On the podcast this week, Kimberley Isbell, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society working as a staff attorney with the Citizen Media Law Project, discusses legal implications of news aggregators. The rise of aggregators amid the transformation of news and journalism spurred Rupert Murdoch to label news aggregation “theft.” In her recent paper, Isbell classifies various types of news aggregators and examines their roles in light of copyright, fair use, and hot news misappropriation doctrines. She notes that courts have yet to decide key aspects of the issue, but legal rules that promote flexibility and free access to information are needed to ensure a productive and innovative future for news.
Related Readings
- The Rise of the News Aggregator: Legal Implications and Best Practices, by Isbell
- “Who’s Afraid of the News Aggregators?”, by Isbell
- “The Legality Of News Aggregators”, Techdirt
- Adam Thierer on the future of media, Surprisingly Free podcast
Do check out the interview, and consider subscribing to the show on iTunes. Past guests have included Clay Shirky on cognitive surplus, Nick Carr on what the internet is doing to our brains, Gina Trapani and Anil Dash on crowdsourcing, Tom Hazlett on spectrum reform, and Tyler Cowen on just about everything.
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The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.