C'MON MAN! PT. II: TechDirt reports that 1.5 million sites created under the popular EduBlogs domain have been shut down in response to a DMCA copyright notice from Pearson. With so many educator blogs, it's not a stretch to imagine a massive number of illegally copied textbook excerpts -- or say, an Art History textbook that actually has images -- but it turns out the notice is for a single document: Beck's Hopelessness Scale. The self-reporting inventory totals a mind-boggling 279 words and retails for $120 on Pearson's site. To be clear copyright infringement is a serious matter, but we can only hope that John Fallon, new CEO at Pearson, addresses whatever internal disconnect led to an entire canon of teachers' resources being wiped for a negligible increase in bottom line.
