The Internet was built on a series of relatively simple ideas. Decentralisation, resilience, content and transport neutrality. But from the start, one of the most important elements was that all content would be similarly available everywhere, because there would be no way to stop it. An open and free internet […]
This is the text for my presentation at re:publica 18. The slides can be found here. I have presented at re:publica for the last couple of years, and usually I try to do so with a work in progress paper at the early stages of research, and this is no […]
Some eSports producers have started clamping down on unlicensed casts, and this could have an interesting effect on the profitable business, but it could also give us a hint about the copyright questions surrounding game broadcasting. For those unfamiliar with the subject, eSports are competitive encounters in which gamers team […]
The death of privacy is a chronicle of a death foretold. One of my favourite cartoons is the 1970 Newsweek cover that depicts the end of privacy, to me it clearly portrays our fears about loss of control and technologies designed to keep track of our every move. Time Magazine […]
Unless you have been living in a cave for the last couple of years, you will have heard about the technological hype of the moment, the blockchain! This technology is set to revolutionise every single industry under the sun, and will disrupt the way in which we do businesses, interact […]
I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a new meme (such as the fantabulous “Karma’s a bitch“) I don’t think about how it became popular, who created it, or even if it is appropriate. My first thought is always “what are the copyright implications”? Yes, I need help. […]
Back in the 90s, copyright law was concerned about the issue of linking to content, in some quarters it was considered that linking to content required some sort of permission because it would be an act similar to that of making the work available to the public. In early cases, […]
I love the Internet. Games. Netflix. Twitter. Cat gifs. Memes. The whole world’s knowledge at your fingertips. Expert opinion, peer reviewed articles, books in the public domain, online encyclopaedias. Never in history has been so much information made available to us in such a reachable fashion. Why is it then […]
I’ve always had a natural aversion against certain brand of California techbros. They usually feature a unique combination of entitlement, privilege and confidence that allows them to make spectacularly tone-deaf statements. Kony 2012 is a good example of the white-dude techno-messianic saviour complex at work, where some entitled guys thought […]
I could be fabulously wealthy right now. When I first wrote about Bitcoin, the price was $14.65 USD, and as of writing, the price is hovering just above $12,500 after undergoing a few ups and downs since December. If I had bought 10 BTC that day for a $146.50 USD […]