Boston + Cambridge + Somerville
New York Times lives in a copyright glass house
By adamg - 2/8/12 - 3:50 pmThe day before ex-Times editor and current Times thumbsucker Bill Keller blasted people who reprint Times content without its permission, the Times reprinted a PDF of a Real Paper story without permission from its current copyright owner, our very own Boston Phoenix. Not just the words, but the actual pages from that long-ago alt-weekly, whose remnants the Phoenix bought.
The Phoenix is not amused:
This is about the most literal instance of copyright theft, in terms of source material (someone else's), method (photocopied a print article), and intention of the law (don't copy someone else's stuff and distribute it as your own), as can be imagined.
ANSWER OF THE JUSTICES TO THE COUNCIL
By adamg - 2/8/12 - 2:51 pmNOTICE: The slip opinions and orders posted on this Web site are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. This preliminary material will be removed from the Web site once the advance sheets of the Official Reports are published. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030;
ANSWER OF THE JUSTICES TO THE COUNCIL.
SJC-11115
Feb. 8, 2012.
Council. Constitutional Law, Opinions of the Justices. Supreme Judicial Court, Opinions of the Justices.
On February 8, 2012, the Justices submitted the following answer to a question propounded to them by the Council.
To the Honorable Council of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court respectfully submit this response to the question set forth in a letter signed by five Councillors on December 7, 2011, and submitted to the Chief Justice on December 28, 2011, in the following form:
"Dear Honorable Justice Ireland:
AOL trims Patch
By adamg - 2/8/12 - 2:18 pmJim Romensko reports a new "chief content officer" will reduce full-time and freelance budgets and call for greater emphasis on easily churned out content:
The editorial emphasis is now on "easy, quick-hitting, cookie-cutter copy," including mandatory "Best Of" features (i.e., best coffeeshop, best burgers, etc.) that compel businesses and readers to visit and participate in the Patch directories. (Each Patch has a directory of local businesses, organizations, churches, etc.)
We lose another online entrepreneur - but not to Silicon Valley this time
By adamg - 2/8/12 - 8:38 amCaffeine huffing just the thing for people who don't have time for one of those little energy-drink bottles
By adamg - 2/8/12 - 7:42 amAssociated Press highlights the controversy over a caffeine inhaler invented by a Harvard professor. It got mixed reviews at Northeastern, where the company marketing the thing gave away free fixes samples. The company says caffeine snorting is the perfect way "for people with active lifestyles to get their caffeine fix."
Without state help, MBTA will have to cut service, raise fares next year, too, regional planning group says
By adamg - 2/7/12 - 9:20 pmThe Metropolitan Area Planning Council says payments on more than $5 billion in debt ensure the T will continue to lurch from one financial crisis to another, hurting riders and the regional economy for years to come, unless the legislature steps in to help do something about that debt.
Mayorless city still manages to raise kids with brains enough to stay out of traffic
By adamg - 2/7/12 - 6:30 pmIn addition to wrangling over its next mayor, the Cambridge City Council continues to tussle with the issue of a rich guy with a large piece of land who wants to put in a second driveway. The driveway is opposed by some neighbors as the possible breaking of the seal that unleashes the spawn of Satan, but Cambridge Day reports one neighbor testified this week he is not concerned about kids getting hurt on the tiny street onto which the driveway would enter because:
When a car arrives, they get out of the way. After the car parks, they play more.
Media won't rest until all the Patriots run themselves through with swords
By adamg - 2/7/12 - 7:26 amOMG, Matt Light and Gronk went to a party after the Super Bowl! Clutch those pearls closer to your chest, Mabel! Or as David Robichaud asks, as he wipes away a tear:
What do you think about this? Should they have been celebrating after a crushing defeat?
Rudderless city continues to drift along municipal shoals without a mayor
By adamg - 2/6/12 - 10:57 pmYep, the Cambridge City Council once again failed to elect a mayor.
Why monkey with a good thing? Curious George bookstore to re-open in Harvard Square
By adamg - 2/6/12 - 1:50 pmWicked Local Cambridge reports a Roslindale couple is working to re-open the shuttered kids' bookstore in the heart of the square. Reopening is sometime this spring.
