Wu on the West Coast
Tomorrow, Columbia Prof. Tim Wu will speak at a symposium on Net Neutrality at the University of San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle profiles Wu and his net neutrality work.
Archives for January 2008
700 MHz Auction Starts Today
The bidding has begun in the FCC auction for the choice 700 MHz spectrum band. Over 200 bidders are participating; details are available at the FCC Auction page. The New York Times has a summary of the major players.
AltLaw "Changing the Online Legal Landscape"
Law.com cited our own AltLaw.org as one of the most notable legal sites of 2007.
Wu on Wireless Auction
Prof. Tim Wu spoke with National Public Radio about the 700 MHz spectrum auction and what it will mean for the future.
Project Posner Across the Pond
The web site that started the Program on Law & Technology a little over a year ago, Project Posner, got a mention in the U.K.’s Times Online.
The Bits Debate: Reader Questions
The debate over copyright and ISP filtering between Prof. Tim Wu and NBC general counsel Rick Cotton continues. Yesterday, Wu and Cotton responded to some of the questions that have come in from readers on the topic.
AT&T, Internet Cop?
More news on the announcement that AT&T is may soon filter copyrighted content on its network (CNet). Columbia Prof. Tim Wu says, “I can’t see why filtering traffic would be of interest to AT&T,” because filtering “exposes AT&T to some expensive liability.”
MySpace Privacy Agreement
Reuters reports that MySpace has reached an agreement with 49 state attorneys general on guidelines for protecting the privacy and safety of minors on the web. Columbia Prof. James Tierney comments, “It’s an interesting way now for the attorneys general to proceed—nobody has been sued and there was really no threat of a lawsuit though they didn’t take it off the table.”
Track Congress Bill by Bill
OpenCongress.org has launched a new service to help individuals track and respond to any bill, senator, representative, or issue in Congress.
Wu v. NBC: Copyright Debate
The New York Times’ Bits blog hosts a debate this week between Columbia Prof. Tim Wu and NBC general counsel Rick Cotton. The subject of the debate is Technology as a Weapon Against Piracy.
The Global Internet
Columbia Prof. Tim Wu spoke with NPR’s On the Media about recent challenges to ICANN’s authority from China and Russia.
Harry Potter Lexicon
Prof. Tim Wu has an article in Slate about J.K. Rowling’s copyright lawsuit against the Harry Potter Lexicon. Wu says Rowling is “overstepping her bounds. She has confused the adaptations of a work, which she does own, with discussion of her work, which she doesn’t.” He extends the legal analysis of the case on his blog.
Decriminalizing File-Sharing
Seven members of the Swedish Parliament have published an article advocating decriminalizing non-commercial file-sharing. “Decriminalizing all non-commercial file sharing and forcing the market to adapt is not just the best solution,” they write, “It’s the only solution, unless we want an ever more extensive control of what citizens do on the Internet.”
Link via Boing Boing.
ISP Copyright Filtering
The New York Times reports that some Internet Service Providers are considering filtering packets to prevent copyright infringement. Link via Boing Boing.
Net Neutrality Conference, San Francisco
The University of San Francisco will present The Toll Roads?: The Legal and Political Debate over Net Neutrality on January 26, 2008. Columbia Prof. Tim Wu heads up the list of speakers.
Copyright and Cookbooks
Prof. Tim Wu spoke to the New York Times’ City Room blog about the lawsuit against Jessica Seinfeld. Wu says Missy Chase Lapine has virtually no case under copyright law. Furthermore, the complaint “should be thrown out.”
Google: Precocious or Predatory?
Prof. Tim Wu spoke to the New Yorker about Google. The question, he says, is whether the company will stay true to its “founding philosophy, which is really an engineer’s aesthetic of getting you to what you want as fast as you can and getting out of the way,” or if it will become another big content-provider.
Copied at MediaChannel.org
Google: Precocious or Predatory?
Prof. Tim Wu spoke to the New Yorker about Google. The question, he says, is whether the company will stay true to its “founding philosophy, which is really an engineer’s aesthetic of getting you to what you want as fast as you can and getting out of the way,” or if it will become another big content-provider.
Copied at MediaChannel.org
The RIAA and Home Taping
William Patry revisits the 1987 Congressional hearings on copyright issues surrounding Digital Audio Tape.
Copyright to Protect Privacy
Frank Pasquale writes at madisonian.net about attempts at using copyright to protect privacy in recent cases.
Hard-Drive Border Searches
The New York Times has an article on customs officers searching the hard drives of computers brought into the country. Link from Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy.
More Gov't Info Coming On-Line
Ars Technica reports on various upcoming projects to make government documents available on the web, including a mention of our own AltLaw.org. You can be sure that as more legal references come on-line, AltLaw will integrate them into its search engine.