Identity in the ‘net: Mo. police probe blog in Web hoax case — pdf

A woman linked to an online hoax played on a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide and has been vilified for it may be the subject of a deception — someone on the Internet is posing as her and blogging about the case.

[...] “Any Internet message that purports to be a member of the Drew family is being managed by an impostor and undoubtedly is being done for the purpose of further damaging the Drews’ reputation,” the family said in a statement.

A blog entitled “Megan Had It Coming” (snapshot) surfaced more than two weeks ago. Earlier this week, the person writing the blog claimed the messages were being written by Lori Drew.

The detailed blog lays out Drew’s would-be motives for getting involved with the MySpace hoax against Meier.

[...] Since then, the Drews have been besieged with negative publicity, and Meier’s death prompted her hometown of Dardenne Prairie to adopt a law engaging in Internet harassment a misdemeanor.

Now, elected officials say the law’s first use could be to prevent possible harassment against the Drews.

“I would say that would be a possibility, that they could be the first,” Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday. “A law is a law is a law. You can’t discriminate.”

Story background

Rock band’s lawsuit takes aim at videogame — pdf

Cover bands and tribute bands have been a mainstay of the music scene for decades. When a company licenses a composition, it may find that licensing the original master recording is outside the budget or unavailable for licensing. Hiring the original band members to rerecord the song may not be an alternative because of contractual rerecording restrictions in the band’s record deal, the members no longer sound like they once did or they may be dead.

So when someone wants to record a cover version of a song, when does it violate the original artist’s rights?

Michael Novak, the Detroit-based personal lawyer for the Romantics, says he believes a violation occurs when consumers think they’re listening to the original band.

That’s the basis of a recent lawsuit by three original members of the Romantics against Activision Publishing and others. And though music publishers have been looking at the solidly growing videogame industry as a strong source of potential license revenue, the Romantics’ lawsuit may throw a crimp in the plan.

Radiohead In Talks With iTunes On In Rainbows — pdf

A deal with Apple Computers download store would represent a massive breakthrough on a number of levels, and one which apparently would require a shift in position from one of the parties.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

[...] Oxford, England-originated Radiohead became one of the music industry’s hottest topics this year when they recorded the album independently and issued it digitally through its official Web site from Oct. 10, allowing downloaders to name a price to own a virtual copy.

That “honesty box” experiment will come to an end on Monday, the band has announced, paving the way for the traditional release set-up of the album within the next few weeks.

“The download area that is In Rainbows will be shutting its doors on the 10th December 2007,” reads a note posted Wednesday on the bands official Web site.

The NYTimes has a couple of articles on Radiohead today: Pay What You Want for This Article and Radiohead Payment Model, The