Thursday News: Stephen King sued over Dark Tower, repealing online privacy rules, Match Book, and 12 books that shaped Jeff Bezos
Publishing Newsbest of list / consumer data / copyright / literary advice column / online privacy / Stephen-King10 Comments
STEPHEN KING SUEDYOU TOOK MY GUNSLINGER TO ‘THE DARK TOWER’ – So apparently Stephen King has admitted to reading the comic book series featuring Restin Dane, who appeared between 1977 and 1983. And if you look at the covers and even the names of the two characters, there does seem to be some inspiration. Of course, characters are not automatically copyrightable, and the seemingly obvious connections may give rise to a work protected under fair use (or one that is sufficiently transformative to be distinct from the inspiration). Apparently The Rook‘s creator is suing King for upwards of $500 million, but not having seen the docs I don’t know how, uh, serious the claim is.
The creator of “The Rook” comics claims King’s protagonist, Roland Deschain, is based on his main character, Restin Dane. He says Deschain has striking similarities to Dane other than just their initials — both are “time-traveling, monster-fighting, quasi-immortal, romantic adventure heroes.”
“The Rook” creator also points out King’s Deschain dresses like a cowboy despite not being from the Old West — just like Restin Dane — and the towers in both books look the same. – TMZ
Repealing Broadband Privacy Rules, Congress Sides with the Cable and Telephone Industry – So you’ve probably already heard that Congress doesn’t think those pesky privacy protections consumers were just starting to get were a good idea. No, not when Facebook and Google get more privileges! Why shouldn’t all of your information be tracked, stored, and sold by telecom/internet companies, stripping you of any pretense of privacy as you browse and search online? Because, you know, corporate competition. Just wait, because net neutrality is probably next to hit the bowl.
Should President Donald Trump sign S.J. Res. 34 into law, big Internet providers will be given new powers to harvest your personal information in extraordinarily creepy ways. They will watch your every action online and create highly personalized and sensitive profiles for the highest bidder. All without your consent. This breaks with the decades long legal tradition that your communications provider is never allowed to monetize your personal information without asking for your permission first. This will harm our cybersecurity as these companies become giant repositories of personal data. It won’t be long before the government begins demanding access to the treasure trove of private information Internet providers will collect and store. – EFF
Introducing Match Book, a New Literary Advice Column – In theory, this seems like a good idea – part hand selling, part bloggish intimacy, and part community building, if it’s not driven by relationships and marketing agreements with publishers, it may help the NYT deliver on its promise to broaden its book coverage. I guess we’ll see. Anyone want to email them ([email protected]) “with details about your reading habits” to see how far from the literary mainstream they will go?
Each column will offer personalized suggestions to one reader. Match Book will field queries from readers looking for books for any reason: for themselves, for research, for work, to give as gifts — for adults and kids — and for members of book groups looking for their next big read. All letters from all stripes of passionate readers are welcome: Lovers of fiction, thrillers, memoirs, essays, cozies, art books, biographies, children’s books, history, audiobooks, graphic novels. – New York Times
The 12 books that helped form billionaire Jeff Bezos’ leadership style – I’m not sure this list is conventional, especially since it begins with Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, but it is interesting to see where people like Bezos get their literary mentorship. Not surprisingly, a lot of focus innovation, ‘leanness’, “data-driven marketing,” and efficiency (as well as “frugality” – e.g. Walmart founder Sam Walton’s autobiography). And I’m curious now to read The Mythical Man-Month.
In [the] biography “The Everything Store,” author Brad Stone describes how books shaped Bezos’ leadership style and way of thinking. In fact, according to the book, there is a list of books Amazon employees refer to as “Jeff’s Reading List.”
It includes autobiographies, business and technology reads and even a novel, and according to Stone, many Amazon executives have made their way through these volumes. – CNBC
Know what would destroy one’s corporate competitors? “The government says we’re allowed to track you and sell your information, but just because we can screw our customers doesn’t mean we should. We’re the only provider in America that won’t sell you out. Sign up today!”
It will never happen because corporate America is too busy twirling its mustache, but I, for one, am throwing as much money as possible at anyone bearing even the slightest resemblance to a knight in shining armor these days and making some tough decisions about what I can live without so I’ll be lining the pockets of fewer scumbags.
I understand Facebook and Google collecting data to sell, they’re providing a service for free. But you pay your ISP to access the internet therefore they should not be allowed to sell this information because that’s double dipping of the worst kind.
You’d be paying them to screw you over. It beggars belief.
Oh, goody, NYT is promoting the new, innovative service that good public librarians have been honing for (quite literally) almost a hundred-fifty years.
We call it “readers advisory”, and there hasn’t been a single day on the desk when I haven’t been asked to dig up some barely-remembered title, or recommend books “for my niece, she hates reading and only watches TV and plays computer games”, or suggest a great read from the vaguest clues (this morning it was “I want a long mystery series but not too long, really intense and suspenseful but not gory or violent, and no bad language — but not a Christian series, I hate being preached at, and cozies are boring”)
I love it, but it’s hard work, and involves a great deal of constant training (not just on all the different books [and movies, and television shows] out there, but also research on appeal factors, and how and why people read different kinds of books) to do well. Somehow Ms Lamy’s resume doesn’t impress me.
@Ren Benton: I would love to put all the blame on the corporations, but consumers vote with their feet, and this is not an area where competition is absent. I used a small ISP company for a decade and then switched to AT&T because it was cheaper and faster, and I pay attention to privacy issues. The tradeoff at the time seemed worth it. Now I’m considering going back to the small provider again.
I’ve taught a university course on privacy for years, and I can tell you that most of my extremely plugged-in, intelligent students are woefully ignorant about privacy and security issues. Very few use password managers, 2-factor authentication, HTTPS-everywhere, or encrypt their drives and data. More are using ad blockers these days, and they have a general idea of how their data are sold, but until I show them methods to be more secure and have them complete assignments that demonstrate how much information about them is out there and easily available, they aren’t really aware. They’re interested (or they wouldn’t take the class), but they need guidance.
@hapax: Thank you for saying this. If I want suggestions on books I have plenty of knowledgeable sources that are superior to a stranger at a national newspaper. Rediscovering my local libraries over the last few years has been a wonderful addition to my reading life.
Also, re the plagiarism suit: “He says Deschain has striking similarities to Dane other than just their initials — both are “time-traveling, monster-fighting, quasi-immortal, romantic adventure heroes.” ”
Hell’s bells, then Michael Moorcock should be suing both of them. One of the incarnations of his Eternal Champion is named Roland, and another dresses as a Western cowboy.
But then, Poul Anderson could sue all three. And Homer would probably like to get his licks in.
I have some doubts to the merit of that lawsuit, mainly because the DT series started in the late 70s, finished in 2004, and isn’t that obscure. That’s a long time to not notice someone has ripped off your character.
This article at CNET is a very good, plain-English, overview of what the rollbacks mean. Essentially, the Obama administration was moving toward treating ISPs more and more as utilities, and the Trump administration and Congress are reversing that course. Because the bill was passed using the provisions of the Congressional Review Act, a new FCC rule would have to be substantially different from this one. But Congress can always pass a law restoring the provisions. Yet another reason to make sure you vote in the 2018 elections, in case you needed one.
Two of my representatives voted for the bill, one was actually a co-sponsor. I have continued to remind them that THEIR information, as well as their families’ information, will be rolled up and sold the same as ours. Idiots.
I, too, am hoping for the provider who puts their customers’ privacy first. I wish someone at one of these companies remembered and understood the “Guy Named Porpoise” scene in HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1978). Warren Beatty exhorts his board of directors to be the good guys in the most rousing and inspiring corporate meeting I have ever seen. Where are the good guys?
“The mythical man-month” is a very much a software engineer’s book, so I am not sure how accessible it is to people outside the field. But one of it’s beginning analogies is very memorable (quoting loosely from memory): “A woman can produce a baby in 9 months. However, putting 9 women to the task will not result in a baby delivered within a month.” What it talks about would be applicable to other “knowledge-based” fields as well: if you have a complex task which requires deep knowledge of the details, putting more people on it means (a) the people who know the system will have to spend extra time training new people, causing a delay and (b) even after the training is done, the additional communication and coordination mean that the speed will not be proportionate to the number of people added.
Sadly, too many software companies interpret it as a justification of putting entirely too few people on a job and then wondering why it didn’t work :-(
@hapax:
I’m a librarian as well, and I had the same reaction :-D.
To that patron, I would have recommended Mrs Polifax :-D