Stanford Center for Internet and Society

Rob Millis recently interviewed me for his program American Microphone. We discussed some of my favorite topics -- like how to legally share creative content on the internet, how Creative Commons works, what sorts of problems large media outlets will be facing as "new media" grows and democratizes how information is distributed.

We also discussed some of the issues behind the Josh Wolf story. As of February 6, Josh is the journalist longest imprisoned for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. I, unfortunately, got one important fact about his incarceration wrong in the interview -- the grand jury won't expire this month. It is not set to expire until the end of July. Fortunately, Josh's Mom cleared that up on the American Microphone blog, and also explained further the details of his situation.

So, you want to help Josh, but are not sure what you can do? Here's a great idea: You can host or attend a house party for Josh on Feb. 20. More info here.

American Microphone, btw, is lauded by NewTeeVee as a fresh political vlog sitting squarely in the spin free zone of political reporting. Like Alive in Baghdad and others, this space for political commentary and free speech is amazingly valuable, especially as we move into the next presidential campaign season. Rob has got some other cool ideas in the works, so I encourage you to keep an eye on his show as well as other projects he is involved with.

Ann Beheler, Dean of Business, Computing, and Career Services at Orange Coast College and doctoral candidate, recently contacted me about podcasting in education. She will soon be conducting an online research study to develop best practices for the effective use of podcasting in postsecondary education. I have agreed to participate in her study, and I would like to refer any of you who are higher ed educators to also participate. It will take about 10-15 minutes of your time for each of three surveys spread over about a month, and you will get the results of the study. If you're interested, please contact Ann at beheler@tx.rr.com and include a short description of your use of podcasting and your educational affiliation if you would like to be included.

Thanks to Evan Brown, I learned of the N.D. Texas opinion in Live Nation Motor Sports v. Davis. The case is about whether "webcasts" (or perhaps just a link) posted by www.supercrosslive.com infringe the copyright of SFX, a division of Clear Channel.

The opinion is disturbing for those involved webcasting or those making any distribution of on-line media by way of linking, framing, streaming or webcasting. The reason the opinion is disturbing is its ambiguous recitation of the critical facts in the case. Evan explains the confusion and points to the Perfect 10 v. Google case that was recently argued at the 9th Circuit. William Patry also finds the opinion "somewhat ambiguous" and has an excellent explanation about why the missing facts are so critical (and the comments on Patry's blog are insightful too). (See also others discussing this from Techmeme.) (Click on the read more link for more.)

Rob Welch, author of Tricks of the Podcasting Masters, interviewed me recently about the Podcasting Legal Guide and my forthcoming podcast series that will address the legal questions of podcasters and video bloggers. (Yes, you read that correctly... I'll soon move from just speaking about podcasts and law, and actually enter the ranks as a podcaster myself.)

Last week the Pew/Internet & American Life Project issued a Data Memo about Podcast Downloading. It concludes that 12% of internet users have dowloaded a podcast and notes that men (15%) download more than women (8%). The study also compares an analogous survey from February - April 2006 with results from the more recent survey of August 2006. With the exception of users aged 65+, which remained the same (4%), in every demographic group they studied, the percentage of people who have downloaded a podcast has increased.