Jane and I had a fantastic time at Eric Goldman’s Internet Law Works-In-Progress conference, but we’re facing an early flight, and our room at the Fairmont shaking with the noise from the ballroom level (one level down). It’s supposed to quiet down… at some point. Apparently Fairmont hasn’t figured out that conference folks might have [...]
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Filed under: Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Law School, Music, Scholarship
The Center for Individual Freedom has just published a paper by three RIAA lawyers that purports to develop a natural rights theory and history of copyright. The paper is short (6 pages long), which appears to be its only valuable quality. I’ll set out a brief critique below, but first I want to note that [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Internet & Society, Law School, Music, Politics, RIAA, Scholarship
When I teach Internet Law, I joke that banning child pornography is straightforward since there isn’t a pro-kid porn lobby (unlike, say, banning copyright infringement or adult pornography). I stand corrected: Rick Falvinge, founder of Sweden’s Pirate Party, has taken up the pro-legalization cause. (Interesting choice as a policy focus, but to each their own.) [...]
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Filed under: Computer crime, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Filtering, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Media, Music, Politics
I’m answering questions about Internet Law for the next hour or so at Lifehacker. Fire away!
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Filed under: Blogging, Copyright, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Internet & Society, Media, Music, Peer Production, RIAA, Social Networking
Catchy title, no? Today, Al Perry, Vice President of Worldwide Content Protection and Outreach at Paramount Pictures, came to BLS to talk about movies, piracy, and the Internet. He spoke for about 40 minutes, and then Jason Mazzone offered comments. Next, we had about 30 minutes of spirited discussion with BLS students. I’m writing up [...]
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Filed under: badware, Copyright, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Filtering, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Law School, Music, Politics, RIAA, Scholarship, Search Engines, Software
Lifehacker‘s Adam Dachis has a great article on how users can deal with a world in which they infringe copyright constantly, both deliberately and inadvertently. (Disclaimer alert: I talked with Adam about the piece.) It’s a practical guide to a strict liability regime – no intent / knowledge requirement for direct infringement – that operates [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, Apple, Computer crime, Copyright, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Encryption, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, Music, Politics, RIAA, Search Engines, Security, Software
The RIAA’s Cary Sherman had a screed about the Stop Online Piracy and PROTECT IP Acts in the New York Times recently. Techdirt’s Mike Masnick brilliantly gutted it, and I’m not going to pile on – a tour de force requires no augmentation. What I want to suggest is that the recording industry – or, [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Corporate Law, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Filtering, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, ISP, Law School, Media, Music, Peer Production, Politics, RIAA, Scholarship, Software
SOPA and PROTECT IP are dead… for now. (They’ll be back. COICA is like a wraith inhabiting PROTECT IP.) Until then, Michelle Schusterman has a terrific graphic about the movie industry’s predictions of doom with each new technological revolution. (Ditto the music industry: the player piano, radio, CDs, the MP3 player, etc., etc.) One reason [...]
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Filed under: Apple, Copyright, Digital Media, Filtering, First Amendment, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, Music, Politics, RIAA, Video
Today, you can’t get to The Oatmeal, or Dinosaur Comics, or XKCD, or (less importantly) Wikipedia. The sites have gone dark to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act, America’s attempt to censor the Internet to reduce copyright infringement. This is part of a remarkable, distributed, coordinated protest effort, both [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Filtering, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, ISP, Media, Music, Politics, RIAA, Scholarship, Search Engines, Social Networking, Video
Mark Lemley, David Post, and Dave Levine have an excellent article in the Stanford Law Review Online, Don’t Break the Internet. It explains why proposed legislation, such as SOPA and PROTECT IP, is so badly-designed and pernicious. It’s not quite clear what is happening with SOPA, but it appears to be scheduled for mark-up this [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Digital Media, Filtering, First Amendment, Google, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, ISP, Media, Music, national security, Politics, RIAA, Scholarship, Search Engines, Security, Software