From the Chronicle -- an interesting power play for control over intellectual property:

In what appears to be a new policy, the American Psychological Association will require authors who publish in its journals to let it deposit their papers in open-access repositories — and it will charge them $2,500 to do so.

InsideHigherEd.com reports that the music industry is engaging in something akin to preemptive strikes. The article Mysterious Multiplication of Copyright Complaints takes a look at the speculative reasons behind increase in complaints lodged with a variety of colleges and universities, both big and small, despite no evidence of an increase in illegally shared files.

The new complaints seem to be resulting in an increased reluctance to pursue alleged violations. For instance,

Indiana officials are now discussing whether they should continue to respond to complaints from the recording industry with the same aggressiveness. It’s not that university leaders have suddenly decided that illegal behavior isn’t wrong; instead, they are beginning to question the legitimacy of the notices the Recording Industry Association of America sends accusing network users of illegally sharing music.

One commenter in the discussion noted that the investigative arm of the RIAA is now referred to as a "contractor" rather than investigator.

Imagine that -- unfolding in real time -- you find a perfect real-world example that, with eerie clarity, embodies almost all the concepts you've devoted yourself to teaching and studying in the past ten or so years.

The Wall Street Journal today, November 24, has a great report on the way in which One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is faltering, in large part due to the efforts, official and backchannel, of Microsoft and Intel. Intel has launched it's own cheap laptop, called Classmate, fostering direct competition, even after the signing of a nondisparagment agreement. MS, as you might expect, has badmouthed OLPC from the top, Bill Gates, all according to the WSJ.