Soapbox

May 6, 2005, should be a holiday. It´s When a U.S. circuit court of appeals saved your TV by stopping the â€broadcast flag,†an innovation-killing regulation Hollywood had essentially blackmailed the FCC into enacting.In 2002 the major studios threatened to withhold shows and movies for broadcast on digital TV (DTV) unless the government gave them control over the design of DTV devices.

1. Academic Scan Ban University presses say that Google´s plan to scan their books and create searchable, full-text indexes of their content is infringement and are trying to shut the project down. 2. Copyright CraziesThe official who runs the U.S. Copyright Office is suggesting to Congress that copyright infringementis used to fund terrorism, citing only rumors.3. Invasive Acts If the latest iteration of the Patriot Act passes, the FBI will be able to get your health records, e-mail, and banking details without a judge´s approval.

A few weeks ago, I was eating in a restaurant in West Virginia

When mosquitoes brought West Nile virus to New York, all the papers said it was going to be the next big deadly epidemic (which, of course, it wasn’t). The day the news came out, I was in my garden in Pittsburgh, and a mosquito landed on my arm. I smacked it, then immediately thought, “Oh my god! West Nile virus!” So I ran inside and did something I hadn’t done since grade-school summer camp: I doused myself with insect repellant. Then I got a whiff of the fumes and remembered I just read an article saying insecticides cause Parkinson’s disease!

To the dismay of the many scientists whose work and words are blatantly distorted within its pages, Michael Crichton´s new book, State of Fear, was still hanging around best-seller lists months after its debut. It even came up in debates on the Senate floor. Science has always taken center stage in Crichton´s thrillers—The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Prey—but recently he seems to be taking himself, and his ideas, a bit more seriously.