Commentary On Net Filtering
This Wired article by the co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, Lauren Weinstein, argues against the merits of internet filters in favor of education and personal responsibility.
Author archives
"Counting on the Internet"
A new Pew Internet and American Life report released today indicates that the Internet has “become a mainstream information tool.” The 60% of Americans who have access to the Web rely on it as a primary information resource. They use it routinely to locate data from local, state and federal government agencies, to answer health …
DVD Copying and Fair Use
JD’s Blog mentioned a new site, Protect Fair Use, that is championing the right to make backup copies of DVDs. The site provides background on the copyright law as it applies to digital media, links to related pending legislation as well as to the DMCA, and press about how consumers have been impacted when attempting …
IP Law Cases in 2002
In this Law.com article, a litigation partner from NY’s Paul Weiss reviews what he considers the top 12 IP cases of 2002.
Yahoo and Your Privacy
This San Francisco Chronicle article speculates that Yahoo’s December 23 announcement that the company has acquired search engine Inktomi will likely result in several important ramifications. Yahoo’s tracking and monitoring of its growing population of users will increase, along with associated activities geared toward exponentially increasing the marketing of products and services to already ad-saturated …
Australian Libel Law Suit
Penn State Prof. of Journalsim R. Thomas Berner’s commentary on the December 10 Australian Internet libel case highlights concerns voiced elsewhere that ramifications of the case may include blocking access to sites in other countries to avoid more such litigation.
EU Copyright Directive Lacks Support
The EU Directive 2001/29/EC (22 May 2001) “on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society” has only two signatories as the deadline for its adoption came, and went. Only Greece and Denmark agreed to implement the EU’s counterpart to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), much to …
Office of E-Gov Has Many Challenges Ahead
This New York Times article focuses on the issues that will confront government agencies in 2003 as they work to comply with the requirements of the new E-Government Act. The act has the dual purpose of creating comprehensive, user-friendly portals to government documents that are currently widely dispersed among various agencies, along with providing a …
Financial Data Disappearing From Corporate Websites
In this article, Companies Are Divided on Providing Online Data, the New York Times examines the growing trend among corporate websites to limit the amount of financial data they make available to investors, who often make corporate sites their first stop when conducting research. While some companies choose to continue to provide a deep archive …
E-Mail As Evidence in Fraud Trial
U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, Southern District of New York, ruled that what he termed “explosive” e-mail messages authored by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Vice Chairman Donald Layton could be used as evidence in the bank’s lawsuit against 11 insurance companies over $1 billion in unpaid loan guarantees stemming from the collapse of …
Government Surveillance Tools Operational
Recent news articles point to a growing controvery over proposed surveillance programs to collect and review personal data generated by daily online transactions by citizens. This New York Times article, Many Tools of Big Brother Are Up and Running, concludes that the foundation for much of the work to conduct widespread surveillance has already been …
White House Responds to Privacy Controversy
Negative responses continued to reverberated in the press after the White House announcement last week of plans to expand monitoring of Internet usage. Internet News reports that the White House was busy doing damage control over the privacy issues that are at the heart of The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (draft version), the details …
