features a great piece on the apocalyptic narrative in modern society: The end of the world.

that a few weeks ago, Google rolled out a Chinese Google News that omitted sources blocked by the Chinese government. Well now the government has done its part by blocking the main Google News site, according to Reporters sans frontières. This is a great example of why technologists, engineers, and others who, while technically adept, lack formal education (or experience with, evidently) in ethics, journalism, political theory, or philosophy, shouldn’t be the people entrusted with making such product design decisions. Companies have responsibilities – drawing the line in the sand on an issue such as this is clearly one of them. Google is really dropping the ball on this one.

that Sony TV, the owner of the Jeopardy TV game show, has asked Jason Kottke to remove an audio clip and transcript of super-champ Ken Jennings’ loss the other day. Anil nails it in his post: Sony TV – Bigger Losers Than Ken Jennings. Chilling effect indeed.

continues to impress with a very personal story that looks into copyright, plagiarism, and art: Something Borrowed in the New Yorker.

the fact that CanWest Global is trying to foist a new contract on freelance writers. The new contract gives CanWest Global all rights to anything written in perpetuity. Wells sums up the problem with this very well, and as someone who made a portion of his living through his words, I really hope writers can resist this.