Finally! Looking for UK legislation? The Department of Constitutional Affairs has released its Statute Law Database. No longer will you have to guess the legislation’s name to find it in Google, everything is now available in one place. I’ve been browsing it (as you do), and I think that it Read more
Creative Commons blog and even Eben Moglen are all talking about this video explaining Web 2.0, the hyper-web, or however you want to call it. It was quite an amazing display, really well done. Web 2.0 is one of those terms that I see defined in different ways. Originally, it Read more
So, as part of my research into software and operating systems, I purchased a cheap OEM version of Vista and installed it on my new and shiny Core 2 Duo system. I also installed OpenSUSE 10.2 as a dual boot to test comparative installation times and ease of use. Vista Read more
Apple boss Steve Jobs has surprised pretty much everyone by making a statement about technological protection measures in the music industry, in a move reminiscent of Bill Gates’ comment about how DRM had become too complex for consumers. In an open letter to the public, Jobs has stated that: “Why Read more
And the 2007 prize for the most useless piece of online regulation goes to…. The Beeb reports on the latest proposal from Home Secretary John Reid to force paedophiles and other sex offenders to register their electronic mail details, as well as chat-room login names and other virtual identifiers in Read more
The AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law has now released a personality rights wiki, where you can browse the latest cases on personality rights from all over the world. Do you know a case that is not listed? Write a stub for it, a note, Read more
A follow up on the Blackboard patent story. Blackboard has seen the writing on the wall and has issued an enforcement promise for open source software projects. According to the terms of this pledge, Blackboard will not enforce U.S. Patent 6,988,138 against software released with an open source licence. According Read more
Luke Razzell has forwarded this invitation to an event in London for publicity purposes. Identity Society is delighted to announce an Open Space event (aka “unconference”) on February 19th in the revolving restaurant space on the 34th floor of the BT tower in central London. The tower’s curious history as Read more
Excellent news coming from the Software Patent Law Center (SFLC). The USPTO has granted ex parte re-examination of US Patent 6,988,138, which protects “Internet-based education support system and methods”. As previously reported, this patent led to its owners, e-learning software firm Blackboard, to sue Desire2Learn, which also manufactures educational software. Read more
(Via SCRIPT News) The copy-protection system shipped with every HD-DVD has been cracked, according to the firm in charge of licensing, Advanced Access Content System (AACS). As with DVDs before, licensed players come with a built-in encryption key (device key) which can unlock the content within High Definition discs, protected Read more