Google Sued for Defamatory Search Result
Google has been sued for returning search results linking to the “Bad Business Bureau,” also know as the “Rip-Off Report.” Eric Goldman says that Google has clear protection under 47 USC 230.
Archives for April 2007
Report on Education and 512 Takedown Notices
Eric Goldman points out a new report on how educational institutions are responding to 512 takedown notices.
Download Not a Performance
Collette Vogel points to an S.D.N.Y. opinion [PDF] stating that a download of a music file is not a “public performance” under copyright law, meaning no royalties are due.
Voice Recognition as Distinct Work
A Yale MFA student used voice recognition software to produce a printed book from the audio CD of Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote. The result, Mike Madison writes, is neither a derivative work nor a copy of Grossman’s translation.
Computers and "Virtual" Searches
Orin Kerr comments on United States v. Andrus, concerning the effect of multiple user profiles and password-protection on computer forensic searches.
Rep. Says Libraries Need Net Neutrality
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) has written an op-ed piece on the importance of network neutrality and fair use to U.S. libraries. Via the Save the Internet Blog
Fake DMCA Takedowns Sent to YouTube
Wendy Seltzer comments on the report of a 15-year-old who sent DMCA takedown notices to YouTube for content owned by the Australian Broadcast Corporation.
Keyword Advertising in American Blinds
Eric Goldman writes on the ruling in Google v. American Blinds & Wallpaper.
Virtual Law & Technology School Opens
The State of Play Academy is a new project at Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society. It exists entirely in the on-line world of There.com, and will offer free workshops and classes on issues relating to law and technology. Via Terra Nova.
Best and Worst Internet Laws
Eric Goldman has written an article on the Best and Worst Internet Laws.
FCC Considers Per-Channel Cable Pricing
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has asked Congress for authority to force cable operators to use “a la carte” pricing, allowing consumers to select exactly which channels they want to pay for. Reported at Ars Technica.
FCC Changes Broadband Data Collection
The FCC has announced changes to its strategies for collecting information about broadband deployment. FCC press release: [Word] [PDF]. Reported at Ars Technica.
Patent Reform Bill Introduced
The Patent Reform Act has been introduced to the Senate and House. News at PC World and Ars Technica.
Regulation of Economic Innovation
George Mason University School of Law and Microsoft are jointly producing a conference series on The Law and Economics of Innovation.
The Good Side of Laptops in Classrooms
Orin Kerr links to Michael Stokes Paulsen’s post about a student with a laptop interrupting his lecture on Stenberg v. Carhart with news of the recent partial-birth abortion case.
Yahoo Sued for Aiding Human Rights Abuse in China
A human rights group has filed a lawsuit against Yahoo for providing information to Chinese authorities leading to human rights abuses. The WSJ Law Blog reports. More at Ars Technica.
Vonage Stymied by Verizon Patent
VoIP provider Vonage admitted it has no workaround to avoid patents owned by Verizon. Vonage was ordered to stop accepting new customers after it was found to be infringing those patents. Vonage is now seeking a permanent stay against the order.
CRB Rejects Net Radio Appeal
The Copyright Royalty Board has refused to reconsider new rules for internet radio broadcasts, as requested by NPR and others. The expensive new rates may severely limit the number of broadcasters that can afford internet radio. Ars Technica reports.
UK Sentences Wi-fi Piggybacker
The BBC reports on the £500 sentence for a man who accessed a neighbor’s wi-fi network from a laptop in his car.
Wireless Broadband in TV White Space
The White Spaces Coalition, a group that includes Microsoft, Google, Dell, and other tech giants, has presented a plan to the FCC to use the “white spaces” between channels in the digital TV spectrum for wireless internet at speeds up to 80 Mbps. Reported at Ars Technica.
YouTube Will Filter Copyrighted Video
On Monday, Google announced to the National Association of Broadcasters that it is “very close” to releasing a system to automatically identify and remove copyrighted material uploaded to YouTube. The system is called “Claim your Content.”
Google CEO Eric Schmidt describes the system as a fast-track to DMCA takedowns.
Email Privacy and the 4th Amendment
Orin Kerr comments on Warshak v. U.S., a current 6th Circuit case challenging the Stored Communications Act on 4th Amendment grounds.
Laws of Robotics for Battle-bots
An engineer at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center has presented a set of rules for autonomous robots in warfare.
Blogs and SSRN Rankings
Law prof. Paul Ohm, guest blogging at The Volokh Conspiracy, put his technical skills to use to find out the impact of blogging on SSRN downloads. He ended up with a 22-page analysis, complete with pretty graphs.
Second Life's Legal Life
Terra Nova writes on various legal questions raised about the on-line game world Second Life: on-line gambling, ownership of user-created content, and the critical theory of “virtual worlds.”
Cablevision Appeals Networked-DVR Ruling
Cablevision as decided to appeal the District court ruling that its networked DVR service does not infringe broadcasters’ copyrights. Via ars technica.
High Termination Fees in Broadband Contracts
The International Business Times reports on the high termination fees imposed by many broadband Internet service providers.
Net Radio May Move to Canada
Michael Geist writes about the possibility that Internet radio stations may move to Canada to avoid high royalty fees in the U.S. “Webcasters considering a move to Canada,” he says, “will find that the legal framework for Internet radio trades costs for complexity.”
Putin Clamps Down on Web News
According to a Bloomberg.com story, Russian president Vladimir Putin has been forcing news web sites critical of the Russian government to shut down or move overseas.
John Edwards Promotes Net Neutrality
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards spoke to Howard University students about Net Neutrality, saying he is “a strong believer.” SaveTheInternet.com has video clips.
FTC Seeks Aid Fighting Spam/Spyware
FTC commissioners met with Congress to request more funding and greater authority to fight spam and spyware. Via ars technica.
Xerox Derives Demographics from Web Usage
In a newly-filed patent, Xerox says it can determine a web user’s age, gender, and other demographic data based solely on the pages that user visits. Report at ars technica.
French DRM Agency Opens
A French copyright law has created the Autorité de Régulation des Mesures Techniques, a government agency in charge ensuring that DRM systems obey interoperability rules and do not inhibit consumers’ rights. French-law.net has the details. Link via Boing Boing.
Myth of the Superuser, Part 3
Paul Ohm continues with the third installment of “The Myth of the Superuser.”
Paul Ohm Continues With Superuser
Colorado law professor Paul Ohm has posted his second installment about the “superhacker” idea and its impact on legislation.
EU Court of Human Rights on Privacy
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of a woman who sued her employer—the U.K. government—for violating her privacy by monitoring her phone and Internet usage at work. Because the U.K. had no privacy law in 1999, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights came into play in the suit. Ars Technica reports.
Goldman on Utah Keyword Ad Ban
Eric Goldman comments on Utah’s search-keyword advertising law, responding to its sponsor’s depiction of keyword advertising as a “creative new kind of identity theft.”
IP and the Modern University
USC hosted a panel on IP and the Modern University. Audio clips are available. Via Boing Boing.
RIAA/MPAA Lobby for Pretexting
The RIAA and MPAA are lobbying the California legislature to include exemptions in an anti-pretexting bill that would permit them to use pretexting while pursuing bootleg CDs and videos.
Net Neutrality Opposition Is Bell-Supported
SaveTheInternet.com reports that various groups lobbying for relaxed cable franchise requirements and against net neutrality received funding from AT&T and Verizon.
Free Speech Coalition v. Shurtleff
Ethan Ackerman writes on Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Shurtleff, Utah’s Child Protection Registry, the CAN-SPAM act, and the Dormant Commerce Clause.
Goldman with March's Google News
Eric Goldman wraps up interesting news for March 2007, with a heavy emphasis on Google’s IP litigation.
Laptops in Law School
Georgetown law professor David Cole writes for the Washington Post about why he bans laptops in his classes. Link via The Volokh Conspiracy.
The Myth of the Superuser
Colorado law professor Paul Ohm, guest blogging at The Volokh Conspiracy, writes about The Myth of the Superuser, arguing that the “genius hacker” stereotype is so rare it can be safely ignored.
No New Customers for Vonage
A district judge ruled that Vonage may not sign up new customers because its VOIP service infringes patents owned by Verizon. Story in the Washington Post. Via WSJ Law Blog
Your Computer On Government Networks
Orin Kerr links to two recent cases on the Fourth Amendment in relation to personal computers connected to government networks.
Author's Rights, or CC-License with a Reverter
I was at Yale on Wednesday giving my “Treaties’ Domains” paper at Oona Hathaway’s international law seminar. But later on I dropped by the Yale Information Society Project and had a chat about an interesting idea.
Eddan Katz was talking about a paper by Tony Reese about the reverter interest in copyright and its effect on creative commons licenses. This made me wonder – is there more of a place for a creative commons license that includes a reverter? For all I know this may be a well-discussed issue among creative commons people, but I’m curious.
Right now CC licenses are irrevocable. As the site says, “Creative Commons licenses are non-revocable. This means that you cannot stop someone, who has obtained your work under a Creative Commons license, from using the work according to that license.”
But might this be sometimes usefully different? For example, say I license my photographs subject to a reverting creative commons license. Most of my photos I am perfectly happy with everyone using as they like. But maybe I just so happened to take a photo of Yochai Benkler that becomes famous and worth millions. In that case I might want to revert that license, and, in the future, start licensing the photo for a fee.
There’s a few problems with the proposal. First no one would want to use a CC work that could later be revoked, to the tune of possibile liability. It’s almost like a trap. Second, the structure of the CC contract makes it hard to see how your work, already out there, might be restricted from further usage. But if you somehow wrote a license that grandfathered specific uses before revocation, but stopped others, that might be something.
Another option is a license that came with an expiration date – this is free to use until 2010, say.
The attraction is that such licenses might encourage more people to put their potentially valuable work under open licenses, at least for a while, to test the waters, and see what gets popular. On the other hand, the idea might be bad, and create even more copyright confusion.
Also posted on What’s New with Wu
Madison on 20th Century Fox v. Cablevision
Mike Madison writes on the decision in 20th Century Fox v. Cablevision, asking “When does being a thing matter?”
Property Students Explore Second Life
Elizabeth Townsend Gard, visiting professor at Seattle University School of Law, writes about her experiences taking first-year Property students into the on-line game world Second Life to explore concepts in “virtual” property.
Justice Manual for Computer Crime
The U.S. Department of Justice has published a manual on Prosecuting Computer Crimes. Link from Orin Kerr.
Goldman on Feldman v. Google
Eric Goldman writes about another click-fraud lawsuit in which Google’s AdWords contract was upheld.
Thailand Blocks YouTube
The Thai government has blocked access to YouTube after Google declined to remove a 44-second clip deemed insulting to the Thai king.
Seltzer's NFL Copyright Clip Back Up
Law Professor Wendy Seltzer announces that YouTube has restored her video clip of the NFL’s copyright notice from the Super Bowl.
Patry on Personal Jurisdiction and eBay
William Patry writes on eBay and Personal Jurisdiction and Great Notions, Inc. v. Thomas Danyeur.
ICANN Wants International Status
ICANN recently released a report suggesting that it wants to become a private international organization, immune from U.S. law. But CNET reports that the Bush administration isn’t likely to cooperate, prompting some to speculate that ICANN may simply relocate to Switzerland.
Utah Creates "Electronic Registration Mark"
The Utah state legislature has created an electronic registration mark which will ban the sale of keyword advertising on search engines for trademarked terms. The EFF calls this a bad idea, the Trademark Blog gives it a high probability of being held to be unconstitutional. Via Techdirt.
EU Investigates iTunes Pricing
The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into Apple’s iTunes because of differences in pricing in EU member nations.
The Insider/Outsider Boundary
Citing several recent stories on “user generated content,” Mike Madison comments on the difference between “insider” and “outsider” content.
House Drafts E-Voting Bill
The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, or HR 811, would require paper receipts, automatic audits, and publicly-available source code for electronic voting machines. Via Ars Technica.
Canada Considers Web Regulation
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (equivalent to the FCC in the U.S.) is receiving pressure from some groups to apply Canadian-content rules to Internet providers, satellite radio, and other new media outlets. Michael Geist writes that this doesn’t make any sense.
Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
Stanford University has created an on-line database of copyright renewals for books published in the U.S. between 1923 and 1963. Via Mike Madison.
iTunes Selling EMI Catalog Without DRM
Apple and music label EMI announced that Apple’s iTunes store will soon offer the entire EMI catalog without DRM, for 30% more than iTunes’ standard with-DRM price.
Cory Doctorow says “Hallelujah!” and Randy Picker comments.