Finally, some good news on the fair-use front.

The U.S. Copyright Office has just announced six new exemptions to copyright law. One of them permits professors to break copy protection on DVDs in order to make compilations to use in class.

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation comes this "action alert" that should concern all media scholars:

Stop Senator Stevens' Digital Restrictions Bill

You may know Ted Stevens as the 82-year old Senator who infamously explained that the Internet "isn't a truck.... It's a series of tubes." Unfortunately, the latest version of his telecom reform bill is even worse than his talent for metaphor. Hollywood and Net censors have larded his proposal with severe restrictions on your digital freedoms. Stevens is pushing to get the votes to take his bill through the Senate before the November elections. Tell your Senator to stand against it now:

http://action.eff.org/stevens

For those of us interested in fair use of copyrighted materials, YouTube provides a very interesting test case. Hundreds of copyrighted songs and videos (TV programs, excerpts from movies, etc.) are hosted there; it's hugely popular; and, to date, no one has successfully sued YouTube over copyright violations.

Fred von Lohmann, of HollywoodReporterEsq.com, discusses how YouTube has made use of the DMCA's "safe harbor" provisions in his article, "YouTube's Balancing Act: Making Money, Not Enemies." It's a fascinating read:

http://snipurl.com/vs6l