Topic: Legal Topics
Host Ernest Miller along with Denise Howell and Charles (C.E.) Petit disect the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling overturning a District Court in the case of MGM v. Grokster. The decision that says Grokster could be found guilty of an "act of inducement" by encouraging (or not discouraging) its users to share infringing files. The panel also considers the implications for publishers, software developers, hardware manufacturers and IT shops, and looks specifically at the outlook for BitTorrent. [The Importance of the Law and IT audio from IT Conversations]
Bob Cox, Founder of the Media Bloggers Association and Blogger at TheNationalDebate.com and he will discuss some of the important legal issues facing media bloggers. He shares his story about his battle with the New York Times that recently got national media attention. He discusses how audio and video is changing weblogs and why he created the Media Bloggers Association. Bob will also talk about the recent BlogNashville event and the hot topics that came out of that event. [Web Talk audio on IT Conversations]
Do you watch TV? Listen to music? Use a phone, camera, computer, the web (oh, the list is endless!)? Well then, you should get to know Fred von Lohmann because in some sense, he's "your" lawyer. As Senior Intellectual Property Attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fred's work shapes the law and public policy of modern 'technology' life. In his interview with Denise Howell, Fred reveals that in addition to being one of California's most influential lawyers, he is smart, funny, and wields a mean light saber [Sound Policy audio from IT Conversations]
Are unlimited copying, anonymity and unreliability limitations of the Internet or features? Promoters of copyfight, e-voting, spamfighting and trusted computing all will answer that they are obviously bugs. Cory Doctrow presents an alternative view of the Internet as a complex system with parasitic and often beneficial elements. He argues that, despite what some would have us believe, the Internet is not broken and that efforts to make it better highlight how business interests, lobbyists and technologists who don't understand can do more harm than good. [ETech 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with former defense attorney DW Buffa. They look at the impact of modern media on criminal justice, while discussing his latest novel, "Trial by Fire." [Tech Nation audio on IT Conversations]
Why is remixing Shakespeare "creative writing" but remixing Star Wars is theft? What does a permission driven copyright regime mean for media remixing, multimedia expression and free speech? In his presentation at the Web 2.0 Conference, Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford and a Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), presents the legal dangers present for media remixers. [Web 2.0 Conference audio from IT Conversations]
It's another new IT Conversations series: Sound Policy with Denise Howell.
In this first edition, Denise hosts a spirited debate about Google's controversial AutoLink feature. Her guests are Cory Doctorow, Martin Schwimmer and Robert Scoble.
Google is no stranger to providing invaluable services to users of the Web, and the Google Toolbar has been no exception. However, the beta release of the Google Toolbar 3, with its link-adding AutoLink feature, has many wondering if Google has forgotten its "don't be evil" credo. In the debut of the Sound Policy series, Denise talks with Cory, Robert and Martin, all of whom have been outspoken about AutoLink: what it might mean for Web publishers and users, and how it might be impacted by intellectual property law. [Denise Howell's Sound Policy audio on IT Conversations]
A group of open source programmers reverse engineered Blizzard's Battle.net by analyzing the packets the player copies of the game shared with Blizzard's servers. Their work resulted in the bnetd project, which let anyone run their own Battle.net-like service. Blizzard sued, of course, and the district court found the open source programmers guilty of violating the End User License Agreement (EULA) as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. What does this mean for open-source programmers, technologists and consumers? [Ernest Miller's Law and IT series on IT Converations.]
RFID -- Radio Frequency Identification -- is transforming the way companies track inventory, artwork and even law briefs, but some fear it could be used for more "Orwellian" pursuits. A panel of leading technology developers and pioneer end-user corporations explores this promising and yet maligned emerging technology that both empowers consumers and raises privacy issues.
This presentation is part of a series of events produced by SofTECH.
Lessig sketches the boundaries of protection that intellectual property law should set on code, but argues that extremism is now defeating these limits, just as perpetual copyright has in the media world. The consequence is an environment within which modular creativity is increasingly constrained.
