BlogOfTheMoon

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Hubble gets a reprieve

The Hubble Space Telescope is to get one final servicing mission to repair and upgrade it so that it will last until the deployment of its replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope.

I think that this is great news. I've been a big fan of Hubble for some time; some of the pictures have been amazing and the science that it has enabled has been wonderful. I'm glad that we're not losing this window on the universe before there's a replacement for it.

Monday, October 30, 2006

knowledge is a public resource first and a private asset second

This is the key recommendation of the new report on intellectual property and copyright from the respected think-tank the IPPR. The report argues strongly and sensibly for outdated copyright laws to be rewritten. Its recommendations include allowing copying of media for personal purposes (so that those of us who rip our CDs for our MP3 players are no longer breaking the law); that the British Library be given DRM-free copies of any new digital work; and that libraries be allowed to take more than one copy of digital work.

This is all common-sense stuff and it's good to hear a mainstream body like the IPPR bring out such enlightened views. As the report says: it is not the music industry's job to decide what rights consumers have that is the job of government. Also welcome is the opposition to the music industry's demand to extend copyright for sound recordings beyond the current 50 years.

You can read the full report courtesy of the BBC.

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