   January 2005 ArchiveJanuary 26, 2005Learn Copyright the Creepy Way
Baruch College has produced an engaging - if conservative and a little creepy - site to help teachers negotiate copyright's muddy waters.
Felten Takes a Red Pen to Supreme Court Briefs
Two of the amicus briefs filed in support of the content industry demonstrate flawed thinking about technology.
Keep Thanking Poland
The EU Patent Directive was stalled again this week when Poland raised more concerns about the controversial, ill-conceived proposal.
China Bans 50 Video Games for "Corrupting the Youth"
FIFA Soccer was on the list, as was a Microsoft game that allows players to act out Greek mythology. No word yet on whether "Grand Theft: Xizang" made the cut.
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Posted at 08:37 AM by Ren Bucholz | Permalink | Other Links:
Free Speech
| International IP
Aussie Nat'l ID Comes Under Fire
The proposed card would include biometric identifiers.
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Posted at 08:34 AM by Ren Bucholz | Permalink | Other Links:
Biometrics
| Privacy
| Surveillance
Introducing the Next Evolution in File Sharing
It's called Exeem, and it marries BitTorrent's speed and KaZaA's search capabilities.
"None of This Makes Us Feel Wonderful"
So says a music exec about suing thousands of customers. FYI: It makes us pretty sick too.
IBM/SCO Peek-A-Boo Continues
A judge has ordered IBM to show more code in the coyest patent fight ever.
Forbes Joins Call for Blanket Licenses on P2P
The most sensible approach to solving the "P2P problem" just got another endorsement.
Anti-Spyware Bill Rises Again
Procedural hurdles kept the bill from clearing the last Congress, but backers are preparing for another run.
In Copyright, the Little Things Mean a Lot
EFF and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School recently submitted a brief in opposition to a court ruling that eliminated the "de minimis" exception to copyright law. The exception, a long-standing component of copyright law, allows creators to take an extremely small portion of another work to create something new.
January 11, 2005Wish They All Could Be California Privacy Laws
Ryan Singel on how California had a pretty good year for privacy laws in 2004.
The Price of Surveillance, Measured in Pounds
The London Internet Exchange (LINX), a consortium of ISPs, argues that the cost of a proposed EU plan to mandate data retention would amount to a tax to support government snooping.
Blogs Blow Up
32 million Americans read blogs in 2004, and 6 million use RSS aggregators. Neat!
French Security Researcher Could Be Jailed for Finding Bugs
Guillaume Tena found and wrote about exploits in a piece of antivirus software, and its publisher has now initiated two lawsuits against the researcher. If found guilty, Tena could spend six months and jail and be fined almost a million euros.
More On Why to Thank Poland
The controversial EU software patent directive was supposed to be rubber stamped, but Poland's opposition and a letter from 61 MEPs has thrown its future into (welcome) doubt.
Verizon Blocks Email from UK, Parts of Europe
It would have been nice if they'd told their customers...
CNN: The Most Trusted Name in Censorship
The news organization has sued several Internet sites for allowing users to translate CNN stories into Arabic. The sites provide automated translation engines like Altavista's BabelFish, but CNN has decided to only target operators in the Arab world.
LokiTorrents vs. Hollywood
One of the Internet's most popular BitTorrent sites has decided to raise money for its impending legal fight against the MPAA.
No Warrant Needed to Search Employee Computers
A Washington appeals court has ruled that employees don't have an expectation of privacy for material stored on a work computer.
RIAA Slapped Again for Ignoring Due Process
No more shotgun lawsuits: another appeals court has ruled that the RIAA must file individual "John Doe" lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers.
8th Circuit: VoIP Can't Be Regulated as Phone Service
This trend may help infant services like Vonage and Skype compete with monster telcos.
Big Software Urges Congress to Regulate ISPs
Citing piracy, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has asked Congress to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to force Internet service providers to play the heavy for copyright holders.
The iTunes Made Me Do It
A California man is suing Apple Computer for using its monopoly power to force him to buy an iPod. It may sound farfetched as an antitrust claim, but it's a great example of how digital rights management (DRM) can coerce consumers into doing something they normally wouldn't.
Unsigned, Sealed, Delivered
The Maine Supreme Court heard arguments recently in a case involving anonymous speech and an unflattering cartoon of a man, his wife, and their deceased St. Bernard.
It's All Downhill from Here
The Boston Globe has short piece on our favorite agitprop group, Downhill Battle.
January 05, 2005Counting Votes Like Money
In a CoinStar? No! But Jim Adler of VoteHere wants us to bring the same level of concern about security to our democracy that we do our debit machines.
Go Ask Hollywood
EFF's Cory Doctorow with a fabulous new piece on why you can't back up DVDs and who is to blame.
Entertainment Weekly Calls "Grey Album" Best of 2004
It's beautiful, irreverent, and there is no better example of creative culture-hacking. And yes, that is a dare.
Reason #5,294 to Not Use DRM
Some firms are hiding ads and adware in copy-protected Windows Media Player files.
Don't Forget Poland!
Poland recently took a courageous stand on intellectual property, and as a result the EU will *not* be saddled with software patents. It's hard to overstate the importance of this action, and we'd like to thank Poland very much.
Critics Pan DVD Protection Sequel
Hollywood is eager to replace CSS - the broken system that's supposed to keep DVDs from copycats - with a new scheme called AACS. This IEEE article explains why the sequel isn't even as good as the lackluster original.
Great Interview with Former Napster Chief
Hank Barry talks to Ernie Miller about the future of digital media.
January 04, 2005LAPD's New Digital Facebook
The Los Angeles Police Department is seeking to expand its biometric facial recognition system, but privacy advocates want them to turn the other cheek.
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