Archive
Category: Weblog
Random assortments, selected for semantic content.
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New York author offers struggling writers questionable work-for-hire terms
Pseudonymity, liability, no copyright, and a $250 advance. Sounds like a pretty crappy publishing deal: It’s an agreement that says, ‘You’re going to write for me. I’m going to own it. I may or may not give you credit. If there is more than one book in the series, you are on the hook to… Read more →
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Tax strategies under the microscope
Fascinating article on the strategies employed by multinational technology firms to minimise corporate income taxation by funneling income into tax havens: Google’s income shifting – involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” – helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 per cent, the lowest of the top five… Read more →
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French 3 strikes regime sees ISPs inundated with notices
It’s unclear whether the recent Creation and Internet Act 2010 (FR) is having much of an impact on digital piracy. However, according to copyright owners, around 25,000 notices of alleged infringement are being sent to the state-administered digital enforcement body (HADOPI) each day: French labels trade body director general David El Sayegh revealed the 25,000… Read more →
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Botnet hosts strongly clustered around safe haven providers
Interesting survey of the connection between website hosts and botnet ‘command and control’ servers, which are used to direct networks of malware-infected clients: For the first half of 2010, almost a quarter of botnet CnC servers were hosted by service providers in the US, with the top three countries (US – 23.9 per cent, Germany… Read more →
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Government department blocks open government website
Today’s irony award goes to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, which last week blocked access to Open Australia, a website (modelled on They Work For You) which helps people track what their MPs say in Parliament. In fairness, the blockage occurred because a third party border proxy classified the content as a ‘blog’:… Read more →
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Trespass by Light? Cricket Australia and Big Ben
For a few hours around midnight last Wednesday, Cricket Australia projected an image onto the Big Ben clock tower which contained the message “Don’t forget to pack the urn”, referring to the forthcoming Ashes series in Australia. (It was a clear allusion to the English Cricket Board’s projection in 2008 of a similar image onto… Read more →
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US-Style Fair Use Coming to England?
David Cameron included this cryptic announcement in a speech about establishing a high-tech sector in East London: The second new announcement I can make today is to do with intellectual property. The founders of Google have said they could never have started their company in Britain. The service they provide depends on taking a snapshot… Read more →
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The decline of intermediary immunity under EU law
Out-Law has an interesting op-ed piece about the decline of intermediary safe harbours under the E-Commerce Directive. The basic premise of the article is that a combination of factors — the increasingly broad meaning given to constructive knowledge, liability for repeat uploads, duties to monitor for infringement — means that the notice-and-takedown system is providing… Read more →
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Business broadband more important than water or gas: UK report
According to a report by English ISP XLN Telecom, access to broadband internet services is more important to small and medium-sized businesses than gas, water and other essential services. The survey, which contacted 657 small UK business owners, found that 77 per cent of respondents listed telephones as ‘essential to the running of their company,… Read more →
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A summary of the ACS:Law data leak
On 24 September 2010, an archive of emails from London-based law firm ACS:Law was leaked onto the internet. The archive was unencrypted, and had been obtained as part of an ongoing campaign by internet activists to expose the firm’s copyright enforcement practices. The emails contained a great deal of personal information — which I won’t… Read more →