Kafkaesque? Big Brother? Finding the Right Metaphor
Privacy from Companies
2/3/2001; 2:36:37 PM

'The battle of the metaphors is much more than a literary parlor game, said Solove in his article, "Privacy and Power: Computer Databases and Metaphors for Information Privacy." The way a problem is framed determines its solution, he suggested. And if lawmakers are to come up with adequate responses to the lack of privacy online, they need to fully understand the nature of the beast. In short, if they read books, they should read more Kafka and less Orwell.'

DVD Case Follow-Up
DVD & DeCSS
2/1/2001; 11:45:38 AM

From Slashdot:

''The ACLU made a court brief today concerning the DVD CCA case. The release can be found here.'' There were actually a number of amicus briefs filed at the same time for this case, and now I think most of them are online. Journalists and publishers, law professors, law professors II, the Association for Computing Machinery, programmers and academics, library and public interest, Arnold Reinhold. These are all in support of the EFF's appeal in the case, of course. The briefs make good reading because they attempt to convey, in a very direct and concise manner, the arguments of these various groups against the DMCA.

Code + Law: An Interview with Lawrence Lessig Misc.1/31/2001; 11:21:07 AM One of many interesting statements:'There are two stages in Internet history so far, which are important to distinguish. The first stage climaxes around 1997, when the Supreme Court decided Reno v. ACLU (the case striking down the Communications Decency Act). This case represents a time when the world looked at the Internet and said, "This is an amazing new technology that we've got to be extremely respectful of." The overriding tone of the opinion is, "Congress, you must go extremely slow when you regulate in this area to make sure that you don't muck up this extraordinarily important First Amendment free-speech context, which is the Internet."... 'But now, in the second stage of Internet evolution, when it comes to copyright issues, that attitude has disappeared. So with the emergence of P2P architectures (which are being used to exchange music in ways that upset the music industry), rather than the court responding in the way that it did in Reno v. ACLU, the courts are in a knee-jerk way acting to shut down this emerging technology on the view that unless you stop it, it will be the end of copyright... 'So much of the legal battle that's going is just to get the court to be as deferential and patient with this emerging architecture as it was in the context of pornography. If you had to choose between protecting children and protecting Hollywood, you would think you would make an exception (to the law) to protect children. But, perversely, our legal system has said children are going to be left to the winds of the Internet and parents have to take care of that themselves, but we're going to march in and back up the power of Hollywood with the courts as quickly as we can to make sure that copyright interests aren't invaded.'

Senator introduces strong e-privacy bill
Privacy from Companies
1/30/2001; 4:39:34 PM 'Senator John Edwards re-introduced a bill on Monday that would require Web sites to get permission from visitors before tracking their movements online.

'The North Carolina Democrat's bill stakes out an aggressive position in the debate over Internet privacy, requiring Web sites to reveal their use of technology that commonly runs in the background without the knowledge of the visitor.'

Author of Archie Challenges Alta Vista Patents
Patents
1/30/2001; 4:27:00 PM The author of Archie, a search engine for the Gopher system which pre-dated the web, challenges the AltaVista patents by claiming he already did what they were patenting.  I'm linking to the Slashdot story because there are some interesting comments in there, pointing out that it may not even matter if he has prior art claims. Patents are nasty little things.

Judge Orders 'Master' for Sex.com
General IP Issues
1/30/2001; 4:20:54 PM 'The dispute over the domain name sex.com took a new twist Monday when a federal judge decided to add a special court adviser to the case.

'Following a hearing in U.S. District Court here, Judge James Ware told the gathering of sex.com attorneys that he would seek expert advice in bringing the case to a conclusion.'

Including a nice summary of the whole sordid, yet important, affair.

Napster confirms membership charge
Music & MP3
1/29/2001; 2:18:08 PM

'Napster's chief executive Hank Barry has told BBC News Online in an exclusive interview that users will soon be charged a membership fee.

'Mr Barry also said royalties would be paid to artists whose material is swapped over the internet with the help of Napster software.'

We all knew this was coming, now we know this is coming. No, wait... anyhow, I'm sure there was something to learn from this announcement...

Web Site Tests Verio's Role as Copyright Police
DMCA
1/27/2001; 10:05:13 PM

'Standing by its customer, hosting firm Verio has refused to take down a Web site that the Motion Picture Association of America claims is breaking the law.

'The situation is testing the role of ISPs as copyright cops in the wired world and demonstrating the limits of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the law that gives ISPs a safe harbor as long as they respond quickly to takedown notices.

Despair Suing 7,000,000 Email Users Over :-( (TM)
Humor/Amusing
1/26/2001; 11:33:36 PM 'DALLAS, TX - January 2nd, 2001 - In a move that has millions across the Internet community frowning, Despair, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had awarded them a registered trademark for the 'frowny' emoticon which serves as their logo.

'At a press conference, Despair's COO, Dr. E.L.Kersten, announced his intentions to sue "anyone and everyone who uses the so-called 'frowny' emoticon, or our trademarked logo, in their written email correspondence. Ever."'

Hands Off My Web Site
Free Speech
1/26/2001; 2:02:07 PM 'But lately, I've run into a rather annoying something about the Web's "fixability." It has emboldened certain companies to try to cross the line between what, in journalism, is called the separation of church and state.

'In the last few weeks, on separate occasions, two writers on our staff have approached me to say they were getting grief from the companies they interviewed, with the way a story had been written and appeared on the Web site. Not on factual matters, mind you, which we will always correct, but on matters of style, or emphasis, or, in the most recent case, who got the headline. And they wanted it changed.'