I got this email from Facebook the other day, and a couple of thoughts struck me as I read it (the bold is my emphasis):

Facebook is sending you this notice of a proposed class action settlement that may affect your legal rights as a Facebook member who may have used the Beacon program. This summary notice is being sent to you by Court Order so that you may understand your rights and remedies before the Court considers final approval of the proposed settlement on February 26, 2010.

This is not an advertisement or attorney solicitation.

This is not a settlement in which class members file claims to receive compensation. Under the proposed settlement, Facebook will terminate the Beacon program. In addition, Facebook will provide $9.5 million to establish an independent non-profit foundation that will identify and fund projects and initiatives that promote the cause of online privacy, safety, and security.

For full details on the settlement and further instructions on what to do to opt out of, object to, or otherwise comment upon the proposed settlement, please go to: BeaconClassSettlement.com.

If you have never heard of Beacon, or the lawsuit against it, check this information out. Not only did they have to shut the service down, but they have to now do the corporate equivalent of Bart Simpson’s chalkboard punishment? This is really great news, but I wonder how effective a deterrent/punishment the ruling really will be. It is one thing to rule in favor of the customers in a large class-action lawsuit and award massive damages in order to prevent a company from engaging in invasive or abusive behavior. But this strikes me as a slap on the wrist, and the punishment of having to fund a non-profit company that essentially duplicates the EFF’s incredible efforts will probably be about as effective as having Steve Ballmer write a two page essay on why monopolies are bad. I doubt Facebook learned a lesson here, in fact the lesson learned might very well be “next time, don’t get caught”.

As more and more ‘private’ information is moved online, it is going to be those companies that demonstrate an unswerving loyalty to the privacy and security of their customers who will be allowed to continue doing business. You had better believe that the day Google is caught exposing or misusing user data, it is going to find itself in deep, troubled waters. Personally, I don’t really put anything on Facebook or other sites that I would be embarrassed or endangered by, were it to leak out. But this case has served as a reminder that you can’t really trust any company to put your rights and expectations above their own need to turn a profit in order to survive.

The above picture goes with this story over on Defamer. Basic gist: developing story, no word on anything other than the fact that nobody was hurt (hopefully).

In the picture is the IOWest Theater, which is where the majority of our members trained and many still perform. One of the best bars in LA (tended by comedians, cheap awesome drink specials) and a place that I personally spent a lot of time for a few years. And that is an SUV plowed into the front door. It’s the late afternoon, so the likelihood that anyone was even in the front of the bar is extremely slim, but still it is very concerning. The IOWest alumni AIM chain is going off right now, so far nobody really knows much. I pray that everyone is ok.

UPDATE: Word is that nobody was hurt, mainstage shows are canceled until the 7th of July and I would just assume that the bar is closed till then too.

UPDATE 2: There is a video from the IOWest site and a blurb of more info. (more…)

The title says it all. This is a MAJOR game-changing revelation for creative industries such as the one I make my living in [entertainment]. Here is the heart of the issue:

For U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963, the rights holder needed to submit a form to the U.S. Copyright Office renewing the copyright 28 years after publication. In most cases, books that were never renewed are now in the public domain. Estimates of how many books were renewed vary, but everyone agrees that most books weren’t renewed. If true, that means that the majority of U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963 are freely usable.

That is all well and good, but it’s not safe to just assume that if a book is from this period it is free and clear. To determine the copyright status of a book you would need some sort of convenient, searchable database of all the books that are covered by copyright. Oh wait, here’s one compiled by Google, combined from the ones created by Project Gutenberg and the Distributed Proofreaders and U.S. Copyright Office records. Whelp, that should make adapting something into a screenplay much easier- no rights to clear, no royalties to pay.

On a personal note, I do think part of this stinks- if the author is still alive they should receive some kind of compensation for their ideas, even if they forgot or didn’t know to renew their copyright. And on a professional note, anyone up for “The Great Gatsby Ultra 2000″?

Have you been following the developing row between the Associated Press and the Blogosphere? Catch up on what is happening here, here, here, and here. The basic rundown is that the AP just announced that to quote any more than 5 words from any of their articles, you must pay them a licensing fee. This license can be revoked at their leisure, and pretty much goes completely against Fair Use and common journalistic procedure. This is Big Media bullying 101, and will all calm down in a little bit, but not after some tears and lawsuits.

In the meantime, I’m extremely pissed off at the AP, a news gathering collective that I have an enormous amount of respect for. For decades the AP has brought some of the most important stories of our lifetimes to our attention, and covered them very well. I understand that they do not want their stories ripped off and reposted all over the place, but a quote is a quote, and if properly cited and referenced back to its source, there is no license required. What makes this story even more interesting is that in the face of the backlash, they are negotiating a truce with a previously unknown entity called the Media Bloggers Association, which according to BoingBoing, appears to be just one man with little interest in blogging. Yet he appears to be representing the blogosphere as a whole. This situation makes me so mad that I have come up with a plan. From now on, I’m going to quote 4 words or less from the AP, as often as I can. Get used to it, it is my new soapbox/protest.

The AP sez: “bloggers subsequently lambasted AP”

I took the above picture about an hour ago between 6th and 7th on Wilshire in Santa Monica. That’s a bus. On Fire. It was one of those CNG natural gas buses so it was a tad concerning that it was in flames. The white dust you see all around the back of the bus is some kind of self-fire extinguisher- it went off inside the engine cover and shot foamy chemicals out of all of the openings. The whole thing smelled terrible. For all of the smoke and excitement, it was over pretty quickly- the best part was the woman who was visibly waiting to see if she should get back on the bus or not.

Quick tip lady: if the bus has a fireman spraying water onto its burning engine, go get the next bus.

I took this photo on Friday. I don’t know what prices are where you are, but they are headed way higher soon. I know we pay less than most other countries, but they have smaller, fuel efficient cars and mass transit, both of which are not yet as viable in the US as a whole. My next car is going to have a lot of batteries and a solar panel on the roof- or else!

I am posting this in case you have not seen it. It is very important that you at least acquaint yourself with the ideas discussed in this video; The basic gist, for the lazy, is:

It doesn’t matter if Global Warming/Climate Change is happening, or what is causing it if it is; all that we do know is that the cost of doing nothing is too high, so our only option is to do something about it. The end.

There is more info on this, and more videos on the topic, here. Greg Craven, the guy in the video, is on a one-man internet video crusade to prove not that Global Warming is real, but that fighting it is the only thing we can really afford to do. But, knowing governments, this is falling on deaf ears. Why shore up a levee when you can repair it after it breaks- that’s cheaper in the long run.. right? Isn’t it???

As we humans multiply at our ever-increasing suicidal rate, we are encroaching into the habitats of wild animals more and more. Our presence in their domain is pretty much never positive- we have made more animals extinct than we will really ever be able to count, and yet we continue to expand. There are lots of reports these days of wild animals and humans coming into contact in extremely negative ways, often with mutual loss of life, but none is as interesting as what is happening with the elephants. It seems that elephants recognize that they are being squeezed out, and they are fighting back: (more…)

It has been a while since I brought the iron gavel of the Armchair Justice down to bear on a topic, some would say too long on this particular case. I would like to now officially call the case of “The World vs. Britney Spears” officially closed. The girl is unstable and does something interesting every single day, but there are more pressing issues at hand and it is time we allowed her family and the people directly involved to handle things. We have an election that could determine the future of humanity, in a very real way, and whack-job-McSpears is no longer our concern. I do not know her, neither do you. We cannot help or harm her, or in any way influence her situation. Therefore it is important that we all stop talking about her so that she can get the help she may or may not need. There, it is done- no more talking about Britney, talk about real things, things that matter.

This is a pretty incredible development: we are not the only species that hunts and kills with spears. The chimps are in the wild, and use spears they sharpen with their teeth to injure (and thus slow down) and eat bushbabies- a behavior they developed on their own. They are also starting to live in caves, which is really amazing. This discovery is important on all kinds of levels, the foremost of which is that we had better watch the f**k out from now on.