The Nation: Publishers Are Taking the Internet to Court. “The trial is set for next year in federal court, with initial disclosures for discovery scheduled to take place next week. The publishers’ ‘prayer for relief’ seeks to destroy the Open Library’s existing books, and to soak the Internet Archive for a lot of money; in their response, the Archive is looking to have its opponents’ claims denied in full, its legal costs paid, and “such other and further relief as the Court deems just and equitable.” But what’s really at stake in this lawsuit is the idea of ownership itself—what it means not only for a library but for anyone to own a book.”
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Internet Archive Blog: Judge Sets Tentative Trial Date for November 2021
Internet Archive Blog: Judge Sets Tentative Trial Date for November 2021. “This week, a federal judge issued this scheduling order, laying out the road map that may lead to a jury trial in the copyright lawsuit brought by four of the world’s largest publishers against the Internet Archive. Judge John G. Koeltl has ordered all parties to be ready for trial by November 12, 2021. He set a deadline of December 1, 2020, to notify the court if the parties are willing to enter settlement talks with a magistrate judge.”
Poynter: This database shows media layoffs caused by the coronavirus
Poynter: This database shows media layoffs caused by the coronavirus. “The graphics of 2020 are grim ones — flattening the curve of the coronavirus, watching it spread, seeing jobs disappear. Now, we have another — what the pandemic has done to newsrooms in the U.S. Thanks to the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, we can now see the places and mediums hit by cutbacks, layoffs, closures and more.”
Publishers Weekly: Publishers, Internet Archive Propose Yearlong Discovery Plan for Copyright Case
Publishers Weekly: Publishers, Internet Archive Propose Yearlong Discovery Plan for Copyright Case. “In a joint filing last week, attorneys for the Internet Archive and four publishers suing for copyright infringement proposed a discovery plan for the case that would extend for more than a year. The filing, known as a rule 26(f) report, lays out a potential road map for the case that would begin with the first proposed deadline for initial fact disclosures on September 11, 2020, and would conclude with expert depositions due by September 20, 2021.”
‘Heavy-handed threats’: ‘Scare campaign’ could backfire on Facebook and Google in Australia (New Daily)
New Daily: ‘Heavy-handed threats’: ‘Scare campaign’ could backfire on Facebook and Google in Australia. “Facebook has threatened to pull the plug on Australian news if forced to pay for it, in what experts say is a ‘desperate’ attempt to avoid setting a global precedent. Australians could be barred from sharing local news content on Facebook and Instagram, the firm said, with the threat representing an escalation in Facebook and Google‘s campaign against proposed regulation forcing them to pay for news.”
The Rappler: How Asia Pacific publishers push back vs Google, Facebook
The Rappler: How Asia Pacific publishers push back vs Google, Facebook. “Publishers created several country-wide and regional associations or consortia, where members pool their audiences into one large audience to rival tech giants’ reach and scale in their respective nations. These cooperatives, through a platform, also offer a one-stop-shop for advertisers. They also offer advertisers access to their audiences at just a few price points. Instead of seeking Google’s assistance to sell their content, these publishers can directly deal with advertisers.”
Bangkok Post: Google slams Australia law forcing tech giants to pay for news
Bangkok Post: Google slams Australia law forcing tech giants to pay for news. “US technology giant Google went on the offensive Monday against an Australian plan forcing digital giants to pay for news content, telling users their personal data would be ‘at risk’. Australia announced last month that firms like Google and Facebook would have to pay news media for content, after 18 months of negotiations ended without agreement.”
Sydney Morning Herald: Google and Facebook face fines and algorithm transparency under new code
Sydney Morning Herald: Google and Facebook face fines and algorithm transparency under new code. “Google and Facebook will have three months to agree to revenue-sharing deals with Australian media companies before independent arbitrators intervene under a new landmark code designed to tackle the market power amassed by the US tech giants. Draft laws unveiled by the Morrison government and competition watchdog on Friday will impose a raft of conditions on the digital platforms, forcing them to compensate news media businesses for using their content and be more transparent about their data and algorithms.”
Sydney Morning Herald: Google, Facebook seek publisher deals ahead of ACCC ruling
Sydney Morning Herald: Google, Facebook seek publisher deals ahead of ACCC ruling. “Google and Facebook are pushing ahead with plans to strike licensing deals with local publishers as Australia’s competition regulator prepares to unveil a compulsory code that will force the tech giants to pay for use of news content.”
Digiday: Slack is fueling media’s bottom-up revolution
Digiday: Slack is fueling media’s bottom-up revolution. “When media executives have to put out fires, they meet staffers where they live — on Slack, the enterprise software service where employees communicate, plan, gossip, talk shit about bosses and each other — and increasingly, organize themselves to fight for their rights. The irony of Slack is that media business leaders gravitated to it years ago as a tool to make the labor force more efficient and available at all hours. And now, those same workers are using Slack to fight back against their capitalist bosses.”
Sydney Morning Herald: Facebook and Google must move away from the zero-sum game
Sydney Morning Herald: Facebook and Google must move away from the zero-sum game. “The Facebook business model is to observe the behaviour of its users, reduce them to stereotypes and then package this data to commercial and political advertisers. Its algorithms feed off ‘engagement’, which is fuelled by outrage, fomenting a commercial incentive for bad behaviour. Moderation is woefully inadequate, outsourced and post facto. If Facebook were serious about keeping the network clean it would hire the tens of thousands of workers required to do it. This has left Facebook with a potent advertising machine which many advertisers don’t feel safe to use.”
Reuters: Google stymies media companies from chipping away at its data dominance
Reuters: Google stymies media companies from chipping away at its data dominance. “Publishers had expected to use data privacy measures going into effect Aug. 15 to bar Google from storing insights about readers, sapping the data advantage that has enabled it to dominate a market filled with advertisers hungry for information to target potential customers. But Google said it will cut off publishers from a lucrative flow of ads if they follow through with curbing its data collection. Negotiations continue, but Google holds greater leverage because it dominates in both advertising tools and access to advertisers within the $100 billion annual global banner ads market.”
Nature: Hundreds of journals’ editorial practices captured in database
Nature: Hundreds of journals’ editorial practices captured in database. “Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, and created with the Leiden Centre for Science and Technology Studies, the platform currently hosts a database of 387 journals. It evaluates these journals’ peer-review procedures according to 12 criteria, including: the level of anonymity afforded to authors and reviewers; the use of digital tools such as plagiarism scanners; and the timing of peer review in the research and publication process (see S. P. J. M. Horbach and W. Halffman Scientometrics 118, 339–373; 2019). The platform displays the procedures used by each journal, along with aggregate statistics on the various editorial practices.”
Pipe Dream: SUNY ends contract with ScienceDirect
Pipe Dream: SUNY ends contract with ScienceDirect. “The future of ScienceDirect as a source for scholarly articles is bleak with State University of New York (SUNY) canceling its subscription after a deal could not be made with its publishing company, Elsevier.”
Ireland should consider forcing Google, Facebook to pay media for content: PM (Reuters)
Reuters: Ireland should consider forcing Google, Facebook to pay media for content: PM. “The Irish government should consider copying Australia’s plan to force Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google to share advertising revenue with local media, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said [in April].”
