TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for June, 2002

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“Ms. Lansing has never shown any interest in a greater corporate role. But the movie business is changing, and she may not want to change with it. ‘Her career has been based on content,’ Mr. Rudin said. ‘Now it is more of a marketing business, and that may have less appeal for her.’” – New York Times, June 30

The TeleRead take: And don’t think that book biz is any different from show biz. Time for more focus on a library model?

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“‘When kids read during the summer, they do better in school,’ said Carol Rasco, president and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental Inc. ‘But just as importantly, summer reading should be fun and help kids discover that books can take them on great adventures.’ It’s in those moments looking through the library stacks, choosing a page-turning mystery or a sports biography — with no test or book report looming beyond the final page–that kids learn the true entertainment value of a book.” – Miami Herald, June 29, via Library Stuff

The TeleRead take: But what about the rest of the year? Imagine the benefits if children could also browse around for the right book from home?

By David Rothman

Pirate radio on the Net–which the RIAA can’t trace? That’s the claim discussed in Slashdot.

The TeleRead take: Another example of the ingenuity of bootleggers–and the need for sustainable and user-friendly business models, whether for music or books.

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“Unfortunately, the bulk of resources in most libraries is still available only in conventional printed form: bound, numbered and arranged on shelves. You can try doing all your research electronically but at some point, you will have to hunt down a book on one of those shelves, sit down and thumb through its pages. In libraries of the future, researchers at Johns Hopkins University say, that kind of grunt work could be handled by robotic systems linked to the Internet.” – New York Times, June 27

The TeleRead take: Mixed feelings here. This would be a great transitional technology and a long-lasting one to use for retrieving rare books, but let’s not accustom ourself to limitations such as the one-reader-at-a-time approach. The true solution is a TeleRead-style digital one. Let’s not content ourselves with even a high-tech stage coach.

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Practical how-to guidance from Mary Minow, a library law consultant for LibraryLaw.com. Carried by LLX.com.

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National Public Radio has leveled with us in offering one reason why it fears unfettered linking. Horror of horrors, what if people criticize NPR on their own sites and use too many NPR links? Why, they might even charge subscription fees. I myself am an NPR booster but relish the prospect of this nightmare unfolding. Gadflies are an essential part of media ecology, particularly when they’re right.

I was curious to see what NPR critics might actually be out there, right or wrong. The possibilities intrigued me. I already knew of media watchers such as ChronWatch. And earlier today I had run across PostWatch’s reproduction of a piece called Post Op-Eds: Boring, Predictable Playground for the Center and the Right by none other than ex-Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy. Written originally for a pulped-wood version of the Progressive, the McCarthy article didn’t include links to illustrate specifics. Still, given McCarthy’s past prominence at the Post, the piece was bloody fun to read. More than ever, I hoped that bloggers and other Web publishers of all ideological stripes would prevail over Corporate Control Central.

Inspired by PostWatch, which I found through a blog called Ombudsgod, I checked to see if there existed an nprwatch.blogspot.com. No dice. But over in the whois area of VeriSign, I did see NPRwatch.org, which at this point was offering nothing more than an “Under Construction” page. An email address listed in the whois, however, led to the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America–a very, very real site.

From an NPR perspective, CAMERA turned out to be a show of horrors. I found that this site did not focus just on NPR–apparently that would be the job of the related NPRwatch, registered in 2000–but it was a potential linkfest for media skeptics. CAMERA was taking on Time, AP, MSNBC and CNN, not just NPR, and while I was immediately skeptical of some of the claims there (was the partly Jewish Geraldo Rivera really a “Palestinian-ist”?), this organization was entitled to have its say and use links to make its points.

Within CAMERA, I discovered a host of anti-NPR items–for example:

–June 26, 2002: NPR: Palestinians Who Murdered Israeli Mother and Children were “Commandos” (with a deep NPR link included)

–May 3, 2002: CAMERA Calls on NPR to Fire Foreign Editor Loren Jenkins

–January 2, 2002: NPR Distorts Even Its Bias

–December 26, 2001: NPR’s “On the Media” Distorts Interview with CAMERA

–September 26, 2001: Despite Terror Attack, NPR Maintains Blacklist of Leading Terror Expert, Steve Emerson

Quickly touring the above, I did not exactly see any intent to make people think that CAMERA was part of NPR, a risk that the Link Police in the past had mentioned without alluding to CAMERA. Just the opposite, of course. What’s more, if anything, I had a link-related gripe of a kind that NPR might not have understood. I didn’t see enough deep-linking to NPR to back up the points that CAMERA wanted to make. In CAMERA’s place, for purposes of rebuttal if nothing else, I myself would have linked to a page where NPR’s ombudsman discussed the Steve Emerson case and other accuations of bias. Had CAMERA wanted to link, in fact? Might NPR’s old policy of ask-first have inhibited CAMERA? If so, the policy had backfired. Expect your critics to link to you to back up their points, and then they would have a harder time attacking–since the standards of proof would be higher.

Whatever the facts, the CAMERA site has struck me as a textbook example of the need for NPR to do away explicitly with all restrictions on linking by advocacy groups, even implied restrictions. I don’t care how many times NPR assures us that it won’t use its linking policy to scare critics. Do we really want CAMERA and its future NPRwatch.org to rely on NPR’s goodwill to do links? Even now, the revised NPR linking policy states: “We reserve the right to withdraw permission for any link.” That’s hardly a great example for a respected jouralistic organization, lest it have to depend too heavily on the kindness of strangers, who can throw the NPR precedent right back in the network’s face. Requiring permission to link is truly an anti-journalistic mindset–a bit like filing a suit to do away with Times vs. Sullivan. Never mind the anti-link sentiments of certain greedy and clueless publishers. They are businessmen people, not working editors and reporters. By contrast, NPR “is pledged to abide scrupulously by the highest artistic, editorial, and journalistic standards and practices of broadcast programming.”

As it turned out, when I phoned CAMERA Executive Director Andrea Levin about the old and new link policies, she said that she herself didn’t even know of the NPR linking controversy and had not received any letters from lawyers. Just the same, more than ever, I saw the legal risks here, especially since CAMERA told me that NPRwatch.org could indeed be the address of a real site in the future. Like most surfers on the Web, her staffers apparently weren’t bothering to read the terms of service agreement–a good illustration of the risks that linking policies could pose to freedom of expression online. Asked about CAMERA’s attitude toward NPR’s linking policies, she referred me to her group’s associate director–more informed about the Web than she is, I understand–from whom I’m still awaiting a call.

Later this weekend I’m going to do what I should have done earlier. I’ll write a nice polite letter to NPR and ask for a full list of sites with which the network’s lawyers have corresponded about link matters. If I can see copies of the actual letters or email messages, then so much the better (never hurts at least to ask). I’m eager to find out more about the claimed “instances where companies and individuals constructed entire commercial Web ‘radio’ sites based on links to NPR and similar audio.” Or about “advocacy groups that have positioned the audio link to an NPR story such that one cannot tell that NPR is not supporting their cause.” In the first instance, the commercial sites, I wonder if NPR is simply talking about audio portals, and in the second, I wonder if trademark defense rather than link-based action would be the true solution.

Meanwhile I would repeat my earlier recommendation against a boycott of public radio. No need for one; it isn’t as if the network has stonewalled critics. The facts are on the side of us pesky link advocates, and I suspect that sooner or later NPR will come around. Via links, everyone gets zinged at times–in the free and open spirit of the World Wide Web. And here at the TeleBlog, we’d find it hard to envision the Web any other way.

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For the perspective of NPR’s ombudsman, check out Jeffrey Dvorkin’s page. He is open-minded enough to quote some of the network’s critics, and he even includes a link to this TeleBlog.

While I still dislike NPR’s linking policies, I myself favor the gentle approach and would oppose the withholding of contributions to public radio stations. It isn’t as if NPR is stonewalling us. A dialogue is still possible on such issues as linking by advocacy groups and businesses. What’s more, as shown by a sympathetic segment that a Minnesota affiliate did with Cory Doctorow, a boycott would indirectly punish working-stiff interviewers and producers who are on our side or who at least are neutral.

The network meanwhile has improved its terms of use–no more form to fill out before linking–and hopefully will be making other changes to address the serious and rather valid concerns of bloggers and other Web publishers.

I see this as a matter of education. The more restrictions NPR imposes on links, the more risky it will be for the network’s own Web operation to link to sites in the news.

Perhaps NPR should contact lawyers at EFF and reporters’ groups to check out different legal viewpoints from the one it is now getting. NPR holds itself up as an organization with strong journalistic values. That is exactly why the perspective of reporters’ organizations might actually be more helpful than those from profit-minded publishers or broadcasters. A library-oriented lawyer might also help. If nothing else, NPR should keep in mind its mission statement–which in many ways overlaps with those of librarians, another group concerned with credibility. At the grassroots level, I know that Jenny the Shifted Librarian would have more than a few things to say.

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We don’t know and won’t speculate. But author-columnist Robert X. Cringely is having some fun with the possibilities and even suggesting that Microsoft has deliberately left security holes in its products to stir up discontent with the existing Net. What we can say is that the telecom thieves completely justified Cringely’s paranoia about them.

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Has NPR itself done a story on the linking controversy? Not that I know of so far. When I called the office of Nina Totenberg, the legal corresondent, I was told she didn’t have time. But presumably NPR has other good, qualified reporters. The topic is important enough to be covered. If it isn’t covered, then either (1) NPR will provide yet other evidence of cluelessness or (2) we’ll know that NPR refuses to cover itself. Time for the NPR ombudsman to go into the air?

Meanwhile, Jenny Levine, the Shifted Librarian, warns NPR not to “waste their own time and resources tracking links, sanctioning links, and paying lawyers to send threatening letters, all the while becoming the butt of an ever-growing web joke meme. You can bet that every story about linking ever will refer to NPR and that it will become the poster child for web cluelessness.”

Hello, hello, NPR? Librarians and teachers are normally among your biggest fans, and your linking polices are not making them very happy.

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“Consumers may think they are successfully burning a CD protected by Smarte Solutions, but may discover otherwise when they try to play it… Privately held Smarte Solutions is working with software publishers to incorporate its SmarteCD technology into their wares. Unlike existing copy-protection schemes, which prevent CD burners from copying a disk, SmarteCD allows the user to burn a copy of the disc, explained company president Bala Vishwanath. The software can be installed from the bootleg disc and will appear to run normally, until the program reaches a point determined by the software publisher. Then the application will halt and present users with an invitation to purchase a legal, fully functional version of the software.” – ZDnet, June 18, 2002

The TeleRead take: How long until e-book publishers cook up similar schemes, assuming they haven’t already?

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So how helpful will circulation software be when G-men come to visit? LibraryPlanet.com gives one librarian’s perspective. Interesting fact: Some forgetful patrons actually wanted their reading habits recorded over the long run so they’d know if they were reading the same book again. But at least one library software maker never enabled that feature, presumably with privacy concerns in mind.

The TeleRead take: Yes, TeleRead could be designed with privacy protections. At same time I can also see the FBI’s side on the need to track down cyberterrorists before they grow too smart about dams and air-traffic control routines. If the feds can go through due process and have specific people in mind–well, that would would be different from frivolous searches and routine monitoring of Americans’ reading habits. As noted, too, terrorists actually did use one of my favorite library branches, Sherwood Regional, right there in Fairfax County, VA, perhaps to communicate with their fellow jihadists.

Just the same, I’m delighted that librarians consider this a gut issue and are skeptical. Much of the crucial information isn’t even in libraries but on the Net–including perhaps the dam and air-traffic information. What’s more, everyone knows how leaky FBI files can be, and millions of Americans remember the old McCarthy-era abuses. As I hazily recall–it’s been decades–an old family friend was even driven out of a midwestern town because the neighbors perceived her as too “liberal.” Were the feds checking out Raphie Lou’s reading habits? Never know what and who might offend.

J. Edgar Hoover actually feared Albert Einstein as a subversive. So what happens if among us we have an Arab-American Einstein who is thoroughly loyal–to the U.S.–and just happens to have a passion for friendly biographies of Saladin? Someday will a Big Brotherish computer go through the circulation records of a public or university library and flag our friend as a security risk?

If nothing else, the usual concerns arise about the use of sensitive information in, say, divorce cases, given the leakiness of files. Pity the beleaguered spouse who checks out Lolita at the wrong time.

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A good update on the NPR link controversy appears in Wired News with quotes from Cory Doctorow and me, two of the uppity linkers who believe that even NPR’s revised policies threaten freedom of expression.

Meanwhile a decision is expected July 5 in a deep-link-related case in Denmark.

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ZDnet writer Preston Gralla offers links to several possibilities, but in my opinion, his best bet just might be Super MP3 Recorder, which “can save any audio stream coming into your sound card. It automatically chooses the best recording options, and then saves the stream as an MP3 or WAV file. This download records streaming audio in many formats, including Windows Media Player, QuickTime, RealPlayer, and Flash.”

The TeleRead take: This is the kind of technology that sends shivers down the spines of the RIAA members. I love it. RIAA and friends are working contain such magic, and I’m most grouchy. Um, we’re in time shift territory–fair use and all that. Even content-providers, in fact especially content providers, can find uses for such tools. What if you’re a financial radio show host and want your programs to go on the Web? No hypothetical situation. I designed a Web site for a financial advisor, and thanks to TotalRecorder, his radio station’s Web audio could be saved and up at his own site within an hour or so of the original broadcast.

In a book context, the implications are obvious. Whatever could be displayed on a screen could in theory be picked up. Oh, the fun of Draconian copyright law. Time for a more realistic library model?

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Hours ago we noted that by turning the Net into a more and more of a cyberwar zone, a Hollywood-friendly proposal could alienate hackers and even jeopardize U.S. national security.

Even without Congress not (yet) falling for a wacky proposal from Rep. Howard Bermain to legalize cyberattacks against certain alleged copyright violators, it would appear that the risks are very real. Beware of blowback–a snake-cage-full of wanted consequences.

Yaha Worm Takes Out Pakistan Government’s Site; virus uses victim computers as denial-of-service agents, and tries to recruit Indian hackers into a cross-border cyber war

The official Web site of the government of Pakistan is apparently the victim of a politically motivated attack launched by the latest version of an Internet worm.

Virus experts said the Yaha.E worm, first identified on June 15, contains a payload designed in part to disrupt the home page of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with a rudimentary denial of service attack.

Attempts to reach the site, located at www.pak.gov.pk, were unsuccessful Wednesday…

Update: Whether because of the attack or for other reasons, we could not access the above site at 5:22 a.m. EST Friday.

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“Historians will be able to look back 200 years from now and read the original proposal for Boo.com or Kozmo.com or eToys.com and hear audio histories from executives and worker bees from the companies. Ideally, future students and business leaders will learn something from the mistakes that were made.” – Shannon Henry, Washington Post, June 27.

The TeleRead take: A much-needed project–from David Kirsch, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. No conflict with the valuable Internet Archive, which focuses on the preservation of actual Web pages. Perhaps by learning from the past debacles, we can avoid another @Home or–within the telecom area–WorldCom.

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“Online magazine publisher Salon Media Group, Inc., faces the prospect of going out of business if it can’t raise money this summer, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.” – AP, via the New York Times, June 27.

The TeleRead take: So even with the optional Salon Premier subscription plan, Salon isn’t making it? This is a most unfortunate evidence to back up our mantra that good content costs. Salon can be infuriating at times–but despite its many flaws I’d miss it if it were gone.

What about this free TeleBlog? Well, it and the rest of TeleRead are absolutely free of any corporate entanglements. But I’d love to be able to give it more time. I remain in search of a business model that would not compromise TeleRead’s integrity. Feedback welcome on this and other matters. As best I can determine from stats from LFC Hosting, at least several thousand people a week are now reading the TeleBlog.

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Nice letter received yesterday from a gungho library fan down in Larose, Louisana, who says a newspaper story to which I linked did not give the full picture. Check out my followup at the bottom of the original item on library-related gouges.

Interesting lessons arise here on the limitations of blogging. Other TeleBlog contributors and I will try to link to good publications, but we can’t police them in advance for accuracy, fairness or completeness. Especially when it comes to local stories, we’re at the mercy of whatever the reporter chooses to write from the scene. Blogs are useful as information filters, but should never be considered a substitute for conventional media.

Here at the TeleBlog, we link to a mix of both conventional and not-so-conventional sources but do our best to go for the most factual, whether they’re newspapers or blogs or radio networks. This appreciation of credible news sources, as blog grist, is one reason why we’ve been pushing for NPR not to fetter itself or Webfolks with stupid linking policies. Bad news for the level of discourse. Carrying the concept further, you can see the advantage of enriching the Net with thousands of books online to which bloggers and other Web publishers can send use stable links to direct surfers. Not that TeleRead or a perfect NPR linking policy would have saved us from linking to the botched news story from Larose. But you get the idea.

Meanwhile, speaking of the relationship between blogs and the conventional media, news consultant Steve Outing has just come out with a column suggesting that news organizations make blogs available to any reporter or photographer who wants one. Remember, blogs can carry pictures, too.

Great idea, just so the blogs augment conventional news stories but do not replace them. As Steve points out, however, reporters do notebook dumps anyway and hoard surplus material, so why not make it public?

An aside: It goes without saying that many of the TeleBlog links and maybe even most will not go to any news organization or even a quasi-news organization. Notice? Today I linked everywhere from Jack Valenti’s official bio–no, I cannot and will not verify the veracity of the facts there–to the home page of the Larose Chamber of Commerce. That just happens to be the nature of the Web. No endorsement implied. I myself prefer to see source material, not just predigested information from news organizations, even if it may be flawed.