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It’s Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. It’s also my girlfriend’s birthday – Happy Birthday Francesca! Since you probably didn’t keep up with much tech news over the weekend, here’s what I think you shouldn’t have missed.

  • Is Bruce Willis Suing Apple? Copyright ownership in a world of digital media

There are a number of stories floating around that Bruce Willis is (and isn’t) suing Apple over his inability to bequest (include in his will) his iTunes music collection to his daughters. Apparently, Brucy Boy has amassed an extensive collection of music over the years and wants to pass it on to his children the same way your parents might have left you a box of vinyl (which is a perfectly legitimate conveyance). However, it isn’t allowed under iTunes’ current Terms and Conditions (TOC). Indeed, iTunes’ TOC make it very unclear that you don’t in fact own the songs you purchase; rather, you own a license (the right) to listen to them.

Whether or not the lawsuit is real isn’t what’s important. The issues are: ownership rights in the iTunes ecosystem, and why it’s a flawed system. Don’t believe me? Try reading through iTunes’ TOC; you’ll get a headache just trying to scroll to the bottom. Personally, I think that when you buy a song on iTunes it’s yours. The same way you might by a song prerecorded on a CD, or a book, or a DVD, or anything else that has a digital equivalent. Record labels seem to disagree, and hopefully Bruce will be able to bring justice to the consumer in his customary Die Hard form.

In lighter news, the founder of Pirate Bay, a popular albeit illegal, file-sharing network was arrested in Cambodia and extradited back to Sweden (even though Cambodia has no formal extradition treaty with Sweden). I also came across a number of articles about why the practice of hoarding music files (illegally) is played out, and why streaming services like Spotify, Slacker Radio, and Pandora are so much better. I tend to agree. What do you think about the rise of Internet radio? Music discovery might just be getting fired up as the next hot app category.

  •  iPhone 5: Pre-Announcement Jitters

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m vey excited to get my hands on an iPhone 5. I’ve been saving my upgrade for almost a year now, and September 12 (when it’s rumored the iPhone 5 will be announced) can’t come soon enough. Remember Click, the classic Adam Sandler movie? I’d totally be pressing the fast forward button right now.

If you need to catch up, check out TechRadar’s iPhone 5 rumor roundups. Too busy? Just know it’s going to change everything. Again. To support these rumors, some journalists are reporting that nano SIM cards have already been distributed to a number of iPhone retailers. The anticipation is killing me.

However, there is a wet blanket smothering my interest in the new iPhone (and iOS): its “deep integration with Facebook.” From what I read, Facebook is abusing its ability to sync your contacts by including @facebook.com email addresses for all your contacts on Facebook in iOS and OSX. I guess Facebook is getting desperate to make its failed Gmail takeover attempt fruitful after its swan dive of an IPO this summer. We’ll just have to wait and see how bad it really is after iOS 6 is released. Do you have any iOS 6/iPhone 5 insights to share?

So there you have it, your quick catch up in everything that has mattered in the news over the past couple days. What’s on your radar? Let us know in the comments below.

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