EFF has publicised a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) which details a new policy by US border police in which agents ask Muslim Americans returning home for travels abroad for social media handles, but also going as far as asking for access to mobile phones through handles, Read more
[SPOILERS] After languishing for more than a year in my “to read” pile, I finally got around to reading The Circle by David Eggers. This is an important, yet flawed book, and while I loved many of the concepts and loathed the dystopian present that it describes, I believe that Read more
Back in 2006, Time magazine awarded its person of the year to us. The Internet. Time writer Lev Grossman (of The Magicians fame) wrote the following: “[2006 is] a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the Read more
I have a rather complicated relationship with democracy. As a Costa Rican, it was ingrained in me from an early age that the only viable way of government is pluralist democracy, and that the balance of power could only be decided at the ballot box. My parents were fairly political, Read more
Can you re-sell software that you have purchased legitimately? Most people would say that it is definitely possible, you bought it after all, but things get a bit complicated when you explain the legal specifics of the question. When you buy software you are purchasing a licence, a limited permission Read more
This year’s Gikii took place in London hosted by the always marvellous Andrea Matwyshyn. As usual, there were more cat slides than a cat video convention, and as always some amazing presentations and thought-provoking interventions. And some good-natured heckling of course. Some of the papers are now online, you’ll just Read more
The Court of Justice of the European Union has made a troubling ruling regarding open wifi spots in the case of McFadden v Sony Music (C-484/14). This just following the also problematic case of GS Media makes it a rather bad week for balance in copyright. The case involves Tobias Read more
The newspaper industry in in disarray because of the Internet, old business models are no longer working, and media empires need to contest with a changed environment. There are two ways of addressing the challenges ahead, to change business models, or to hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers to Read more
A long-awaited case on intermediary liability and copyright infringement has finally been decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The case is GS Media v Sanoma (C‑160/15), which involves Playboy pictures published online, and the liability of linking to said pictures. Sanoma publishes Playboy magazine, which Read more
There has been a lot of soul-searching in mainstream media in the past week, following Shane Smith‘s scathing health check at this year’s MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh international TV festival. The lecture should be obligatory viewing for anyone interested in media in general, but also for those of us Read more