Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Tuesday, 21 January 2003

# 8:20 AM

And, worth calling out in its own right: Lessig's proposal of a renewal fee for old copyrights, as a way to break the deadlock produced by the Eldred decision. Lessig has a FAQ on his proposal here.

This is an interesting idea and it will be interesting to see what sorts of arguments come forth for and against it. I've already seen people ranting about its being a horrid idea in terms that strike me as equivalent to "but that's not the way it's always been done and therefore it is evil and wrong". This in rec.arts.sf.composition, where you would expect people to have a smidge more noophilia than that. Furrfu. For myself, I don't know if it is the optimal solution, but I approve of changing the terms of the debate, since the previous angle was clearly not working.

# 8 AM

Just a handful of links:

• Washington Post article about XM Radio which is attempting to bring the cable television model to radio, in hopes of getting the diversity of programming back up. The twist: it's spearheaded by the guy who killed the diversity of FM radio, and now regrets it.
• Samuel Pepys' diary, a major primary source for historical events in 1660s England, being serialized in weblog format. Shout-out to my parents for pointing this out to me.
• It's almost a wek old at this point, but Seth's commentary on the Eldred decision is beautiful and well worth reading. (See also Lawrence Lessig's weblog.)