Chronicle of Higher Ed: How It Does It: The RIAA Explains How It Catches Alleged Music Pirates. [via]

In the process, RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth admits that they can only detect the “offering” and not the actual downloading of illegal files.

Since I missed any midweek distractions last week, and because it’s Monday and you need a post-weekend (possibly-hungover) pick-me-up, here’s Gnarls Barkley’s new video for “Going On.” [via]

More Music: Stream the new Portishead album at last.fm. [via]

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Every week, Ben brings you the creative endeavors that even Body Count would try to kill.

This week: It feels so good.

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Public Knowledge has a great discussion of the copyright challenges facing musicians today given the begged, borrowed, and stolen traditions of many musical genres, like African-American folk/blues music.

Kay Steiger on Beggars Can Be Choosers’ lament on the lack of protest music in today’s climate.

Like Kay, I think BCBC’s rant is a little shortsighted. So, I’ll tack a couple of other artists onto Kay’s nice summary:

• Steve Earle keeps the old school protestin’ torch alight, for sure.
• Immortal Technique might have the most biting lyrics of them all, “cuz Condoleeza Rice is just a new age Sally Hemmings.”
• Tom Morello or Bright Eyes, maybe?
• The Rolling Stones even got in on the act as recently as 2005.
• And, uh, Pearl Jam. Duh.

Add onto this list in the comments!

The lovely Pistolero just pointed me towards this piece of just-in news: Bob Dylan takes home a Pulitzer.

Friday! Let’s see what we’ve got…

• RI v. TP:  Ray Beckerman at Fordham IP Conference.
• Ars Technica: Blog commentary is no substitute for academic peer review. Surprise!
• Techcrunch: Craigslist - now with blog. As if the “Missed Connections” and “Casual Encounters” didn’t keep you busy enough… [via]
• Slashdot: Net neutrality and Canada, eh.
• Crooks and Liars: “Abortion” banned from world’s largest database on reproductive health?
• WP: Verizon chief says, “Net neutrality is bad, but cell phone watches are obviously going to be awesome.” This post will self-destruct in 5…4…
• WVWV: Who’s your favorite female blogger? [via] Give ‘em props, because The Daily Show sure isn’t.
• School Library Journal: ALA speaks out against NSLs.

And, since we’ve been a little obsessed with music this week (go see Shine a Light!), here is my Muxtape. Go forth, listen, be merry…and Muxtape. Leave us your mixes in the comments!

Happy weekending!

Perfect for Spring: The Rumble Strips “Girls and Boys in Love”

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A brief collection of items we almost missed while frantically sifting through the bargain bin of IF related stories this week:

• Network World: India to Blackberry - give it up or get out! (God, it feels like prom all over again.)
• Reuters UK/Ars Technica: Syria and Tim Couch should be friends. Sure, this guy can come, too.
• Zero Paid: It’s hard out there for a pimp activist. Yeah, not so much for pimps these days.
• Bianet: US (big pot) calls Turkey (little kettle) oppressive (black).
• Reuters: Cuba lifts ban on DVD and computer sales. Though not on air conditioners, so watch for legions of Cubans sweating their balls off while catching up on the final two seasons of The Twilight Zone.
• NYT Blogs: The Internet Traffic Challenge: The Policy Dimension.
• HuffPo: Tragic headline, decent article.

That about wraps it up for me. I know I’ve totally ignored the OK Go goes to Washington thing this week, but I’ve got something in the works. In the meantime, pacify yourself by watching their treadmill video on YouTube for like the billionth time.

While you do that, I’m going to go catch up on Lost.

Happy weekending!