The blog
Writing & notes
Essays, notes and reflections on technology, law and life.
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A Year of the Can Spam Act
A year after a sweeping United States anti-spam law went into effect, there is more junk e-mail on the Internet than ever. Since the Can Spam Act went into effect in January 2004, unsolicited junk e-mail on the Internet has come to total perhaps 80 percent or more of all e-mail sent, according to most… Read more →
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RIAA Sues 717 for Unauthorised Distribution
The Recording Industry Association of America (‘RIAA’) has sued a further 717 US-based individuals it claims have been distributing music without permission on peer-to-peer (‘P2P’) networks. Among them are 68 university students. The latest bout of legal action brings the total number of individuals sued for filesharing to almost 8500. The RIAA last initiated a… Read more →
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Paying the Mafia? Intellectual Property Insurance
With the proliferation of open source software, the risks of unknowingly infringing a third party’s intellectual property have become alarmingly large. For example, infringing code produced by Developer A (and released under an open source license for distribution, such as the GNU General Public License (‘GPL’)) may be found and innocently used in a project… Read more →
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EFF Mixes Metaphors, Creates Endangered Gizmos List
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has today published The Endangered Gizmos List, a collection of products and technologies — some facing litigation, some extinct as a result — all threatened by restrictive copyright laws and the aggressive litigation strategies of copyright-holders in the entertainment industry. FCC Chairman Michael Powell calls TiVo “God’s machine,” and its devotees… Read more →
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Internet Worm Creator Sentenced to 18 Months
A 19-year-old Minnesota resident was sentenced in a US District Court today to 18 months in prison and an additional 10 months of community service for releasing a variant of the Blaster worm in 2003. Jeffrey Lee Parson had originally pleaded innocent to the charges, but last summer had a change of heart and pleaded… Read more →
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Consumers Flock to Apple Music Store
Apple today announced that users have purchased some 250 million songs from their iTunes Music Store (‘iTMS’). Daily downloads are hovering around the 250 000 mark, totalling some $500m annually. (Incidentally, although the press release proudly points to the store being available in ‘more than 70 percent of the global music market’, it’s still not here… Read more →
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Verizon Customer Sues over Spam Filtering
A disgruntled Verizon customer has filed a class action lawsuit against their internet service provider (‘ISP’), seeking compensation for losses incurred as a result of their aggressive mail filtering policy. Since 22 December, Verizon’s mail servers have been configured to automatically reject connections from Europe and other parts of the world, including China and New… Read more →
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Patent pools for open source DNA
An Australian organisation hopes to give scientists free access to the latest methods in biotechnology via the internet. The Biological Innovation for Open Society (‘BIOS’) will soon launch an open-source platform that promises to free up rights to patented DNA sequences and the methods needed to manipulate biological material. Users must only follow BIOS’ ‘rules… Read more →
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Search Engine Keywords Can Infringe: French Court
A French company has successfully sued Google for trademark infringement constituted by the display of keyword advertisements. There can be little doubt that this issue will continue to be played out across the various jurisdictions for the next several years. The court ruled against Google in a lawsuit filed by a French resort chain over… Read more →
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New Content Management System
I’ve redesigned the site interface and upgraded the backend to Movable Type 3.14. The main website design is partially inspired by a phpBB skin I once encountered, and is intended to be accessible but interesting. The palette is muted and consists primarily of pastel tones. I welcome feedback on the new design — in particular,… Read more →