Nethui. You should have been there. No really, you should have.

Webstock used to be my no-miss conference until this week. It’s like a combined rock festival and party for geeks – the learning and fun are intense and amazing. If Webstock was a keyword it would be “awesome”. Nethui was not a rock festival, and less of a party in terms of headiness. Yes, there were [...]

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#blogjune makeup post: The new Copyright law

I take some time to form opinions approaching final, so I was hesitant to comment when the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Act 2011  was brought in under urgency in April. I’ve had some interesting discussions about the act since that time, and read some mighty interesting things coming from other library industry professionals and groups. Myself, I’m [...]

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#blogjune Diligent Room: Foreshadowing upcoming copyright post

I’m posting this now so that I can maintain my contribution to the effort whilst deferring the actual work. Thus, TROID (an acronym I hate, by the way) gets to have its contributor posting on the correct day, but I get to feel I deliver something more effective. So tomorrow I shall communicate some of [...]

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LIANZA Supports Wellington Declaration Regarding Trade Agreement on Copyright

You may have missed it, but copyright is again being debated. This time it’s part in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which is currently being negotiated behind closed doors. On the weekend there was a public meeting and discussion on the ramifications of  ACTA and copyright and Internet freedoms. It resulted in the a Public Declaration on [...]

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Copyright Gets Ugly: Once More Into The Fray Dear Friends

It could have been this ugly for us too, without some sustained lobbying from many groups including LIANZA. It still could. The following article from the New Zealand Herald is a cautionary tale, which shows why we need to be vigilant in monitoring legislation before parliament. It is very easy sometimes to think that a [...]

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Everyone Is Free

So I thought I would drop an extra post or two this week reflecting on conference. For all our non-conferencing readers I apologise. Actually yesterday’s keynote from Richard Stallman was quite thought provoking, so I needed to get some of what I have been discussing on to the small screen. Richard was big on freedom, [...]

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Illegal downloading and copying – a viewpoint

I’m always on the lookout for new music and last.fm is brilliant for helping me find bands and musicians previously unknown to me. But, having found music I would love to listen to on my stereo, how to obtain it? I happily purchase music legally whenever possible, but what happens when this is not possible? [...]

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