According to the BBC, Egypt will pass a new law which will require licence fees from anyone reproducing Egypt’s vast archaeological heritage, be it museum pieces or monuments. Although the article is not particularly clear on the details, the BBC interviewed Zahi Hawass, the chair of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Read more
While this blog has achieved decent readership figures, the comment function is still rather under-used. There are several reasons for that: in my experience there seems to be a critical mass of readers vs comments, which I have not reached yet; Blogger’s interface does not encourage comments; and also most Read more
Canadian bloggers and IT Law gurus Michael Geist and Howard Knopf have pulled an amazing feat using Facebook and Youtube. They posted a video on Youtube opposing a DMCA-like reform to Ottawa’s copyright law, and then created a group on Facebook that opposed the amendments, which managed to get 28,000 Read more
(via Rena Gertz) When the scam becomes the scam, are we faced with post-modern fraud? This one pretty much redefines chutzpah. UNION BANK PLCCOMPENSATION OFFICE UNION BANK/ UNITED NATIONS 2007 SCAM VICTIMSCOMPENSATIONS PAYMENTS.ATTN: SIR/MADAM,REF/PAYMENTS CODE: UNB/06654 $150,000 USD.This is to bring to your notice that we are delegated from the Read more
The fourth issue of the fourth year of SCRIPTed, is now live. In this issue: Editorial SCRIPTed Redux: New Challenges, New Directions Shawn H.E. Harmon and Wiebke Abel, pp.301-303 Peer-Reviewed Articles A Private Law Approach to Privacy; Mandatory Law Colette Cuijpers, pp.304-318 Emerging Global Networks for Free Access to Read more
(via Lessig blog and various mailing lists) Licence geeks know that Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFDL). This is a nifty little licence used for publishing documentation with software projects. However, the GFDL is incompatible with Creative Commons licences. The incompatibility comes because the copyleft clause Read more
One of the surprises from my trip to Costa Rica has been the prevalence in the media of stories regarding internet fraud, phishing and other hacking attacks. Back in August the police arrested 16 individuals involved in identity theft in order to remove ¢800 million CRC (about $1.6 million USD) Read more
Kopimists around the world are grieving the loss of the IFPI.com domain (which stands for International Federation of Pirates Interests) in a WIPO dispute over its ownership. The owner, as such things stand, was the Pirate Bay. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry initiated a domain name dispute with Read more