Links of Note: Jan. 3, 2008

Navigation

You are here: Home > Links of Note: Jan. 3, 2008

Links of Note: Jan. 3, 2008

January 3, 2008 1:21 PM Posted by mac

Netflix Goes the Set-Top Route

In a consummation of inevitability, Netflix and LG are teaming on a set-top box that will download entertainment content and display it on a television. For years, I've longed for something like this, but I don't greet this announcement with joy. LG? Netflix went with LG? Why not team with Apple and turn Apple TV into a useful device? Or, better yet, why not team with TiVo and make my Series 3 the uber-box I know it can be? The last thing I want to do is stack another box on my already shaky entertainment system.

Bloggers Get FOIA Boost

Well, damn. The Bush administration went and did something that doesn't make my stomach churn. On Dec. 31, 2007, President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act of 2007 (pdf), a lovely new law that extends mainstream media's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) benefits to bloggers. The prime benefit, as detailed by David Ardia from the Idea Lab blog, is to reduce the processing and duplication fees from FOIA requests.

As Ardia notes, the inclusion of bloggers comes through a redefining of the term "representative of the news media." Here's the the old definition:

The term representative of the news media refers to any person actively gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public. The term news means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large, and publishers of periodicals (but only in those instances when they can qualify as disseminators of news) who make their products available for purchase or subscription by the general public.

Section 3 of the new and improved OPEN Government Act reads:

In this clause, the term 'a representative of the news media' means any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience [emphasis added]. In this clause, the term 'news' means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news-media entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify as disseminators of 'news') who make their products available for purchase by or subscription by or free distribution [emphasis added] to the general public.

But don't get all FOIA-happy just yet. The new law doesn't go into effect until Jan. 1, 2009 (ahhh, there's that stomach churn).

Completely useless sidenote: Under the old definition, I wonder if a case could be made for RSS feeds as a means of making a product available for subscription. I guess we'll never know ...

Via E-Media Tidbits