The most influential blogs

Mark Glaser in OJR: Bloggers Rate the Most Influential Blogs.

Mark surveyed a handful of bloggers (esp. media bloggers) this week and reports his results with some interesting top 10 lists.

I should emphasize that I didn't name the top 10 bloggers in the blogosphere, but the 10 blogs that have been especially influential in media circles. Thus, several that were originally on the list, like Doc Searls, Larry Lessig and Boing Boing, dropped off. Perhaps Jeff Jarvis, Sheila Lennon, Derek Willis or others should have made the cut.

In any event, Mark's article was accompanied by a telling graphic that showed the most influential blogs, how much they address the subject of media and journalism, and the political leanings of each one. Check out Glaser's Guide to the Blogosphere. Seems pretty dead on.

Global warming report censored

CBS News carried a well-done report tonight on the Bush administration's censoring of scientific evidence in a major report on global warming to be released next week. Environmentalists say the administration is twisting and omitting the scientific data to meet its political agenda.

Far as I can tell, I can't link directly to the report. It's in the video section under "EPA Report Censored?"

Senate moves to reverse FCC

NY Times:

Moving with unusual speed, the Senate began today the legislative process of reversing the recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to loosen media ownership rules and enable the nation's largest newspaper and broadcasting conglomerates to grow larger.

A broadly bipartisan group of the Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation by voice vote to restore the previous lower limits on the number of television stations a single company can own and to reimpose most of the restrictions that prevent a company from owning both a newspaper and a radio or television station in the same city. The vote was a stinging rebuke of the F.C.C.'s chairman, Michael K. Powell, the architect of the deregulation.

Warner Music to employees: Lose the P2P

Warner Music to employees: Remove P2P software -- or else. The EFF points to this internal memo to employees of Warner Music Group.

Warner Music Group
TO: All WMG Personnel
FROM: Dave Johnson
SUBJECT: Policy on copyright infringement and the use of "peer-to-peer" systems
DATE: June 3, 2003
COPIES TO: Roger Ames

As each of you is undoubtedly aware, the illegal copying of CDs is a serious matter that is adversely affecting the entire music community. Lost revenue as a result of piracy undermines the passion and hard work we bring to our jobs, threatening our livelihood and the livelihood of our artists. Copyright infringement is also illegal, no less so than shoplifting a CD. Downloading copyrighted music and burning CDs from peer-to-peer networks such as KaZaA, Morpheus, Gnutella or any other similar service is a violation of the law, and will not be tolerated among WMG employees.

If you have peer-to-peer software on your company computer, you must remove it immediately. Failure to do so, and the failure to respect music copyrights may lead to disciplinary action, including termination.

Beginning shortly, we will scan our computer network to detect the presence of file sharing software on company computers, so again, it
is important that you remove the software immediately. If you need assistance in removing file sharing software, please contact your IT department. Your cooperation on this matter is essential. ...

Lawmakers get taste of invasion of privacy

Here's a Mercury News editorial on the five gutless California legislators who killed a landmark consumer privacy bill.

And here's a terrific story about the legislators getting a taste of invasion of privacy:

When state lawmakers voted down a financial-privacy bill Tuesday afternoon, consumer advocate Jamie Court wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine.

So he hopped on the Internet, bought their Social Security numbers for $26 a pop and posted parts of them on his group's Web site.

Now the lawmakers are firing back, threatening to ask the California Highway Patrol to investigate whether any laws were broken. ...

Bravo on an inventive display of Web activism.

A Blogger's Big-Fish Fantasy

Catherine Greenman in the NY Times: A Blogger's Big-Fish Fantasy.

I'm kind of amazed that as the blogging world gets bigger and bigger (400,000 to 1 million active blogs, at last word), I seem to always know the people quoted in these articles. This one quotes my friends Susan Mernit (who began blogging earlier this year, partly at my prodding), Meg Hourihan and David Sifry, and mentions Doc Searls. Looks like big media picks up on the blogosphere's small self-referential world.

Money in online journals

New in OJR:

Mark Glaser: One-Man Blogs Prove There Is Money to Be Made by Online Journals. PaidContent, IWantMedia are going a long way toward proving that advertisers will support relevant content.

News Sites Experiment With 'Dayparting' by Tailoring Content. Studies show people have different interests at different times of the day, so Web editors are testing the waters by changing the lineup for day and evening viewers.

Harry Potter and the Copyright Lawyer

Washington Post: Harry Potter Fan Ficton Leads to Copyright Battle. Use of Popular Characters Puts 'Fan Fiction' Writers in Gray Area.

Gore TV?

Time mag: Former Vice President Al Gore is quietly seeking backers to help launch a liberal news channel or radio outlet that could challenge conservative media, sources say.

Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.

Will iTunes lead to less creativity?

Salon: ITunes -- The I Doesn't Stand for Innovation. In which the author argues that as songs are increasingly sold one by one online, the musical creativity and risk-taking associated with the album format will decline.

By the way, Wired News keeps saying "registration required" for Salon articles. Wrong. Subscription required.

When spam filters go bad

Laura Miller in Salon: Trying to block junk mail, my cable modem company installed a system that prevented me from getting my REAL mail -- and when I complained, insisted it was all for the good of the System.

MoveOn to endorse a candidate

MoveOn has decided to endorse a presidential candidate. Next Tuesday and Wednesday, the organization will poll its members in a sort of early MoveOn primary. From reading the group's tea leaves, it looks to me as if Howard Dean or John Kerry have the only real shot at winning the membership's endoresement.

If you're not a member, you're invited to join (for free, of course) and register to vote in the MoveOn primary by going here.

Two spoofs in the P2P wars

A little bit of levity in the P2P file-sharing wars:

JZIP: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced legislation authorizing the use of high-powered microwave lasers to burn out the eyes of non-paying viewers of copyrighted material. ìIf we could develop technology which just burned out the parts of their brains where the illegal memories are stored, thatíd be fine with me--but we can burn their eyes out right now!î said Hatch, while introducing the Hatch/Hollywood Eyeball Evisceration Act.

And from Declan's Politech list:

Senator wants copyright "kill switches" in PCs
Thursday, June 19, 2003; 10:12 AM

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that future personal computers should be required to sport "kill switches" that could be remotely activated in cases of peer-to-peer piracy.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, said he was drafting legislation to require devices in PCs permitting the destruction of hardware used for widescale copyright infringement by sending a secret command to the remote computer. A copyright holder would be required to offer two warnings before the "kill switch" was activated and the computer destroyed or permanently disabled, Hatch said.

"That may be the only way you can teach these people about copyright infringement," Hatch told reporters in the Hart Senate office building before a meeting of the Judiciary committee. "Requiring kill switches is an extreme step, but if the private sector can't stop piracy on its own, the government will."