orgelspieler - Slashdot User

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How do I Explain Copyright to my Kids? 4

Submitted by orgelspieler on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @03:10PM

orgelspieler writes: My son paid for a copy of a novel on his iPad. When his school made it against the rules to bring iPads, he wanted to get the same book on his Kindle. I tried to explain that the format of his eBook was not readily convertible to the Kindle. So he tried to go on his schools online library app. He checked it out just fine, but ironically, the offline reading function only works on the now-disallowed iPads.

Rather than paying Amazon $7 for a book I already own, and he has already checked out from the library, I found a bootleg PDF online. I tried to explain that he could just read that, but he freaked out. "That's illegal, Dad!" I tried to explain format shifting, and the injustice of the current copyright framework in America. Even when he did his own research, stumbling across EFF's website on fair use, he still would not believe me.

Have any of you fellow Slashdotters figured out a good way to navigate the moral, legal, and technological issues of copyright law, as it relates to the next generation of nerds? Interestingly, my boy seems OK with playing old video games on the Wayback Machine, so I don't think it's a lost cause.

Submission + - University makes 80,000 Einstein documents publicly available

Submitted by

orgelspieler

on Tuesday March 20, 2012 @01:28PM

orgelspieler writes: "The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has scanned in some 80,000 of Albert Einstein's documents. According to the university's press release, the documents cover more than just scientific matters. The broad range of subjects include his solution to the Jewish-Arab conflict, a postcard to his mother, and a letter from one of his mistresses asking for assistance getting to America. Some documents have been translated and annotated and are completely searchable."

Submission + - IRENE Makes Old Sound Recordings Audible Again

Submitted by

orgelspieler

on Wednesday July 18, 2007 @01:55PM

orgelspieler writes: "NPR is running a story on a safe way to reproduce sound from ancient phonographs that would otherwise be unplayable. The system, called IRENE, was installed in the Library of Congress last year. It can be used to replay records that are scratched, worn, broken, or just too fragile to play with a needle. It scans the groves optically and processes them into a sound file at speeds approaching real time. IRENE is great at removing pops and skips, but can add some hiss. Researchers are also working on a 3D model that is better at removing hiss."

Submission + - Justice Department to Review Domestic Spying

Submitted by

orgelspieler

on Tuesday November 28, 2006 @07:31PM

orgelspieler writes: "According to the NYT, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine has opened a review of his department's role in the domestic spying program. Democrats (and some Republicans) have been requesting an all out investigation into the legality of the so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program" since it was made public. But this new inquiry stops short of evaluating the constitutional legitimacy of the program. From the article:
The review, Mr. Fine said in his letter, will examine the controls in place at the Justice Department for the eavesdropping, the way information developed from it was used, and the department's "compliance with legal requirements governing the program."
Needless to say, Democrats have their doubts about the timing of this announcement."

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