The more that we get immersed in this technology, the more it appears that it has a drastic impact on all areas of our lives, and this is something that we don't always take into consideration.
Case in point, in the news today are two totally unrelated, but still "related" (if you follow me) stories as it revolves around the legalities of the Internet.
Story #1 - Copyrighted Materials (Part I)
Photographers have either filed, are in the process of filing, or are considering filing a suit against Google. The premise of this suit is that their photographs in books that Google has been scanning as part of their "open library" perspective are including copyrighted photographic images and the photographers are not being compensated accordingly.
Story #2 - Defamation of Character in a Digital Age
A 16 year old Arkansas boy is suing his mother for allegedly hacking his Facebook and posting slanderous comments about him.
Story #3 - Copyrighted Materials (Part II)
Okay - this one technically isn't related to my topic as it has nothing to do with the Internet, but the basic premise is there and I wonder if in context of story #1, if it has more relevance than would be originally believed.
This story is about Canadian (Toronto?) establishments that are playing music for their customers. The legal eagles are sending these restaurant and bar owners cease and desist orders and/or bills for having played copyrighted materials without compensating the artist.
This story, I'm especially interested in as my nephew is a lawyer in the entertainment industry and I'm sure that he'd have some interesting views on this.
Regardless, as I mentioned, story #3 doesn't have any "virtual" component...yet...but how long will it be before individuals and corporations "mine" the Internet looking for material that belongs to them and suing the pants off of the publisher looking for compensation?
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