrace its complexity and understand that it’s going to be both.”"

"Stories Are Just Something That Can Be Eaten by an AI": Marvel Lashes Out at AI Content with a Mind-Blowing X-Men Twist; ScreenRant, January 9, 2024

TRISTAN BENNS, ScreenRant; "Stories Are Just Something That Can Be Eaten by an AI": Marvel Lashes Out at AI Content with a Mind-Blowing X-Men Twist

"Realizing the folly of her actions, Righteous laments her weakness against Enigma as a creature of stories, saying that “Stories are just something that can be eaten by an A.I. to make it more powerful. The only good story is a story that has been entirely and totally consumed and exploited.”.

While this isn’t the mutants’ first battle against artificial intelligence, this pointed statement has some sobering real-world applications. Since the Krakoan Age began, it’s been clear mutantkind's greatest battle would be against the concept of artificial intelligence as the final evolution of “life” in the Marvel Universe. With entities like Nimrod and the Omega Sentinel steering the forces of Orchis and other enemies of the X-Men against the mutant nation, this conflict has been painted as the ultimate fight for survival for mutants. However, with Enigma’s ultimate triumph over even the power of storytelling, it is clear that the X-Men aren’t just facing a comic’s interpretation of artificial intelligence – they’re battling the death of imagination.

In this way, the X-Men’s ultimate battle parallels a very real-world problem that both fans and creators must confront: the act of true creation versus the effects of generative artificial intelligence."

Lifecycle of Copyright: 1928 Works in the Public Domain; Library of Congress Blogs: Copyright Creativity at Work, January 8, 2024

 Alison Hall , Library of Congress Blogs: Copyright Creativity at Work; Lifecycle of Copyright: 1928 Works in the Public Domain

"This blog also includes contributions from Jessica Chinnadurai, attorney-advisor, and Rafael Franco, writer-editor intern in the Copyright Office.

Over the last several years, we have witnessed a new class of creative works entering the public domain in the United States each January 1. This year, a variety of works published in 1928, ranging from motion pictures to music to books, joined others in the public domain. The public domain has important historical and cultural benefits in the lifecycle of copyright...

Below are just a few of the historical and cultural works that entered the public domain in 2024."

How John Deere Hijacked Copyright Law To Keep You From Tinkering With Your Tractor; Reason, January 8, 2024

 LUKE HOGG , Reason; How John Deere Hijacked Copyright Law To Keep You From Tinkering With Your Tractor

"For nearly 25 years, Section 1201 has been hanging over the developers and distributors of tools that give users more control over the products they own. The ways in which John Deere and other corporations have used the copyright system is a glaring example of regulatory capture in action, highlighting the absurdity of a system where owning a product doesn't necessarily convey the right to fully control it. There are certainly circumstances where the manufacturers are justified in protecting their products from tampering, but such cases should be handled through warranty nullification and contract law, not through exorbitant fines and lengthy prison sentences."

Addressing the epidemic of high drug prices; Harvard Law Today, January 5, 2024

Jeff Neal, Harvard Law Today; Addressing the epidemic of high drug prices

"The Biden administration is once again targeting high drug prices paid by Americans. This time, officials are focused on prescription medications developed with federal tax dollars. The United States government, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awards billions of dollars of research grants to university scientists each year to fund biomedical research, which is often patented. The universities in turn grant exclusive licenses to companies to produce and sell the resulting drugs to patients in need. But what happens if a drug company fails to make a medication available, or sets its price so high that it is out of reach for a significant percentage of patients?

To tackle this problem, the Biden administration recently released a “proposed framework” that specifies when and how the NIH can “march in” and award the rights to produce a patented drug to a third party if the patent licensee does not make it available to the public on “reasonable terms.” The plan is based on a provision included in the Bayh-Dole Act, a 1980 federal law which was designed to stimulate innovation by encouraging universities to obtain and license patents for inventions resulting from federally funded research.

According to Harvard Law School intellectual property expert Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91, S.J.D. ’96, although the Biden administration’s proposed framework for using government march-in rights to lower drug costs is an important development, whether it will be successfully implemented and result in meaningful drug price reductions remains to be seen. Harvard Law Today recently spoke to Okediji, the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law and faculty director of Global Access in Action(GAiA) at the Berkman Klein Center, about the new proposal and the legal challenges it might face."

AI’s future could hinge on one thorny legal question; The Washington Post, January 4, 2024

 

Will Oremus

 and 

Elahe Izadi

, The Washington Post; AI’s future could hinge on one thorny legal question

"Because the AI cases represent new terrain in copyright law, it is not clear how judges and juries will ultimately rule, several legal experts agreed...

“Anyone who’s predicting the outcome is taking a big risk here,” Gervais said...

Cornell’s Grimmelmann said AI copyright cases might ultimately hinge on the stories each side tells about how to weigh the technology’s harms and benefits.

“Look at all the lawsuits, and they’re trying to tell stories about how these are just plagiarism machines ripping off artists,” he said. “Look at the [AI firms’ responses], and they’re trying to tell stories about all the really interesting things these AIs can do that are genuinely new and exciting.”"

Great, now we have to become digital copyright experts; TechCrunch+, January 2, 2024

  Alex Wilhelm, TechCrunch+; Great, now we have to become digital copyright experts

"How to balance the need to respect copyright and ensure that AI development doesn’t grind to a halt will not be answered quickly."

READ: Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation letter; CNN, January 2, 2023

 CNN Staff, CNN; READ: Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation letter

"The following is Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation letter, issued on January 2, 2024:..."

Copyright law is AI's 2024 battlefield; Axios, January 2, 2023

Megan Morrone , Axios; Copyright law is AI's 2024 battlefield

"Looming fights over copyright in AI are likely to set the new technology's course in 2024 faster than legislation or regulation.

Driving the news: The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft on December 27, claiming their AI systems' "widescale copying" constitutes copyright infringement.

The big picture: After a year of lawsuits from creators protecting their works from getting gobbled up and repackaged by generative AI tools, the new year could see significant rulings that alter the progress of AI innovation. 

Why it matters: The copyright decisions coming down the pike — over both the use of copyrighted material in the development of AI systems and also the status of works that are created by or with the help of AI — are crucial to the technology's future and could determine winners and losers in the market."

How the Federal Government Can Rein In A.I. in Law Enforcement; The New York Times, January 2, 2024

 Joy Buolamwini and Barry Friedman, The New York Times; How the Federal Government Can Rein In A.I. in Law Enforcement

"One of the most hopeful proposals involving police surveillance emerged recently from a surprising quarter — the federal Office of Management and Budget. The office, which oversees the execution of the president’s policies, has recommended sorely needed constraints on the use of artificial intelligence by federal agencies, including law enforcement.

The office’s work is commendable, but shortcomings in its proposed guidance to agencies could still leave people vulnerable to harm. Foremost among them is a provision that would allow senior officials to seek waivers by arguing that the constraints would hinder law enforcement. Those law enforcement agencies should instead be required to provide verifiable evidence that A.I. tools they or their vendors use will not cause harm, worsen discrimination or violate people’s rights."

Roberts sidesteps Supreme Court’s ethics controversies in yearly report; The Washington Post, December 31, 2023

 Ann E. Marimow, The Washington Post; Roberts sidesteps Supreme Court’s ethics controversies in yearly report

"Roberts, a history buff, also expounded on the potential for artificial intelligence to both enhance and detract from the work of judges, lawyers and litigants. For those who cannot afford a lawyer, he noted, AI could increase access to justice.

“AI obviously has great potential to dramatically increase access to key information for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. But just as it risks invading privacy interests and dehumanizing the law,” Roberts wrote, “machines cannot fully replace key actors in court.”...

Roberts also did not mention in his 13-page report the court’s adoption for the first time of a formal code of conduct, announced in November, specific to the nine justices and intended to promote “integrity and impartiality.” For years, the justices said they voluntarily complied with the same ethical guidelines that apply to other federal judges and resisted efforts by Congress to impose a policy on the high court...

The policy was praised by some as a positive initial step, but criticized by legal ethics experts for giving the justices too much discretion over recusal decisions and for not including a process for holding the justices accountable if they violate their own rules."

Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns; The Guardian, December 29, 2023

Amy Hawkins , The Guardian; Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns

"The retraction notice said the article had been withdrawn at the request of the journal that had published it, Forensic Science International: Genetics, after an investigation revealed that the relevant ethical approval had not been obtained for the collection of the genetic samples.

Mark Munsterhjelm, a professor at the University of Windsor, in Ontario, who specialises in racism in genetic research, said the fact that the paper had been published at all was “typical of the culture of complicity in forensic genetics that uncritically accepts ethics and informed consent claims with regards to vulnerable populations”.

Concerns have also been raised about a paper in a journal sponsored by China’s ministry of justice. The study, titled Sequencing of human identification markers in an Uyghur population, analysed Uyghur genetic data based on blood samples collected from individuals in the capital of Xinjiang, in north-west China. Yves Moreau, a professor of engineering at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, who focuses on DNA analysis, raised concerns that the subjects in the study may not have freely consented to their DNA samples being used. He also argued that the research “enables further mass surveillance” of Uyghur people."

Photographer Sues Church Over Copyright Infringement; Fstoppers, December 28, 2023

  Alex Cooke, Fstoppers; Photographer Sues Church Over Copyright Infringement

"A photographer is taking legal action against a small church in South Carolina for allegedly using his photograph without consent.

Erin Paul Donovan, a photographer from New Hampshire, has initiated a federal lawsuit against Wightman United Methodist Church in Prosperity, South Carolina. Donovan claims that his photograph, depicting New Hampshire’s White Mountains, was used on the church's website without his permission, specifically as a thumbnail for a sermon video dated June 2021...

The suit further alleges that the church not only used the image without authorization but also removed Donovan's copyright notice, name, and watermark from the photograph as it originally appeared on his website."

Court of Appeal ruling will prevent UK museums from charging reproduction fees—at last; The Art Newspaper, December 29, 2023

 Bendor Grosvenor , The Art Newspaper; Court of Appeal ruling will prevent UK museums from charging reproduction fees—at last

"A recent judgement on copyright in the Court of Appeal (20 November) heralds the end of UK museums charging fees to reproduce historic artworks. In fact, it suggests museums have been mis-selling “image licences” for over a decade. For those of us who have been campaigning on the issue for years, it is the news we’ve been waiting for.

The judgement is important because it confirms that museums do not have valid copyright in photographs of (two-dimensional) works which are themselves out of copyright. It means these photographs are in the public domain, and free to use.

Museums use copyright to restrict the circulation of images, obliging people to buy expensive licences. Any thought of scholars sharing images, or using those available on museum websites, was claimed to be a breach of copyright. Not surprisingly, most people paid up. Copyright is the glue that holds the image fee ecosystem in place.

What has now changed? Museums used to rely on the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which placed a low threshold on how copyright was acquired; essentially, if some degree of “skill and labour” was involved in taking a photograph of a painting, then that photograph enjoyed copyright. But subsequent case law has raised the bar, as the new Appeal Court judgement makes clear."

Boom in A.I. Prompts a Test of Copyright Law; The New York Times, December 30, 2023

 J. Edward Moreno , The New York Times; Boom in A.I. Prompts a Test of Copyright Law

"The boom in artificial intelligence tools that draw on troves of content from across the internet has begun to test the bounds of copyright law...

Data is crucial to developing generative A.I. technologies — which can generate text, images and other media on their own — and to the business models of companies doing that work.

“Copyright will be one of the key points that shapes the generative A.I. industry,” said Fred Havemeyer, an analyst at the financial research firm Macquarie.

A central consideration is the “fair use” doctrine in intellectual property law, which allows creators to build upon copyrighted work...

“Ultimately, whether or not this lawsuit ends up shaping copyright law will be determined by whether the suit is really about the future of fair use and copyright, or whether it’s a salvo in a negotiation,” Jane Ginsburg, a professor at Columbia Law School, said of the lawsuit by The Times...

Competition in the A.I. field may boil down to data haves and have-nots...

“Generative A.I. begins and ends with data,” Mr. Havemeyer said."

Disney loses famous Mickey Mouse copyright in 2024, along with many others; CBS News, December 30, 2023

 CBS News ; Disney loses famous Mickey Mouse copyright in 2024, along with many others

"Copyright protections on many well-known books, films and musical compositions are set to expire in 2024. Disney's Mickey Mouse is getting a lot of attention as one famous iteration of the classic mouse is set to enter the public domain. CBS News' Jo Ling Kent has the story."

Federal judge blocks enforcement of Iowa’s book ban law; Iowa Public Radio, December 29, 2023

 Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio ; Federal judge blocks enforcement of Iowa’s book ban law

"A federal judge has blocked the state of Iowa from enforcing major portions of an education law, SF 496, which has caused school districts to pull hundreds of books from library shelves.

The temporary injunction prevents enforcement of a ban on books with sexually explicit content, which the judge in the case said likely violates the First Amendment. It also blocks a section barring instruction relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary school, which he called “void for vagueness.”

The decision follows a hearing last week that combined arguments from two separate challenges against the law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May. A lawsuit brought by LGBTQ students calls the law discriminatory while another from a group of educators and the publisher Penguin Random House claims it violates their freedom of speech.

Enforcement provisions in the law that apply to book removals were set to take effect January 1...

Judge Stephen Locher said in his ruling released late Friday afternoon that the court was unable to find another school library book restriction “even remotely similar to Senate File 496.” Where lawmakers should use a scalpel, he said, SF 496 is a “bulldozer” that has pulled books out of schools that are widely regarded as important works.

“The underlying message is that there is no redeeming value to any such book even if it is a work of history, self-help guide, award-winning novel, or other piece of serious literature,” Locher wrote. “In effect, the Legislature has imposed a puritanical ‘pall of orthodoxy’ over school libraries.”"

Michael Cohen used fake cases created by AI in bid to end his probation; The Washington Post, December 29, 2023

 Pranshu Verma, The Washington Post; Michael Cohen used fake cases created by AI in bid to end his probation

"Michael Cohen, a former fixer and lawyer for former president Donald Trump, said in a new court filing that he unknowingly gave his attorney bogus case citations after using artificial intelligence to create them as part of a legal bid to end his probation on tax evasion and campaign finance violation charges...

In the filing, Cohen wrote that he had not kept up with “emerging trends (and related risks) in legal technology and did not realize that Google Bard was a generative text service that, like ChatGPT, could show citations and descriptions that looked real but actually were not.” To him, he said, Google Bard seemed to be a “supercharged search engine.”...

This is at least the second instance this year in which a Manhattan federal judge has confronted lawyers over using fake AI-generated citations. Two lawyers in June were fined $5,000 in an unrelated case where they used ChatGPT to create bogus case citations."

Testing Ethical Boundaries. The New York Times Sues Microsoft And OpenAI On Copyright Concerns; Forbes, December 29, 2023

 Cindy Gordon, Forbes; Testing Ethical Boundaries. The New York Times Sues Microsoft And OpenAI On Copyright Concerns

"We have at least seen Apple announce an ethical approach to discussing upfront with the US Media giants their interest in partnering on AI generative AI training needs and finding new revenue sharing models.

Smart Move by Apple...

The court’s rulings here will be critical to advance ethical AI practices and guard rails on what is “fair” versus predatory.

We have too many leadership behaviors that encroach on others Intellectual Property (IP) and try to mask or muddy the authenticity of communication and sources of origination of ideas and content.

I for one will be following these cases closely and this also sends a wake -up call to all technology titans, and technology industry leaders that respect, integrity and transparency on operating practices need an ethical overhauling.

One of the important leadership behaviors is risk management and looking at all stakeholder views and appreciating the risks that can be incurred. I am keen to see how Apple approaches these dynamics to build a stronger ethical brand profile."

Clarence Williams, The Washington Post; This Arlington librarian is pushing back against book bans

 Clarence Williams, The Washington Post; This Arlington librarian is pushing back against book bans

"There is something to offend and upset everyone, and if there isn't we're not doing our job," Kresh said."

Complaint: New York Times v. Microsoft & OpenAI, December 2023

Complaint: 

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY Plaintiff,

v.

MICROSOFT CORPORATION, OPENAI, INC., OPENAI LP, OPENAI GP, LLC, OPENAI, LLC, OPENAI OPCO LLC, OPENAI GLOBAL LLC, OAI CORPORATION, LLC, and OPENAI HOLDINGS, LLC,

Defendants

He forgot his shirt for a job interview. A hotel employee had a novel solution; NPR, December 27, 2023

Autumn Barnes, NPR ; He forgot his shirt for a job interview. A hotel employee had a novel solution

"He only had about an hour until he needed to be at the interview. He rushed down to the lobby and went to the front desk to ask the man behind the counter if he could suggest a nearby store where he could buy a new shirt. 

"[I] went to the guy and said, 'I'm really in a lot of trouble. I have this really important job interview in an hour. And somehow I forgot my dress shirt at home,'" Muensterer remembered. "He listened to my story. And I hardly had ended it [when] he said, 'I have a solution.'" 

But rather than directing Muensterer to a nearby shop, the desk attendant did something surprising. Without saying a word, he took off his own white dress shirt and handed it to Muensterer."

AI starts a music-making revolution and plenty of noise about ethics and royalties; The Washington Times, December 26, 2023

Tom Howell Jr. , The Washington Times ; AI starts a music-making revolution and plenty of noise about ethics and royalties

"“Music’s important. AI is changing that relationship. We need to navigate that carefully,” said Martin Clancy, an Ireland-based expert who has worked on chart-topping songs and is the founding chairman of the IEEE Global AI Ethics Arts Committee...

The Biden administration, the European Union and other governments are rushing to catch up with AI and harness its benefits while controlling its potentially adverse societal impacts. They are also wading through copyright and other matters of law.

Even if they devise legislation now, the rules likely will not go into effect for years. The EU recently enacted a sweeping AI law, but it won’t take effect until 2025.

“That’s forever in this space, which means that all we’re left with is our ethical decision-making,” Mr. Clancy said.

For now, the AI-generated music landscape is like the Wild West. Many AI-generated songs are hokey or just not very good."

Classical Musicians Victimized by Erroneous Copyright Claims; Violinist.com, December 19, 2023

 Laurie Niles, Violinist.com; Classical Musicians Victimized by Erroneous Copyright Claims

""One or more actions were applied to your video because of a copyright match."

This was just one of two copyright claims that Amy Beth Horman received from Facebook Thursday, disputing ownership of videos of her daughter's violin performances. First, she received a copyright claim for a video of Ava's live performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto this week. Then, she got another for video she had posted in 2020 of then-10-year-old Ava performing "Meditation from Thais." These are both classical works that are in the public domain - not subject to copyright.

Nonetheless, classical musicians receive these kinds of dreaded messages on a regular basis if they post videos of their performances on social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

Has the musician violated anyone's copyright? Almost never. These are automated copyright claims created by bots on behalf of big companies like Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group or Universal Music. If the bot finds that your performance has approximately the same notes and timing as one in their catalogue, they then claim that they own rights to your recording. But musicians have every right to perform and post a public domain work. Even so, musicians often find their recordings muted, earnings from ads on their performances given instead to the company filing the erroneous claim, and threats of having their accounts suspended or banned."

Israel’s National Library Reopens After Delay Caused by Hamas Attacks; The New York Times, December 26, 2023

Gal Koplewitz, The New York Times; Israel’s National Library Reopens After Delay Caused by Hamas Attacks

"“The library has been able to play a tremendously therapeutic role,” said Raquel Ukeles, head of collections at the library. She said that many visitors have been evacuees from the country’s borders with Gaza and Lebanon, where communities are regularly targeted with rockets and shells, or reservists on leave from the Israeli military.

The library has helped stock mobile libraries that travel the country. Its staff members have also assisted in setting up a “pop-up” school in the previous National Library building for roughly 100 children displaced from their homes by fighting along the Lebanese border.

In the library’s reading room stand scores of chairs, each one holding a book chosen to represent one of the hostages taken on Oct. 7...

The library also has found new ways to serve its core mission as a custodian of collective national memory — painful as this new chapter is.

Library workers are salvaging and digitizing local archives from the ravaged communities overrun on Oct. 7. And staffers like Ms. Cooper are gathering and archiving WhatsApp conversations, in recognition of their documentary value. In Kibbutz Be’eri, the site of some of the worst atrocities on Oct. 7, one the more reliable logs of the day’s events are the messages sent on the community’s group chat."

The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work; The New York Times, December 27, 2023

 Michael M. Grynbaum and Ryan Mac, The New York Times; The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work

"The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement on Wednesday, opening a new front in the increasingly intense legal battle over the unauthorized use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies.

The Times is the first major American media organization to sue the companies, the creators of ChatGPT and other popular A.I. platforms, over copyright issues associated with its written works. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, contends that millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information.

The suit does not include an exact monetary demand. But it says the defendants should be held responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” related to the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” It also calls for the companies to destroy any chatbot models and training data that use copyrighted material from The Times."

How do virtual hearings affect people on the wrong side of the digital divide?; ABA Journal, December 14, 2023

 MATT REYNOLDS, ABA Journal; How do virtual hearings affect people on the wrong side of the digital divide?

"States including Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas have adopted standards for virtual hearings...

Proponents of virtual hearings say they can make people’s lives easier. Working parents can attend hearings from the comfort of their homes rather than drive miles to the courthouse and don’t have to take valuable time away from work or their kids.

Nevertheless, while that flexibility may look good on paper, some access-to-justice advocates believe an over-reliance on remote hearings could hurt the technological have-nots, particularly in communities lacking high-speed internet or those without broadband infrastructure.

In 2021, the Federal Communications Commission found that about 14.5 million Americans lacked broadband internet, which it defines as having download speeds of 25 megabits per second, or Mbps, and upload speeds of 3 Mbps. A 2021 Microsoft study put the number closer to 120.4 million people, or one-third of the U.S. population."

Court clerk Becky Hill admits plagiarizing part of Murdaugh trial book from BBC reporter; The Post and Courier, December 26, 2023

Thad Moore and Glenn Smith , The Post and Courier; Court clerk Becky Hill admits plagiarizing part of Murdaugh trial book from BBC reporter

"Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill admitted plagiarizing the opening section of her book on the Alex Murdaugh double-murder trial after her co-author suspended sales and vowed never to work with her again.

In a Dec. 26 statement, Hill’s lawyers said she lifted much of the book’s preface from a BBC reporter’s work, saying she was under pressure because of tight deadlines for the self-published book. Attorneys Justin Bamberg and Will Lewis said Hill was “deeply remorseful” for her “unfortunate lapse in judgment.”

The plagiarized passages were unearthed by Hill’s co-author, Neil Gordon, after messages from Hill’s government email account were made public earlier in December. The plagiarism scandal deepens the troubles facing the embattled clerk, who already was accused of ethics violations and jury tampering during the Murdaugh trial."

The “Trolley Problem” Doesn’t Work for Self-Driving Cars The most famous thought experiment in ethics needs a rethink; IEEE Spectrum, December 12, 2023

SARAH WELLS, IEEE Spectrum ; The “Trolley Problem” Doesn’t Work for Self-Driving Cars  The most famous thought experiment in ethics needs a rethink

"“The trolley paradigm was useful to increase awareness of the importance of ethics for AV decision-making, but it is a misleading framework to address the problem,” says Dubljević, a professor of philosophy and science, technology and society at North Carolina State University. “The outcomes of each vehicle trajectory are far from being certain like the two options in the trolley dilemma [and] unlike the trolley dilemma, which describes an immediate choice, decision-making in AVs has to be programmed in advance.”...

“The goal is to create a decision-making system that avoids human biases and limitations due to reaction time, social background, and cognitive laziness, while at the same time aligning with human common sense and moral intuition,” says Dubljević. “For this purpose, it’s crucial to study human moral intuition by creating optimal conditions for people to judge.”"

Des Moines library's first social worker is helping make it a center of community resources; Des Moines Register, December

F. Amanda Tugade, Des Moines Register; Des Moines library's first social worker is helping make it a center of community resources

De resources

"Allee is one of the dozens of patrons who have found refuge in Lippert at the library, which sits just blocks away from Central Iowa Shelter and Services, the city's largest emergency shelter. Lippert joined the staff in late August, part of an effort to expand the library's role as a center of community resources, helping connect people to agencies across the city and metro area...

Sue Woody, the library's director, said she and other librarians have seen the needs of their patrons go beyond book titles and literacy issues. Visitors want referrals for housing, mental health and substance abuse programs — services that exceed her librarians' expertise.

"We are not social workers," Woody said. "We don't have doctorates and master's in social work and social sciences."...

Even Lippert said she didn't know libraries had social workers until she came across Central Library's job post. But the more she thought about it, the more the post reminded her of social work's true mission."

Book bans are harming LGBTQ people, advocates say. This online library is fighting back.; CNN, December 16, 2023

Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN; Book bans are harming LGBTQ people, advocates say. This online library is fighting back.

"The Queer Liberation Library (QLL, pronounced “quill”) is entirely online. Since launching in October, more than 2,300 members have signed up to browse its free collection of hundreds of ebooks and audiobooks featuring LGBTQ stories, Lundstrom said.

After becoming increasingly alarmed at efforts to censor LGBTQ stories in the nation’s public schools, Kieran Hickey, the library’s founder and executive director, said they set out to create a haven for queer literature that can be accessed from anywhere in the country.

“Queer people have so many barriers to access queer literature – social, economic, and political,” Hickey said. “(For) anybody who’s on a journey of self-discovery in their sexual orientation or gender identity, finding information and going to queer spaces can be incredibly daunting. So, this is a resource that anybody in the United States can have no matter where they live.”

Until recent years, books featuring LGBTQ stories made up a small percentage of titles challenged in schools and public libraries in the US.

Between 2010 and 2019, just about 9% of unique titles challenged in libraries contained LGBTQ themes, according to data from the American Library Association, which tracks and opposes book censorship.

But books featuring the voices and experiences of LGBTQ people now make up an overwhelming proportion of books targeted for censorship – part of a broader, conservative-led movement that is limiting the rights and representation of LGBTQ Americans."

In Missouri, years of efforts to ban books take a toll on school librarians: 'It's too painful'; St. Louis Public Radio , NPR, December 26, 2023

St. Louis Public Radio , NPR; In Missouri, years of efforts to ban books take a toll on school librarians: 'It's too painful'

"Maestas decided to speak out at a recent school board meeting for the first time against the proposed revisions. She is especially worried about the removal of diversity requirements.

“We have to have diversity in our libraries,” Maestas said. “We have to. All people have the right to be recognized or appreciated, to see themselves in the collection. And students have the right and the privilege of being able to step into the shoes of someone unlike themselves, to experience their life through 300 pages.”

The school board has indefinitely tabled the policy change.

Looking back at the past two years, Maestas doesn’t know what is behind the focus on libraries, but she thinks it is part of a broader attack on truth, public education and even democracy.

“Libraries are at the heart of our democracy,” Maestas said. “People have those First Amendment rights to learn what they want to learn, to hear what they want to hear, to say what they want to say. When you can attack those First Amendment rights and you can remove the sources of valid information and valid education from everyone, then you have the power.”"

Column: Mickey Mouse and ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ enter the public domain on Jan. 1, a reminder of our crazy copyright laws; Los Angeles Times, December 26, 2023

MICHAEL HILTZIK, Los Angeles Times ; Column: Mickey Mouse and ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ enter the public domain on Jan. 1, a reminder of our crazy copyright laws

"Once a work enters the public domain, Jenkins says, “community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can perform the music publicly, without paying licensing fees. Online repositories such as the Internet Archive, HathiTrust, Google Books, and the New York Public Library can make works fully available online. This helps enable access to cultural materials that might otherwise be lost to history. ... Anyone can rescue them from obscurity and make them available, where we can all discover, enjoy, and breathe new life into them.”

In some cases, extended copyright seems to work against the public interest. Consider the stringent control exercised by the estate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — mostly his children — over his speeches and writings such as the “I Have a Dream” speech he delivered in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963...

The irony of the term extension is that Disney, which pushed so hard to keep its own creations out of the public domain, is perhaps our most assiduous exploiter of, yes, the public domain.

The core material of some of its most successful and profitable movies comes from Hans Christian Andersen, Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Charles Perrault — often freely reimagined and rewritten by Disney artists and writers. 

Disney’s “Fantasia” mined musical history for compositions by Bach and Beethoven, but if the copyright terms Disney pushed for in 1998 were in place when the film was made in 1940, the compositions used in the film by Stravinsky, Ponchielli, Dukas, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky would still be under copyright protection. If Disney had to pay licensing fees to those creators, the film probably could not have been made."

Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway?; The Nation, December 25, 2023

  RAY NOWOSIELSKI and DAVID CASSIDY, The Nation; Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway?

"The broad outlines of the Wonderful Life copyright story have been known for decades, though the details have remained murky until now. It goes something like this: The movie underperformed at the box office in 1947 and was largely forgotten—until a copyright renewal “whoops” in 1974 saw the movie seemingly fall into the public domain. Local television stations began playing the free content, only to discover a strangely receptive audience among Americans of the early 1980s—when the film become a cultural behemoth. Then, somehow, Republic Pictures found a way to reclaim the rights and make a TV deal with NBC, where it has aired ever since...

The ironic parallels to the story in the movie are hard to ignore. All-time American movie villain Henry F. Potter’s great vice is not being a banker or a business man or a capitalist—it’s his urge towards monopoly.

“He’s already got charge of the bank,” explains George Bailey to his community during the famous “bank run” scene. “He’s got the bus line. He’s got the department stores. And now he’s after us. Why? Well, it’s very simple. Because we’re cutting in on his business, that’s why. And because he wants to keep you living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he decides.”

The full story of Wonderful Life’s journey is detailed in our new podcast George Bailey Was Never Born. Merry Christmas!"