Justice Stevens and the IP Windmills: Bilski and a Last Tilt
By Larry Downes on June 29, 2010 at 5:05 pm
I dashed off a quick analysis of the Bilski decision for CNET yesterday (see “Supreme Court Hedges on Business Method Patents”), a follow-up to a piece I wrote for The Big Money when the case was argued last fall. (See “Not with my Digital Economy, You Don’t.”)
The decision was a surprise for me. Read more about Justice Stevens and the IP Windmills: Bilski and a Last Tilt
Viacom v Google: Who is the Least Cost Avoider?
By Larry Downes on June 26, 2010 at 9:24 pm
I’m late to the party, but I wanted to say a few things about the District Court’s decision in the Viacom v. YouTube case this week and. This will be a four-part post, covering:
1. The holding
2. The economic principle behind it
3. The next steps in the case
4. A review of the errors in legal analysis and procedure committed by reporters covering the case Read more about Viacom v Google: Who is the Least Cost Avoider?
Once Again for the First Time: What is Net Neutality?
By Larry Downes on June 18, 2010 at 10:29 am
Not surprisingly, FCC Commissioners voted 3 to 2 yesterday to open a Notice of Inquiry on changing the classification of broadband Internet access from an “information service” under Title I of the Communications Act to “telecommunications” under Title II.
As CNET’s Marguerite Reardon counts it, at least 282 members of Congress have already asked the FCC not to proceed with this strategy, including 74 Democrats. Read more about Once Again for the First Time: What is Net Neutality?
The Criminalization of E-Personation
By Larry Downes on June 12, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I was interviewed yesterday for the local Fox affiliate on Cal. SB 1411, which criminalizes online impersonations (or “e-personation”) under certain circumstances.
On paper, of course, this sounds like a fine idea. As Palo Alto State Senator Joe Simitian, the bill’s sponsor, put it, “The Internet makes many things easier. One of those, unfortunately, is pretending to be someone else. When that happens with the intent of causing harm, folks need a law they can turn to.”
Or do they? Read more about The Criminalization of E-Personation
"Legally Defensible" Security and the (Surprisingly Lacking) Right to Privacy
By Larry Downes on June 8, 2010 at 11:10 am
I participated last week in a Techdirt webinar titled, “What IT needs to know about Law.” (You can read Dennis Yang’s summary here, or follow his link to watch the full one-hour discussion. Free registration required.)
The key message of The Laws of Disruption is that IT and other executives need to know a great deal about law—and more all the time. And Techdirt does an admirable job of reporting the latest breakdowns between innovation and regulation on a daily basis. So I was happy to participate.
Not surprisingly, there were far too many topics to cover in a single seminar, so we decided to focus narrowly on just one: potential legal liability when data security is breached, whether through negligence (lost laptop) or the criminal act of a third party (hacking attacks). Read more about "Legally Defensible" Security and the (Surprisingly Lacking) Right to Privacy