The New York Times yesterday reported that a company from Nevada, Righthaven LLC, has entered into an arrangement with Media News Group (the owner of the Lowell Sun and many other newspapers) whereby Righthaven scours the internet for people using copyrighted articles and photographs from Media News Group papers and, when they find such an instance, they get an assignment of certain rights from Media News Group and then immediately file suit against the blogger. A suit against a 20 year old young man with a severe disability who lives with his mother in North Carolina who had used a photo that had originally appeared in the Denver Post (a Media News Group paper) brought this practice into the national spotlight.
I'm not surprised by this episode; I'm just surprised it didn't occur sooner. I don't know if Righthaven's tactics will survive judicial scrutiny if put to the test but it will have a chilling effect on blogging. If anything, this situation underscores the importance of blogs/bloggers developing original content for themselves & the audience they cultivate. What say you, O denizens of Red Mass Group?
Israel Matzav: Why I'm supporting Scott Brown for the US Senate
Anyone who refers to the non-existent country of 'Palestine' has already lost a lot of points in my book. Note that Israel is 'one of our most important allies' as opposed to Brown who calls it 'our closest ally.'
Instapundit: SCOTT BROWN NEEDS HELP THAT DOESN'T COST MONEY.
I live in Massachusetts and did something I've never done before. I donated money to a political candidate- Scott Brown.
When I mentioned to my wife that I was going to log on to his website and donate $20, even though she is less political than me, she said, "Make it $50! I'm tired of this nonsense!"
Conservative Badlands: Why Scott Brown?
Many of us have been beating the drum for Scott Brown because he would be the 41st Republican vote in the U. S. Senate. With only 59 votes left to the Democrats, they could not stop a filibuster against the Obama health care bill when it comes back to the Senate to be voted on. While that is reason enough to vote for him, that overlooks what else this country gets with him in the Senate. Folks, what you get here is what has to be the epitome of the ideal political candidate. Never in 45 years in politics have we seen a candidate like this one. He just has it all.
The Village Voice published an interesting, albeit satirical, detailed article on the right-wing blogosphere
http://www.villagevoice.com/ne... Among the bloggers on their blacklist was Massachusetts' own Ace of Spades! Congratulations!
If you notice any more Massachusetts bloggers in the article, please post a comment.
May RedMassGroup join the blacklist in the near future!
Illustration by Tom Tomorrow
