Discussion List Archives

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

August news from ICSTI

Dear Members

Please find attached further news from Executive Director, Barry Mahon.

Kind regards

Sarah Byrne, Administrator 
ICSTI
51, boulevard de Montmorency
75016 Paris, FRANCE
Tel: 33 1 45 25 65 92  Fax: 33 1 42 15 12 62
******************************************** 

News for ICSTI Members August 26th 2001

1. The dialogue gets dirty…..

On the following URL:
http://www.englib.cornell.edu/displays/stickershock/ 
You will find the following:
 "Believe it or not, you could own this brand new Toyota Corolla,
complete with air conditioning and a three-year warranty, for the same
price as the library's yearly subscription to the Journal of Applied
Polymer Science"
According to the site the sub for the Journal is $12,495.00

Is this a measure of frustration or just a rant?

2. …..and another alternative publishing initiative.

"Faculty of 1000 is a revolutionary new online research tool that will
systematically highlight and review the most interesting papers
published in the biological sciences, based on the commendations of over
1000 selected leading scientists. [aimed to] provide scientists with a
continuously updated insider's guide to the most important papers
published in their areas of interest"
· Highlights papers on the basis of scientific merit rather than the
journal in which they appear.
· Offers the researcher a consensus of recommendations from over 1000
leading scientists 
· Organizes systematically the mass of information within the scientific
literature by dividing the life sciences into over 70 sections (within
16 core faculties), with cross-coding and advanced search facilities 
· Comprising several thousand article recommendations on launch in
October 2001, Faculty of 1000 will cover the entire field of biology
within 16 Faculties (i.e. key subject areas), each of which will be run
by 2-4 internationally renowned scientists.

More at: http://www.facultyof1000.com/info/

3. Another interesting wrinkle

After being quelled by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)
organization and the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) earlier this year, a research
paper on how to crack digital music encryption is due to be presented at
the Usenix Security Conference in Washington on August 15. The
controversial paper, written by Princeton University Professor Edward
Felten and his research team, was previously withdrawn from another
conference last April after Felten came under pressure from the SDMI and
RIAA. The groups claimed that by presenting the findings, the team would
be in violation of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
For the full story:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/08/14/010814hncrack.xml?0814tupm

This is interesting, suppression of research publication as a result of
a copyright dispute not related to the publication per se, but to the
content. In fact the essence of Felten's paper was published in the last
issue of Wired magazine. You may have seen another case recently
concerning a Russian "hacker" who broke Adobe's PDF encryption code. He
was arrested in the US under the copyright act. His case has become a
bit of a "cause celèbre" for freedom of speech advocates.



-- 
VISITING GENEVA? See http://www.unige.ch/crystal/ahdf/geneva02.html

Howard Flack        http://www.unige.ch/crystal/ahdf/Howard.Flack.html
Laboratoire de Cristallographie               Phone: +41 22 702 62 49
24 quai Ernest-Ansermet             mailto:Howard.Flack@cryst.unige.ch
CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland                   Fax: +41 22 702 61 08

Reply to: [list | sender only]
International Union of Crystallography

Scientific Union Member of the International Science Council (admitted 1947). Member of CODATA, the ISC Committee on Data. Partner with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the International Year of Crystallography 2014.

International Science Council Scientific Freedom Policy

The IUCr observes the basic policy of non-discrimination and affirms the right and freedom of scientists to associate in international scientific activity without regard to such factors as ethnic origin, religion, citizenship, language, political stance, gender, sex or age, in accordance with the Statutes of the International Council for Science.