Posted on July 7th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
Yep, it’s all Section 230, all the time here at Info/Law! Makes for a nice change from filtering. Mickey Kaus writes about the threat by Sarah Palin’s attorney to sue anyone defaming her, and also those who republish such defamation. He’s astonished to learn that Section 230 could shield him and other bloggers. (I’d presume [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Court Decisions, Digital Media, First Amendment, ISP, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Law School, Media, Scholarship, Social Networking, civil procedure
Posted on July 5th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
The Federal Trade Commission has proposed to mandate disclosure of connections between bloggers and advertisers (those selling stuff) under its Section 5 authority, which enables the Commission to prohibit “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” in commerce. In short, the FTC seeks to hold advertisers and endorsers (those would be the bloggers) liable for 1) [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Corporate Law, First Amendment, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, Peer Production, Social Networking, Software
Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by William McGeveran
As I hole up in my ivory tower writing about trademark fair use reform this summer, it’s nice to know that the issue might matter in the outside world. In a pair of signs yesterday, I ran across two different news articles showing how seriously our overbroad trademark rights are constraining free expression.
First, while waiting [...]
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Filed under: First Amendment, Intermediaries, Media, Scholarship, Trademarks
Posted on June 29th, 2009 by William McGeveran
Most commentary about the Supreme Court today surely will focus on the controversial Ricci employment discrimination case and its impact on Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings. But the Court also announced two important orders in Info/Law, both concerning decisions that it will not make. By refusing to grant cert. in these cases, the Court [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Court Decisions, First Amendment, Media, Privacy, Voting
Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
One beneficial side effect of Internet filtering is that it points up quirks in how countries make content decisions: what’s blacklisted, and why? The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia’s proposed Internet censorship system (currently in its second phase of testing) will block access to on-line and downloadable games that aren’t MA-15 or milder. This [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Digital Media, Filtering, ISP, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, Software, Virtual Worlds, international
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
Iranian demonstrators protesting the recent election results (which look dicey) - and their opponents - are using networked technologies to communicate and organize, including Twitter, blogs, SMS, and the like. John Palfrey, Rob Faris, and Bruce Etling point out, though, that these capabilities, while empowering, won’t carry the day. Whether the demonstrations succeed depends on [...]
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Filed under: Berkman, Blogging, Digital Media, Filtering, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, Peer Production, Scholarship, Social Networking, Software, Video, Voting, international
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Tim Armstrong
Last year, the trial judge who presided over the trial of accused file-sharer Jammie Thomas suggested that the jury’s award of $222,000 in statutory damages in the first trial may have been excessive.
So it’s interesting to speculate what the judge might make of the damages a jury just awarded to the record label plaintiffs in [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Internet & Society, Media, Minnesota, Music, RIAA
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
Nope, not a post about the World Cup - these are three countries that have been in the news for government-mandated Internet censorship. It’s a bit weird to see that grouping, but as I’ve argued elsewhere, filtering is becoming ubiquitous - no longer limited to “bad states” like Burma.
In Germany, the major parties in Parliament [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Filtering, ISP, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, international
Posted on June 16th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
The Washington Post covers a letter by security researchers and academics urging Google to adopt encryption (HTTPS) as the default for all of its services. (Disclosure: I signed the letter.) The letter makes the case convincingly:
Google uses industry-standard Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) encryption technology to protect customers’ login information. However, encryption is not enabled [...]
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Filed under: Computer crime, Digital Media, Encryption, ISP, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Law School, Media, Privacy, Security, badware
Posted on June 9th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety has withdrawn its effort to compel the state’s ISPs to filter ~200 gambling Web sites, in the face of a lawsuit filed by iMEGA. State officials are maintaining a brave (poker) face, along with some bad analogies - they claim not to have “folded their hand.” John Willems - the [...]
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Filed under: Computer crime, Court Decisions, Digital Media, First Amendment, ISP, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, Minnesota, civil procedure