<-- The Filter --> October 1998, 2
No. 1.4 . The Filter . 10.15.98
Your regular dose of public interest Internet news and commentary from
the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
=====================================
In the News | Dispatches | Bookmarks | Quotable | Talk Back | Berkman News | Coming Soon | Subscription Info | About Us | Not a Copyright
• • • • • • • • • •
IN THE NEWS
> Feminists v. Filter Foes: The Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit involving Virginia public libraries' resistance to filtering software. The brief supports the use of pornography-blocking software in public libraries to prevent a "hostile working environment" for librarians, who might otherwise catch sight of pornography on library computer screens.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/cyberlaw/02law.html
> Come One, Code All: The US Congress derailed and then revived legislation that would raise the cap on H1-B temporary work visas for non-citizen high-tech workers. The bill is heavily backed by Silicon Valley employers, who complain of a shortage of qualified citizen workers. Opponents of the bill say there is no such shortage, but that high-tech employers want immigrants because they can pay them less than the market rate for programmers and other highly-skilled professionals, and keep these immigrants—who legally need a consistent sponsoring employer—indentured for 5 years or more.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/15007.html
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/14visa.html
> Fair Use v. Intellectual Property: The US Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a bill designed to distinguish between fair use and protected intellectual property in cyberspace. The bill's sponsors say such a law would vastly decrease the incidence of software piracy and clarify the rules for teachers and librarians who use material from the Internet.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:s.01146:
• • • • • • • • • •
DISPATCHES
David Shenk, author of Data Smog, warns that politicians are confusing the concept of "full disclosure" with "public interest," and tells us why this is a critical misjudgement of the Information Age:
http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/101598/index_shenk.html
• • • • • • • • • •
BOOKMARKS
* FreeAdvice.com
http://www.freeadvice.com/
A Yahoo-style compendium of legal explanations and resources, tackling everything from estate planning and intellectual property issues to personal injury, corporate tax and intellectual property law.
* IP Magazine
http://www.ipmag.com/
An insightful source for current law and policy regarding information technology.
* Idea Central
http://epn.org/idea/
From the Electronic Policy Network, this publication covers economics, education, civic participation, health policy and media as they relate to new technology.
• • • • • • • • • •
QUOTABLE
"Any man, corporation or government entity who wants to challenge our right to discuss news accounts (copyrighted or not) of public policy issues or political events or of government corruption, etc., in our non-commercial, not-for-profit, public electronic townhall forum should first examine each and every word of the First Amendment above and then tell us which words they don't understand."
—Jim Robinson, editor of Free Republic magazine, which is being sued by two newspapers for copyright infringement
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/rose/1998/10/09straight.html
• • • • • • • • • •
TALK BACK
Comments? Questions? Opinions? Submissions?
Send a letter to the editor at filter-editor@cyber.harvard.edu
See who's writing to us—recent letters may be found here:
http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/101598/index_letters.html
• • • • • • • • • •
BERKMAN NEWS
The Berkman Center is proud to welcome Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP as its newest sponsor! Check out the Berkman Center's website for updates on the virtual trials of President Clinton and Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, and an update on the latest domain name governance proposal from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
http://cyber.harvard.edu
• • • • • • • • • •
COMING SOON
Tune in two weeks from now for news about ongoing projects at the Berkman Center, including the Internet Deliberative Polling Project, the Internet Public Media Project, and more.
• • • • • • • • • •
SUBSCRIPTION INFO
Click here to subscribe or unsubscribe from the list.
• • • • • • • • • •
ABOUT US
Read The Filter online at http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/
Who we are: http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/index_about.html
• • • • • • • • • •
NOT A COPYRIGHT
A publication of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
http://cyber.harvard.edu
You may—and please do—forward or copy this newsletter to friends and colleagues.
Your regular dose of public interest Internet news and commentary from
the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
=====================================
In the News | Dispatches | Bookmarks | Quotable | Talk Back | Berkman News | Coming Soon | Subscription Info | About Us | Not a Copyright
• • • • • • • • • •
IN THE NEWS
> Feminists v. Filter Foes: The Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit involving Virginia public libraries' resistance to filtering software. The brief supports the use of pornography-blocking software in public libraries to prevent a "hostile working environment" for librarians, who might otherwise catch sight of pornography on library computer screens.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/cyberlaw/02law.html
> Come One, Code All: The US Congress derailed and then revived legislation that would raise the cap on H1-B temporary work visas for non-citizen high-tech workers. The bill is heavily backed by Silicon Valley employers, who complain of a shortage of qualified citizen workers. Opponents of the bill say there is no such shortage, but that high-tech employers want immigrants because they can pay them less than the market rate for programmers and other highly-skilled professionals, and keep these immigrants—who legally need a consistent sponsoring employer—indentured for 5 years or more.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/15007.html
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/14visa.html
> Fair Use v. Intellectual Property: The US Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a bill designed to distinguish between fair use and protected intellectual property in cyberspace. The bill's sponsors say such a law would vastly decrease the incidence of software piracy and clarify the rules for teachers and librarians who use material from the Internet.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:s.01146:
• • • • • • • • • •
DISPATCHES
David Shenk, author of Data Smog, warns that politicians are confusing the concept of "full disclosure" with "public interest," and tells us why this is a critical misjudgement of the Information Age:
http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/101598/index_shenk.html
• • • • • • • • • •
BOOKMARKS
* FreeAdvice.com
http://www.freeadvice.com/
A Yahoo-style compendium of legal explanations and resources, tackling everything from estate planning and intellectual property issues to personal injury, corporate tax and intellectual property law.
* IP Magazine
http://www.ipmag.com/
An insightful source for current law and policy regarding information technology.
* Idea Central
http://epn.org/idea/
From the Electronic Policy Network, this publication covers economics, education, civic participation, health policy and media as they relate to new technology.
• • • • • • • • • •
QUOTABLE
"Any man, corporation or government entity who wants to challenge our right to discuss news accounts (copyrighted or not) of public policy issues or political events or of government corruption, etc., in our non-commercial, not-for-profit, public electronic townhall forum should first examine each and every word of the First Amendment above and then tell us which words they don't understand."
—Jim Robinson, editor of Free Republic magazine, which is being sued by two newspapers for copyright infringement
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/rose/1998/10/09straight.html
• • • • • • • • • •
TALK BACK
Comments? Questions? Opinions? Submissions?
Send a letter to the editor at filter-editor@cyber.harvard.edu
See who's writing to us—recent letters may be found here:
http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/101598/index_letters.html
• • • • • • • • • •
BERKMAN NEWS
The Berkman Center is proud to welcome Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP as its newest sponsor! Check out the Berkman Center's website for updates on the virtual trials of President Clinton and Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, and an update on the latest domain name governance proposal from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
http://cyber.harvard.edu
• • • • • • • • • •
COMING SOON
Tune in two weeks from now for news about ongoing projects at the Berkman Center, including the Internet Deliberative Polling Project, the Internet Public Media Project, and more.
• • • • • • • • • •
SUBSCRIPTION INFO
Click here to subscribe or unsubscribe from the list.
• • • • • • • • • •
ABOUT US
Read The Filter online at http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/
Who we are: http://cyber.harvard.edu/filter/index_about.html
• • • • • • • • • •
NOT A COPYRIGHT
A publication of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
http://cyber.harvard.edu
You may—and please do—forward or copy this newsletter to friends and colleagues.