Televison, Internet, Cell Phones, and PDA's

Sarah Flanagan
Blog Entry # 2
LIS 855
June 27, 2009

Most Americans get their news through television coverage, newspaper and other news media sources on the internet and on their cell phones or PDAs.

Television is the number one form of family entertainment in the United States today. Families come home from work, eat supper and everybody gets ready for their television viewing which might include local and world news coverage. When we hear news on the television we believe that it is true because we watch the news from a credible news station. I looked at the WGN web site to see what their terms of service policy stated. It stated that, “All information, content, services and software displayed on, transmitted through, or used in connection with WGNTV.COM, with the exception of User Content as defined below, including for example news articles, reviews, directories, guides, text, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips, video, html, source and object code, trademarks, logos, and the like (collectively, the "Content"), as well as its selection and arrangement, is owned by Tribune Interactive, Inc. ("TI"), and/or its affiliated companies, licensors and suppliers. You may use the Content online only, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use, and you may download or print a single copy of any portion of the Content solely for your personal, non-commercial use, provided you do not remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from such Content. If you operate a Web site and wish to link to WGNTV.COM, you may do so provided you agree to cease such link upon request from WGNTV.COM. No other use is permitted without prior written permission of WGNTV.COM. The permitted use described in this Paragraph is contingent on your compliance at all times with these Terms of Service. You may not republish any portion of the Content on any Internet, Intranet or extranet site or incorporate the Content in any database, compilation, archive or cache. You may not distribute any Content to others, whether or not for payment or other consideration, and you may not archive, modify, copy, frame, cache, reproduce, sell, publish, transmit, display or otherwise use any portion of the Content. You may not scrape or otherwise copy our Content without permission.” (http://www.wgntv.com/about/wgntv-tos-story,0,7246623.htmlstory) WGN is a reputable company, based in Chicago. They clearly state their position that no reproducing of their copy written news story is allowed. Their news stories are truly theirs and they own those stories.

“When the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a, $19,800 contract on December 6, 1967, for the purpose of studying the "design and specification of a computer network," the world didn't take notice. But it should have. For, from that small, four-month study grew the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). And, from ARPANET emerged the Internet.” (Congressional Digest) The internet is put to use almost daily by millions of people. It is utilized as a fast and easy solution for finding information.

“North American households' access to broadband began in 1996, when Rogers Communications introduced the first cable modem service in Canada. Broadband encompasses several digital technologies (cable, satellite, DSL [digital subscriber line], power line, and wireless) that provide consumers with integrated access to voice, high-speed data, video-on-demand, and interactive delivery services. A growing percentage of U.S. households seem to agree that broadband connections have many advantages. Between 2000 and 2001, broadband subscriptions rose over 50 percent, with an additional 48 percent growth in 2003.” (Congressional Digest) Today, many households in America have one or more home computers that have access to the internet and the information that is available on it. The use of high speed internet and wireless internet connections has made it easier for people to have access to their news in an instant. Can we believe news that has been posted on the internet?

The Library where I work offers wireless access for all patrons that have their own personal laptop computers. We also have internet stations available for people to use that require a library card. Most hotels, restaurants and other public places have wireless internet for free use if the patron agrees to the terms and conditions or licensing agreement before they are connected. At the Library, our users’ agreement is displayed and the patron must click on “I Agree” in order to have access to the site. I can safely say that many of the patrons are so used to this message popping up everywhere that they go to use the free internet that they do not even read the message before easily clicking yes. For this reason, it is imperative that wireless internet hot spots and sites must protect themselves with a license or terms and conditions policy. On the other hand if people are just clicking away and getting so used to user agreements that they are not paying attention to what the consequences are of their actions then why are we requiring them. According to the Russell text entitled Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide For Librarians it states that, “Librarians often ask about the likelihood of being sued for copyright infringement. When they hear the response that the likelihood is very rare, usually they are not satisfied. They want to know who has been sued, who has been taken to court, and what the outcome was.” (p115) People click on these agreements daily and break the copyright laws by downloading, printing and copying information that they were not allowed to manipulate. Nothing happens to them and punishment is not enforced, yet these web sites all have terms and conditions agreements, a privacy policy and some have a license agreement.

I frequently use the Yahoo News and the MSN web sites to look up the latest news information. Both of these sites are fast and posts breaking news on a daily basis. Are they fast because they are inaccurate or has the internet allowed users a faster way to connect and see the news as it happens? According to the Yahoo News Copyright Agreement it states that, “Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! has no responsibility for content on other websites that you may find or access when using Yahoo!’s products or services. Material available on or through other websites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those websites, and not the Yahoo! Terms of Service, govern your use of that material.” (http://info.yahoo.com/copyright/us/details.html) MSN also has a Terms and Conditions agreement stating that, “This site is owned and operated by MSNBC Interactive News LLC (“MSNBC.com”) and contains material which is derived in whole or in part from material supplied by MSNBC, NBC, The Associated Press, Reuters and other sources. The material on this site is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. You may not modify copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, or distribute in any way any material from this site including code and software without express permission from MSNBC or as permitted in Reprint Requests. You may download material from this site for your personal, non-commercial use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3303540/) I think that the main point is that both of these sites are owned by the corporations responsible for writing the news stories on the sites, these sites both have copyrights and trademarks, and visitors to the site are told that they must have the permission of the sites to change or copy information. The internet must have these agreements in place so that the integrity of the article and author are protected.

What did America ever do without cell phones or PDA’s? Once only a means of communication, they now are used to transmit images and information. According to the How Much Information? 2003 article, “There are 1.1 billion main telephone lines in the world as of 2002; it is estimated that each line carries an average of 3,441 minutes a year or 3,785 billion minutes. Mobile phones used more than 600 billion minutes in 2002, an equivalent of 2.3 exabytes of storage.” These statistics were taken in 2003 but the numbers still continue to rise. We use all these devices to transmit data on a daily bases, but how do we know that the news and data transferred is really from a reputable source? Newsworthy events happen and people are taking videos or recordings while the events are taking place. They are then sending these videos to others and putting them on the internet. Copyright and ownership of the original material plays a significant role in these actions. Most teens and adults do not realize the lasting legal effects that could follow their actions.

The news that we are receiving is accurate if we hear it from a reputable source. Many times individuals transmit information that is biased and is indicative of their own personal views. As consumers, we must make sure that the news that we are hearing is from a licensed company that has jurisdiction over its own news reporters and stories. The public must be kept informed and do their part to ensure that they are not breaking the copyright laws by posting inaccurate information.

Bibliography:
Chicago’s Very Own WGN-TV.2009.WGN-TV. 26 Jun. 2009 http://www.wgntv.com/about/wgntv-tos-story,0,7246623.htmlstory.

“Internet History From ARPANET to Broadband.”.Congressional Digest; Feb2007:35-64. Academic Search. June 2009.

Lynman, Peter and Hal R. Varian. “How Much Information? 2003.” June 2009.
www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003.

MSNBC.2009. Microsoft. 26 Jun. 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3303540.

Russell, Carrie. Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide For Librarians. United States: American Library Association, 2004.

Yahoo!.2009. Yahoo!. 26 Jun. 2009.
http://info.yahoo.com/copyright/us/details.html.