NY Times forgets copyrights too

"Thanks to its ease of operation, YouTube allows pretty much anyone with a mild curiosity about opera or musical theater to expand his frame of reference without spending a dime, thanks to the compulsive generosity of members with a desire to exhibit their curatorial prowess...On the opera front the easiest place to start is by typing in the name of a favorite singer. The most popular are represented in depth. Unsurprisingly, Maria Callas clips number more than 100, including lots of interviews and late-career concert performances but also a scene from the Lisbon “Traviata” of 1958, immortalized by the playwright Terrence McNally."

The article proceeds to show embed eight (8) examples of YouTube content that definitely includes copyrighted or bootleg content.

Leaving aside the complete lack of curiosity about how the content got there (the word copyright does not appear in the article), I can't see how this does not expose the NY Times to liability also.

While I think You Tube is being disingenous in its use of DMCA at least it has theoretical protection; the NY Times does not have the same safe harbors available to it when it actively goes and selects copyrighted content to enhance its articles.

This anything goes attitude can't possible last. 2 years ago if someone writing an article for the NY times wanted to include full videos of performances in their articles, they would have definitely sought some type of permission from the rights holder. Nothing in DMCA changes those legal dynamics...

Full Article here

Impressive Stats on Indian Americans

Asian Indians have outperformed all other minority and majority groups in most measures of socioeconomic achievement[2].According to the 2000 U.S. Census Indian Americans have the highest median income of any national origin group in the United States. ($60,093), and Merrill Lynch recently revealed that there are nearly 200,000 Indian American millionaires. One in every nine Indians in the United States is a millionaire, comprising 10% of U.S. millionaires. (Source: 2003 Merrill Lynch SA Market Study).

According to the 2000 census, about 64% of Asian Indians in the U.S. have attained a Bachelor's degree or more.[4](compared to 28% nationally). Almost 40% of all Indians have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. (Source: The Indian American Centre for Political Awareness.)

Indians own 50% of all economy lodges and 35% of all hotels in the United States, which have a combined market value of almost $40 billion. (Source: Little India Magazine).

A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs. (Source: Silicon India Readership Survey)

From Wikipedia

Mark Cuban v. You Tube, Part 500

Mark Cuban continues the only coherent copyright analysis of YouTube. In today's entry (see below), he includes a lawsuit by a videographer against Youtube. Two main points: If YouTube is living within the DMCA safe harbor laws, then it a) cannot receive a financial benefit from a video (yet there are banner ads above all videos) and b) if it is just a passive hoster of content, how can it claim a license to the content hosted on its site.

Perhaps Google can do magic - but to me this is / always has been clear as day. The lawsuit document I just read is also straighforward and coherent. As much as I like YouTube, there is no way they should win this lawsuit.

The LA Riots Videos vs Gootube - The Actual Filing

Nov 14, 2006 16:36:00 GMT

To say the stakes are huge would be an understatement. The filing references a very interesting point. If you are under the safe harbor rules, and merely a conduit to others hosting files, how in the world could you give yourself a license to those files ? In other words, Youtube owns what you just uploaded, and can do anything they want with it, without limitation, but at the same time under the DMCA they want to be considered only a conduit that falls under the safe harbors .They cant have it both ways. gonna be interesting !

Full article and court filing here

Harvard MBAs as a contrarian indicator of equity performance

I was sure someone was tracking this data...totally unsurprising

Equities Swing With Harvard MBAs

By JAY AKASIE Staff Reporter of the Sun November 9, 2006

Everyone has his own method of timing the market. When Joseph Kennedy's shoeshine boy began asking him for stock tips in 1929, old Joe had a hunch it was time to sell.

Ray Soifer, a retired executive from Brown Brothers Harriman, has his own system. And it's proven itself to be a splendid long-term indicator of the American equities market.

Mr. Soifer tracks how many Harvard Business School graduates choose market-sensitive jobs each year. If 10% or less of that year's class take jobs in investment banking, investment management, sales & trading, venture capital, private equity, or leveraged buy-outs, it's a long-term ‘buy' signal.

If 30% or more take such jobs, it's a long-term ‘sell.'

This year, some 37% of Harvard Business School's graduate found work on Wall Street, up from 30% a year ago and 26% for the Class of 2004. The trend suggests that Wall Street is becoming bloated and the American economy is ripe for a slowdown.

Full article here