Aug
3
news roundup
Filed Under free speech, zine news | 1 Comment
Universal Music says piss on “fair use,” the doctrine that permits limited use of copyright materials without the owner’s permission under certain circumstances. In federal court, the music company said it did not need to consider whether fair use applied in “takedown notices requiring online video-sharing sites to automatically remove content.” Read more…
The Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed its policies allow agents to seize the laptop or other electronic devices of travelers entering the United States. They can take laptops “for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing,” and the policy applies to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens. Read more…
This one’s a little old, but we’re a bit behind so… Four community activists in Philadelphia who had been circulating petitions about police-surveillance cameras were detained without charges after cops raided their home without a warrant; police admitted to the Philly City Paper that they were “trying to drum up charges against them.” Read more and more and more…
In other news:
After 52 years of being the most kick-ass independent bookstore in Berkeley, Ca., Cody’s Books has shut its doors. A message posted on its website by Cody’s president says: “[It] is a heartbreaking moment… In the spring of 2005 when I learned about the financial crisis facing Cody’s, I was excited to save the store from bankruptcy. Unfortunately, my current business is not strong enough or rich enough to support Cody’s. Of course, the store has been suffering from low sales and the deficit exceeds our ability to service it.”
But it’s not all bad news on the bookstore front:
Baltimore’s Atomic Books has moved to a new location, joining its Atomic POP space (just around the corner from its current location). Atomic Books is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year, and they’ve been an avid supporter of zines all along. Visit them (or send your zine for consideration): Atomic Books, 3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD 21211.
Spartacus Books, a radical bookstore collective in Vancouver, BC, also has a new location: 684 E. Hastings, Ground Floor, Vancouver BC V6A 1R1, Canada.
A new online resource we’re keeping our eye on: ZineClassifieds.com debuted this month as a place for anyone to promote his/her zine and browse ads by other zine makers. Said organizers: “This project came about due to the demise of several zine distros in Australia and the subsequent need to create a place where zine makers and zine readers could connect directly with each other. It’s free to post ads and the site is open to zine makers around the world.” Also, with MagCloud, print on demand comes to magazines — if any of you folks out there try it, please let us know what you think of the results.
Jun
1
news roundup, first edition
Filed Under free speech, zine news | Leave a Comment
We plan to start posting regular round-ups of news and announcements for your information and enjoyment. If you have news to share, please send us an email: wordofmouth@undergroundpress.org.
Imagine – the anarchist zine by John Johnson — has ceased publication. So has Zinetopia, a zine review & interview zine published by Sarah Arr. John plans to continue publishing his vegan zine, Don’t Have a Cow.
Rory Root, the owner of Berkeley’s Comic Relief, died recently. Sad news, as Rory has been a great supporter of indie comics and zines, and Comic Relief is an awesome store. Find more info and some nice tributes here. A memorial celebration will be held on June 21.
In free speech news:
- The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that a high school could punish a student for publishing critical comments about school administrators on the Internet, even if the comments are published outside of school. “We have determined … that a student may be disciplined for expressive conduct, even conduct occurring off school grounds, when this conduct ‘would foreseeably create a risk of substantial disruption within the school environment,’ or at least when it was similarly foreseeable that the off-campus expression might also reach campus,” the appeals court wrote. Read more…
- Two students in Massachusetts were arrested after a protest that included students commandeering their school’s intercom system during MCAS testing. A small group of students read a passage that may have been from George Orwell’s 1984. After two students were given a one-day suspension, a large group formed an impromptu sit-in. Police were called in, and they ordered the students to disperse; most did, but two were arrested. Read more…
- Thirty-four people were convicted of “unlawful free speech” for peaceful demonstrations on behalf of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. They had been arrested at the Supreme Court in January. Read more…
- Three eighth-grade students in Minnesota received a suspension in May for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance. Read more…
Finally, we’re working on a complete update to our list of zine libraries & infoshops. If you know of a place that isn’t listed, or have corrected info on a place that is listed (including closed locations) , please email jerianne@undergroundpress.org.
