Friday’s Endnotes – 01/22/16

Penguin Random House Ebooks Now Licensed for Perpetual Access — Robert C. Maier, a member of the American Library Association’s Digital Content Working Group, has this to say about the benefits of licensing, “Though we were in shock when HarperCollins instituted its 26-loan limit in 2011, that rental model is now recognized as an attractive alternative to high-priced perpetual access. At this point, the ideal arrangement would be the ability to license any title for perpetual access and to license the same title for a set number of circulations or a set time period, combining the library’s need to build its collection and to meet current popular demand.”

Endless Whack-A-Mole: Why Notice-and-Staydown Just Makes Sense — “A quick search of YouTube today shows that The Hateful Eight, which is still in theaters, is legitimately available for pre-order and is illicitly available to be streamed right now. One wonders why YouTube chooses to compete with itself, especially when it has the tool to prevent such unfair competition.”

It’s Wikipedia mythbuster time: 8 of the best on your 15th birthday — Here’s number 6: “But isn’t Wikipedia all about the democratisation of knowledge, and diversity? No, actually. Wikipedia, being a free resource, holds an inherent price advantage. It has no real competitors. As academic Heather Ford points out, ‘rather than this leading to an increase in the diversity of knowledge and the democratisation of expertise, the result has actually been greater consolidation in the number of knowledge sources considered authoritative.'”

Photographer Sues Twitter for Not Removing Photos Despite DMCA Requests — “The DMCA’s ‘Safe Harbor’ provision protects Internet companies from being responsible for the copyright infringements of their users, but only if they promptly and adequately respond to DMCA take down requests. If a company fails to honor DMCA requests, they could be held liable. Reilly says that’s what happened in this case. ‘Twitter had actual knowledge of the Infringing Uses,’ the lawsuit states. ‘Reilly provided notice to Twitter in compliance with the DMCA, and Twitter failed to expeditiously disable access to or remove the Infringing Uses.'”

No, Piracy Is Not the Sincerest Form of Flattery — Robert Atkinson observes, “while most people would recognize an uptick in criminal activity as a problem, perennial piracy apologists defiantly insist, against logic and evidence, that this is a sign of good fortune for Hollywood.”