A friend pointed me to this troubling story. Eric Weisstein’s Mathworld website, a virtual encyclopedia of mathematics, has been yanked off the web after a preliminary injunction granted to CRC Press, which charged copyright infringement. More than three years ago, Weisstein had signed a book deal giving CRC page images of his website; CRC published “Eric Weisstein’s CRC Concise Encylopedia of Mathematics” in November 1998. Now CRC claims he sold the rights to the website, not just a printed book; a court found the contract ambiguous on this point and granted CRC’s injunction.

Although I realize your eyes glaze over with dry discussions of mathematics, the issues have broader applicability to the relationship between publishing on the web and in print. The question comes down to whether the standard book contract clause granting the publisher the “right to reproduce in all media” is applicable to a preexisting website from which the book is derivative. If you’ve signed a book deal involving reproduction of any portions of a website you’ve authored (caveat Jorn Barger, for example, in the weblogging world, who has been talking about a Robot Wisdom book), make sure you explicitly specify what rights your book contract signs over!

This blink points to answers from Weisstein’s perspective to frequently asked questions about the dispute, and contains links to news coverage of the issues. Programmer and author John MacDonald’s comments at oreilly.com (of course, a publisher spanning the web and printed media) are interesting. [from Abby]

A friend pointed me to this troubling story. Eric Weisstein’s Mathworld website, a virtual encyclopedia of mathematics, has been yanked off the web after a preliminary injunction granted to CRC Press, which charged copyright infringement. More than three years ago, Weisstein had signed a book deal giving CRC page images of his website; CRC published “Eric Weisstein’s CRC Concise Encylopedia of Mathematics” in November 1998. Now CRC claims he sold the rights to the website, not just a printed book; a court found the contract ambiguous on this point and granted CRC’s injunction.

Although I realize your eyes glaze over with dry discussions of mathematics, the issues have broader applicability to the relationship between publishing on the web and in print. The question comes down to whether the standard book contract clause granting the publisher the “right to reproduce in all media” is applicable to a preexisting website from which the book is derivative. If you’ve signed a book deal involving reproduction of any portions of a website you’ve authored (caveat Jorn Barger, for example, in the weblogging world, who has been talking about a Robot Wisdom book), make sure you explicitly specify what rights your book contract signs over!

This blink points to answers from Weisstein’s perspective to frequently asked questions about the dispute, and contains links to news coverage of the issues. Programmer and author John MacDonald’s comments at oreilly.com (of course, a publisher spanning the web and printed media) are interesting. [from Abby]

A friend pointed me to this troubling story. Eric Weisstein’s Mathworld website, a virtual encyclopedia of mathematics, has been yanked off the web after a preliminary injunction granted to CRC Press, which charged copyright infringement. More than three years ago, Weisstein had signed a book deal giving CRC page images of his website; CRC published “Eric Weisstein’s CRC Concise Encylopedia of Mathematics” in November 1998. Now CRC claims he sold the rights to the website, not just a printed book; a court found the contract ambiguous on this point and granted CRC’s injunction.

Although I realize your eyes glaze over with dry discussions of mathematics, the issues have broader applicability to the relationship between publishing on the web and in print. The question comes down to whether the standard book contract clause granting the publisher the “right to reproduce in all media” is applicable to a preexisting website from which the book is derivative. If you’ve signed a book deal involving reproduction of any portions of a website you’ve authored (caveat Jorn Barger, for example, in the weblogging world, who has been talking about a Robot Wisdom book), make sure you explicitly specify what rights your book contract signs over!

This blink points to answers from Weisstein’s perspective to frequently asked questions about the dispute, and contains links to news coverage of the issues. Programmer and author John MacDonald’s comments at oreilly.com (of course, a publisher spanning the web and printed media) are interesting. [from Abby]

A Death Sentence on page A5? Speculation at Plastic that the Justice Dept. has arranged for the New York Times to publicize details of an unsuccessful plea bargain by Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-‘Owhali, one of four defendants in the imminent trial for the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi in August 1998, in which he tipped authorities to what might subsequently turn out to be the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. That way, if his prosecution for the Embassy bombing is not successful, he’ll be extremely unpopular with his jihadist former comrades. In receiving Mr. al-‘Owhali’s tip, the FBI reportedly assured him the information would not be ‘used against him’, of course. The New York Times reporting doesn’t flesh out this prosecutorial blackmail, focusing instead on whether the information might have prevented the attack on the Cole, whihc resulted in 17 U.S. deaths.

Cool Things To Put on Your J20 Protest Sign. “Mr. Bad
feels your pain, so he’s given you this list of fine angry things to scribble in
magic marker on your picket sign. So now you don’t have an excuse to stay home!” Some of the better ones:

EX-Cocaine User? Nobody Likes a Quitter, George.

I Drive Drunk Better Than W Governs Sober

Maybe He Can Hold Down THIS Job

Illiterate Cokehead Mama’s Boys For Bush:
Finally, Our Voice Will Be Heard

Pigdog Journal

Fish Rots From the Head. The overthrow of the old Pacifica continues; after cleaning house at KPFA last year, the new order completes takeover of New York’s WBAI. And more coverage of the attempted creation of “NPR Lite” on the New York airwaves.

For the uninitiated, trying to sort fact from spin in the long-running Pacifica battles is rather like trying to
unravel a murky family feud in which the elders don’t deign to come to the table. In the past, squabbles
within Pacifica have always been between progressive visions, says Steve Rendall of Fairness and
Accuracy in Reporting, the media watchdog in New York. “What’s different now is that there is one group
that has no interest in radio, community, or progressive politics.”

For you New York progressive communitarian radio listeners, here’s how to join the fight. Village Voice

In other radio news, why has Rush Limbaugh alone on the right not crucified Ronnie White? “Maybe he knows White is no more pro-criminal than his
own cousin, Missouri Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Limbaugh Jr.” Salon

Annals from the Age of Dubya: Welcome to Surrendered Wife.com. An innovation in the reform of sex roles, a way to achieve true intimacy through spiritual transformation of your marriage, especially for those wives with, as the LA Times put it, an “inability to cope with the pressures of trying to be superwomen.” Among other things, this new movement teaches you to apologize to your husband if you ever anger him by saying something “disrespectful.” No, really.

The Reader’s Digest Theory of the Web: This kind of unattributed snippet circulating by email (I get loads of these things sent to me; how about you?) reminds me of the “Humor — the Best Medicine” or “Life in These United States” fluff I remember from reading my mothers’ Reader’s Digests as a child:

During taxi, the crew of a US AIR departure flight to Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727. The irate ground controller (a female) screamed, “US Air 2771, where are you going? I told you to turn right on “Charlie” taxiway; you turned right on “Delta. Stop right there! I know it’s difficult to tell the difference between C’s & D’s, but get it right!” Continuing her lashing to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically, “God, you’ve messed everything up; it’ll take forever to sort this out. You stay right there and don’t move until I tell you to! Then, I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you. You got that, US Air 2771?” The humbled crew responded, “Yes, Ma’am.” The ground control frequency went terribly silent; no one wanted to engage the irate ground controller in her current state. Tension in every cockpit at LGA was running high. Then an unknown male pilot broke the silence and asked, “Wasn’t I married to you once?”

Clinton Pardons List from the Washington Post. AP via Robot Wisdom

Annals of the Age of Impotent Websurfing: “Welcome! Thanks to all our customers for making us the #1 Penis Enlargement e-Manual Publisher on the Internet!”

A friend pointed me to this troubling story. Eric Weisstein’s Mathworld website, a virtual encyclopedia of mathematics, has been yanked off the web after a preliminary injunction granted to CRC Press, which charged copyright infringement. More than three years ago, Weisstein had signed a book deal giving CRC page images of his website; CRC published “Eric Weisstein’s CRC Concise Encylopedia of Mathematics” in November 1998. Now CRC claims he sold the rights to the website, not just a printed book; a court found the contract ambiguous on this point and granted CRC’s injunction.

Although I realize your eyes glaze over with dry discussions of mathematics, the issues have broader applicability to the relationship between publishing on the web and in print. The question comes down to whether the standard book contract clause granting the publisher the “right to reproduce in all media” is applicable to a preexisting website from which the book is derivative. If you’ve signed a book deal involving reproduction of any portions of a website you’ve authored (caveat Jorn Barger, for example, in the weblogging world, who has been talking about a Robot Wisdom book), make sure you explicitly specify what rights your book contract signs over!

This blink points to answers from Weisstein’s perspective to frequently asked questions about the dispute, and contains links to news coverage of the issues. Programmer and author John MacDonald’s comments at oreilly.com (of course, a publisher spanning the web and printed media) are interesting. [from Abby]