The Google conundrum: Perpetrator or facilitator on the net? – Forging a fair copyright framework of rights, liability and responsibility in response to search engine 2.0 – Part I: The Google Images Search Engine

Is Google in its quest for search engine optimization through the creation of new technologies, which not only improves its search algorithms but also refines its search functions for users, doing it in a manner that makes it a perpetrator of primary copyright infringement or an invaluable facilitator for Internet functionality? How should the balance of interests in the treatment of creative works be recalibrated in the face of changes in search engine technology and operations, and the disputes that have arisen within the last decade in the context of the digital age and its needs? Using Google as a case study, this paper will look at the two main areas of dispute over the operations of information locator tools and services that either threatens search engine functionality and efficiency or weakens copyright holders’ exclusive rights. It proposes a concerted set of solutions through a reassessment and amendment of copyright law to optimize the social benefits and objectives of both the copyright regime and technological innovations in the electronic model of information archiving, indexing and delivery. A fair distribution of responsibilities and allocation of rights and liabilities will be suggested. In the process, due consideration will be given to both public and private interests, with the former taking precedence; while the recommended solutions will be made within the currently outdated framework for Internet intermediary protection (i.e. safe harbor laws) and exceptions (i.e. specific statutory exemptions and the general fair use defense) under the existing copyright regime. Thus, the proposed changes will be far reaching without being too radical a departure from current law, an evolution that will likely be more acceptable and realistic a solution to the problem.This paper is published in two parts. Part One of this paper will deal with the challenges to the copyright regime posed by the operations and technology behind the Google Images Search Engine, while Part Two that will be published in the subsequent edition of the CLSR will assess the benefits of the Google Books Search Project vis-à-vis the effects it will have on the scope of copyright protection. Recommendations are made to copyright law to accommodate both functions while generally preserving the main objectives of copyright protection.     

President Roosevelt,Admiral Stark,and the Unsent Warning to Pearl Harbor: A Research Note

Admiral Harold R. Stark (1880–1972) was appointed Chief of Naval Operations in August 1939 and served in that role until removed in March 1942. It was on his watch that the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Nowadays the prevailing view of Stark seems to be largely shaped by the official verdict of the Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal, namely that “Admiral Harold R. Stark, USN (Retired), shall not hold any position in the United States Navy which requires the exercise of superior judgment”. Our very different view is that Stark was a patriot who willingly sacrificed his reputation to preserve that of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to enable him, as the one person capable of leading the Allies to victory in war against Nazi Germany, to assume his proper mantle.     

Evidence of arteriosclerosis in cremated remains.

Severely burned or cremated human remains (i.e., cremains) are among the most challenging cases investigated by forensic pathologists, odontologists, and anthropologists. Exposure to extreme heat of long duration destroys all organic components of the body, leaving only the inorganic component of the skeleton. The numerous calcined osseous or dental fragments that remain after the cremation process rarely convey useful information to the investigator. In most cases, it is associated nonosseous artifacts that provide evidence of the decedent's identity. In a case investigated at the University of Florida's C. A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory, as well as in several cases examined during data collection for a research project, several fragments were identified as calcined plaque tubules from sclerotic blood vessels. These tubules provide direct evidence that the cremated individual had a variety of arteriosclerosis.     

Maternal employment and adolescent sexual behavior

This study investigated whether maternal employment would be associated with teenage sexual attitudes and behaviors likely to increase the probability of teenage pregnancy. Female subjects whose mothers were employed outside the home during the high school years (a) had a greater tendency to begin sexual relations before age 19, (b) expressed less concern regarding the risk of unintended pregnancy, and (c) scored lower on an objective test of their practical knowledge about contraception.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Washington. Research interests include personality and environmental influences on adjustment.Received Ph.D. from University of Georgia. Current research interests are in behavioral teratology.Received Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Research interests are in loneliness and adjustment.Received Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. Research interests are in population and urban sociology.     

When Marx Borrows from Smith: the ESOP in China

The employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), a capitalist practice, was borrowed for the purpose of rescuing and even consolidating socialist state-owned enterprises during the drive in China to reform ownership. More precisely, ESOP was implemented to bail out failing firms, raise funds, increase work motivation, reduce agency costs, and promote industrial democracy. The findings of a case study of three Chinese state-owned enterprises suggest that some short-term goals were basically achieved, but the accomplishment of the other long-term goals was somewhat problematic. Based on our initial findings, recommendations are put forward for future research and practice.     

Democracy and Deceit: Regulating Appearances of Corruption

While corruption has long been recognized as an appropriate object of regulation, concern with appearances of corruption is of recent origin, coinciding with declining trust in government in the mid- to late-1960s. The reasoning that would support regulations of appearances, however, remains flawed, as it depends upon a "public trust" model of public service that is incomplete and often misplaced when applied to political representatives. The justification for regulating appearances is unambiguous, however, from the perspective of democratic theory. Democratic institutions of representation depend upon the integrity of appearances, not simply because they are an indication of whether political representatives are upholding their public trust, but because they provide the means through which citizens can judge whether, in particular instances, their trust is warranted. Representatives, institutions, and ethics that fail to support public confidence in appearances disempower citizens by denying them the means for inclusion in public judgments. These failures amount to a corruption of democratic processes.     

Books in review

He is an active Organization Development consultant, and has contributed some three hundred research pieces to several forums. His latest books are High Performance and Human Costs;and a reissued version of Men, Management, and Moralityin Transaction’s Classics in Social Science Series.     

Pubertal Effects on Adjustment in Girls: Moving from Demonstrating Effects to Identifying Pathways

The present investigation examines mediated pathways from pubertal development to changes in depressive affect and aggression. Participants were 100 white girls who were between the ages of 10 and 14 (M=12.13, SD=.80); girls were from well-educated, middle- to upper-middle class families, and attended private schools in a major northeastern urban area. Three aspects of pubertal development were examined: (a) estradiol categories tapping gonadal maturation; (b) dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels indicating adrenal maturation; and (c) pubertal timing (early vs. other). Three potential mediators were also examined: emotional arousal, attention difficulties, and negative life events. Tests of mediated models indicated that early pubertal timing predicted higher emotional arousal which subsequently predicted increased depressive affect. Negative life events, and possibly attention difficulties, mediated the associations of both estradiol category and DHEAS with aggression. These findings highlight the potential for more intensive investigation of gonadal and adrenal processes in explaining affective changes at puberty.

Effects of girls' hormonal status on depressive and aggressive symptoms over the course of one year

Associations between hormonal and physical status and girls' depressive affect, aggressive affect, and delinquent behavior were studied over the course of one year. Seventy-two White girls, aged 10–14 at initial data collection, were seen twice. Endocrinological status (estradiol, luteinizing hormone [LH], folicle stimulating hormone [FSH], testosterone, and dehydroepiandosterone sulfate [DHEAS] at Time 1, physical development (menarche, secondary sexual characteristics) and maturational timing at Times 1 and 2 were used to predict self- and maternal reports of depressive affect, and self-reports of aggressive affect and delinquent behavior at Time 2. It was posited that initial endocrinological status, as represented by hormonal categories derived by Warren and Brooks-Gunn [(1989) Mood and Behavior at Adolescence: Evidence for Hormonal Factors, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol. 69, pp. 77–83] and reflecting estradiol, LH, and FSH levels, would be associated with affective expression and delinquent behavior one year later. DHEAS, however, was not expected to be associated with affective expression a year later as it is thought to be more indicative of adrenal changes that are in part environmentally mediated. Initial affective expression was hypothesized to account for more of the variation than prior hormonal status. Hormonal categories predicted depressive and aggressive affect a year later, while DHEAS, physical status, and maturational timing did not. Initial hormonal categories were associated with subsequent reports of delinquent behavior, although not after physical status or prior reports of delinquency were entered into the regression. Initial reports of affective expression accounted for a far greater proportion of the variance in aggressive affect and delinquent behavior than did hormonal or physical status.Received Ph.D. from Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. Research interests include the interpaly among developmental processes during the transitions into and out of adolescence.Received Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania. Research interests include Girl's psychological adaptation to pubertal change, biosocial aspects of female reproductive events, development of biological and socially at risk children and adolescents.Research interests include: Reproductive endocrinology, anorexia nervosa, neuroendocrinology, adolescence.