Google Books just won a decade-long copyright fight

The decade-long legal fight over Google's effort to create a digital library of millions of books is finally over.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge from authors who had argued that the tech giant's project was "brazen violation of copyright law" -- effectively ending the legal battle in Google's favor.

Without the Supreme Court taking up the case, a federal appeals court ruling from October, which found that the book-scanning program fell under the umbrella of fair use, will stand.

[Supreme Court seems divided on Obama’s action on immigration]

Back in 2004, Google started scanning millions of books from major research libraries -- creating a vast database from the digitized copies known as Google Books. Users can search Google Books for quotes or keywords, and it will display paragraphs or pages of context for the results from within the books.

The Authors Guild started complaining about the project in 2005, arguing that Google Books had undermined writers by putting their work online for free.

Google and the Guild worked out a settlement at one point, but it was rejected by a district court judge in 2011. When the case reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit last year, a panel of three judges sided with Google -- finding that the tech giant's efforts amounted to a "transformative" use of the material and that snippets from searching the database don't amount to a "substantial substitute" for an original book.

The Authors Guild then asked the Supreme Court to review the decision -- a request that was denied Monday.

“Today authors suffered a colossal loss,” Authors Guild President Roxana Robinson said in a statement about the high court's decision. Other groups, including the Copyright Alliance, also expressed disappointment at the decision.

"In declining to take the case, the Supreme Court let stand a Second Circuit decision that dramatically expands the boundaries of the fair use doctrine’s transformative use test, which affects creators and copyright owners of all types," Copyright Alliance chief executive Keith Kupferschmid said in a statement.

Google, which had filed a brief opposing the guild's appeal, praised the court's decision to pass on the case.

"We are grateful that the court has agreed to uphold the decision of the Second Circuit, which concluded that Google Books is transformative and consistent with copyright law," the company said in a statement. "The product acts like a card catalog for the digital age by giving people a new way to find and buy books while at the same time advancing the interests of authors."

Source: washingtonpost

Health hazards of mobile phones: Supposed

Now a days cell phones has established as the essential tool of human life. Millions of people use this device for information, communication, online learning and every task make easier. In this scenario, health concerns has warns us potential hezards.     

source: dailyplate

1.     Risk of Cancer

As reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), mobile phones emit radiofrequency (RF)  field a 1000 times greater than what is emitted from base stations. It’s obvious that this increased emission is likely to have some adverse effect on health of users. Although there is no clear evidence suggesting that exposure to RF fields increases the risk of cancer, but the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified RF as a possible carcinogen in humans. However, a recent study by Swedish researchers found no link between  use of mobile phone and cancer and brain tumours. It suggests that development of brain tumour due to mobile use may take at least 20-25 years. And no one has really used a mobile phone for that long.

2.    Sleep disorder

Somehow night time has always been favourite among regular chatting and gossiping freaks. But do you know that’s the main reason why you are sleep deprived? Several studies have concluded this. One of them is a cohort sudy by Sara Thomeet which found that high mobile phone use was associated with sleep disorders. Major contributing factors to interrupted sleep pattern are getting awakened in the middle of the night due to mobile rings and vibration and increased use of mobiles post evening until midnight.’

3.    Increased accident risk

Whether you check your phone aggressibely while travelling is unboubtedly higher risky. Be it while driving or while crossing the road, mobile phone can be a potential distraction. According to the WHO, traffic accidents increased because of  mobile 3-4 times while travelling.  

4.    Heart problems

Radiation from cell phones is not only associated with cancer but also wih chronic diseases like heart problems. A study published in European Journal of Oncology, radiations emitted by cordless phones, including mobiles, contribute to abnormalities in heart function. Results reported that radiation causes the red blood cells (RBCs) to seep hemoglobin and lead to heart complications.

5.    Infertility

Male only! Cell phone can even make you infertile. As of now there’s enough evidence to show that mobile phone radiation deceases sperm count in male rats. To identify whether the same holds true in humans, Wdowiak A and colleagues carried out a research which revealed that the group or men who used mobile phones had a decreased sperm cell count in their semen, leading to infertility.

6.    Hearing impairment

Today, every alternate person on the street has earphones plugged in. But that’s not the only reason why hearing loss is increasing in youth and adults. Your mobile radiation is an additional factor that’s making you deaf. Studies report that long-term exposure to electromagnetic (EM) field from cell phones contributes to reducing hearing function. A study by Oktay MF and Dasdag S showed that people who attended phone calls for approximately 2 hours every dary were at a higher risk of impaired hearing compared to those who moderate users (10-20 mins.).

7.    Eye problems

Now a days audio-visual learning is increasing. Reading e-books, do web surfing, etc apart from texting. When you do so, the glaring screen and small font size put a lot of strain on your eyes, especially if you’re reading in the dark. Mobile devices have a smaller screens so you tend squint or open up your eyes wide open and blink lesser numbr of times. This can cause dry eyes, irritation and reddening.

8.    Skin allergies

Mobile phones have a typical metallic sheen to make them look more attractive. Such phones contain potential skin allergins like nickel, chromium and cobalt which cause cell phone dermatitis. A study by Marcella Aquino and colleagues tested 72 cell phones for the presence of nickel and cobalt. According to the results, about 29.4 per  cent of Blackberry models were tested positive for nickel, 90.5 % of flip phones were positive for nickel and about 52 % of flip phones had cobalt.

9.    Infections

How many of you use your phones in the restroom? Here’s a good reason why you shouldn’t. Cell phones not only serve as a home for your valuable data but also carry millions of infectious organisms. A study found that mobile devices are highly contaminated with organisms form fecal origin. They are a niche for several germs like E.coli (known to cause vomiting and diarrhoes) and Staphyloccocus aureus (known to cause skin infections).

10.  Stress

The general desperate nature of people to be available 24/7 on their mobiles is responsible to their exponentially increasing stress levels. So, the next time you use mobile phone incessantly, think again !

Reference:

World Health Organization. (2007). Cancer control: knowledge into action: WHO guide for effective programmes (Vol. 2). World Health Organization.

Thomée, S., Härenstam, A., & Hagberg, M. (2011). Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults-a prospective cohort study. BMC public health, 11(1), 1.

Deepinder, F., Makker, K., & Agarwal, A. (2007). Cell phones and male infertility: dissecting the relationship. Reproductive biomedicine online, 15(3), 266-270.

Wdowiak, A., Wdowiak, L., & Wiktor, H. (2007). Evaluation of the effect of using mobile phones on male fertility. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine, 14(1), 169-172.

Oktay, M. F., & Dasdag, S. (2006). Effects of intensive and moderate cellular phone use on hearing function. Electromagnetic biology and medicine, 25(1), 13-21.

Hepworth, S. J., Schoemaker, M. J., Muir, K. R., Swerdlow, A. J., van Tongeren, M. J., & McKinney, P. A. (2006). Mobile phone use and risk of glioma in adults: case-control study. Bmj, 332(7546), 883-887.