TAG: law
If the RIAA Wins, You Really Lose!
"There is no legal difference between putting a song in my P2P Network shared folder or in my public FTP folder or in my "documents" folder."
Four reasons why the RIAA won a jury verdict of $220,000
"The Recording Industry Association of American got a chance on Thursday to show everyone just how heavy and intimidating the legal club of copyright law can be."
Did "Saturday Night Live" Rip Off Aphex Twin?
"NBC didn't actually need permission to use the song for "ephemeral use," and won't, until they plan to air the show again . . . the video remains yanked from all official NBC sites until, presumably, some clearance agreement is made."
Tags: music business youtube internet law copyright
Unintended consequences of the smoking ban
"So it turns out that banning smoking in pubs has not so much encouraged smokers to quit but instead provided them with a decisive competitive reproductive advantage if they keep puffing away."
Tags: economics cigarettes culture law london
Lawsuit: Music Publishers v. YouTube Doesn't Solve the Problem
"If people don’t know what rights they need to obtain and if there's no easy way to obtain them even if they do know, exactly what do rights-holders expect?"
Tags: music copyright business law
Vote-swapping Web sites are legal, appeals court (finally) says
"It took seven years, but a federal appeals court has finally vindicated the creators of vote-swapping Web sites that let Al Gore and Ralph Nader fans support their chosen candidates in the 2000 presidential election."
Tags: politics technology law
Court decision strengthens aggregators
"This is yet another court decision in favor of the disruptive innovations of Media 2.0, and it strengthens the business model of all aggregators that provide a significant public service by placing snippets of copyrighted material in one place to enable
Tags: media2.0 aggregation google copyright law
Viacom's Dirty Hands? Google Responds To Big-Bucks Suit
"For now, no one knows how courts will determine whether YouTube has directly profited from pirated clips. But if the company steps up efforts to monetize itself with ads, it’s plausible that the courts will conclude that YouTube is profiting from pirat
Second Life Will Save Copyright
"This is exciting, because it turns Second Life into a laboratory for trying out alternatives to prevailing real world copyright rules."
Tags: secondlife copyright community law
Burritos Freed From Sandwich Shackles
A Massachusetts denied an attempted injunction by a sandwich shop to stop a burrito shop from opening on its turf, in turn officially setting the record straight that a burrito is not a sandwich.
Reactionary Second Lifers block technological progress
"Congrats, residents of Second Life, in your own high-tech bleeding-edge way you’ve just proven yourself as reactionary as the RIAA or MPAA."
Tags: secondlife videogames ip law copyright
Some intimate details on the Google YouTube Deal
Mark Cuban shares 'details' on the YouTube deal from an anonymous industry insider.
Tags: youtube business copyright google law video
Sex Baiting Prank on Craigslist Affects Hundreds
A man posted on Craig's List looking for sex then posted the emails (including photos) that he got.
Tags: attention privacy sex craigslist culture community law internet identity
Identity and Identification in a Networked World
"This symposium will examine critical and controversial issues surrounding socio-technical systems of identity, identifiability and identification."
Tags: networking identity law conference
Lawyers, Priests, and AOL's Data Release
"Here’s the bottom line: what’s inside our minds is no longer private (or a lot less private). Nothing we do on the Internet is private. And there is a not insignificant risk that if we don’t come to terms with this as a society."
Tags: privacy attention security identity law
"Ray builds software that allows lawyers to monitor what they pay attention to so that they can bill clients accurately."
"A video that explains why discrimination on the Internet is a problem and will continue to be as long as net neutrality rules are not enforced."
Tags: video politics netneutrality internet law
"Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that's why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide."
Tags: privacy surveillance politics law
Danah Boy writes about her experience using marijuana for medicinal purposes over valium.
Tags: drugs health law politics
Litigation Cosby Threatens Waxy, You See!
Andy Baio at Waxy.org has been sent a Cease and Decist for hosting a parody of Bill Cosby.
Tags: law
Alito or Scalito? If you're a liberal, you'd prefer Scalia.
"When Antonin Scalia starts looking good, you know you're in trouble."
Tags: politics law supremecourt posted
Sometimes a Logo Is Just a Logo
"Quark's new logo is strikingly similar to several others. Is it theft? A global conspiracy? Or a failure to follow basic design principles? Gene Gable gives you the dirt, including ways you can sidestep the same type of predicament."
Questions democrats should ask Roberts: "Would you consider instituting a casual Friday dress policy on the bench?"
Tags: funny law politics posted
Telling the Truth About Chief Justice Rehnquist
Alan Dershowitz: "My mother always told me that when a person dies, one should not say anything bad about him. My mother was wrong."
Tags: history law politics race posted
"When the Marx Brothers were about to make a movie called "A Night in Casablanca," there were threats of legal action from the Warner Brothers, who, five years before, had made a picture called, simply, "Casablanca""
Tags: funny law movies letters posted
Cisco Harasses Security Researcher
"If companies have the power to censor information about their products they don't like, then we as consumers have less information with which to make intelligent buying decisions."
Tags: internet law security posted
The VERY LONG May, 1996 article about tobacco whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand that was the inspiration for the movie The Insider
Tags: politics law cigarettes writing moves posted
Supreme Court's unsound decision
Monday's ruling against Grokster will do nothing to stop peer-to-peer file sharing -- but it may well stifle technology innovation.
Tags: copyright law internet google politics p2p posted
File-Swap Services Can Be Sued
Wired: "Internet file-sharing services will be held responsible if they intend for their customers to use software primarily to swap songs and movies illegally, the Supreme Court ruled Monday"
Tags: p2p law politics innovation posted
The DOJ has wisely made the world safer by forcing anyone even remotely connected with publishing erotic images online to keep elaborate files on the true identities of everyone in said images for seven years.
Tags: culture law politics privacy pornography posted
# Likenesses of cartoon characters, many made in garages and sold by small vendors, prompt legal action by entertainment giants.
Tags: copyright business law fun posted
"The goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected"
Tags: blogs journalism law reference tips posted
Digital photos can look great, but some labs won't print those that appear too professional
Tags: art copyright law photography walmart posted
As head boy at a legendary choir school, Lawrence Lessig was repeatedly molested . . . part of a horrific pattern of child abuse there. Now, as one of America’s most famous lawyers, he’s put his own past on trial to make sure such things never happen
Tags: crime law education youth sex posted bestarticlesof2005
FT.com: "If we don’t look at the evidence and we ignore the role of the public domain in fostering innovation, how can we possibly hope to make good policy?"
Tags: politics law copyright europe posted innovation
Apple bloggers get press support
Eight US newspapers and the Associated Press agency have thrown their support behind three bloggers sued by Apple.
Tags: apple journalism law posted newspapers
A Few Notes from the Grokster Argument
A great summary of the MGM v. Grokster case
Tags: copyright innovation law p2p politics posted
A tale of customer service, justice and currency as funny as a $2 bill
A man who tried to pay with $2 bills at Best Buy as a form of pseudo-protest ended up arrested
Tags: strange money law posted
A list of 42 fallacies
Tags: lists language law reference
Illegal file-sharers under attack
Economist: The entertainment industry has taken its battle against illegal downloading to America’s Supreme Court. But attacking the technology behind file-sharing could stifle innovation without tackling the industry’s long-term problems
Tags: copyright law music p2p innovation posted
Slate: Will somebody please help the Los Angeles Times' David Shaw get a grip?
Tags: journalism blogs law posted media
Let the truth be told…MGM vs Grokster
Mark Cuban is funding the Grokster defense. "Its about our ability to use future innovations to compete vs their ability to use the courts to shut down our ability to compete. its that simple."
Tags: business copyright innovation law p2p posted
Family of the lawmaker involved in the Schiavo case decided in '88 to let his comatose father die.
Tags: death politics law posted
It's the Content, Not the Source
Wired News: "But the way for EFF attorneys to win this case would be to attack Apple for its definition of a trade secret. What exactly does Apple lose by the publication of Asteroid's specs and a diagram?"
Tags: apple media law blogs journalism posted
An opinion on the Terri Schiavo case from the New England Journal of Medicine
Tags: politics health death law posted
NYTimes: "The founders believed in a nation in which, as Justice Robert Jackson once wrote, we would "submit ourselves to rulers only if under rules." There is no place in such a system for a special law creating rights for only one family."
Tags: nytimes politics posted law
EFF is listing devices that would be deemed illegal if MGM wins over Grokster
Tags: p2p copyright law technology posted
The Collaborative Effort to Edit: CODE
"Professor Lessig is using this wiki to open the editing process to all, to draw upon the creativity and knowledge of the community. This is an online, collaborative book update; a first of its kind."
Tags: books copyright internet law wiki posted
N.J. to hit Blockbuster with fraud lawsuit?
New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey sued Blockbuster Inc. Friday, claiming the video rental chain is deceiving customers with its new 'No More Late Fees' rental policy.
Tags: law movies business posted
The Problems with Downloading Laws
The penalties for stealing a DVD from a store is less than the penalty for downloading one
You Can Blog, but You Can't Hide
Should bloggers have the same rights as journalists?
Tags: blogs journalism law
Would you consider Saskatchewan?
A thorough trademark search could save new bands from costly name changes down the road. Manitoba found out the hard way