Friday’s Endnotes – 07/29/16

Open Letter to 2016 Political Candidates — With the conventions of both parties now officially wrapped up, the US starts the 101 day march to the general election. Click the link to add your name to an open letter to all candidates discussing the importance of copyright.

What it takes to be a ‘Ghostbusters’ stuntwoman — “‘Ghostbusters’ shot for four months in Boston, and the stuntwomen trained even while on location. Most days on set, the women challenged one another to handstand contests. They worked out between rehearsals, went to a Parkour gym on days off, and hit mitts in the park. The life of a stuntwoman is to always be training. ‘I always do gymnastics to keep up my body awareness,’ Richardson said of her weekly training habits. ‘I also do judo and Kung Fu and then sometimes driving stuff with one of my friends who is great on motorcycles.'”

The Stories Behind Stranger Things’ Retro 80s Props — A lot of people, including me, have thoroughly enjoyed Netflix’s new series Stranger Things, which premiered July 15. A big part of the show’s appeal is its accurate portrayal of 1980’s Indiana. Wired Magazine talks with the show’s propmaster, Lynda Reiss, who played a critical role populating the world of Stranger Things with the objects that reflect that accuracy.

Why we Love Fair Use — CreativeFuture’s Ruth Vitale explains, “We love fair use because all creativity is a ‘dialogue,’ or an interchange of ideas and inspiration from one artist to another. Fair use is a uniquely American concept; it protects both the original creator and creators who fairly use parts of others’ works. Fair use is a fundamental principle of freedom of expression. And that is the core of creativity.”

Videos From U.S. Copyright Office Moral Rights Symposium “Authors, Attribution & Integrity” Now Available Online — Last April, the Copyright Office, along with the Center for Protection of Intellectual Property, hosted a full day symposium to discuss moral rights in the US. Videos and transcripts of the proceedings are now available. Worth a look if you missed it the first time around.

Copyright Concerns Are Torpedoing The FCC Set Top Box Plan. Why That’s Good For Consumers — Over at Forbes, Larry Downes explains why the FCC’s recent set-top box proposal is not a necessary incursion in the market—the television landscape is innovative and delivering some of the best shows and programs we’ve ever seen. Worse, it threatens to undermine the framework that makes that innovation possible. Also see Kevin Madigan’s article on why a recent response attempting to dismiss the copyright concerns is misguided, Letter on FCC Set-Top Box Regulation Once Again Confuses the Issue.

Dark Patterns are designed to trick you (and they’re all over the Web) — Ars Technica discusses “deliberately confusing or deceptive user interfaces”, which intentionally or inadvertantly drive web users to do things they might not otherwise have, like “setting up recurring payments, purchasing items surreptitiously added to a shopping cart, or spamming all contacts through prechecked forms on Facebook games.”