The NOSE

MNSCU Board Votes to Support Network Neutrality

I did a presentation last week to our Board of Trustees (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities) on network neutrality. I am pleased to report that the Board formally expresed its support of network neutrality principles as articulated by Educause.

"The Board of Trustees joins its higher education colleagues at Educause and others in expressing its support for the principles of network neutrality in order to further the strategic goals of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities."

I want to thank my boss Ken Niemi (Vice Chancellor and CIO) and Mary Ann Jacquart (Director of Government Relations) for their strong support.

Deep Linking and Case Law

I am wondering now where the case law stands with respect to deep linking into a web site.
Ticketmaster v Microsoft (circa 1997) did not resolve the issue since both parties settled: Microsoft agreed in 1999 not to link inside to Tickemaster's site.

According to Jeffrey Kuester, an internet law specialist", "We were hoping to hear some good, broad, general language from the court. Now, do we know if deep linking is bad? Is linking to a main home page O.K.? Is it just not O.K. to link? We don't know." (Source: Technology/Cybertimes).

Creative Commons and Online Education

My colleague Barry Dahl (Chair of Minnesota Online) also blogged ("About Copyright") the session on Intellectual Property and Online Education at the Minnesota Online Conference 2006. Barry attended the first session and I attended the second. Both of us noticed that there was no mention of Creative Commons during the otherwise excellent presentation.

My takeway:

Yes. Online course developers need to understand copyright law thoroughly and the risks for infringement. But we also need to educate our communities about the importance of sharing and  the Creative Commons mechanism as an alternative to full copyright.

Deep Linking and Copyright

Attended a session this morning conducted by Robert Griggs, J.D. and Paul Sedlacek, J.D., on copyright law and copyright infringement, pitched for online content developers (faculty, administrators, programmers, learning designers...).

I hadn't heard of the term "deep linking" before nor was I aware that some web sites (e.g. LexisNexis) prohibit it under their terms and conditions, which is buried within the site and in fine print.

What is deep linking?  "It is the act of placing on a Web page a hyperlink that points to a specific page or image within or inside a website, as opposed to that website's main or home page." (Wikipedia)

I can't link to the terms and conditions page of the LexisNexis web site without violating their agreement. So, here is the relevant clause:

"6. Linking to this Web Site. You may provide links only to the homepage of this Web Site, provided (a) you do not remove or obscure, by framing or otherwise, any portion of the homepage, including its advertisements, the terms of use, the copyright notice, or other notices on this Site, (b) you give Provider notice of such link by sending an e-mail to [email protected] and (c) you discontinue providing links to this Web Site if requested by Provider. If you wish to provide links to a section within this Web Site, you should forward your request to Provider at [email protected] and Provider will notify you if permission is granted, and if so the terms and conditions of the permission."

I am not linking to the LexisNexis web site at all because technically I am in violation of their interpretation of copyright unless I notify them. Hmmpff.

Minnesota Online Conference

I am in Bemidji, MN (220 miles north of Minneapolis) attending the Minnesota Online Conference. The event is hosted by Bemidji State University, which sits adjacent to beautiful lake Bemidji.