Not sure if this is specifically fannish enough, but there was some big news today regarding the Research Works Act (H.R. 3699). 2/27/12, the publisher Elsevier announced the withdrawal of its support for it, citing concerns from journal authors, editors, and reviewers. This effectively kills the bill.
Wikipedia:
"The bill contains provisions to prohibit open access mandates for federally funded research and effectively revert the NIH's Public Access Policy that requires taxpayer-funded research to be freely accessible online. If enacted, it would also severely restrict the sharing of scientific data."
So yeah. Not specifically fannish, but potentially of interest to publishers, authors, editors, reviewers and scholars. And it hasn't gotten near as much press as SOPA and all that!
Not sure if this is specifically fannish enough, but there was some big news today regarding the Research Works Act (H.R. 3699). 2/27/12, the publisher Elsevier announced the withdrawal of its support for it, citing concerns from journal authors, editors, and reviewers. This effectively kills the bill.
Wikipedia:
"The bill contains provisions to prohibit open access mandates for federally funded research and effectively revert the NIH's Public Access Policy that requires taxpayer-funded research to be freely accessible online. If enacted, it would also severely restrict the sharing of scientific data."
So yeah. Not specifically fannish, but potentially of interest to publishers, authors, editors, reviewers and scholars. And it hasn't gotten near as much press as SOPA and all that!