A recent article in the Chronicle describes Edward Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton and his increasing involvement in intellectual property issues:

After taking on the recording industry in a high-profile lawsuit that he eventually lost, he spent the 2001-2 academic year at Stanford University, where he studied cyberlaw with help from Lawrence Lessig, the guru of the field and a master at using the news media to relay his message. Now Mr. Felten is writing a book, meant for both computer scientists and a general audience, about how tinkering is crucial to scientific discovery. And his Web log (at http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com) calls attention to people's opinions about the regulation of technology.

Among the interesting things about Edward Felten's involvement is that he's one of a growing number of researchers and communicators who are using weblogs. Felten says:

Mr. Felten says Freedom to Tinker allows him to refine his thinking about technology and law without going through the traditional academic-publishing process. "I get a surprising number of really good, thoughtful comments from people I've never heard of," he says. "I've access to these ideas ... which I never would have had otherwise."