Here’s a link to a great article by Professor Lessig on the need for copyright reform. Despite the article’s title, he’s really not defending piracy per se, but merely noting that the law criminalizes certain behaviors that he believes should instead be encouraged. It’s well worth a read. Posting here on the blog has been… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Musings
Guest on Lawyer 2 Lawyer Podcast: “Privacy and Piracy: Viacom v. YouTube”
I was honored to be asked to participate on the excellent Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast on the topic of the recent stipulation entered into between Viacom and YouTube (Google) over user data that the Judge in that case ordered to be turned over to Viacom. My fellow guest was Lauren Gelman, the Executive Director of… Continue Reading
Is this the day the world changed?
The results of the FCC’s wireless spectrum auction are of particular interest to more than just people in the telecom industry, as it will significantly impact how people access the Internet for years to come. It’s no big surprise that Verizon is the big winner, but I especially enjoyed reading Susan Crawford’s analysis of the… Continue Reading
Article on just what is “Intellectual Property”
Mike Masnick at Techdirt has written the latest in a series of posts which discuss the rationale and basis for what we think of as “Intellectual Property.” It’s a well written series, I’d recommend that you read it. I don’t agree with all he says, but it’s well reasoned. It’s of particular interest to me… Continue Reading
Niro posts reward for blogger identity
Raymond Niro, principal of Chicago firm Niro Scavone Haller & Niro, has posted a $10,000.00 reward for the identity of the anonymous patent blogger, “Troll Tracker.” For a discussion of the issues, here’s a link to the ABA Journal article on the subject. Full disclosure – the “Kevin A. Thompson” who posted in the comments… Continue Reading
A blogger dies in Iraq
Here’s a link to the last post, written before his death, that blogger Andrew Olmstead wanted published in the event he died while serving in Iraq. He posted at the site Obsidian Wings as G’Kar, a character from Babylon 5. His choice of that character resonates with me as a fan of the show. The… Continue Reading
Quick Links
Here are a few short items of interest I’d like to pass along: 1) Conrad Jacoby has a great article on the electronic discovery of employee-owned computer equipment that was published at llrx. Here is a link. 2) If you’ve not already seen Michael Wesch’s video called Information R/evolution, check it out now. It only… Continue Reading
Will hacked iPhones become iBricks?
Jacqui Cheng’s article at Ars Technica points out the dilemma facing consumers who want to hack their iPhones so they are not tied to Apple’s exclusive service provider in the USA, AT&T. While hacks are available, they are quasi-legal at best. And, users who do it face the possibility that their $600/$400 iPhone could become… Continue Reading
Detecting government spyware
Here’s an interesting article, written by Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, entitled “Will security firms detect policy spyware?” There are currently no rules that specifically require companies to comply with requests for government spyware to be installed on users’ machines. There similarly is no current requirement for anti-spyware vendors to write software that doesn’t detect… Continue Reading
Microsoft claims Open Source software violates its patents
Although I’m not a patent attorney, I was drawn to news of Microsoft’s statement in a Fortune article that free and Open Source software violated 235 of its patents. Mary Jo Foley covered the news in detail here. In particular, the claim was made by Microsoft’s Horacio Gutierrez that the Linux kernel violates 42 Microsoft… Continue Reading