RIAA Stops Prosecuting Individual File Sharers

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) will cease prosecution of individuals who download copyrighted music and instead focus on limiting file sharing services. The RIAA had focused on young people, attempting to force higher education institutions to divulge personal Internet habits of its students. K- 12 schools have felt threatened by these practices and many have implemented network policies that prohibit file sharing -- even legal file sharing.

Exposure of the draconian investigative and legal practices of the RIAA against individuals, often children, has led to a public outcry against RIAA practices. The RIAA has also lost a number of recent legal decisions in which their questionable, probably illegal, practices have been rejected by the courts. Read the brief Slashdot article here (don't forget to read the always interesting and entertaining comments).

Educator's Guide to Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials Released by Temple University

A wonderful fair use guide for educators has been released by the Temple University Media Education Lab. The report offers an exceptionally clear and balanced resource for teachers and administrators as they struggle with copyright issues that the authors make simple and clear. It's all good news for teachers and kids! Download the report (pdf) here, and visit the Media Education Lab website to view videos and other reports that help schools break through the fog of fear and doubt that overzealous or misinformed enforcers have created. The copyright page with the videos and resources of the Media Education Lab is here. The guide has been reviewed and approved by a number of stakeholder organizations and copyright-savvy lawyers.

China is 2nd Largest (and Fastest-Growing) Internet Domain

A Verisign report on the state of Internet top level domains (TLDs) shows that China is now the second largest TLD after the .com domain. China (.cn) is also the fastest-growing domain; their 76% growth in 2008 far surpasses the growth of other major domains which have grown no faster than 16%. Read the Slashdot article.

Germany Contributes 100,000 photos to Wikipedia

The German National Archive announced this week that it intends to make eleven million digitized photographs from German history available to Wikipedia for public use. The first 100,000 are already prepared with catalog information, and the others will follow as they are ready. The archive contains photos from pre-Nazi Germany as well as from the Holocaust and the World Wars. Read the article.

China Mandates Linux for Internet Cafes

The Chinese government is mandating that Red Flag Linux be installed in all Internet cafe computers. This move highlights two trends. The first is obviously the expansion of linux as a viable mainstream operating system. The second is a concern by Chinese citizens that the Chinese government may use their linux version to further control and monitor the Internet activities of its citizens. Check out the AP article and visit the Red Flag Linux website.

IBM's Prediction: Five Technologies that Will Change Live in the Next Five Years

IBM's "Five in Five" predictions range from thin-film solar technology that generate economical electricity from asphalt and building surfaces to $200 personal gene maps that identify your personal susceptibility to disease and medical conditions. Check out the short Dr. Dobb's video on all five (there's a brief commercial message in the beginning):