Op-ed: Small Business Internet Infrastructure Providers Need Section 512. In an op-ed published by Inside Sources, Internet Infrastructure Coalition cofounder Christian Dawson argues that in its recent hearings on the DMCA, “Congress is narrowly framing this debate as one with just two players — content v. “Big Tech,” without assessing the negative impacts of proposed DMCA changes on the multitudes of smaller infrastructure providers who predominantly make up the internet ecosystem.” In the op-ed, he reminds readers that these businesses are “strongly tied not only to their local communities but also to the world’s small businesses and entrepreneurs who are driving economic growth and innovation across the globe.”
Teacher Turns To YouTube To Boost Income. In an article for Business Insider, Maya Lee explains how she earns more each month through her YouTube channel with 258,000 subscribers than she does through her day job as a teacher. Explaining why she first started her Youtube videos showing life as an elementary school teacher in 2017 as a side hustle, Lee tells readers: “You don’t go into teaching for the salary, you go into it for other reasons, … “And I knew that with living in LA I needed to do something else on the side.”
Parody Songs Are New Recording Industry Target. A Georgia Tech researcher’s machine learning model “Weird A.I. Yancovic” has subjected him to a DMCA takedown notice from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents major and independent record companies. Using the model, which generates new rhyming lyrics for existing songs, Mark Reidle created an AI-generated lyric video featuring the instrumental to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” According to Reidle, “I would argue that my system is generating parody lyrics and that I do not require permission from the copyright holder to publish parody content.” However, a Vice report on the takedowns highlights that: “The incident raises the question of what role machine learning plays when it comes to the already nuanced and complicated rules of fair use.”
Online Art Emerges During COVID. As art galleries were forced to close this spring, the New York Times reports on the emergence of video art. Galleries like the Whitney Museum of American Art have been streaming video art and holding web shows with moving-image work. Eric Crosby, director at the Carnegie Gallery of art in Pittsburgh, says the lockdown has shown us that “audiences should be able to encounter art regardless of whether our museum doors are open or closed.”