MASTER & SLAVE

Nov 25, 2003 | law, Politics

I’m a fan of politically correct speech. I think it’s important to avoid using expressions that perpetuate stereotypes, even if it’s reasonably clear that the words are meant kindly or inoffensively. But. Following complaints by someone within the...

THE DMCA AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Oct 4, 2003 | DRM, file_sharing, law

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has produced a report summarizing the use and misuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the last five years. The DMCA is being used by copyright owners to limit our use of copyrighted materials in unexpected and unreasonable...

SUBPOENAS AND COMPUTER CRIME

Sep 8, 2003 | law

Here’s a fascinating – and chilling – article by a former head of the Justice Department’s computer crime unit describing a recent decision by a federal appeals court in California. A routine discovery dispute has produced a decision that potentially expands the...

SAVING THE INTERNET

Jul 23, 2003 | Internet, law

Doc Searls, editor of The Linux Journal, has written an insightful article about the threat to the Internet and how to save it. He brings together the FCC media consolidation ruling, SCO’s copyright litigation over Linux, why broadband is under attack by telcos...

UPLOAD A FILE, GO TO PRISON

Jul 17, 2003 | audio, DRM, law

Here’s an article about a new bill introduced by Howard Berman, a House representative funded by the entertainment industry, that would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network. In...

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE MOVIES

Jul 12, 2003 | DRM, law

The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen opened in the theatres yesterday. By most accounts it’s a pretty awful movie, but that doesn’t take away from an interesting thought. The movie features a collection of fictional characters. Guess what they have in...